General Motors, under its brand name Chevrolet, has had its ups and downs with its products here in India.
General Motors, under its brand name Chevrolet, has had its ups and downs with its products here in India. They have seen some very good times and recently not so very good ones too. Their portfolio includes some neat, small cars, sedans, UVs and SUVs. The Chevrolet Captiva is its sole true blue SUV that has been on sale here since long. Now to make a strong statement and do some brand building, General Motors has recently introduced its biggest SUV, the Trailblazer that has replaced the Captiva. The SUV gets imported as a CBU into India from Thailand. We drive this mighty, full-sized SUV to get under its skin and find out how it actually is. Read on to know all on Chevrolet’s latest for India.
Food for thought – General Motors has been producing the Trailblazer since 2000 across North America, Thailand, United States and Brazil. This SUV is also sold under the GM brand name ‘Holden’ and has been rechristened as the ‘Colorado 7’ in a few countries. Currently, the Trailblazer is in its 2nd generation.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Exteriors:
Meaty, mighty and bulky. These are the initial impressions that you make as soon as you see the Chevrolet Trailblazer. Standing tall, wide and with a lot of dominance, this is a XXL-sized `truck’ as termed in the US. If you thought the Toyota Fortuner is huge, this beast beats that in terms of exterior dimensions. The overall length of this SUV is 4,878mm, while the width is 2,132mm. Standing at 1,851mm in height, this SUV has a ground clearance of 253mm, weighs 2068kgs and has an overall wheelbase of 2845mm.
Upfront, the Trailblazer gets a dominating face that comprises of a signature dual-port split grille with chrome inserts defining it, a thick bumper line bisecting the grille and the family Chevrolet bowtie logo placed on it. The SUV has a lot of height and the bonnet is placed at a good height. The projector headlights are flushed into the body and have the swept-back design look on them. The front bumper houses tiny round projector-type fog lamps that are placed in black surrounds with a dash of chrome lining that define them. The bonnet is large, wide and flat, with a few smooth body lines that run around here. The fenders are wide and tall, with a near flat design to them. There is a lot of distance between the tyres and the wheel arches as a result of the high ground clearance on this SUV.
The sides of the trailblazer are flat, except for a sharp body line that runs across the lower section of the sides, giving it some much needed styling. You have a `DURAMAX` logo in chrome on the front door, which is branding for the engine that the Trailblazer is powered by. The sides also get the required step board in black finish. This giant comes fitted with 265/60 R18 spec Bridgestone Dueler HT tyres on 6-spoke silver alloy. Wing mirrors come housed in chrome body housing and have turn indicators mounted on them. The windows get black frames, whereas the roof gets a roof-rail that makes the vehicle look still taller than it actually is. Door handles have chrome finish. The inclusion of keyless entry-exit feature is missed here.
Going towards the rear, this section gets a nice, rounded look due to the flushed third row glass area that mates well with the rear windshield, giving it a neat-gelled look. The tail section gets highlighted with trendy-looking multi-LED flushed in body tail lamps, a large tailgate and slim, wide rear bumpers adorned with stop lights. The rear windshield is large and extends itself to the entire width of the tailgate. A thick, chrome strip runs horizontally just above the number plate under the large bowtie Chevrolet logo. The spare wheel is mounted under the vehicle and the exposed exhaust enhances the macho SUV appeal of this vehicle. Doors open wide and the boot lid opens upwards. The Trailblazer is a CBU imported from Thailand, the fit and finish is good and so is the paint quality. The SUV looks impressive and very dominating in flesh.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Interiors:
To step inside this tall-cabined Trailblazer, you need to use the step-board and hold the grab handle placed on the A-Pillar. The cabin gets a dual color theme with black and beige all around. The dashboard gets its top in black and the lower section in beige color. The instrument cluster looks a lot like the one on the Corvette with thick and deep dual bezel housing and soft blue, backlit instrumentation dials, along with a MFD display unit in the middle. The instrumentation is not modern, but nevertheless is practical and to the point. You get all the needed vital parameters flashing on the MFD display, including trip meters, fuel efficiency indicator, distance to empty, transmission shift indicator, drive mode, eco mode parameters etc. The steering is a three- spoke affair and has manual adjust for height. There is no adjust available for reach. You get all the multifunction control buttons for controlling multimedia and telephony placed on the steering.
