My daughter is thinking about 2006 5 cyl. colorado for a little truck too haul a kayak and paddle board on. Does anyone have any experience with one? It will not be a daily driver, just bad weather or going to play for the most part. thanks Darrell

Wow 81 views and no one has said a thing, they must not have any fans. She has decided she want a full size truck anyway.

FWIW, I had an '04 Canyon 4 door (it's twin) for ~2.5 years. I liked it a lot actually. It had the off road package, was the most predictable, controllable off-road truck I've been in...granted all the others have been older full size trucks. The only repairs I had were the thermostat (easy to replace) and the speed sensor in one hub went out. I believe the '06 have the 3.7l version on the 5 cyl. Mine had the 3.5l. Had plenty of power, though....more than my '94 Chev 350.

Life threw me a curve ball and I decided to sell it. I wish I had it back every time I see one.

Your daughter made the right decision. A guy at work had one that taught him far more than he wanted to learn about brakes and front end suspension repairs. He sold it for far less than you'd want for a new purchase truck after three years of ownership. These days he drives an '05 Silverado nearly identical to mine. Neither of us have had any real problems with ours, other than the speed sensors. If she hasn't bought one already, a full-size standard cab long box 4x4 with a V-8 and automatic would be my first choice for her use.

For full sized pickups made the last few years, that's not an option. The only standard transmissions available in recent years are in Dodge diesels. No Fords, Chevys, or any makes in the US have them.

I have a 2002 Ford Explorer Sport-Trac that I really like for small, light, hauling. It has a quad-cab, so it is much more comfortable than a standard cab pickup with more than 2 people and, in a pinch, you can sleep in the back seat if you're not too tall or wide. The only time that it struggled was hauling 4 guys, their gear, and 7 whitetails 6 miles over a muddy, snow covered, cattle pasture two track about 44 miles south and 15 miles east of Valentine, NE.

You're absolutely right. The Silverado fitting that exact description is twelve years old now, something that's hard to remember at times is not recent. It does only have 51 k on it, though, so it seems almost new to me.

I think the new Colorado trucks are much better than the old 5 cyl. versions...

Read up on the atlas enging..it's pretty impressive...th

I believe 06's have the Anti-lock brake sensor mounted in the front wheel bearing housing so every time you replace brake pads it cost you a $200 bearing also. Plenty on the web about them I am not 100% sure on year range! Whichever years have it you can't hardly give away.

Mike

I have an '04 5cyl. with over 200K. It's been a great truck for me with very few issues.

My pard has an 05 with 250k miles on it and it is still as good as new. I'm impressed.

I test drove a 2007 when I was looking at pickups. I ended up buying a Nissan Frontier. I didn't like the Chevy, the front end felt loose and sloppy compared to the Nissan, though the handling was a little better. I just didn't like the build quality of the Chevy. Still don't like them. This was a new truck, and it still squeaked and squawked. All in all, I though it was crap.

I liked that 2007 Frontier enough to buy another one in 2016.