Review: The 2015 GMC Canyon SLT 4X4 was a Good-Looking Letdown
Having been absent from the U.S. market since after the 2012 model year, the GMC Canyon came back completely redesigned and re-engineered in 2014. The midsize pickup is a unique offering among the Big Three’s models. Ford has a similarly sized truck in its Ranger, but won’t import it to the United States. Ram is reluctant to make a new Dakota.
It was a smart and well-timed move for GM to produce something that its domestic rivals don’t provide to those who need the capabilities of a truck without the enormous dimensions to which full-size pickups have grown.
However, the company made that move into a segment that’s dominated by the Toyota Tacoma. The GMC Canyon returned to dealer lots as a sort of underdog. Unfortunately, the SLT 4X4 model I tested for a week in and around Austin, Texas just didn’t have what it took to go back to GMC as a winner.
Design
I had no idea that was going to be the case when I first saw my Cyber Gray Metallic tester sitting in the driveway. I loved the way it looked. The neutral paint made an attractive collection of curvy, softened right angles even easier on the eyes by coordinating perfectly with the Canyon’s chrome grille and running boards, and 18-inch polished aluminum wheels. The three-bar grille and rounded square headlights gave the Canyon the face of a modern truck and made the rig resemble its big brother, the GMC Sierra, which is a looker itself.
Interior
Although the Canyon’s cockpit had undeniably plastic wood-tone trim, a dated-looking shifter, and a rear seating area better suited to carrying things than adults, I still liked it. The white stitching on the Jet Black leather front seats and the aluminum-look accents on the steering wheel and around the eight-inch touchscreen brightened things up nicely.
My review vehicle had a backup camera, heated front buckets, navigation, and Onstar 4G LTE wireless internet. Forward Collision Alert and Lane Departure Warning were there to keep me in one piece. I appreciated the Canyon’s steering wheel-mounted controls that could cycle through the displays on the screen between the tachometer and speedometer. It was a welcomed upgrade over the odd stalk-based system in the Chevrolet Colorado Z71 I tested last year.
Transmission
It was when I got the Canyon moving that my opinion of it started to sour. Its Hydra-Matic 6L50 six-speed automatic seemed to seldom be in the right gear, especially if I was on a road with anything close to an uphill grade to it. It was rarely where it needed to be and had to play catch-up as a result.
Engine
Putting my right foot down proved to me the Canyon I was testing was too much truck for its own good. The 2.5-liter I4 may be the most powerful four-cylinder in its class, but its 200 horsepower and 191 lb.-ft. of torque still weren’t enough to move the 4,100-pound Canyon with any sort of urgency. It didn’t matter if I had the AC on or off, the traction control active or disabled – when I opened up the Canyon, I experienced a void of power. Ironically, the truck had no pick-up. Paying $950 to upgrade to the 305-horsepower, 269-lb.-ft. 3.6-liter V6 wouldn’t be a bad idea. That engine produced plenty of output for that Crew Cab Colorado Z71 I mentioned earlier.
Fuel Economy
Given that the Canyon was lethargic, I found no reason to flog it around town or on the highway. I drove it with restraint. Despite that, I was lucky to hit 20 combined mpg, short of the official EPA rating of 21 mpg. That organization determined a Canyon configured like my tester can cover 19 city and 21 highway mpg. Upgrading to the V6 means you lose 2 and 1 mpg, respectively, but payload goes from 1,470 pounds to 1,590 and maximum trailering capacity doubles to a flat 7,000 pounds (V6 with Z82 trailering package).
Ultimately, the Canyon SLT 4X4 was a disappointment. There’s a silver lining here, though. With the right engine, the Canyon can be improved. A V6-powered Chevrolet Colorado is proof of that. Also, the 2.8-liter Duramax diesel is coming. Let’s hope it provides a winning combination of plenty of power and better fuel economy.
* My Canyon had an as-tested price of $37,370. That included $2,590 of options, including chrome tube steps ($725), a Bose premium audio system ($500), an eight-inch touchscreen with navigation and IntelliLink ($495), a spray-on bedliner ($475), and the Driver Alert Package (Forward Collision Alert and Lane Departure Warning for $395), and a destination charge of $925.
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