The 2025 GMC Canyon AT4X AEV is conflicting. On one hand, it’s an amazingly capable truck that looks great and drives well considering the extreme degree of off-road equipment on board. On the other hand, there are some concessions in the manner of inherent traits that could potentially become rather bothersome over time, and frankly that were such even over a week of testing.
What Is It?
The AT4X AEV is a 2025 Canyon at heart, which like other 2025 Canyons means it’s a crew-cab, short-box pickup powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The AT4 is the equivalent of the Chevrolet Colorado Z71, a street-first truck with some off-road cred. Add one letter and it becomes the AT4X which is the equivalent of the Chevy Colorado ZR2, which means it gets off-road focused goodies like a 3” lift kit, Multimatic shocks, locking front and rear differentials, 285/70/17 off-road tires, trim-specific interior bits, underbody cameras, Baja mode, trailering kit, a spray-on bedliner, and so on.
One rung up at the top of the Canyon’s off-road trim ladder (there’s the Denali for those who want a luxury-first experience) is the AT4X AEV, which is outfitted by American Expedition Vehicles (hence the AEV moniker). The AEV package adds things such as a transfer case skid plate, rear differential skid, fuel tank skid, AEV steel rear bumper, wheel flares, red seat belts, 315/70/17 tires, a bed-mounted spare tire carrier, and so on.
How’s It Look?
The third-generation GMC Canyon is a good looking pickup even in base form, and the higher up the ladder you go the better– and meaner– its styling becomes. This AT4X AEV is a showstopper as far as midsize trucks go, with special thanks to the Volcanic Tint red paint, black wheels, aggressive bumpers, and mean off-road stance. We couldn’t help but stare.
How’s It On The Inside?
From the onset, the general automotive media has complained about how the third-generation Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon have headlight controls that are managed via the center touchscreen rather than on a physical stalk, button, or dial. We’re not that bothered by this, but rather point that frustration towards the interior in general. We do very much appreciate all of the physical controls in the center stack, especially for HVAC, yet the lack of switchgear in some places you’re used to it (thanks to the removal of buttons in favor of screen-operated controls) leads in turn to larger swaths of plastic, bringing about a sensation that the vehicle’s interior just feels decontented and thus cheapened.
The democratization of the touchscreen from phone to vehicle has made operating some vehicle-specific controls– like the headlight switch, as is the case here– become something we miss, or at least are saddened to have to use the infotainment hub for.
When changing settings doesn’t feel any different on your iPhone than it does on a brand-new over-$70k pickup, it’s easy for a seemingly minor complaint to get under your skin. Also annoying is that the touchscreen– which you do need to interact with more than is optimal– gets exceedingly hot on warmer days, even with the A/C (which works great) blowing hard.
We’re not done nitpicking the interior. The cramped rear seat isn’t of issue– it’s to be expected in a midsize truck– but rather some choices made by GM(C) leave us wondering. One of such is the choice to use piano black accents on places like the 2WD/4WD selector (the dial for which is in fact somewhat inexpensive feeling relative to the truck’s price), which makes things hard to see when the light hits it the wrong way. Worse is the white color splashed across the cabin; any off-roader will tell you that white is the worst offender as far as interior colors go, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know why. Given that this is a pickup designed specifically to be excellent off-road, having white leather in places is a cardinal interior sin.
Otherwise, the interior is a solid place to be so long as you set your expectations right. It’s fairly comfortable, easy to spend time in, and pretty well insulated for a vehicle with the underlying bones of a $38k truck. With a few simple changes, it could be truly fantastic; as-is, it’s a mixed bag, just like the rest of the truck.
How’s It Drive?
It’s clear that the money that makes up the bulk of this truck’s MSRP goes directly into the suspension and off-road tech. The former, shared with the Colorado ZR2, is just so good. We didn’t test the truck’s rock crawling ability (which we also know to be excellent) but we did blast down some reasonably rough unpaved residential roads. This barely crested the surface of the suspension’s ability even when in the normal drive mode, and it only gets better once you turn that dial to Baja.
Baja mode is so good it deserves a short story of its own. For reference, the roads in my locale are pretty crappy, but there’s one bump in particular on my own street that’s truly horrific. It’s not a pothole so much as it is a huge change in road height over a very short distance with a manhole cover peeking out from atop the larger mound for good measure… and there’s two of these mounds within a span of two vehicle lengths of each other. It’s so rough that it could pass for a section of whoops out west, or even a jump for a dirt bike. In my own vehicle I have to slow down to under 5 MPH to go traverse it without chaos ensuing.
The GMC takes this hurdle in stride in its normal drive mode, but in Baja mode it shines. No truck that I have driven in recent times– or possibly ever– has been so unaffected by this bump. In Baja mode, the Canyon is entirely unphased. You can hit the bumps off throttle, at a constant throttle, or while accelerating. There’s one motion up and down and it’s back to business. It’s less jarring at 30 MPH than it is in most vehicles at 3 MPH. I was and remain blown away by this compliance from the Multimatic suspension.
