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Chevrolet Trailblazer Premier review: Your daily urban SUV

Before anything, no, this is not the 7-seater, full-fledged, midsize SUV that we see on roads a couple of years back. Through a different direction by General Motors, the new Chevrolet Trailblazer for the Philippines is now a 5-seater vehicle falling under the compact crossover category.

And with it comes new styling that The Modern Creatures co-founder Vikka calls ‘cute’ but at the same time, looks sleek as well — at least for me.

With an asking price of a little bit over PhP 1.6M, what does this package offer? We take a look.

Exterior

Although the size difference is undeniable, there are still a lot of elements for its exterior to feast your eyes on just like its predecessor. We see a combination of black and silver highlights for the front fascia along with a three-level lighting setup comprising Daytime Running Lights for the top, LED headlamps outlined with black plastic material, and a pair of fog lights right on its bumper.

Taking a closer look up front reveals its active grille shutters that help reduce the aerodynamic drag of the vehicle and also provide a nice texture to go along with the segmented approach prominently seen in this area. If you ask me, the exterior look of the previous 7-seater Trailblazer still manifests for this more compact sibling.

Being the top of the line variant, it also comes with two-tone 17-inch alloy wheels that complement its silver accents present all over its body. I would say the use of said accents does make the vehicle more stylish and exudes a youthful vibe that aesthetically blends well with the rest of its Mahogany Red Metallic color. It also looks at home in an urban setting.

For the rear, you get a clean layout with a two-tone rear spoiler, nicely shaped tail lights, and even a skid plate in black and silver. It’s also been equipped with a hands-free power liftgate with adjustable heights for easier access to its cargo space.

The sides are straightforward and not much is happening here apart from black panels outlining the chassis. It’s not as flashy as the front, but I like that it looks neat and clean with sort of an old-school touch.

Interior

Inside, the cabin is a mostly black affair from the door panels, dashboard, and event seats. But just like its exterior, there are splashes of silver accents blending well with the glossy black finish of certain elements.

You get steering wheel controls for hands-free calls, cruise control, as well as menu navigation flanking Chevrolet’s logo at the center. There’s also a textured cloth pattern for the front door panels which gives a nice break from all the smooth panels and piano black finish seen here.

The Trailblazer is fitted with an 8-inch infotainment system which the company calls MyLink. If you’re wondering, yes, it does come installed with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — an automatic plus in our book.

A mixture of on-screen navigation and physical buttons at the bottom are present so you can opt to feel out the physical buttons and not take your eyes away from the road while doing common tasks such as skipping tracks and going back to its main menu. I’d say it’s a fairly ergonomic approach with just the right compromise.

Driver’s instrument cluster comes with a small monochrome LCD that shows important information that you can cycle through, but the tachometer and speedometer kept that classic, analog approach. I do like the way it’s housed in this silver frame with safety icons flashed above it.

For your passengers, there are a couple of cubby holes for drinks both front and back, and up front, there’s even a horizontal space on the dash to put your items like a phone or keys. These are small things that make drives a little bit better and enjoyable for the passengers.

The seats are wrapped in black faux leather that feels nice and comfortable. Getting a good driving position is also not hard thanks to its telescopic steering wheel and seeing your surroundings are easy with the seats fixed at a high angle.

A maximum of three passengers in the rear can fit, with headrests dictating it so. But for long drives, keeping it at two passengers can help provide them maximum comfort — too bad there’s no drop-down armrest at the center.

Opening the power tailgate reveals a rather spacious area for your cargo. If you do need more room, the rear seats can be tucked and folded down in a 60/40 configuration giving you more space for hauling bigger stuff.

Features

Creature comforts are also present inside the Trailblazer. Apart from the convenient way of accessing your smartphone’s music and navigation apps through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you also get a push-to-start button, a couple of connectivity options in the form of USB-A and USB-C ports, and a six-piece speaker setup.

There’s also Bluetooth on board in case your passengers want to take over road trip music duties as well as a proximity key for easier ingress. Of course, other convenience features include power steering, power door locks, power windows, power mirrors, and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.

Performance and safety

Running under the hood is a 1.3-liter turbocharged engine that outputs 155HP and 236Nm of torque. Paired with a CVT, power is delivered to the front wheels and driving is fairly smooth and has good power on tap, enough for your overtaking needs on service roads or leisure cruising on highways.

Being a compact crossover, it also maneuvers lightly and doesn’t take much effort to weave through traffic. You can sort of feel every bump and pothole, though, which is common on Philippine roads, sadly.

In terms of safety, the Traiblazer comes with quite a lot which easily passes the needs of a modern creature.

You have the usual array of Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) with Electronic Brake Pressure Distribution (EBD), traction control, and tire pressure monitoring, but the company went and loaded it with more driver-assist features like Forward Collision Alert, Following Distance Indicator, Autonomous Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Braking, Blind Spot Indicators, and a Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

Of course, airbags are also thrown into the mix — all six of them for everyone’s added safety. Interestingly, it even comes with Snow Driving Mode which, unfortunately, we might never get to use here in the country.

Price and final thoughts

The Chevrolet Trailblazer Premier has an asking price of PhP 1,621,888. At that price point, there are other available options in the market that are more affordable offering similar features and performance. And if you can add a bit more to your budget, you’re able to go for a better upgrade with better performance.

But this is not to say the Trailblazer doesn’t have its charm. It’s still a vehicle worthy of your consideration and it delivers in a lot of aspects, especially with the number of safety features thrown into the package — something not that common in compact crossovers.

At the end of the day, the Trailblazer Premier offers looks, space, and efficiency useful for your day-to-day drive in the city.