CROSSOVER HITS RIGHT NOTES
Chevy Trax a balanced ride
Canadian consumers have long had a hunger for small cars and SUVs, and General Motors has filled a hole in its lineup with a compact utility vehicle which was originally designed for the European market.
The Trax is being marketed as an affordable small crossover to compete against the likes of the Kia Soul, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Honda HR- V, Jeep Renegade and the funky Nissan Juke. It has been designed to appeal to buyers looking for a practical, conveniently sized runabout and shares a platform, chassis and powertrain with the Buick Encore.
Under the hood, you will find a turbocharged and port- fuel- injected, 1.4- litre four- cylinder engine that produces 138 horsepower and 148 pound- feet of torque. Performance is sufficient for an urban runabout, but the engine generates a substantial amount of intrusive noise when operated at higher speeds. Despite this, the passenger cabin seems to be well- insulated from road and wind noise.
The base model has front- wheel drive and comes fitted with a sixspeed manual transmission, but I suspect most will be delivered with the optional six- speed automatic ( 6T40 Hydra- Matic), which seems to hold higher gears for some reason.
The unit tested was the top- oftheline LTZ model with all- wheel drive and the automatic gearbox.
For those who like to make their own gear selections, upshifts and downshifts can be made manually by using a tap shift switch that is awkwardly positioned atop the console- mounted shift lever.
Despite the short wheelbase, the ride was quite composed, although the vehicle tends to under- steer when cornering. Steering is relatively precise and lively, but there is a little more body roll than I expected. The braking system delivered solid results when called into action, but you really need to get a feel for how much pressure to apply on the pedal to feel confident.
The turbocharger spools up quickly and the engine has been carefully engineered with a broad torque band to help it deliver smooth power across the board while maximizing fuel efficiency. The result is strong acceleration and a rather spirited driving experience, especially when you choose to operate the transmission manually. The Trax will hustle to 100 kilometres- per- hour in about 9.5 seconds.
The shape of the Trax reminds me of the head of a golf club, as it is short in length, wide and tall. This gives it a fair amount of passenger space for up to five people, or four adults.
Unfortunately, I have to say its exterior styling is rather bland, an opinion shared by many who saw it during my seven- day test period. The consensus is that it looks dated.
The marketing and productplanning people at Chevrolet see the Trax as youth- focused because of its connectivity, but younger people tend to like a little flash and I think the designers dropped the ball in this department.
The bland styling continues on the inside of the vehicle. Plastic dominates the cabin and while the layout is functional, most of the overall design elements would look at home in a GM product from the 1990s.
In spite of this, I do like the compact size and look of the instrument cluster. Controls are simple, and all instrumentation and switchgear are well placed to be visible from the driver’s position. The heating and ventilation system is glove friendly and did an exceptional job of keeping the passenger cabin comfortable during a minor heat wave.
The Trax may be tiny on the outside, but the interior seems deceptively spacious. All four passenger doors are oversized, making for efficient ingress and egress, and at six- foot- two I found there was plenty of headroom in all seating positions. The same cannot be said for rear- seat legroom. The Trax has a three- position split bench in the rear, but limited legroom.
Cargo volume with the rear seats in place is 530 litres, a surprising amount given the vehicle’s short overall length. And this expands to 1,371 L when the rear seatbacks are folded. Access to the area is via an upswing hatch with a wide opening and low lift- in height.
Its small size and tall windows provide good visibility overall. Overview: Five- passenger, compact allwheeldrive SUV Pros: Compact size makes it a great urban runabout, good fit- and- finish Cons: Bland styling, limited legroom in rear, engine noise at speed Value for money: Fair What I would change: Add cabin insulation to reduce noise, improve comfort of rear seating