2002 Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT

By Brian Early

Everyone seems to be on a seating kick. Minivans have long held the crown, with seven- and eight-passenger models being the norm, but SUVs have typically lagged behind -generally all but the full-sized models offer room for only five. The ante has been upped in the past few years, and this has not escaped the attention of the folks at General Motors. Indeed, there was some surprise when the all new for 2002 Chevy TrailBlazer SUV had only five seats, while competitive models offered space for seven, or even eight, people, but for GM, doing it "right" meant taking some extra time.

For 2003, Chevrolet has introduced a new extended-length "EXT" version of the TrailBlazer. Intending to properly challenge the seven-plus passenger capacity of the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango, Chevy added approximately 40 cm to both the wheelbase and length, creating room for a real third row of seats and two more passengers, bringing the total to seven.

Slightly elevated "stadium style" seating provides increased legroom and comfort for third-row occupants, and the roof is raised accordingly to provide adequate headroom.

Chevy's stylists have done a good job of disguising this additional height by hiding it with a taller roof rack, and neither it nor the additional length are immediately obvious unless you are either looking for it or parked next to the shorter model.

The rear doors are the most easily recognizable difference -while the standard truck's rear doors are notched out to accommodate the rear wheel arches (forming much of their leading edge), the EXT's just taper gently forward from the shoulder line to their bottoms.

This larger aperture is particularly helpful in accessing the third row of seats, which requires a two-step fold and flip operation of the 65/35 split second row's bench. As a nice touch, the outermost rear "leg" of the folded second row doubles as a rubber-covered grip for pulling yourself in.

One afternoon my family and some friends decided to make a trek into Richmond Hill -a group of four adults and two 2-year olds in car seats. Interestingly, there appeared to be no provision for child seat tethers in the third row of seats.

Securing child seats in the second row's two outboard positions (the owner manual's recommendation) would prevent the seats from flipping forward to allow third-row access.

I gave up after 10 minutes of folding seats and poking around, and it later turned out that there, indeed, are no such anchors -an unusual oversight. I'm happy to report, however, that once the regimen of child seat removal/reinstallation was performed, the rear-most row was declared liveable, though there were complaints that the seatback angle was too upright for long distance comfort.

In the front row, things were far nicer. Since the EXT is available only in mid-level LT trim, the driver gets an right-way power seat, the passenger's is two-way manual but with power recliner and lumbar controls, all finished in my tester in an unusual almost woodgrain-patterned "light oak" cloth. The oak colour scheme is repeated in various shades throughout the interior, and aside from some odd textural/graining matches, it appeared to be well screwed together, and had no squeaks or rattles.

All four door windows are power and go all the way down, and the rearmost side windows are power-operated minivan-style vents (the switches for which are in the overhead console).

The control layout is otherwise mostly sensible, although the rear heater fan's main control knob seems like an afterthought where it sits on the centre console next to the shifter.

While there are enough interior lights in this truck to illuminate a small apartment, oddly, there is no glovebox light -just a spot where it plainly was meant to go. More annoying was the inability of the bright blue vacuum-florescent displays on the radio and shift quadrant/odometer to be dimmed appropriately at night -the remaining dash illumination would be nearly off before those displays were tolerable.

The TrailBlazer's excellent headlights compensated nicely for that distraction, throwing a wide, useful pattern.

My TrailBlazer had two problems: a rattling sound over bumps, which I quickly diagnosed as a loose antenna mast (an easy 10-second fix); more disturbing, a liftgate glass that at one time popped completely open on the 401. That sure gets your attention! It's entirely possible that it wasn't completely latched, but it seemed properly secured, so that still really shouldn't have been able to happen.

Happily, the driving experience was an otherwise pleasant one: This truck is a vast improvement over the previous Chevy Blazer.

My handsome "silver green metallic" tester had GM's new 4.2 litre DOHC inline six-cylinder, which provides 275 hp at 6000 rpm and 275 lb-ft of torque at 3600 rpm. Coupled to a smooth four-speed automatic (the only available transmission), and running a steep (but optional) 4.10 axle ratio, my 4WD EXT moved out smartly and returned gas mileage, averaging about 15.4 L/100 km with it's not-yet-broken-in motor.

Despite the high axle ratio, engine revs at highway speeds were still quite acceptable: around 2500 rpm at the 401's average 120 km/h traffic speed. That said, I would still want to try out the 290 hp (at 5200 rpm) 5.3 litre V8 (offered only in the EXT) for it's increased torque (330 lb-ft at 4000 rpm).

Regardless, the EXT's long wheelbase makes for a comfortable and stable cruise at highway speeds, and kudos to GM's engineers for endowing a truck of this size and height with such powerful brakes, precise steering, and well-controlled body roll.

Impressive in a vehicle that when properly equipped can tow 3266 kg.

Chevy TrailBlazer MSRPs start at $35,600 for a 2WD LS, moving up to $46,535 for a 4WD LTZ model.

TrailBlazer EXT 2WDs (in LT trim only) are $41,240, 4WDs begin at $44,555. As tested with OnStar and front seat side airbags; $47,115.

Brian Early (bandb.early @ sympatico.ca), a freelance journalist, prepared this report based on driving experiences with a vehicle provided by the carmaker.