Chevy's Biggest, Baddest Truck

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Towing capacity; capacious, leather-lined interior

The Bad: Bouncy ride, fuel-thirstiness

The Bottom Line: One of the biggest, baddest-looking trucks on the road

Reader Reviews

Owning a Chevrolet Kodiak C4500 pickup truck has to be among the ultimate power trips. The Kodiak and its sister model, the GMC TopKick, resemble the tractor of an 18-wheeler with an eight-foot pickup bed tacked on its back. One of the biggest trucks you can drive without a special commercial license, it towers over conventional vehicles.

From a practical standpoint, the Kodiak's 16,000-pound maximum towing capacity, plus the additional 5,500 lb. it can carry in cargo, make it a real bear for hauling everything from huge horse trailers to big boats. This is essentially a commercial-grade General Motors (GM) truck chassis that has been tricked out as a high-end pickup truck by Monroe Truck Equipment, a Wisconsin company that modifies truck chassis for specialized purposes&Ium?armored vehicles, dump trucks, fire engines, etc.

This truck tends to appeal to three types of buyer, says Scott Hanewall, general manager of the Flint (Mich.)-based Monroe operation that produces the Kodiak and TopKick. The first two are horse owners (including, he says, a surprising number of women) and contractors, landscapers, and others who use it as a work vehicle during the week and for recreation on the weekend. The third group, he says, are buyers "who just want the biggest, baddest truck they can find."

On the high end, the Kodiak's main competitor is the , International CXT (BusinessWeek.com, 4/28/06), a behemoth pickup truck with a nine-foot-tall cab that starts at $120,000. (There are also a somewhat smaller and less powerful International MXT, which starts at $89,500, and an RXT that starts at just over $80,000.)

On the low end, if you can call it that, are the Ford (F) F450 and the new '08 Dodge Ram 4500?less ostentatious pickups that offer huge towing capacities and dual rear wheels at a lower price. For instance, a rear-wheel-drive 2008 Ford F450 with a crew cab starts at just over $40,000, rising to a $51,280 starting price for a fancy four-wheel-drive Lariat version.

The Kodiak's road presence is nearly as imposing as the International CXT's. The big Chevy is eight feet wide, nearly eight feet tall, and (with a crew cab) 20.5 feet long. It weighs about 10,000 lb. You have a choice of either a huge 6.6-liter, 330-horsepower Duramax diesel V-8 or a huge 8.1-liter, 325-horsepower gasoline V-8.

The Kodiak/TopKick is a relative bargain compared with the International CXT. Hanewall says a Kodiak/TopKick base model with rear-wheel drive starts at about $55,000. In the mid-range, at around $80,000, is the Cinch (after the Western apparel brand) upgrade package that includes distressed leather seats, wood interior trim, and an entertainment system.

A top-of-the-line model goes for upwards of $120,000 and includes navigation and entertainment systems, a power sunroof, leather upholstery, wood interior trim, extra chrome inside and out, heated and power-adjustable seats, power mirrors, windows, and doors, traction control, and a custom paint job. You can find out more about available options at a Monroe/GM Web site devoted to the models.

As you might expect, the Kodiak isn't especially fuel-efficient. In 268 miles of mixed driving in a diesel-powered Kodiak, I got 12.3 miles per gallon. But Hanewall says owners report getting 12 mpg or more with the diesel engine even while pulling heavy loads. The truck also does well off-road. Ground clearance is more than nine inches, and GM says the truck can climb 15-inch steps.

Largely because of fuel-price jitters, overall sales of Kodiak/TopKick commercial work vehicles are down substantially this year. Monroe, however, creates only about 350 custom Kodiak and TopKick pickups per year, and sales are holding up reasonably well, Hanewall says.

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