Eric's Autos: 2024 Chevy Colorado

It's an important difference in terms of more than just inches. Though it's a big truck, the Colorado doesn't take up as much room on the road. In a current-year full-size truck, there is often very little room left on either side of the truck, leaving not much margin if you're not paying attention and the truck wanders to the left -- and across the double yellow into the opposing lane of traffic -- or off to the right and off the edge of the road. Two full-size trucks passing and closing on each other from opposite directions can smack outside mirrors (or worse) if one of their drivers isn't keeping his rig within its lane.

That's less an issue with the Colorado because you have almost a foot more side-to-side margin than a full-size truck.

At The Curb

Chevy used to offer the Colorado in either extended cab or crew cab configurations. The '24 comes in just one -- crew cab -- configuration, with just one short (5-foot) bed. This can be extended by lowering the tailgate, but it's still less bed than the 6-foot beds that used to come standard with compact-size trucks.

Part of the reason you can't get a longer bed with this truck has to do with Chevy only offering this truck with a crew cab. Hanging a 6-foot bed off the back of that would make this rig even longer than a current full-size/regular cab truck like the F-150.

The crew cab configured Colorado is as easy to get into and out for the back-seat occupants as it is for the driver and front-seat passenger. And there's several inches more back-seat legroom (34.7 inches) back there versus 28.6 inches in the previously available extended cab version of this truck. It truly seats five comfortably -- as opposed to two comfortably and maybe two more, just barely.

The Rest

The all-LCD dash (main gauge cluster and secondary infotainment display) is a barometer of how much trucks have changed over the past decade or so. A decade ago, only a few luxury cars came with these, and often they were optional.

This truck comes standard with them.

The Bottom Line

Midsize is almost what full-size used to be.

And it's all very nice -- assuming you can afford it.

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Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.