All the rest is new and that's a very good thing, though it's unlikely
anyone is going to want to mount a replica of the instrument panel on
their rec room wall because it's like art. Worker-like is a better description,
though the fit and finish are better than that.
The HVAC knobs are below the stereo controls, which was God's original
plan when She created the pickup, but they are a little low on the centre
console for our taste.
The real
problem with the interior of the pickups is the fact that it really is
''the'' interior. It's a pity that GM didn't invest a little more to differentiate
the two, to meet a wider taste range in the buyer base.
Some people
will also wish that GM had given the interiors more overhead storage and
generally made the thing feel a little funkier. Sticking with worker-like
doesn't speak to the sense of fun and freedom that most personal use buyers
want in a compact pickup. You can always after-market the boredom away,
or maybe GM will fix it in the inevitable redo in a couple of years.
The company
has been surprisingly responsive to other suggestions we've made regarding
gauge visibility and ride smoothness, so maybe they'll do something on
this front, too.
By the time
your eyes and hands have registered the interior quality, your elbows
and head and knees will be appreciating the increased space, but especially
the wider part. It's hard to imagine anyone who won't enjoy and make use
of the greater interior volume, and it makes the Colorado/Canyon accessible
to a larger audience, and we mean that in both senses of the word. Larger
people will be able to fit more comfortably in the new trucks, and that
definition embraces a larger segment of the market.
It takes as long to appreciate the improved stiffness of the new architecture
(GM says it's 250 percent more rigid) as it takes to encounter the first
bump or depression or railroad track. Colorado and Canyon float across
those types of things with barely a ripple disturbing your karma or your
coffee. They're also a lot quieter than the old models, which allows you
to enjoy the ever-expanding universe of sound systems, including GM's
XM radio system, which delivers a wide-range of commercial-free music
at a small cost.
