Chevrolet ZR2 Bison

It’s funny how your mind works when confronted with something that’s clearly awesome. In this case, the awesome is the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison, and after five minutes of driving one, my mind is trying to rationalize a way to buy one. Spend even a minute with a Bison, and your mind will start to work in similar ways.

The Bison is a Chevy Colorado ZR2 but “beefed up” thanks to a collaboration between Chevy and American Expedition Vehicles (AEV). Applying their very well thought-out, performance oriented, “How can we make this thing better without giving anything up?” approach to the ZR2, AEV’s modifications make the Bison the most impressive mid-size truck you can buy from a dealer.

American Expedition Vehicles

Chevy recently gave journalists a sample of what life with the Bison is like at a media event in Phoenix, Arizona and it took all of the first five minutes of a half-day test drive to realize just how dynamic the Bison is. Starting at our hotel in the heart of Phoenix, our route took us east into the Superstition Mountains where a pre-planned route allowed us to test the Bison on miles of high-speed desert roads, two-track, and granite boulder-strewn washes. On the highway, the Bison was light on its feet, quiet, and civilized as we left the concrete jungle for the Sonoran Desert. I was driving a V6 gasoline-powered Bison, and the truck had plenty of power to handle aggressive traffic and freeway speeds. The eight-speed transmission knows what it needs to do, and it picks a gear and holds it. That’s more than can be said for other mid-size trucks out there.

The Bison devours highway miles effortlessly and the interior space is more than comfortable for any length of drive. Part of me wished we could just head north for Alaska or parts more remote, but a turn onto a dirt road brought my mind back to the task at hand. It was time to see what the truck is like in the dirt. Chevy had us run street air pressure as we headed off into the desert, down a road chock full of embedded and loose grapefruit- and other assorted citrus-sized rocks. The Multimatic Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve (DSSV) shocks, which enable the ZR2 and the Bison to handle jumping and just about anything else, really respond well to a little bit of speed, and the ride smoothed out as speed increased. Even with more throttle applied, the Bison stayed planted and poised in a way that let me know I was barely moving the needle on what the truck can handle as we headed farther into the desert.

 

Soon our route fed us into a wash that bore the results of what happens when billions of gallons of water in an angry flash flood flow through a small space. Lying before us were decomposing granite, tumble-rounded rocks ranging in size from the aforementioned citrus to that of a short block motor, and plenty of angular granite bedrock that had yet to succumb to the forces of monsoon season. It was here that we got to inspect exactly what AEV had added to the ZR2 to make it a Bison. The headline feature is a complete set of skid plates made from hot-stamped Boron steel. Without geeking out on the manufacturing process that makes these skid plates so awesome, just know this: They’re very light and much stronger than the quarter-inch aluminum that other manufacturers offer. AEV’s skid plates are ridiculously thin, yet they’ll hold the entire weight of the vehicle without deflecting, as we were about to find out. AEV also added front and rear bumpers that feature proper recovery points and places to install additional lighting. In the case of the front bumper, an insane amount of engineering and development went into making a steel front bumper that can hold a winch without impacting cooling or frontal crash performance standards. In other words, all these AEV parts add capability and protection without compromising crash safety or engine performance. Can your aftermarket bumper claim that?

It was time to break out the lockers and 4-Lo. The Bison retains the ZR2’s factory front and rear E-lockers (the rear locker can be switched on in any drivetrain mode) that make this vehicle so capable off the dealer’s lot. With spotters in place, Chevy let the assembled crew of journalists test how well these new parts work, as we took on a section of the wash that allowed all the protection on the truck to trade paint with the landscape. The V6 truck that I took through this section did quite well, crawling through with minimal application of throttle; the V6 and eight-speed transmission did a great job of serving up low-end grunt. My spotter signaled that I was about to drop, and as my left foot eased off the brake I simultaneously felt and heard the clunk of setting the truck down on an angular protrusion of granite. Yet, what would have been contact with a part of the drivetrain or a rocker panel was safely protected behind the Bison’s full complement of armor and skid plates.

Journalists cycled through this crawling section, and with folks at the wheel who had admittedly less experience driving off road, the Bison proved its armor is much more than a one-hit wonder. All of the trucks made it through without issue, and with the last truck through the crawling section, I crawled under a couple of different Bisons to see exactly how the skid plates and armor had fared. The Boron steel was scratched or, more accurately, the skid plate coating was scratched, in dozens of places, yet there wasn’t a single gouge or dent anywhere. Lying under this impressive truck, I thought back to all the dented skid plates I’ve hammered and pressed back into shape over the years, and the one time a skid plate didn’t do a thing to prevent a punctured oil pan. Clearly, not all skid plates are created equal, and the Bison’s hot-stamped Boron skid plates are definitely the mark to beat.

Far too soon we were back on high-speed dirt closing in on a paved road, and like anyone about to end a memorable experience, I spent my final minutes in the Bison reflecting on what an awesome vehicle it is. From the factory, with a full warranty, you can have a vehicle that is incredibly capable just about anywhere. Literally all the Bison needs to be a go-anywhere, world-conquering overland rig is a bit of recovery and camping gear. That’s it. AEV and Chevy have done everything else: the Bison is fully protected, sports outstanding suspension, and the drivetrain is fully lockable. And all of this extra awesomeness weighs in at a scant 200 lb. over the ZR2. Oddly enough, the addition of all the skid plates and bumpers actually improves aerodynamics on the Bison over the ZR2 to the point that, during testing, Chevy noticed nearly a 1 MPG increase in fuel economy. How many other trucks can claim that their fuel economy increased as a result of adding full armor?

Fans of another truck whose name rhymes with Paco are going to point out that there isn’t as much aftermarket support for the Bison, and that the smart money is on the truck named after a town in Washington state. Well, what’s awesome about the Bison is that you don’t need a gigantic aftermarket; the vehicle is a top-shelf build off the dealer’s lot. And Chevy has the folks who still want more out of their Bison covered: There’s a complete line of desert racing spec parts for the ZR2 and the Bison. Everything from engine performance parts to DSSV shocks with more stroke and race-spec springs can be added to these trucks, and they also come fully supported with the factory warranty. Clearly Chevy is paying attention to what folks are doing with their trucks, and they’ve teamed up with one of the best names in the Overland industry to produce one hell of a truck. Do yourself a favor: don’t test drive one if you can’t sign the paperwork.

 

Editor’s Note: In 2017 we attended the media launch for the all-new Chevrolet ZR2. OutdoorX4 Magazine Senior Photographer, Scott Brown, dubbed it the “Nearly Perfect Overlander” and you can read his full review in Issue 22 HERE.

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