Driving the Canyon is otherwise unremarkable. The turbocharged 2.7-liter engine is rated at 310 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque and is paired to an eight-speed transmission. It has enough oomph, but it’s in the running for the slowest-feeling 300-plus horsepower vehicle I’ve ever driven. That’s perhaps evident in the 14.8 MPG that I averaged over my week of testing, which included a fair share of 40 to 50 MPH constant cruising, theoretically where the Canyon would get its best MPG (in a high gear at low RPM). The engine just might be overtaxed here.
Is It Good, And Why Does It Exist?
It has to be said that a midsize pickup with a 35-inch tire mounted semi-permanently in the bed somewhat negates the purpose of the pickup itself. Fitting anything in the already-medium 5-foot bed is a job inhibited by the tire, and having the spare mounted up against the window (as opposed to a bed side as in some off-road race rigs) brings rearward visibility to an almost nonexistent level. With the off-road kit on board, the truck’s towing capacity also drops to 5,500 pounds (down from the standard truck’s 7,700-lb capacity), and the payload capacity runs a pretty poor 1,250 pounds. Maybe it is good you can’t fit much in the bed.
We didn’t tow with the Canyon but feel obligated to mention that we found doing so with Colorado ZR2 that’s effectively the Canyon AT4X AEV’s twin to be a lackluster experience even when pulling relatively little weight. This plus the relative uselessness of the Canyon AT4X AEV’s bed makes it a truck that’s trying to do so much but is confined to just being a good off-roader rather than a good truck in the process.
What’s The Cost, And Is It Worth The Price?
As we know, everything is expensive these days and it’s easy to look at a vehicle and call it overpriced so we’ll try to refrain from doing so. The Canyon AT4 starts at $45,700 and as optioned with the AT4X and AEV packages this truck comes to a whopping $70,350. Midsize trucks being wildly expensive aside, we’re reluctant to say the Canyon is worth the money, but it’s a good truck that’s fabulous at its intended off-road purpose. Where it lacks is in places related to the Canyon’s inherent traits, like the screen and engine.
So $70k is a ton of money for a midsize pickup, and it might have been a fine price to pay during the days of the hyper-inflated prices in the fallout from Covid-19, but that might not fly the same way today. And GMC might know the Canyon AT4X AEV is overpriced: As of this writing, the AT4X package is usually $6,690 and is currently discounted to $4,940), and the AEV package usually runs $10,100 and is discounted to $6,850 on Build & Price tool. On Cars.com, many new Canyon AT4X examples are listed at $9k under MSRP. Moral of the story: There’s deals to be had. For reference, that eclipses the starting price of the Ford Ranger Raptor ($56,070), Jeep Gladiator Mojave X ($61,100), and even widely-criticized-for-its-price Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro ($64,135).
At those discounted prices we have an easier time recommending the Canyon AT4X AEV. Building something this capable via the aftermarket would take a significant amount of money and endless time and effort. That GMC brings a truck this capable, compliant, and usable every day to the buyer in a midsize truck with a factory warranty is something we could only have dreamed about a decade ago.
This has us daydreaming; what we really want is something we can’t have. The best parts of the Canyon AT4X AEV are the size and performance, and it’s a shame that GM and GMC don’t have a full-cab body-on-frame SUV they can toss the Multimatic suspension and off-road accouterments at to compete with the Jeep Wrangler, Ford Bronco, Toyota 4Runner, and Lexus GX. Its bed, towing, and hauling are the big letdowns. Repackage the Canyon AT4X AEV as a four-door SUV with more covered storage and it would be simply amazing. Maybe name it Jimmy? It could do well alongside a spiritual successor to the real Chevy Blazer.
As it stands, the things to like about the Canyon AT4X AEV are mostly in the off-road department. Buyers should be prepared to make truck-centric and livability-based concessions to get a General Motors-backed pickup of this size with this much off-road ability. It’s a compromised truck to its core, and yet we still find some things deeply appealing about the Canyon AT4X AEV.
Yay
- Suspension from the off-road gods themselves
- Fantastic ride quality, steering, and compliance for being on 35” tires
- Looks mean
- Huge breadth of off-road capability
- A good size for the meeting points of comfort and usability
Nay
- Screen-reliant (and the screen gets hot)
- Lackluster engine, especially considering the price
- White interior touches are a poor choice for an off-road focused truck
- Sacrifices its ability as a pickup in the sake of off-road cred
The Takeaway
Comfortable on pavement and a beast when the road turns to dirt (or mud, or rock, etc), the 2025 GMC Canyon AT4X AEV is an excellent off-roader let down by sub-optimal choices in the ergonomics, trim, powertrain, and price departments. It’s a blast to drive and great to look at, just know that there’s aspects of the underlying Canyon that could negatively impact one’s opinion of the truck when it comes to everyday interactions.