It’d be a mistake to write off the 2024 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison as a regular ZR2 dressed up with special AEV wheels, fortified front and rear AEV bumpers, a plethora of boron-steel skidplates, and some AEV badges. But we wouldn’t fault you if you did. That was, after all, the formula for the first-generation Colorado ZR2, and that template was similarly applied to the Silverado 1500 ZR2 and 2500HD ZR2. There’s a shared reason for this: The ZR2 treatment was not part of the design brief when those trucks were initially conceived.
The second generation of the Colorado ZR2 is different. It was developed with the full knowledge that a ZR2 was already wildly popular. That opened the door for the more foundational changes we saw when we first sampled the truck in a three-day blast across the Nevada desert: a front axle shifted forward relative to the cab to accommodate larger tires and the signature Multimatic DSSV shocks moved outboard of the leaf springs, where they rightfully belonged. But these tweaks didn’t just improve the Colorado ZR2’s performance, they also opened the door for a more extreme ZR2 Bison.
A More Extreme Bison
Massive 35-inch tires replace the ZR2’s already-embiggened 33-inch rubber, which proves that moving the front axle forward was done with the Bison in mind. But it took more to accommodate those big fellas, so Chevy resculpted the fender liners and jacked up the suspension a half-inch. That lift and the extra inch of tire radius increase ground clearance from 10.7 inches to 12.2 inches. The Bison’s LT315 tires are also 1.2 inches fatter, so the offset of its 17-by-8.5-inch wheels was shifted outward almost a half-inch to keep the insides from rubbing. Combine those facts and you get a 0.9 inch wider track and an outer sidewall-to-sidewall width increase of some 2.1 inches. Consequently, the ZR2 Bison is fitted with more protuberant fender flares that give it an 80.1-inch width that exceeds the ZR2 by 2.0 inches and imbues it with a meaner stance.
Hidden behind those tires is a Colorado Bison exclusive: hydraulic jounce bumpers—or, as we might call them, “bump stops supreme”—at all four corners. They come from Multimatic, the same outfit that makes the ZR2’s spool-valve dampers. In normal circumstances, a shock retune would be recommended when larger and heavier tires are fitted, but the hydraulic jounce bumpers open new doors that make that a necessity. You essentially get an extra stage of dedicated compression damping, and both elements must be tuned to complement one another. The Bison’s Multimatics don’t offer any more overall suspension travel, but they also don’t have any less, and their midpoint was adjusted so the compression/rebound split was preserved.
Driving the Colorado ZR2 Bison
Pounding across the wavy whoop-de-doos in the open California desert, the ZR2 Bison absolutely proves that it’s worth it. We could carry more speed into gnarlier whoop sections, and it gobbled them ravenously. Sure, the lack of extra travel ultimately limited how hard we could push, but the hydraulic jounce bumpers absolutely stuck the landings and soaked up bigger hits with much more progressive fluidity. The only downside—and it barely was one—was the slight click we could hear when the plungers of the front pair contacted the lower control arms, as they are meant to do in normal operation on abnormally harsh terrain.
Out among the rocks, the Bison was equally beastly. The extra ground clearance was a boon on daunting trails that featured jagged cooler-sized rocks spanning every product in the Yeti catalog. Yes, the rock rails scraped a few times, but that’s what they’re there for. Ditto the five boron-steel skidplates protecting the underbelly and differential. The front and rear AEV bumpers are tightly sculpted, but the rear corners could stand to offer more lower bedside protection, as on the Jeep Gladiator.
As big tires typically do, the 35s tended to roll over holes that smaller tires might’ve gotten hung up on. The standard front and rear lockers stood at the ready, but the point at which we considered them was ratcheted way up. Should we have needed to air down to an extreme level, the Bison’s standard 17-inch AEV beadlock-capable wheels would have let us deflate even more than we did—provided we had the accessory beadlock rings fitted. The spare is a full-size matching unit, and because it won’t fit underneath, it’s mounted vertically in the bed. That compromises bed volume, but it improves the departure angle over the ZR2.
With more time spent in the rocks, our initial enthusiasm about Terrain mode’s one-pedal crawling experience has cooled. It still has its place, but that place is not boulder-strewn trails on which the truck might teeter or the boulders might shift beneath you and make your throttle foot move inadvertently. It made for a jerky ride at times because we couldn’t keep our foot steady, which turns out to be more crucial when you’re using a comparatively sensitive throttle to control the brakes. Better to use Off-Road mode for rock crawling and save Terrain mode for smoother off-road creeping conditions like sandy two-tracks or Moab slickrock.
Baja mode remains a favorite when the trails open up, and the relaxed stability control program that comes with it can also be fully shut off with a few stabs at the touchscreen. But its taller tires are not offset by shorter gearing, so the Bison doesn’t feel as punchy as a regular ZR2. The Bison package might feel a bit more eager if it had 3.73:1 gearing instead of the 3.42:1 final drive ratio that all ZR2s share. That wouldn’t likely raise its tow rating above 5500 pounds (versus 6000 for the regular ZR2), because the Bison shortfall is more about the extra weight of the truck itself, which Chevy says is some 300 pounds heavier than a regular ZR2.
Will the Bison maintain the regular ZR2’s EPA fuel economy of 18 mpg combined (17 city/19 highway)? We doubt it on account of the Bison’s extra weight and the increased air and rolling resistance that come with a wider truck on fatter tires. We’re betting on a 1-mpg decrease across the board.
Colorado ZR2 Bison Cost and Value
But price is the bigger question, and we don’t have an answer for that because 2024 Colorado pricing has not yet been released. All we know is the 2023 Colorado ZR2 went for $48,295, and the last-generation ZR2 Bison option that didn’t have 35-inch rubber and trick jounce bumpers was priced at $5750. This more legit setup will surely cost more than that. If we guess $49,500 for the 2024 Colorado ZR2 and $7500 on top of that for the fortified Bison option, we’re staring at an estimated $57,000 for a new Colorado ZR2 Bison. That’s starting to feel like a lot of money for a mid-size pickup, but from where we just sat, the 2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison now delivers the extra performance and grittier appearance that makes the Bison badge absolutely worth it.
Technical Editor
Dan Edmunds was born into the world of automobiles, but not how you might think. His father was a retired racing driver who opened Autoresearch, a race-car-building shop, where Dan cut his teeth as a metal fabricator. Engineering school followed, then SCCA Showroom Stock racing, and that combination landed him suspension development jobs at two different automakers. His writing career began when he was picked up by Edmunds.com (no relation) to build a testing department.