2023 GMC Canyon First Drive Review: The Midsize Pickup With the Best That GM Offers

Even before General Motors redesigned the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickup twins, they were our top picks in the segment. Sure, the Toyota Tacoma garnered more fervent support—and sales—and the Ford Ranger and Jeep Gladiator were newer, but the GM trucks were solid, well-rounded offerings. Neither did anything particularly well but also lacked glaring faults, such as the Tacoma's odd seating position and ancient underpinnings, the Ranger's vaguely cheap feel, or the Gladiator's funky towing behavior.

The quietly solid Colorado and Canyon have only gotten better, though, and after driving both all-new trucks, the GMC might be our favorite between the two.

As before, the 2023 Canyon wears unique styling inside and out. Unlike before, GM has given the GMC real differentiation from its Colorado sibling beyond a squarer look and slightly nicer interior.

Every Canyon comes standard with the Colorado's highest-output engine, a turbo 2.7-liter I-4 making 310 hp and a delicious 430 lb-ft of torque. (Chevy sells the Colorado with two weaker-output versions of the same 2.7-liter engine, the lowliest of which makes 237 hp and 259 lb-ft; these I-4s replace last year's base non-turbo engine, V-6, and diesel options.) This new engine muscle is backed up by the visual kind: Every Colorado comes standard with the wider-track suspension limited to the Chevy's off-road variants; meaty all-terrain tires and blistered fenders are likewise included.

To put some numbers to those descriptors, the entry-level GMC Canyon Elevation model's suspension gets a 2-inch lift relative to the least expensive Colorado Work Truck (WT), on par with the Chevy's Trail Boss variant. Ditto the Canyon AT4 (Trail Boss equivalent) and upscale Denali trims. The range-topping (for now) Canyon AT4X, which is analogous to the hardcore off-roader Colorado ZR2, gets that truck's 3.0-inch lift and Multimatic DSSV (dynamic suspensions spool valve) dampers.

The Elevation and AT4's 66.1-inch front and rear track widths are girthier than the Colorado WT and LT models' 62.8-inch dimensions, while the Denali's 66-inch front and 65.9-inch rear figures shade the Colorado Z71's 62.8-inch front and 62.6-inch rear track widths. Unsurprisingly, the Canyon AT4X's 66.3-inch track widths match those of the Colorado ZR2. Like the Chevy, the Canyon now only comes one way: with a four-door crew-cab body and short (6-foot, 2-inch) bed. The old extended-cab and long-bed configurations are gone.

You might not realize GMC no longer sells the Canyon with its diesel option, given how the new 2.7-liter I-4 gas engine behaves. Adapted from the larger Chevy Silverado 1500, this meaty four-cylinder is large—and it lopes like a diesel. Stir in the mighty torque it produces, which is spread over what feels like a wide rpm range, and memories of the previous-generation Canyon's 2.8-liter turbodiesel grumble to the surface from the second you press the 2023 Canyon's ignition button and hang around during nearly every acceleration event.

The growling never rises too high in volume, so it's generally agreeable, but your right foot will feel the vibes through the throttle pedal. And why grumble about the, um, grumbly engine when perhaps its best attribute is that it's included on every Canyon? The available torque is mighty useful for passing or scooting away from stop lights, and we think this new truck will be quicker than the old V-6-powered one.

As before, the GM 8L80 automatic tends to race to the highest gear ratio possible, but there's so much twist available from the turbo engine that downshifts are only given for firm bootfuls of throttle or when climbing a steep grade. It would also be nice if GMC included a proper manual gear selection mode—as it is, the truck's shift lever sports a tiny thumb switch for shifting up and down, provided the lever itself is in L, not D. There's a readout in the digital gauge cluster for the current gear, which is nice, but some paddles or a dedicated shift gate would invite more use.

We didn't note many differences in behaviors of the various other Canyons we sampled outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Every non-AT4X-grade Canyon drives more or less the same, with a controlled ride, minimal rear axle jiggle even over cratered forest roads, and seemingly tight build quality. Even beating the daylights out of several Canyons never elicited so much as a squeak or a rattle from anywhere inside the cabin, and the frame feels robust.

In fact, we liked the entry-level Elevation model the best. With the same suspension setup as the AT4—the only difference being the former's mud tires versus all-terrains—it acts and nearly looks just as burly, albeit for less money. Between those thick-sidewalled tires and the suspension's tuning, it soaks up rutted surfaces and dispatches them surprisingly well for a midsize truck with a leaf-sprung rear axle.

