They went to an 8 speed, I have a 6 speed 2016 Colorado. They also have programmers that will cure the transmission too, I've been reading about them on coloradofans forum and they're getting great reviews, really cleaned up the shifting. I didn't want to risk my warranty so I'll wait until that expires before I worry about a programmer.
They programmed it for fuel savings, so it's always trying to go super low RPM and sip fuel which is fine most of the time.
As for the ride I love it. I drove it from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and back with 4 passengers, spent a week in S. California and it was great. Kids LOVED the unlimited wifi (and so did I) We went down the 101.
Oh and another complaint, you cannot fully turn off traction control. I got stuck in the hayfield (6 inches of mud on top of a frost layer) because I couldn't get the tires to spin enough to clear the tread even after holding the button for 10 seconds and all the traction aid lights come on in the dash. Have to pull a fuse to get it to turn fully off.