I rented a 2007 Chevy Trailblazer to drive Amanda’s parents around in as we did a big tour of New England in the fall, so I had plenty of time to get aquainted with this vehicle – on both highways and tight city streets.
And I can say, unoquivically, that it sucks.
Having said that, I can’t help but notice… this behemoth of an SUV is everywhere. We stayed at a hotel in Waltham, MA – and the two nights we were there, there were not one, but two other Trailblazers – ironically, they were all the same color!!
The unusual popularity of this SUV confuses me. When I say it sucks, I mean it sucks – and for several very good reasons:
- The steering is loose and disconnected,
- There is far too little rear legroom for such a large vehicle,
- Acceleration comes on in “surges” instead of smoothly,
- Very tipsy (although to be fair, you’d have to expect this),
- Confusing/difficult control stalk (especially the cruise control),
- No limited slip differential makes for limited off-road capability,
- Surprisingly little ground clearance for such a big SUV,
- Jittery steering at highway speed.
Let me elaborate:
The Steering: I know it’s a big SUV, and perhaps I’m spoiled, but it is somewhat frightening in such a big vehicle to be unable to get much feedback from the steering. Half the time it’s like driving in a video game – there’s little to no feedback, making it difficult to steer with confidence.
However – and this is one of the few good points of this SUV – this thing has an excelent turning radius. For this reason, it is surprisingly easy to park.
Rear Legroom: one of the reasons we rented this thing was because we were going on a long trip with 4 people – we wanted rear legroom, plus room for luggage. Surprisingly, most rental places actually charged less for an SUV as opposed to a full-sized car, so we opted for the SUV, thinking that it must have more room – it’s bigger, right?
Well, wrong. The rear legroom in this thing is awful. Even with the front passenger seat all the way forward, there is surprisingly little room back there for the legs of rear passengers. Although there was plenty of room for luggage, it seems to me like a little bit more room could’ve been sacrificed to the passengers. (Perhaps this is why Chevy came out with an “extended” Trailblazer model?)
Surging Acceleration: It’s only got a straight 6 engine, but there’s a fair amount of “oomph” there. The only problem is that it comes on in big “surges” rather than smoothly across the entire rev range. The touchy gas pedal makes city driving – especially accelerating gently from a stop – somewhat challenging.
Tipsy: Well, what large SUV isn’t tipsy? But still, when you combine the surgy acceleration with the disconnected steering and a top-heavy SUV, that’s a recipie for disaster.
Control Stalk: Now, I know Chevy likes to put every single control function on this one stalk, but perhaps some concessions could be made? I eventually figured out the cruise control, but I was on the verge of reading the manual to make sure I had it right.
No Limited Slip Differential: Now perhaps some models DO come with a limited slip diff; I don’t know for sure. But the model we had didn’t. And although we never needed it (being confined to on-road driving pretty much the entire trip), it does kind of seem silly to have a big SUV with a fancy control nob for switching between 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive (automatic), 4 wheel drive (high), and 4 wheel drive (low) – but then neglect to have a limited slip diff.
The upscale SS models have an AWD system – I think Chevy should’ve just made that standard for all models across the range.
And don’t get me started on that control nob – I’m still not quite sure what the difference between 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive (automatic) really is – or why you’d want to switch between them, ever. (If you know, feel free to chime up in the comments.)
Not Much Ground Clearance: The Trailblazer has 7.8 inches of ground clearance. My little Outlander has 8.3 inches. Which one is billed as more of an off-road vehicle?
Jittery steering at speed: Let’s face it, when you’re in a huge vehicle like this, especially an American-made vehicle, you sort of expect it to handle the big highways with ease – just “floating” along, crusing easily and steering with one finger (errr, I mean, both hands firmly on the wheel!). But, with the Trailblazer’s disconnected steering, instead you get a rather “jittery” feeling at speed that doesn’t inspire much confidence. In fact, it can be nerve-wracking at times – especially in a crosswind.
So there you have it – damning evidence of the suckiness of the Trailblazer, collected in over a solid week of driving.
So… why do I still see so many of these things on the road? I just don’t get it…
We just traded our 05 Chevy Trailblazer for a Ford Explorer. Even test driving the Explorer we could tell a world of difference. The only good thing about our trailblazer was the fact that there was plenty of cargo room, which we need because we travel a lot. But everything else sucked. The Explorer is a much more stable, solid, smoother ride. We won’t be going back to Chevy for a long time.
I had an 04 Trailblazer and I loved it. The best car I have owned(out of 5 others). My mom owned an Explorer and when I left for college (at the age of 22), I could no longer afford the payments on the Trailblazer, so me and my mom switched. I now have the Explorer and she has the Trailblazer. Even she says there is no comparison, the Trailblazer is 1000 times better than the Explorer. Comfort, cargo space, handing, towing and not to mention that other than the HEMI Durango, it is the fastest SUV available(at least when I had it, technology changes so fast.) Everytime I go home and drive the TB, I miss it so much. Even something as small as how the windows roll down are the small things that I miss. Maybe it was the Bilstein shocks, but it was so smooth. And as far as off-road capability, I’ve had it to the headlights in snow drifts(in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan) and in about 12-14 inches of mud on stock tires and it never got stuck, unstoppable. Best car I have owned to date.
To answer your question, 2WD is just that, but Auto4 is when the rear tire slips, the 4WD automaticly engages. Great for patchy snow and ice, as driving with the 4WD engaged the whole time WILL destroy your transfer case.
P.S. High speed stability was great. Doing 95 on I75 pulling a jet ski trailer through traffic. Yeah, its that good.
Ok im done but the surging is due to the variable valve exhaust cam. Around 3500 rpm, the lobing changes and the power kicks in. Driving with the A/C on enhances this effect. My guess is that a rental TB isn’t the best one to assess.
Yours must have been very different from the one I drove then, because I assure you, had I driven it through 12 inches of mud, it would’ve gotten stuck, guaranteed. And the surging… well I guess that’s sort of like Honda’s V-TEC then, huh?
Close to VTEC but only on the exhaust side. Hondas are a little smoother because they have developed the technology for over 15 years but some of the older Civics etc. have a surge around 3000-4000 rpms.
Bought one for my wife & she loves it!!!! Only thing I have to say is about the Automatic 4-Wheel drive.
We just had a transfer case replaced because of this feature. According to the mechanic, when in 4-Wheel drive Auto it is neither in 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive normally. There is 80% going to rear wheels and 20% to front wheels until it detects a slip. Then, if you aren’t already in the ditch, it SLAMS itself into 4-wheel drive. This is what ruined our transfer case…thank goodness for warranties!!!
The mechanic told us to drive only in 2-Hi or 4-Hi and the transfer case would last longer.
I’m not a fan of transfer cases like this – too much complexity, too many ways it can go wrong.
For example, I’m still at a loss as to why you would have a “4-Wheel High” and “4-Wheel Auto” mode on the same vehicle – I really don’t see what the advantage is.
If you need something that you can leave on ALL the time, and doesn’t require the driver to futz with it, just make it an AWD system and leave it at that.
If you need something for serious off-road capability, use a selector for 2-Wheel, 4-Wheel High, and 4-Wheel Low. Preferably with manual hub locks (anything electronic can break, usually when you need it the most!).
It seems to me that for the Trailblazer, Chevy just wanted to put as many options on there as possible, to play on the poor driver’s ignorance of the difference between modes. That seems to me somehow… dishonest, and is one of the reasons I don’t like this vehicle.