The center dash gets a 7 inch color LCD touchscreen display head unit. The multimedia unit on the Trailblazer is driven by Chevrolets `My Link’ OS that connects smartphones, integrates radio, can play pictures and also movies etc. from your devices wirelessly or via USB inputs. This screen also doubles up as your reverse camera when needed. You can also get your smartphone notifications, read or compose messages etc. through `My Link’. The center dash gets a neat-looking housing finished in glossy, piano black finish. The climate control is a round design unit that reminds you of the one seen on the Nissan Sunny. You get closable storage space on top of the dash and very useful twin opening glove boxes on the Trailblazer. The dash gets sliding can holders on the extreme corners. There is a neat and conveniently placed storage space just below the steering too, which can fit in your mobile phone or purse etc.
The auto transmission shifter is the conventional-shaped one with chrome and leather wrapping on it. The glossy piano black surrounds continue on the center console along with storage space, can holders and a closable storage bin with a center armrest on it. The seats come in beige leather upholstery. The driver’s seat gets electrical adjust for height, reach and backrest, while the front passenger seat comes with manual adjust. Seating in the front is very comfortable with generous amount of space for leg and head room. The seats offer good support and seating position. Middle row seats are 40:60 split-folding ones with integrated center armrest on them. Seating here offers you lots of leg and head room.
One of the best middle row seats in the segment are on this one. The only thing missing is the adjust to set the back of the seat. The middle row seats can be folded in the tumble-down style, leading easy access to the third row seats. The third row can seat 2 adults with decent amount of leg and head room. These seats can fold fully down into the floor in 50-50 split style. With the third row seats folded up, you get 205 liters of boot space which can be further extended to a mammoth 1,830 liters of luggage space with the third row seats folded down when needed. You get AC vents for the entire front, middle and third row seats and also an individual fan speed control for the middle and last row.
The interiors on the Chevrolet Trailblazer may lack some modernities and snazzy gadgets, but nevertheless what makes this stand out is the amount of cabin space, practicality and comfort. Build quality on the cabin is pretty good, fit and finish and switchgear is of high standards and the `My Link’ integrated system is fun to use. We sorely missed the inclusion of a GPS unit in here.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Engine, Transmission and Drive:
Powering the Chevrolet Trailblazer is a 2.8 liter diesel engine. This engine hails from the Duramax family of Chevrolet engines and hits out 200PS of peak power with a mammoth torque of 500Nm. These power figures are slightly more than the closest rival, the Toyota Fortuner, that has 169PS of power and 360Nm of torque from its larger (3.0L) Japanese engine.
This 2.8L Duramax engine is mated with a 6-speed automatic transmission (the Fortuner comes with 5-speed AT transmission). Though there is a 4×4 version of the Trailblazer in the overseas market, General Motors has gone with the 2WD version only for India. Start the meaty engine and you instantly notice that this motor is rev-happy. Shift to the drive mode and you get the 500Nm of torque to play with. It surges ahead like a locomotive with good punchy power at low rpm, making it a tireless 2-tonner to drive in the city. The car feels agile and nimble, and the available power across the rpm helps in your overtake maneuver whenever needed. The steering feedback is heavy as with these big SUVs and a true blue SUV lover will feel at home here.
Seating position is commanding, making you feel invincible while in the driver’s seat. With its class-leading ground clearance of 253mm, the Trailblazer is happy to go over any and every thing that you want it to, be it bad roads, deep pot holes, huge speed breakers etc. The body on ladder architecture makes the ride quality typical SUV style. The suspension setup on this beast is tuned on the softer side and more for comfort. Jerks and bumps from the road are all nicely ironed out, partly also due to the 18 inch wheels. The 6-speed automatic transmission is quick and shifts are smooth. You also have the option of driving in the tip-tronic shift mode if you want to control the shifts.
The NVH (Noise Vibrations Harshness) in the cabin is good with huge amount of sound damping available in this cabin. The ladder on frame setup does tend to give the ride some amount of body roll, but then that is part of the package on this SUV.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Safety:
The Chevrolet Trailblazer comes equipped with front dual airbags, ABS with EBD, panic-braking assist, traction control with stability program and hill descent control as standard equipment. This SUV is only available in the fully loaded LTZ variant so all the goodies come as a part of the equipment by default.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Verdict:
The Trailblazer replaces the bestseller SUV from GM, the Captiva. This SUV is larger, bolder and meaner-looking than the one it replaces. You don’t get a manual version or a 4×4 version, but then this is a CBU unit with its USP being more space, more power than its closest rivals, the Toyota Fortuner and the Ford Endeavour. Also note that the all new 2016 models of both the Fortuner and Endeavour are just around the corner. What gives the Trailblazer an upper hand over its rivals is the extra power that the engine makes along with the extra dimensions and space that it has to offer and its beastly, rugged looks. The Chevrolet Trailblazer 4×2 Automatic LTZ is priced at Rs. 26.4Lakh ex- showroom Delhi.
Chevrolet Trailblazer Photo Gallery:
Pics – Ritesh Madhok
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