Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Off-Road Muscle Meets Family Utility In 2025 Models

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Off-Road Muscle Meets Family Utility In 2025 Models · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well you can go ahead and start your review now.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about the 2025 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 four-wheel drive crew cab.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now this is the the Colorado, kind of like the Colorado Reborn.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: There was one several years ago back when the mini truck, when you called them small trucks, and so now it's out.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Used to be called the New Mexico, but in this case it's the Colorado.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the uh part of the third generation that was introduced in 2023.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: It comes with five trim levels, comes with a work truck, an LT, uh, a trail boss, the Z R1, and the ZR2.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now it is a four-wheel drive, crew cab truck.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: The government says it's a standard size pickup.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would call it a mid-size segment, but what do I know?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: If a five-paster vehicle.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: We know you don't know.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's got it's it's an off-road vehicle.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's got heavy off-road styling, and a lot of the accents or a lot of the styling things that are on it are very functional.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the LED lighting with the headlamps and the fog lamps, and that's all part of the common what you're going to find in most new vehicles, but it's very functional on this vehicle.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The front bumper is made for off-road work and got tow hooks, skid plates in the front and the rear, and uh for the gas tank.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a skid plate on there.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's got wheel flares on it because of the ZR2 package, and it's got rocker panel protection on it.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it that, by the way, looks kind of like a step plate, but it's not.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's strictly to protect the underpart of the body whenever you go rock climbing.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now it does have heated power folding side mirrors to make things a little bit uh more pleasant.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Power sunroof.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it has the Stoflex tailgate, which is where you can drop the tailgate, and there's some storage that's put in there that's kind of like an underfloor storage in some of the other vehicles.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a really that was a really smart move to use some space that wasn't really being used.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh runs on 17-inch wheels.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now these are beadlock capable wheels, and part of this again is geared towards the off-road, so you got more tire wall there to work with instead of having some of these little short run flats.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Beadlock capable.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you can take and make these beadlocks, they're not beadlocked from the factory, but you can make them that way.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you go to a tire shop like discount tire and say, Oh, I got beadlocked wheels on here, they're gonna laugh at you.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you got to have it to where you can reoperate in the regular world and then turn them into the beadlock type wheels when you go off-roading.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's about all I know about it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know much about beadlock wheels because we got sand.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have rock.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when you get to the interior, now we had the jet black Artemis leather seating.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Artemis.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Artemis.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Leather.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, out west we have herds of Artemis running wild out there if you can go out and find them.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now the front seats are heated and ventilated.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: The rear seat is a 6040 folding that has storage up underneath it.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Has the uh 11.3 inch touchscreen in the middle of it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where you're gonna find your nav, your convenience controls, your infotainment, your Apple CarPlay, Android, all those good things.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also where you're gonna find your sound surround view camera system.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this again, it's very much kind of becoming mainstream, but in the off-road world that this vehicle is designed for, uh it's gonna help you see where you're at in relation to the rocks, to the edges.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It'll help actually, this one will actually help you see what's underneath your vehicle.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really good for that.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also have the 11-inch driver information center, and that's where you're gonna find all your configurationable uh things you want to know about your truck.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Configurationable.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we also had the Bose Premium Audio System, which I really like that, particularly in a smaller vehicle like this.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, up under the hood, we had a 2.7-liter TurboMax inline four-cylinder.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is 310 horsepower, 430-pound feet of torque, so it will move this vehicle.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it sounds like it's working pretty hard at it, but it will do it without a problem.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Toe rating on this vehicle properly equipped, it's 7,700 pounds with a haul rating of 1685.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, we used to call these small trucks mid-sized trucks, and uh they've become a little bit bigger.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: EPA says in the city you should look for 16 miles to the gallon on the highway 16 and combined 16.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I drove 445.9 miles and I got 14.3 miles to the gallon on the average.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I will tell you that during this time it does have a very firm truck ride.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is part of this is because of the suspension on this package.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's up higher.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it gives it a little more room to move the tires and that work with that suspension to kind of smooth out some of the road imperfections.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And again, to that lifted suspension, while it does make the off-roading world a lot better, it also makes getting in and out of that vehicle a little bit tougher for a short guy like me.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: That rock, that protection down below that looks almost like a step rail.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: If it was a retractable step rail, I think that would make it a lot easier.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know my wife would really appreciate that whenever she had to get in and out of it.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're looking for the pricing on this thing, the work truck, the base model is down around$33,495.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the base trim price when you get up into that ZR2 level is$49,600.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a pretty good size jump, but there's several different trims in there that you can work with.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: MSRP is tested for this vehicle,$64,340.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for something to compare it to, the Toyota Tacoma comes in at$31,500 to start.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the Ford Ranger is around$33.8.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're looking over into the uh more of the SUV, CUV truck line, like a Honda Ridge line,$40,150 is where you're going to start looking.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking for that's basically a car, by the way.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, with a bed on it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the reason I threw it in.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like an El Camino.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it still falls into the Ranchero.