Always wanted an El Camino, but never had the space in your garage? Chevy’s Brazilian division has an answer for you: the Montana. This twee trucklet may be considerably closer in size and appearance to a work-boot than big sky country, but you may want one regardless.
Sure, it might share its guts with the Chevrolet Agile – a compact five-door the size of a Golf – but this fun-sized ute packs a punch. The bed may only look big enough to fit some of Barbie’s accessories, but it can actually hold 1,671 pounds. Which is only a thousand pounds less than the whole car weighs. A Chevy Avalanche can only manage ever so slightly more in its bed and that thing weighs in at 7,200 lbs.
If you actually managed to fill the Montana up with that much cat liter and Costco muffins, don’t expect to get home quickly. The car boasts a 97-horsepower 1.4 liter flex fuel engine, which, even when unloaded, can only reach 60 mph in a struggling, wheezing 12 seconds. On the plus side, its flex fuel engine will probably run on that cat liter, if you can get it into the tank.
Even so, it will manage a combined 30 mpg, which is pretty darn respectable – especially when compared to, say, a Chevy Avalanche. That hulking leviathan can’t carry any more, yet comes in at a measly 17 combined mpg. This is to say that size matters but not always in the way you think.
Maybe the best thing about this little guy is that you can pick one up in Brazil for a handful of nickels and half a turkey sandwich because the base model only costs $15,143. If you want the sport model – that’s right, there’s a sport model – you are going to have throw in some bacon and avocado on that sandwich.
Even though the interior and options are pretty basic, it’s got everything you need. The standard transmission is a solid, old-school five-speed manual and it even has an optional Bluetooth and USB connectivity.
Unfortunately, Chevy doesn’t seem to have any plans to bring the Montana to the United States. This means that rednecks, landscaping crews, and the mythical young mountain biking family are all going to have to make due with other vehicles. Still, sooner or later, we are going to run out of functioning ‘70s F-150s and ‘80s Toyota trucks in which case we will badly need replacements.
So I for one would welcome this tiny truck, and look forward to the days when all sorts of weird ‘80s niche vehicles roam our streets again.
