We recently had the chance to drive the all-new Chevrolet Trax. After a couple of days with basically every iteration of the new entry-level Chevy we came away impressed. We also took a bunch of questions from you into the testing process.
Under the hood of every Trax is a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine with 137 hp (102 kW) and 162 lb-ft (219 Nm) of torque. Each one uses a six-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive only. There’s a lot to wonder about a car that starts at just $21,495. Now, we’re here to answer all of your questions.
Lots of you had questions about the powertrain such as what is top gear acceleration/passing power like. Is acceleration adequate? Does it feel janky or refined?
In short, it could use more power and quicker delivery of the power that it does have. As I mentioned in the review, it takes a lot of throttle input to get what little power the Trax has to offer.
Review: The 2024 Chevrolet Trax Sets A New Low Bar But In A Good Way
On the highway, I imagine that most folks will simply bury their foot, get that little three-banger revved up and move on. Of course, they’ll move on slowly no matter what they do. Finally, refined isn’t really a word I’d use regarding this engine. Thankfully, the transmission itself is pretty smooth.
Does it get decent mileage?
Chevrolet predicts that it’ll get up to 28 mpg in the city and 32 on the highway. In our testing over about 50 miles, we only managed 19.7 mpg but we don’t think that’s a wildly accurate representation of what most buyers will get. We beat on the little engine quite a lot and climbed thousands of feet around the Appalachian mountains too.
Is it really worth looking into considering it’s FWD only and feature content is a bit sparse?
I do think that it’s worth consideration for someone who’s specifically looking for a vehicle in this segment. FWD isn’t very good for driving fun (unless we’re talking about the very best in the business) but the Trax isn’t meant for that.
FWD is also pretty dang capable in the snow provided someone has proper winter tires. Finally, I think it’s actually got a lot of great content, especially the higher trims, for less than $25,000 which is, if you haven’t checked recently, pretty cheap for any brand-new car.
Does it have enough room in the center console for a purse?
This very clearly depends on the size of the purse. Really though it’s fairly small so most purses probably won’t fit. At the same time, I’ve personally never known a woman to store her purse in the center console of a vehicle but that’s as anecdotal a reason as there exists.
Does the rear feel claustrophobic? Can you see out the back window? What about trunk space?
The rear seats are really spacious. I really was surprised given that I’m 6’6 and I fit without any sort of weird contortions. Visibility is good too and since the Trax is considerably bigger than the outgoing model, cargo space is good too. There’s even an available parcel shelf that hides cargo and adds another place to set things during a trip.
How well does the Active Noise Cancellation feature work?
It’s excellent and might be one of the best dark horse tech features on the Trax. Where some rivals feature droning engines or CVTs, the Trax cuts out any chance of that or of intrusive road noise with its ANC.
Why didn’t Chevy offer an AWD Trax?
It didn’t want to cannibalize sales of the Trailblazer. In fact, that’s also why it won’t offer the Trax with the more powerful 1.3-liter engine found in the Trailblazer. Chevy told us that both features would drive up the cost of the Trax which is something that it didn’t want but at least when it comes to the engine we’re not totally sure that those numbers add up.
Simplifying production is something lots of companies spend countless millions on. It seems like it would’ve been cheaper to sell the Trax with the 1.3 and just never created the 1.2. At the same time, we can see how that might have taken sales away from the Trailblazer.