The Canyons all feel wide, with a spread-out stance that's palpable from behind the wheel. Go around a corner, and the GMC carves a smart path, its body resisting excessive leaning onto the outside front tire. Partly, this sensation of stable width is owed to the firmly damped suspension, and partly to the horse-blinder A-pillars and door mirror mounts, which severely limit visibility across the hood to the sides. The chunky forward view is generally positive, but drivers should take special care when taking turns in pedestrian-heavy areas. Those blind spots are no joke.

On road or off it, the Canyon's steering ratio feels a hair sluggish for the chassis' apparent capabilities, requiring more input than expected around most corners. This truck drives nicely enough to deserve tighter steering—especially given its newly lengthened wheelbase. GMC (and Chevy) moved the front axle forward a massive 3.1 inches relative to the old model, a boon for looks, ride quality, and straight-line stability.

Cabin differences between the various grades are minimal, amounting mostly to different padded inserts in the dashboard and door panels. In every Canyon those panels are surrounded by the same hard plastics with so-so graining. Again, this works in favor of the least expensive Elevation, which feels about as nice to sit in as the pricier Denali and AT4X versions. We should note rear-seat space is seemingly tighter than it was before; even medium-height drivers will be cramped while "sitting behind themselves."

GMC similarly democratizes a digital gauge cluster and new 11.3-inch touchscreen across all trims, though the Elevation and AT4 get a smaller 8.0-inch driver display that's more or less square, compared to the wider-format 11.0-inch unit on the rest of the Canyon lineup. We dug the new screen's sharp fonts and graphics, and the central touchscreen in particular is generally intuitive, though there is a lot you can do on it, including spinning a virtual copy of your truck around and fiddling with different settings via little hovering buttons all over it.

As in the Colorado, the gauge cluster display's configurability via steering-wheel controls (where most competitors place such controls) is awkwardly limited, requiring you to wade into the main touchscreen to make finer changes to or reset, say, common gauge cluster functions like the trip computer. You can make sweeping visual changes to the layout using the steering wheel buttons, however, by changing the basic tach and speedometer gauges view to a more off-road-focused layout with fore/aft and side-to-side angles, an altimeter, and more.

Most egregiously, though, GMC places the headlight controls on the touchscreen. We learned this after driving into a dark tunnel and fumbling around for a few moments for a stalk or dashboard control before the automatic headlights mercifully kicked on. There is no physical control for them—only a lightbulb-shaped icon at the top of the touchscreen, which, even more frustratingly, you must press before a menu of various headlight options (off, parking lamps, headlights on, etc.) appears, requiring yet another button press to change something. Another curiosity? The dashboard rocker switch depicts four windows stacked atop each other; press it, and all four windows drop simultaneously. Great—but you can't roll them back up all at once using the same button. Dumb.

Generally satisfying and rugged though the entire Canyon lineup is, what with its lifted and widened suspension, it feels like a farm system for the AT4X model. This is GMC's equivalent to the off-road Chevy Colorado ZR2, right down to fancy frequency-selective Multimatic dampers, lifted ride height, and locking front and rear differentials. We bounced the new-for-2023 AT4X down some fairly brutal logging roads and beyond, and drove away thinking we'd barely drawn a sweat from the pickup.

The Multimatics steal the show, as they do on the Chevy Colorado ZR2 (both the new one and the previous-gen version), taming wheel motions over rocks, ridges, and more. The faster you drive, the smoother the ride gets, and even on-road, the dampers deliver excellent rebound control and the same ability to round off sharper impacts. These pieces elevate the Canyon's baseline handling nicely, though the lift springs allow some extra lean in sharper corners.

If you're looking for one of the better midsize pickups out there, and don't want to spend much money, stop reading. Consider a Colorado. But if you demand solid performance, nice equipment, and top power, the GMC is your truck—if only because Chevy limits this powertrain to its highest variants.

You'll pay for the one-stop-shop privilege, as the base Canyon Elevation model with two-wheel drive (four-wheel drive is standard on every other trim) starts at $38,095—thousands more than its less powerful Chevy alternatives.

On the upside, the pricing for the Elevation is actually lower than it was for last year's six-cylinder versions (the truck's overall price jump comes from the elimination of cheaper trim levels). We don't yet know how Toyota's next-generation Tacoma will drive, or whether it'll be a good deal, but that sales leader is being redesigned this year. Ford's new Ranger also arrives shortly.

Yet based on what we've seen so far, the Canyon (and Colorado) have what it takes to stay our favorites, but the competition's getting fiercer, so there could soon be a shuffling to the order.