I drove the 2026 Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss: Here’s my honest review of Chevy’s no-nonsense off-road truck

The 2026 Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss... The almighty Boss of Trails. It's not the cheapest Colorado you can buy, nor the most extreme one. It doesn't have the wildest suspension package, the chunkiest tires, or the strongest claim to off-road bragging rights. That’s the ZR2’s job. It's also not as bare-bones as a stripped-out WT model. Just as Goldilocks herself likely would have wanted from a pickup truck, the hilariously self-proclaimed Trail Boss is the mid-grade version of Chevy's latest mid-size truck, aiming to balance useful off-road competence with the convenience of legitimate daily driveability at a reasonable price. Starting at $42,595, the adventure-ready, body-on-frame midsize pickup truck starts at just $1,455 more than a compact, unibody Ford Maverick Tremor.

Chevrolet was kind enough to lend me a 2026 Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss Crew Cab 4WD finished in Reef Blue Metallic over Jet Black Evotex for a week, during which I drove daily around Vancouver, B.C., up the Sea-to-Sky Highway—which winds along the Pacific Coast up to Whistler—and through the rutted gravel access roads around Squamish Valley. The Canadian base price is $48,399 CAD, but with options, destination, and fees, my tester landed at $60,933 CAD. Equipment included the 2.7-litre TurboMax engine, 8-speed automatic, two-speed transfer case, automatic locking rear differential, 2-inch factory lift, wider chassis, hill descent control, trailering package, trailer brake controller, spray-on bedliner, and a hard folding tonneau cover.

Specs And Pricing

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Powertrain: 9.3/10

Let’s start with the engine, because it’s what made me smile most often. The 2.7-litre TurboMax four-cylinder doesn't sound like the sort of engine truck people are supposed to romanticize. There’s no V8 snarl here, no naturally aspirated nauticism, nor any sense that it belongs in a commercial narrated by Will Arnett. But with the windows down, this thing whistles loudly. Kind of like a Greyhound bus building boost as it presses on into the night from a dimly lit terminal in a neo-noir thriller flick. It’s ridiculous, and thereby ridiculously charming. It gives the Colorado far more personality than I expected from a midsize pickup with a four-cylinder engine, and so I never felt short-changed by the loss of a few extra pistons.

The most important part, though, is that the TurboMax powertrain generally suits the truck quite well. It has the kind of low-end torque—a massive 430 lb-ft—that a truck like this needs to avoid feeling strained. Around town, on highway ramps, and when climbing into the mountains, it never felt gutless or like it ever had to work extremely hard to do what a larger V6 could otherwise do. You don’t need to wring it out to get the best from it. Its twin-scroll turbo builds boost quickly, so you can lean into its torque and get on with the task at hand.

The 8-speed automatic and the TurboMax engine make for a solid pairing as well. There’s no manual shift mode, unfortunately, but with how the engine behaves, that never really felt like a missing feature. The transmission is generally good at deciding which gear to use on its own, and because the useful power is so low in the rev range, I was happy to let it do its thing. The downside of it all, however, is the fuel economy. I saw roughly 17 mpg over the week, which wasn't exactly shocking for a lifted 4WD truck, but it’s not suddenly a Toyota Prius just because it only has four cylinders.

Driving Dynamics: 8.7/10

So many modern vehicles try to sand down their outputs until everything feels vaguely crossover-coded in a way that distances you from what's happening beneath the surface. The Colorado doesn't do that. It still feels truckish in all the right ways. You sit high, you know there’s a frame underneath you, and you know you might have to make an extra-point turn every once in a while, but that's okay. If you like driving trucks, odds are you enjoy the odd technical manoeuvre, and the Colorado happily delivers that somewhat childish sense of satisfaction. It has mass, stance, and a real sense of mechanical authenticity that makes you feel proud to be in the driver's seat.

