The midsize pickup is making a comeback. Once a staple of field engineers, surveyors, speciality contractors and others needing to reach the jobsite without hauling a great deal of material, the small truck for years has faced economic forces that pushed users down into smaller sport-utility vehicles or up into larger, half-ton pickups. Nissan and Toyota picked up the remainder with the infrequently updated Frontier and Tacoma models.
GM thinks the segment is due for an overhaul. This past December, the keepers of the keys to a 2015 Chevrolet Colorado called to remind me that a test unit was on its way to my driveway. Spending a week with Chevy's revamped small pickup underscored how this nimble truck's compact stature belied its capability, though fuel economy was not as impressive as I had expected.