Getting out of my comfort zone with the Chevrolet Colorado

OFF-ROADING in Kanchanaburi was easy to handle for the Colorado.

I’m definitely not a nature lover. I don’t like getting dirty or being in places that have lots of bugs. Being the Jane of Tarzan was something I never fantasized.

But I also believe that there are still a lot of things in this world that I need to discover. So when I received the invitation for the Chevrolet Colorado media test drive in Thailand, I knew that dirt and bugs were going to be part of it. When I checked the details of the trip, the hotels and places we needed to go to, I felt I could handle them. So off I went.

IN TERMS of comfort, you won’t feel like you’re being thrown around like a rag doll.

Off to Bangkok we went to attend the Thailand International Motor Expo where the new Colorado was being unveiled to the public.

The new 2014 Colorado midsize pickup truck features a new, more potent powertrain in the Duramax and the advanced infotainment system MyLink. With the new Duramax turbo-diesel, the 2.8-liter variant now produces 200 horsepower (from 180 HP) at 3600 revolutions per minute and 500 Newton-meters of torque at 2,000 rpm, making the Colorado one of the most powerful in its class.  They also gave it a six-speed manual transmission to improve its fuel efficiency (there’s a claim of a 4-percent improvement from the previous model).

“When the all-new Colorado was launched in October 2011, it offered more technology, features, quality and value   than before. It was the most clean-sheet midsize truck program in Chevrolet’s history, and it delivered class-leading payload and trailering,” said Chevrolet Thailand sales and General Motors Southeast Asia operations vice president for sales, marketing and aftersales Gustavo Colossi during the new Colorado’s launch at the 30th Thailand International Motor Expo 2013.

Enhanced driving

UNLOADING banana trunks for the elephants’ dinner

To further enhance the driving experience, the new Colorado LTZ will be equipped with another variant of the MyLink infotainment system that features smart phone connectivity and streaming audio. The MyLink screen displays options such as audio, pictures and movies, telephone, smartphone link and settings on the touch screen. Users can access personal play lists and make hands-free voice calls, amongst other functions. The smartphone link function allows the use of Stitcher and TuneIn, which provides the driver access to over 70,000 Internet radio stations worldwide.

On roads and no roads

After our city stint, we  were asked to drive more than 300 kilometers to Kanchanaburi, a city in Thailand near Burma (Myanmar) that has the railway immortalized by the film “The Bridge over River Kwai.” During the Japanese occupation in 1942, a staggering number of Asian and Allied prisoners of war were forced to work on the railway and died of diseases, hunger and maltreatment.

Our first task  was to go off-roading.  This is where we were able to test the additional power brought about by the new Duramax engine.

I drove the whole off-roading segment of the test drive, and as a second timer, the Colorado offered me confidence that I won’t get stuck even in the trickiest of situations.

On the road, the Colorado is not your typical quiet type—the engine roars on when you step on the throttle. It tells you that the engine’s with you all throughout. In terms of comfort, you won’t feel like you’re being thrown around like a rag doll. In fact, I have slept during some parts of the trip.

KNOWING what to do and where to go in Kanchanaburi

After that, we headed to Elephant’s World, which is a volunteer facility that takes care of old elephants.  Our challenge there was to test the loading capacity of the Colorado.  We needed to collect banana trunks, which the elephants would have for dinner.

We were competing against Team Indonesia, so after 800-plus kilograms of banana trunks on two Colorados and a whole lot of dirt, we were confident enough to say we won.  We were surprised how Indonesia was able to load more than a thousand kilos in their Colorados and still remained clean.  We realized that the area that they were assigned to was vast and more accessible than ours.

Went all-out Tarzan

Dinner was the reward for being able to feed the elephants despite the rigors.  There were about five elephants which they brought in, and it was quite surprising how strong their jaws were, eating through a variety of pumpkins and bananas. Some of the media guys went all-out Tarzan and swam with the elephants in the river.

Our pit stop for the night was the Hintok River Camp where rooms were air-conditioned tents with ensuite alfresco bathrooms. We had a bonfire dinner, and, of course, the fear of having a crawler sneak up on me while singing in the shower was not easy to overcome.

All told, it was a cool experience. The moral of the story is to never let your comfort zones limit the bounds of what you can do. And you should never limit where the Colorado can take you.

The Chevrolet Colorado is covered by a 3-year or 100,000-km warranty and a 2-year warranty extension on the powertrain. Chevrolet also provides its new clients with free 3-year 24/7 roadside assistance.  The Colorado is available at Chevrolet dealers nationwide, and starts at P1,148,888.