In urban city centres, this, of course, can make it feel large and cumbersome at times, just as you'd expect from any truck like this. It never shrinks around you the way a Maverick does, but it doesn’t pretend urban maneuverability was ever its top priority. It’s easy enough to place once you get used to it, and after a day or two, I stopped worrying about its size altogether. On coastal highways, it was even more enjoyable than I expected. The steering was precise enough for an electronic system, the brakes felt confident and communicative, and the light rear end gave it that bit of old-school pickup charm. It isn't sporty by any means, but it is entertaining in the way trucks can be when they feel honest and well-calibrated rather than overly polished or meaninglessly beefed up.

The Colorado's ride quality is the most obvious compromise here. It’s stiff, and that was made especially clear on rutted forest trails, where the suspension never fully relaxed. Off-Road mode softened things up a bit, and I could feel the difference, but it's still a firm-riding truck either way. The optional 20-inch wheels probably don’t help, even if they looked fantastic and never felt wildly inappropriate for my use. The biggest surprise, though, was how quiet the cabin remained. With the windows up, the Colorado was far more subdued than expected. Tire and wind noise were minimal, and the turbo whistle always stayed outside until I lowered the glass.

Off-Road Capability: 8.8/10

The Trail Boss has a 2-inch factory lift, a wider chassis, hill descent control, a two-speed Autotrac transfer case, and an automatic locking rear differential. In other words, it has enough hardware to feel legitimate without swinging too far into overland LARP'er territory, and that’s the key to understanding this trim. It isn't for the buyer who wants maximum off-road capability at any cost. It’s for the buyer who wants enough. It has enough clearance for most of the obstacles you'd encounter on forest access roads, enough traction to keep things steady when the trail gets a bit hairy, and enough confidence to go almost anywhere you'd ever need to. The Trail Boss doesn’t need to be extreme to be useful, and it strikes a balance that seems fitting for what most people will actually end up doing with it.

Exterior Design: 9.0/10

Reef Blue Metallic suits this truck perfectly. It’s bright, clean, and confident, but it doesn’t make the Colorado look like it’s trying too hard to look tough. Paired with the black 20-inch wheels wrapped in 33-inch all-terrain tires, black nameplates, fender flares, and a taller stance, the Trail Boss package gives it just enough attitude.

Even without the Trail Boss package, the Colorado already has good bones. The front end is squared off and serious without being cartoonish, and the proportions give it a distinctiveness that the Colorado never really had before its current generation. Although some may perceive it as a cheap-out, I also appreciated the unpainted front-end, which means it can take as many rocks and bugs to the face as possible without you ever having to worry about the cost of new paintwork.

Just like the overall character of the Trail Boss, its exterior design mimics the trim's positioning as one of honest balance. It looks great and properly aggressive, but avoids sacrificing pure functionality for the sake of superficiality.

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Interior And Tech: 8.2/10

Inside, the Colorado feels cheap, but not necessarily in an unforgivable way. The dashboard itself is actually quite good. The design is handsome, the layout feels logical, and the physical dials, switches, and buttons are exactly what I want in a truck like this. The materials surrounding that dashboard, though, are more obviously budget-grade. There’s no escaping that. But the Jet Black Evotex upholstery helps, and the seats feel more dignified than basic cloth work-truck furniture. They were comfortable enough over the week, even if they weren't especially memorable.

The 11.3-inch infotainment system includes Google built in, but I used wireless Apple CarPlay instead. And I’m glad I could. When GM eventually removes CarPlay from trucks like this, that'll be a real downgrade. In the Colorado, the technology works because it works around you, rather than forcing you to adapt to it. The rear seat is usable, too. I had three adults back there, and nobody complained. Sometimes, that's all you can really ask for.

My tester came equipped with the Trail Boss Convenience Package II, which adds a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, wireless phone charging, an 8-way power-adjustable driver's seat, power driver lumbar control, remote start, Evotex seat trim, and heated front seats. These all felt like valuable features that many people expect in a new car these days, though I appreciate that GM's pickup truck packaging is still à la carte enough to let pickier buyers forgo the added frills and save a few thousand dollars instead.

