2015 Chevrolet TrailBlazer First Drive Review

2016 Chevrolet TrailBlazer India Test Drive Review

The Big American Giant “Chevrolet TrailBlazer” is launching next month in India, will rival Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero and Ford Endeavor.

After being quiet for some time and launching just refreshed and limited editions, it was time to launch some new products in India. Despite in line with strategy, the report card wasn’t that successful. Critics saying these products aren’t right for India and other incidents like recalls which do upset the nature of Indian buyers to some extent had played a negative role.

GM tends to fight back and wants to come top down approach. The first plan of action according to GM was that it wants to cut costs and manufacturing end and the second is launching products. Chevrolet TrailBlazer is the one, which has restarted innings for GM in India and post that other premium products will come in soon, for example the Cruze. The Chevrolet TrailBlazer has been tested by us for a short period of time and we give you an initial impression of this SUV.

Chevrolet Trailblazer LTZ 2WD Price – Rs. 26.4 Lakh

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-side

Mammoth is the first thing that comes to the mind when you see this SUV. The Large boxy shape of the vehicle is imposing and sure catches attention due to a brand new product on the streets. There are subtle curves in the way the windows are done, which gives it character. Rear of the car is very modern and clean with large LED tail-lights and well crafted sheet metal.

Front is where its smart headlamps and bow-tie grill of Chevrolet grabs a lot of attention and design as always with Chevy’s is in your face. Overall, Thumbs up to the design and this design can make it stand out from the crowd as its new competition is a bit toned down and customers prefer this type of styling.

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-interior

Interior wise the quality all around is good, not great, but this segment has never seen high quality either, leaving behind the Santa Fe though. Fit-finish levels are good and it seems built to last. Interior feels modern, but a wee bit dated due to fonts, dial and layout. Leather seats are good quality and massive size of the seats means anybody can comfortably be in front and second row of seats.

However lumbar support is missing for driver. You have a lot of cubby space to throw your things around. The dial controls A/C controls and touch screen to control your multimedia features. Reversing camera and sensors are here to make things easier. Space in the all three rows is fantastic. Third row is only good for short trips and for kids though.

trailblazer v2-12

Powering this mammoth SUV is 2.8l DURAMAX engine which makes bonkus power figures such as 200 PS and 500 Nm of torque. This is by far the most powerful SUV on the market today and will be for a long time considering the upcoming competition does not make these figures despite larger engines. The engine is smooth and refined by four-cylinder standards, but there is noise creeping in at higher RPM’s. We sampled the automatic gearbox and it isn’t as bad we think about torque converters.

Chevrolet Trailblazer India-1

Since torque comes at around 2000 RPM, there is a bit of lag from the engine and the automatic gearbox, there is a bit of delay experienced when trying to close a gap. When driving sedately in city or highway, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer is just fine and does the job well. Highway grunt is more than enough and this SUV crosses limits very quickly and very effortlessly.

There is also manual mode with the Autobox and that is as seamlessly, as a manual transmission. Overall, a great performer in this segment by a subtle margin considering fact that it is lugging around weight up to 2 tonnes or more.

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-off-road

Dynamically, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer is a ladder on a frame built and it has been revised to deliver better handling and composure on roads of any type. We also did experience a bit of off-roading in a short period of time and the TrailBlazer eats up bad roads well and depature and approach angles are quite impressive, but lack of 4×4 doesn’t make a hardcore off-roading machine.

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-price

However, we can tell you on the road in a straight line it was very impressive. Around the corners there is body roll, but it is well contained. There is a lot of grip from 18-inch wheels and tyres are impressive. Braking is fantastic as ventilated discs at the front and solid disc brakes at the rear provide more than enough stopping power as the pedal feel is good enough too. However, under heavy braking the car tends to loose its grip and ABS kicks in way to early.

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-India-rear

Overall, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer drives well enough, has a punchy, powerful diesel engine and given the fact that it is loaded enough when it comes to features. Chevrolet TrailBlazer is high on space and also on the emotional appeal the Indian SUV buyers have. Chevrolet TrailBlazer is a mammoth SUV, which has a lot of presence and character.

2016- Chevrolet-TrailBlazer-Vs-Toyota-Fortuner
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It has the appeal which the stable mate Cruze had, we know there is no similarity but actually there is. Like the Cruze the styling and performance factor is very high, which could actually lure a set of buyers who wanted an SUV and don’t mind the extra cash at all. Chevrolet TrailBlazer has what it takes to stay in the segment at least and that’s more than enough to say as of now because a road test, pricing and a comparison will tell the rest.

Pros –

  • Powerful Engine
  • Mammoth stance
  • Extremely Spacious

Cons –

  • No 4×4 as of now
  • No Lumbar support
  • CBU Pricing (Yet to be launched)

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2015-chevrolet-trailblazer-first-drive-review-170938The Big American Giant "Chevrolet TrailBlazer" is launching next month in India, will rival Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero and Ford Endeavor. After being quiet for some time and launching just refreshed and limited editions, it was time to launch some new products in India. Despite...