You can see why the mid-size truck market is so tempting.
Full-size trucks, in all their glory, are now nearly as big as the mountains they can purportedly move. It takes similarly sized payloads of cash to buy many of those full-sized monsters too.
Immutable economic law would dictate that a market drift toward bigger and pricier would leave a prime opportunity for smaller and cheaper to capitalize. Would Adam Smith have been a pickup man?
Ideally then, the wealth of nations wouldn’t be needed to purchase the all-new 2015 GMC Canyon (and by extension, Chevrolet Colorado), General Motors’ first midsized pickup since 2012.
But that’s really not what the Canyon is about.
It’s possible — even pretty easy — to find a $40,000 Canyon, which rivals many full-size pickups in price and even capability. In fact, since the beginning GM has positioned their mid-sized Canyon/Colorado as an extension of their full-size range — smaller package, all the capability and pretty much the same price. So a cheap, beat ‘em up neighborhood work truck, this ain’t.
But somewhere deep, in the recesses of GM, someone has made the case for a cheap, small truck.
And that’s what we have here.
Our 2015 GMC Canyon 2WD, inline four cylinder base model for less than $26,000 is GM’s best attempt at a cheap, small fleet work truck and its future is, well, interesting.
First off, for anyone looking for a size comparison, the Canyon/Colorado isn’t much smaller than the full-size offerings. Only about 1.5 feet shorter and about 4 inches lower, the GMC Canyon is roughly the size of early 1990s full-size pickups. Available in two different cab configurations — extended and crew — and two bed sizes — 6-foot-2-inch, and 5-foot-2-inch bed on crew cabs only — the Canyon has a range of options for hauling. Two engines, an inline four and V6, produce 200 horsepower and 305 hp respectively. When equipped with a V6 and trailering package, the Canyon can easily haul up to 7,000 lbs., which is comparable to many full-size trucks with V6 engines.
All that is fine, but like any Texan will tell you: execution is everything.
To be fair, the only real competitors in the mid-size market at the moment are the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma. Both companies offer four-cylinder engines for their trucks and neither one is any place that I’d like to spend a significant amount of time.
In offering a bare bones four-cylinder, two-wheel drive truck (a six-speed manual transmission is available as well) GMC is offering itself up to intense scrutiny; the automotive equivalent of a bare-knuckle fight. Their stripper can beat your stripper, any time, anywhere. Chassis vs. chassis.
But the overall results are mixed.
To be sure, the only options our tester was fitted with was a radio ($275), an automatic transmission ($650) and spray-in bedliner ($475), so the search for creature comforts ended with a thud at the truck’s modest final price: $25,595.
That’s fine, I can find a lot to like in the Canyon’s good looks and solid chassis. It has both.
But cheap trucks should be playful creatures, capable of taking a walloping, dents and beating. In the Canyon, it’s fairly inescapable that you’re in a less-expensive version of a more expensive truck. For instance, the driver’s seat is 4-way power adjustable, but the side mirrors aren’t. I would have preferred the other way around for convenience.
And the Canyon’s good looks extend from the bottom of the range to the top. The amount of abuse I’d dole out to a $40,000 truck is different than one to a $25,000 version, but I’m guessing the repair bills would be the same either way.
We’ve arrived at the engine. To put it lightly, dump the radio and bedliner if you must and opt for the V6. One can only hope that the V6 makes better noises than the inline four.
Packing 200 horsepower is probably enough heft for a truck this size, but the engine isn’t the most refined mill I’ve ever seen. Granted, we’re at altitude, which puts the motor at a natural disadvantage, but there should be more grunt here for a truck.
(Oh, and our tester consistently warned that it had no oil despite a full level on the dipstick. Go figure.)
So for less than $26,000, the GMC Canyon shows a tempting future with a solid chassis and capable engine option. But for $600 more, you can get a full-size Sierra with a standard V6 and larger range for options.
See? The mid-size market is just so tempting.