There are two annoyances, however, and both are worth mentioning: first, there’s no proximity keyless entry. That makes remote start weirdly annoying. You must first lock the truck, then press the remote start twice, then press unlock twice to unlock all the doors, get in, then press the start button again. It turns a basic convenience feature into a small button-mashing ritual. An optional keyless entry keypad is available for US$295, but a proper sensor on the door handle would've been an appreciated feature, especially in 2026, when such a system has basically become standard across the board.

Secondly, there’s no telescoping steering wheel, and that one genuinely surprised me. I eventually got comfortable enough, but some drivers with longer legs and shorter arms might struggle to find an ideal position. At this price, that feels like a bit of an oversight.

Practicality: 9.1/10

The bed, of course, is where the Trail Boss earns its credit in utilitarianism most effectively. My tester had a hard folding tonneau cover and spray-on bedliner, and both felt like obligatory add-ons. I also loved the ruler measurements integrated into the tailgate’s bedliner. It’s such a simple little truck detail that felt uniquely clever and useful. The StowFlex tailgate, CornerStep rear bumper, remote-locking tailgate, trailering package, and trailer brake controller all reinforce the same idea: this truck is built for people who actually plan to use it like a truck.

As a primary vehicle, the Colorado does ask for some compromise. It’s bigger and less city-friendly than a Maverick, but vastly easier to manage than a full-size truck. It can carry five people inside, handle daily errands with ease, and confidently explore forest roads. It can also carry up to 1,726 lbs in its bed and haul up to 7,700 lbs with the Advanced Trailering Package, which is now standard on all Trail Boss trims as of the 2025 model year.

Value: 8.9/10

At $60,933 CAD, as tested and including destination fees, or roughly US$49,245 with similar equipment, this isn't an inexpensive midsize truck by any means. But it does feel well-positioned in the midsize pickup truck market. The Trail Boss gives you what matters: a strong engine, proper 4WD hardware, a factory lift, a locking rear differential, a usable bed, real towing equipment, a comfortable-enough interior, and straightforward yet well-integrated tech. My tester’s options added comfort and convenience, but it never felt excessive.

That balance, to me, feels like the main appeal here. This is for people who want everything they need from a pickup, an off-roader, and a daily driver, and nothing more. If you’re buying a truck solely as a cheap work beater, skip it. If you’ll drive on pavement 99 percent of the time, skip it. And if you want the most capable midsize off-roader you can buy, the ZR2, Tacoma TRD Off-Road, Ranger FX4 or Frontier Pro-4X might be more compelling. But if you want a truck that can do regular life Monday to Friday and still feel at home on a rough gravel road by Saturday morning, the Trail Boss makes a whole lot of sense.

Verdict: 8.9/10

The 2026 Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss works because it knows exactly what it is, and it's prouder of it than ever before. It's stiff, thirsty, and a little cumbersome in the city. The cabin materials are basic, the missing telescoping steering wheel is irritating, and the remote-start/keyless-entry logic feels like it was designed by a monkey that likes to play with keys, like the one in Night at the Museum. And yet, I think this pickup truck offers seriously strong value, with a whole lotta' charm to boot.

The TurboMax engine gives it more character than expected, especially thanks to the turbo noises, which never cease to entertain. The chassis feels honest about itself, the off-road hardware is useful without being excessive, the bed details are smart, the cabin is simple in the right ways, and on the right road, with the windows down and the turbo whistling away, the Trail Boss is genuinely fun, whether you're driving or simply along for the ride.

The ideal buyer is probably someone who wants one midsize truck to serve as a daily driver, a family vehicle, and a weekend adventure tool all at once. Someone who wants capability but doesn’t need 38-inch tires and a rooftop tent just to be admired by others. Someone who wants value without stripping the truck down to the bone. The Trail Boss gives you enough truck, enough comfort, and enough off-road capability. And sometimes, enough means it's just the right temperature. Not too hot, and not too cold.

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