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I drove a $50,000 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison to see if the ultimate midsize offroading pickup could handle everyday life — here's the verdict (GM)

Matthew DeBord/BI

  • The 2019 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison is the hardest of hardcore offroading pickups from the bowtie brand.
  • The Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison has about $6,000 of upgrades from American Expedition Vehicles, all designed to improve the pickup's ability to go where no midsize pickup has gone before.
  • The offroading extras are probably too much for most weekend warriors — they'll do fine with the regular ZR2. But for a tough, tough truck, the ZR2 Bison is remarkably easy to live with day to day.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Once you get into offroading, you invariably start to look for bulletproof vehicles capable of handling any terrain. 

When it comes to midsize pickups, a versatile choice, few are more bulletproof than the Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison, an upgraded version of Chevy's already robust Zr2. The Bison trim went on sale in early 2019.

Although the Bison is brilliant, it does raise a question: "Can a pickup that's this ready for rock-busting deal with everyday life?"

I set out to answer that question when Chevy let me borrow the truck for a week. I didn't have a choice, and proper offroad testing is somewhat outside our capabilities at Business Insider. But I have no difficulty dropping kids off at school and making weekend runs to rescue houseplants from relatives.

Here's how it went down:

Say hello to the Bison! The 2019 Chevy ZR2 Bison, to be precise. In a "Red Hot" paint job — truth in advertising, by the way — this test truck stickered at $49,745.Matthew DeBord/BI

The Bison wasn't our first ZR2. We tested the slightly less hardcore regular ZR2 last year.Matthew DeBord/BI

Read the review.

We also spent some time with the performance-oriented Colorado Z71.Matthew DeBord/BI

Read the review.

Our Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison tester came with a crew cab and a short box.Matthew DeBord/BI

It was nearly identical to the previous ZR2 I sampled, at least on the outside.Matthew DeBord/BI

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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