Add to favorites Examiner Bio

GM ends production of Chevrolet Kodiak, GMC Topkick; we review, you decide

 

That was the entire press release, quite possibly the shortest ever from an automaker. We drove a Kodiak not too very long ago and here’s what we thought:

 

If the difference between men and boys is the size of their toys, well, we’re not sure where that would take us with the 2008 Chevrolet C4500 Kodiak Pickup. But the driver of one of these big trucks would sure be eligible to vote, drink, run for president and serve hard time in prison, perhaps even in that order. Using a Kodiak pickup for anything other than towing a boat, horse trailer or house (trailer optional), or giving rides to every boy wishing he were manly man enough to command the helm, is surely a crime.

 

The Kodiak pickup is huge. We recently drove one—fortunately not far enough to be responsible for fueling that rig—and can report that just driving one around town is like using a Cray supercomputer to figure your tip at the diner. The C4500 Kodiak chassis, also available in GMC trim as the Topkick and there’s a C5500 version as well, is more commonly used as a base for dump trucks, tow trucks and school buses for really big schools. Equipping one with a standard eight-foot pickup bed is underkill: swatting flies with a sledgehammer, watering petunias with a fire hose, or sending a man out to do a boy’s job.

 

It’s not the engine particularly. Our test Kodiak had the same V-8 Duramax diesel and Allison 6-speed automatic as a Chevy Silverado HD, for example. However, the overall dimensions are somewhat different. Our crew cab model had a wheelbase of 169 inches and a GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 17,500 lbs, with 13,500 at the rear axle. When we say a Kodiak driver looks down on a regular pickup, we mean he really looks down.

 

Or she. The C4500 Kodiak doesn’t take burly arms to drive. It’s just, well, not a girlie truck, what with more grunt than a Russian weightlifter and the irrepressible brawn of a pachyderm and seemingly bigger than both combined out on a blind date. Driving to the mall means parking far and away because the Kodiak will never fit in any close-in parking spaces.

 

 

As ludicrous as the Kodiak pickup would be as a daily driver, it’s really quite civilized in that oddly shaped cab, and with the platform-like diamond plate running boards, not all the hard to get in. The interior is cushy, especially the air-suspended driver’s seat in the air-suspended cab on our test truck. A DVD entertainment system is available (but not installed) to anesthetize back seat occupants, and there’s a lot of room for them, and XM navigation is optional (and installed). Another buyer’s choice item is side rear-view cameras. When the turn signal is used, a camera on that side shows a rearward view down that side of the truck on the nav system screen. With the big trailer mirrors this seems an expensive redundancy. However it does impress the kids.

 

 

The base price of $51,303 and as equipped, including Monroe Truck Equipment So-Low Suspension—two (front) and four inch (rear) lower body height—cab air suspension, electric brake control and more, of $86,763 will impress their elders.

For serious towing or hauling, we’re sure the Chevrolet C4500 Kodiak pickup is ideal. Have at it.

 

For anything less, it’s like giving pony rides on a Clydesdale, reading War and Peace as a bedtime story, or waterskiing behind the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Chevrolet C4500 Kodiak pickup is a manly toy, but you know, there’s only so much manhood that even a manly man can use.

 

Apparently even more than GM.