True, the three-cylinder engine isn’t the smoothest or quietest under hard acceleration, but it only feels out of its element at the hands of drivers like me, who envision every press drive as a chance to pretend like they’re in a real-world stage from Sega Rally 2. On the road, the new Trax feels reasonably competent. City economy jumps to 28 MPG, although the 32 MPG freeway trails some competitors like the Nissan Kicks. And yet, Chevrolet engineers were able to make the new Trax quicker and more economical, partially because of the lower weight of the new platform. It produces 137 horsepower and 162 ft-lbs of torque, technically a step backward from the 155 horsepower, 177 ft-lbs of torque found in the 1.4 turbo of last year’s car. The 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbo is actually the same engine found in the lower-trimmed Trailblazer and Buick Encore GX. GM engineers said using this particular engine and transmission helped get the vehicle to such an attractive price point. The transmission is especially an anomaly in the era of CVT and multi-speed automatic transmissions. North Americans have to make do with a more basic 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbo, mated to a traditional six-speed automatic. In China, the similar Chevrolet Seeker has a far more powerful 1.5-liter turbocharged engine with a CVT transmission. Thus, the Trax’s development was largely focused on making the vehicle affordable to buy.įor example, despite riding on the same VSS-F platform as the Trailblazer, the Trax no longer has an option for AWD. The new Trax is meant to court those buyers in search of basic transportation, the buyers who once had Chevy Cruzes, Sonics, Sparks, and old Traxes. Buyers are desperate for an entry-level model from Chevrolet, which is part of the reason why the old Trax stayed on sale. Looking at the dimensions, power, and size, the existence of the Trax kind of begs the question: why is Chevrolet offering two roughly similar-sized vehicles in the same segment? It’s the polar opposite of the old car, which was tall, skinny, and oddly proportioned as if it were a dodgem car that someone had managed to drive home from the county fair. The extra inches in length and width do wonders for the proportions, the Trax’s hood is long, and the hips are wide, resulting in a car that looks strikingly athletic. The Trax’s rear is also a treat, big taillights take up most of the rear, and the somewhat fast roofline makes the Trax look sportier than it has any right to. Slim daytime running lights sit near the hood, and like the Blazer, the real headlights are discreetly mounted low on the fascia. The front fascia is similar to the current generation Blazer, a car two class sizes up. The result is that of a crossover that visually might skew more toward the station wagon side of the crossover spectrum, rather than an SUV. Like, 11 inches longer, with whopping six inches going to the wheelbase. Sharing much of its design with the Chinese market Chevrolet Seeker, the new Trax is lower, longer, and wider than the old model. To do this, for starters, the Trax got a whole new look, inside and out. It seems like Chevrolet knew this, going out of its way to aggressively rectify that lackluster image, and target Gen Z and young millennials.
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