Divide, Dive Into Mode, and Conquer: The 2024 Colorado's Off-Road Mastery

Trucks have continued to amaze us year after year here at Jim Butler Chevy of St. Louis, as watching the development of new features for handling terrain has brought about a thrilling taste of the future. Modern suspensions, music and navigation options, and brand-new safety tech have made each day on the job site or beyond a power-rich pleasure. Conditions can change drastically every moment, and today’s technology has brought about many ingenious ways to conquer challenging terrain.

The GM Authority blog took a close look at all the drive modes on the 2024 Chevy Colorado this week, as this excellent tool can quickly prepare the truck for incoming drops in terrain quality and other everyday occurrences. Once you enter “Driver Control Mode” with the knob just to the left of the shift lever, you can access each icon on the Infotainment display and prepare to change things up within split seconds if needed! You can select from Normal, Off-Road, Terrain, Tow/Haul, and Baja modes here. 

Normal is the default mode to be situated in and is always active when you fire up your Colorado with your morning coffee and get ready to roll. It provides excellent handling and comfort levels for driving in everyday conditions and picture-perfect clear skies! Off-Road mode enhances many tech features and systems to beef up performance at low to medium speeds. Fresh dirt, trails, gravel, mud, or a few inches of snow are best tackled in this useful yet universal mode. 

The Off-Road mode also changes the steering, transmission shift points, Electronic Stability Control, and Traction System to allow for smooth navigation on unpaved or washed-out surfaces. Terrain mode steps things up even further to enhance performance when it comes to crawling. There’s a reason why expert rock crawlers are always moving so slowly when you check them out. Crawling is such a precise endeavor that your equipment should be ready to take measures such as engaging in one-pedal driving for ultimate mastery.

This increases brake response aggression while you are in low gear and hold on to upslope until the accelerator is pressed again. This avoids the very dangerous disaster scenario which results in the truck rolling suddenly backward down the incline you’re fixin’ to tackle! The Tow/Haul mode properly preps things for effective trailer hauling. It modifies the pedals, transmission shift points, steering, ABS, ESC, TCS, and Trailer Sway Control. If you happen to shut things down in a hurry, this Tow/Haul will stay active for four hours before reverting to Normal mode. 

The sand-sweeping Baja Mode is only included with the ZR2 and is designated for the roughest and toughest off-road performance. It boosts responsiveness during high speeds, allowing you to move like lightning over gravel, hard dirt, and firmly packed sand. Rear lockers are firmly locked at all speeds, making for a thoroughly expert-grade setting that allows for drifting in the sub-Saharan shake of desert areas. Just around a decade ago, drivers had to deal with their journey head-on, without the ability to make concessions for anything out of the ordinary dished out at them.

Lift kits, knobby tires, and amazing GPS systems made navigating the “tough stuff” a bit better overall when in an excellent truck such as the 2024 Chevy Colorado. Drive modes have become so advanced that they allow for a “cloak and dagger” game plan to pivot quickly on a dime and expertly change up your approach.