Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT V-8

Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT V-8 Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT V-8
Short Take Road Test

When the Chevy TrailBlazer hit the streets back in Y2K, it got an unusually positive response here at Chez C/D, one of the few places left in America where trucks and SUVs generate more groans than glee.

To our surprise, the new Chevy-and its clones, the GMC Envoy and the Olds Bravada-proved to be a respectable mid-size contender. It was roomier than its predecessor, its ride quality was smoother, its responses crisper, and its work ethic-more than 1100 pounds of payload and up to 6400 pounds of trailering capability-ranked near the upper end of the class curve.

The TrailBlazer surprised us again by finishing second in a three-ute shootout ("Two Trucks and a Car," June 2001). Ordinarily, it's hard to remember who finished second, but in this case second place was a spot ahead of the equally new Ford Explorer, the perennial mid-size bestseller.

In fact, about the only consistent TrailBlazer criticism was the absence of a third-row seat option, the latest gotta-have-it in this market segment, a deficiency the General Motors truck people said they were working on. This turned out to be a lot of work. Thanks to the TrailBlazer's archaic live rear axle, expanding the seat count entailed more than an upholstered bench, a couple of belts, and a handful of bolts.

When the cutting and pasting were complete, the seven-seater (two plus three plus two) measured 207.8 inches, 16.2 inches longer than the standard version, 9.0 inches longer than a Chevy Tahoe. That would be the full-size Chevy Tahoe. The wheelbase had been lengthened 15.9 inches to 128.9, 12.9 longer than the wheelbase of the Tahoe.

In addition to its longitudinal stretch, the three-row TrailBlazer's rear roofline soared 3.6 inches closer to the heavens, another expansion dictated by those rearmost seats.

Even before a long-wheelbase TrailBlazer joined the C/D long-term test fleet, it was clear that all this stretching added up at the scales. At 5196 pounds, the EXT LTZ we tested last August was 559 pounds heavier than the LT version from the comparison, which in turn made a difference at the test track. The low-end snort of GM's smooth new 4.2-liter DOHC 24-valve in-line six was good enough to propel the comparo TrailBlazer to best-in-test times-0 to 60 in 7.9 seconds, the quarter-mile in 16.3 at 88 mph-but strapping on another quarter-ton smothered its punch. The EXT six's 0-to-60 run consumed 9.5 seconds, and it covered the quarter in 17.2 seconds at 82 mph. Moreover, it was an unhandy thing to wrestle around corners. As our Mr. Bedard observed, "The fun is gone."

We were also underwhelmed by the EXT's towing ability. Although it handles the 4000-to-5000-pound trailer loads imposed by the SCCA weekend racers around here, it doesn't do so with much enthusiasm.

As you'd expect, GM has an answer for this dilemma, a time-honored Motor City panacea. More mass? Okay, let's apply more muscle, in this case the new aluminum-block 5.3-liter Vortec pushrod V-8 from the corporate truck inventory-290 horsepower, 325 pound-feet of torque. That's not a huge pony increase, but it's a passel of pound-feet-50 more, in fact-enough to trim acceleration times substantially. Our rear-drive test car, weighing 236 pounds less than that last EXT, did the 0-to-60 run in 8.7 seconds and the quarter-mile in 16.8. Just as important, the V-8 TrailBlazer is a much more willing draft horse, handling a 4500-pound trailer with enough in reserve for passing on two-lane highways.

Better, yes. But hold the hosannas; there are a few caveats.

First, note the performance disparity between the standard six-cylinder TrailBlazer and the EXT eight-cylinder. The numbers speak for themselves.

Second, consider that the last Tahoe we tested ("Living Large," August 2002)-a four-wheel-drive LT with the same engine-sprinted to 60 in 8.3 seconds and ran the quarter in 16.5 seconds at 85 mph.

Consider further that the Tahoe swallows more cargo, delivers similar fuel economy (clue: poor), and has a higher maximum trailer-towing capacity (7700 pounds).

Okay, the Tahoe family ranges higher in price-but not by much. A 5.3-liter Tahoe starts at $34,961. The TrailBlazer EXT V-8 starts at $32,785, and our tester stickered at $34,875.

So, V-8 power does indeed address the problem built into the extended-wheelbase TrailBlazer, i.e., too much mass for the in-line six. But the resulting price penalty puts this gerrymandered mid-size right up against a big SUV that's better suited to just about any job you care to name.

Which leads us to a question: What, exactly, was the point?