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it falls into that same category of vehicles that this Colorado is, which I think is kind of a misnomer, if you would.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but I do think if you're looking for something that you want to take off-roading and you want something to start with, or maybe you just don't want to wrench it yourself, this is a vehicle you ought to look at.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And more importantly, you can put it in the dang garage.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: You're not going to be able to put a full-size truck in there anymore.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: You used to be able to.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And out West, they got the three-legged hairy Artemis that you could get your seats in the three-legged one.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: They're very rare.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's my review of the 20-minute walk-up route.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The R2 K.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: It only leaves a trail.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mike.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're quite welcome.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Are you going to you're going to send that off to General Motors and say, here's my review?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: After I do a little editing.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now I had the X Pro S X Prestige 2.5 Turbo all-wheel drive.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's because this vehicle comes in five base trim levels LX, SEX, SX, and then the SX Prestige at the top of the line.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: However, there are two add-ons you can have packages, I suppose you would call them, the X Line and the X Pro.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: They bring in some enhancements, makes things a little more sporty, trim level wheels, a couple of things they've got.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this vehicle, the Sorrento, this is the fourth generation of this vehicle introduced in 2021 to continue to tweak it.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is a three-row small SUV to let you know where it fits in the Kia lineup.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is smaller than the three-row telluride, but it's larger than the two-road sportage.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now up front, you're going to find typical uh modern cars, LED projector headlamps.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Fog lights LED, got roof rails on it, got power folding, heated side mirrors with LED turn signals.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you got LED lighting all the way around.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're also going to find that you've got the panoramic sunroof with the power sunshade, which comes in real handy.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: We have this power smart lift gate to uh make things easier to get packages in it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that was interesting is the SX Pro is rolling on some 17-inch black matte alloy wheels.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: 20-inch wheels are standard, but we were on the 17s, which we'll get back to that in a few minutes.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now you get into the inside of it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: We had an olive brown leather seating package.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Really nice stuff.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The front seats are heated and ventilated.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: The rear seats are captain's chairs, and they are also heated and ventilated.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now up front, we're going to find we got the dual 12.3-inch panoramic displays.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Two different displays, but they're parked together so that it looks almost like one complete.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Got one that's got all your nav or your convenience controls, your infotainment system, if you will.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: The other one's going to serve as a driver's information center.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: We used to call it a gauge package, but it's got all the information the driver's going to be looking for.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: We also had a digital rear view mirror, and I'm coming to like these a whole lot more and more as I see more of them.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a better, wider angle shot of what you've got behind you.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: The uh one thing, another interesting note on this vehicle, we had the door window shades on the rear doors, you know, kind that you can lift up and down and pull up almost like a sunscreen.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of neat to see them, and they worked really well.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm surprised that more people don't have them because of how well they work instead of putting sun tint on the glass.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because then that sun tint's there at night.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: We also had the Bose Premium Audio Package.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is 12 speakers and a subwoofer that really will fill up this vehicle.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Under the hood of the Kia Sorrento, we're going to find that we've got a 2.5 liter turbo.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Again, so we're not dealing with the hybrid model here.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It has 281 horsepower, 311 pound feet of torque, and it does run on regular fuel.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is backed by an eight-speed automatic, so it's capable of towing in this configuration 4,500 pounds.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Get most of your jobs done unless you're really serious into something else.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now the EPA says in the city you should be looking for 20 miles to the gallon, highway 27, combined for 23.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I drove 445.5 miles, and I got 22.5.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And considering what I usually get, I'm quite happy with that.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now I will say that around town, it is a very easy city driver, is what I would call it.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: The size is easy enough to get in and out of traffic, parking lots, parking spaces, it's got very responsive steering, so that helps a lot too.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now you get out on the highway, you know you're on the highway, you feel it, but it doesn't wander all over the place, so it's it's a it's a solid ride, is what I would call it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And here's where we get back to the 17-inch wheels.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: The 17-inch wheels have a taller sidewall on the tires.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a fan of the run flat tires because they have no sidewall.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of them I ever been in were rode rough, and I understand why, but it's not something that I care for.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this high-level trim of the Sorrento is the reason they've got the 17-inch on there to make it ride much better.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're looking for something to uh price-wise, the base model is going to be$33,405.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's for the LX model.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the base trim price on the prestige is up at$47,390.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And MSRP as tested is$49,400.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're looking for something to compare that to, because it is a very crowded segment, there's a lot of things to choose from in there.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Honda CRV starts at$30,100.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: The Toyota RAV 4 comes in at$29,250 for starters, and the Subaru Ascent is up at$38,910.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So again, there's a lot of things to look at in that segment.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if I was to start looking at it, I would definitely look at this as be one of the first I would look at because there are so many choices, but also my wife's got a 2015.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've we've had it for 10 years, it's serviced us really well.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's got 100,000 miles on it now, no problems so far.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so she's happy with it.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy without having the car note.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: But if I was to buy one, I would absolutely go look at this as part of looking in that segment because that's the size of the vehicle that she likes.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So again, this is my review of the 2025 Kia Sorrento X Pro S X Prestige 2.5 Turbo all-wheel drive vehicle.