2011 GMC Canyon Crew Cab

What is new in the 2011 model?

In the 2011 model, GMC Canyon has a couple of minor changes, like new Bluetooth connectivity, 6 months of OnStar’s Connections and Directions for offered free, and the headrests have a new design.

Intro

2011 GMC Canyon is good example of an automobile which all kinds of attributes that the buyers would need but I still find it hard to recommend. The consumers who are shopping in the midsize/compact segment of pick up trucks typically need multiple engine, rugged styling, and choices of body style along with off-road package availability. People who want to tow their equipment of small business’ or any weekend toys would need a lot of power for all such requirements. GMC Canyon does offer you all this, but it is still a truck which can not compete with few bigger league players which are dominating this class currently.

2 important flaws conspire in keeping the current Canyon (and the Chevy Colorado sibling) down for minor leagues. One has an aging cabin along with sub par materials and the seating comfort is so-so. Other is lackluster performance of the engine of top volume, an inline-5 which pales when compared to the V6s of the rivals offering more of refinement and power. Base inline-4 is not bad for the service of light-duty and available power house V8 is capable workhorse. However, it’s fuel thirst does not give this smaller automobile any benefit of fuel economy over the roomier full sized pickups.

Like a lot of lower rated entries in market place automobiles, 2011 GMC Canyon is essentially a pretty competent vehicle. But the conventional leaders of segment – Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier, are trucks which are better in nearly every respect. But if you need to have V8 in the smaller pick up, then the Colorado and Canyon is worth looking at look because only GM twins and Dodge Dakota are offering power of V8 for this class. But people who want a comprehensively refined and an up-to-date mid sized pick up will certainly be disappointed and they should be checking competition first.

Trim Levels, Options, and Body Styles

2011 GMC Canyon is compact truck which is available with 2 or 4 wheel drive in 3 styles of body: regular cab, crew cab, and extended cab. The crew cabs have five foot box of cargo, and the other Canyons have six footed bed. There are primary three levels of trim to choose from — Work Truck, SLT, and SLE – having allocations of different equipment based on the style of body.

Regular Work Truck cab has standard 16 incher steel wheels, bedliner, split 60/40 front bench seats, cruise control, air-conditioning, 6 months of OnStar’s Connections and Directions for free, satellite radio, and Bluetooth connectivity. Regular cab SLE version gives you aluminum wheels, interior chrome accents, fog lights, and upgraded radio along with CD player. However, the power accessories come at extra cost. Extended-cab SLE has full powered accessories and keyless remote entry. Extended-cab SLT gives you chrome wheels, leather-trimmed interior & front bucket power heated seats. The crew cab SLT has all of these features along with heavy-duty suspension.

Available on SLT and SLE trims are Z71 Suspension Off-Road package (this includes bigger tires and wheels, skid plates and rear locking differential on the 4WD versions) and ZQ8 Sport Suspension package (this includes quicker steering, lowered suspension, and 18-inch wheels along with performance tires). The other options on the different models are 18 and 17 inches wheels, keyless remote entry, fog lamps, rear view auto-dimming mirror, front bucket seats, running boards, and a 6-CD changer.

Performance and Powertrains

No less than 3 unique engines are provided on 2011 GMC Canyon – inline-4, V8, and inline-5.

Standard four-cylinder 2.9-liter gives 185 hp and 190 pound-feet torque, along with 3.7-liter optional inline-5 which produces 242 horsepower and torque of 242 lb-ft. The V8 5.3-liter (this is only offered on the extended-cab and the crew cab versions) gives 300 hp and torque of 320 lb-ft. SLE and Work Truck models have standard 2.9-liter engine but you can equip it with 3.7-liter engine. 3.7 is offered standard on the SLT models, and SLT and SLE trims and you can outfitted it with V8.

2.9-liter 4 is paired along with five-speed standard manual transmission except for crew cabs, which only comes with 4-speed automatic. All the manual-shift Canyons can be upgraded to automatic, and 2 bigger engines are just automatic only. RWD is offered standard, and available 4WD has shift-on-fly 2-speed transfer case along with controls of push button and optional rear locking differential.

The estimated fuel economy is an impressive 18-24-20 mpg for city-highway-combined for the 2WD models with 2.9-liter engine and when you get to top-of-line V8 crew cab the numbers go down to 14/19/16.

For safety

2011 GMC Canyon has standard features of safety like OnStar emergency system of communications, anti lock brakes, traction control, stability control, and curtain head air bags.

GMC Canyon hasn’t been rated yet using government’s new and more strenuous 2011 procedures of crash testing. Last year, crew cab got perfect 5 stars for protection of front and passenger driver for the frontal impacts, 3 stars for the front side impacts & 5 stars for the rear side impacts. The regular- and extended- cab styles got 4 stars for front passenger and driver for frontal impacts and 4 stars for the front side impacts.

Crash testing done by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety frontal-offset resulted in top “Good” rating for extended Canyon cab and the crew cab got “Acceptable” rating (it is second highest out of 4). But in the side-impact tests done by the agency, this crew cab got the lowest “Poor” rating.

Special Features and Interior Design

Over the past few years, competitors have been evolving with different levels of refinement and luxury and hence I was disappointed to see that the GMC Canyon is a let down due to mediocre seat design and subpar materials. But Canyon model should be praised for the straightforward and simple lay out of its gauges and controls. The rear leg room is a little pinched on the crew-cab and extended-cab version, while egress and ingress for the rear passengers might be challenging owing to rear smallish door openings. On the back, the cargo boxes of Canyon have 2-tier loading, and removable dual-position tail gate can be partly secured open for support placement of four by eight sheets on the wheel wells.

The driving Impressions

2011 GMC Canyon’s has a relatively tranquil cabin as compared to others around the town, but the wind noise around doors increases at speeds of high way. 4 and 5 cylinder engines are really smooth, but the performance lags behind owing to larger V6s of Canyon’s rivals. Available automatic 4-speed transmission does not give a lot of gears as compared to the competitors but on the bright side, the shifts are well-timed and smooth.

People who yearn for abundant towing and power capability certainly want to specify available V8 5.3-liter, which places this Canyon in same league as the V8-powered brawny Dodge Dakota competitor. The standard suspension of Canyon is calibrated for comfortable and soft ride on the pavement, and Z71 package of Off-Road Suspension improves the off-road performance at cost of on-road compliance. Suspension of ZQ8 sport gives a cornering response which is much crisper.