2022 Trailblazer AWD Solid as “A Blast to Point and Shoot Around Town”

Everyone here in sales and service at Jim Butler Chevy of St Louis would most definitely agree that an SUV should always be fun, useful, and have a decent cargo area for storage. The 2022 Chevy Trailblazer AWD ACTIVE ticks all the boxes for a five-passenger compact sport utility vehicle in direct competition with the Mazda CX-30 and Hyundai Kona.

The turbocharged engine making 174 lb-ft of torque in sport mode has a satisfying and eager punch, as a blast to drive around town and wake the engine up on back roads. One of the biggest items on the “want list” for this SUV are the wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, heated steering wheel and front seats, along with a power-adjustable driver’s seat and more! 

Billed by the TorqueNews.com team as a “truly amazing SUV among many pretenders”, the IIHS has the 2022 Trailblazer pegged in their Top Safety Pick Plus Rating. The Trailblazer is a budget-minded model that still fits the bill for your daily driving duties on top of getting out of town for an impromptu trip. Satellite radio is now standard to provide streaming sounds of enjoyment on all trim levels. With roomy seating and cargo space for a small SUV, the safety and technology features are what many consumers need to stay competitive! 

We feel that the 2022 Trailblazer is a huge improvement and a great pick among other top competing SUVs. The nine-speed transmission does a great job of keeping the smaller-size engine in its sweet spot during acceleration, and it is quick enough to downshift right when you need to pass. The front seats are ideally comfortable and supportive at highway speeds, and after a few hours, they still hold their own while allowing you to retain great posture and reduce the typical “vibration fatigue” felt during longer trips.

The LT Trim also provides a good balance of features for the price and offers more available options than the base LS, along with the more powerful 1.3-liter engine instead of the 1.2-model found on the LS. The LT Trim also adds roof rails, LED fog lights, heated mirrors, tinted rear windows, cruise control, remote ignition, heated front seats, and a power-adjustable driver’s seat. Don’t forget to check out the amazing benefits of the Driver Confidence package! It adds the convenience of a blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear parking sensors. 

Chevy’s Best-Selling Crossover to Double Down and Challenge Tesla in 2023

All of us here at Jim Butler Chevy of St Louis were thrilled to view the Chevy Silverado EV pickup at CES. GM CEO Mary Barra came out with an announcement that the Chevy Equinox compact SUV will go on sale during the fall of 2023. The starting price that was announced will be substantially less than our very own Chevy Bolt as well as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, and Tesla Model Y.

The new vehicle will be built on GM’s new Ultium electric car platform that will be used across the lineup. Full images released to the press show it featuring a modern design with a stylish interior that also includes an assortment of modern, digital displays. She also added that there will be an electric Chevy Blazer on sale next spring, which will be a planet-friendly version of the reincarnated model with many design cues taken from the ultra-sporty Camaro. 

The announcement came during Barra’s keynote address for the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show. GM is hoping that a more affordable EV with a nameplate as recognizable as the Equinox could help spur a quicker switch to electric. Other EV makers have promised options that will be easy on the consumer’s pocketbook but have hit snags with battery costs, supply chain issues, and many other various external factors. The arrival of both the Equinox EV and Blazer EV would put Chevy at the forefront of GMs $35 billion push to electrify the whole lineup by 2040. 

On top of these vehicles, the company is producing the Chevy Bolt EV/EUV, the Hummer EV pickup and SUV, the GMC Sierra EV, along with the Cadillac Lyriq and Celestiq. Images found here appear to show the Equinox as closer to the Trailblazer in size, but with a noticeably longer wheelbase. At the front, the Equinox EV will feature a curvier hood, a full-width LED DRL strip, C-shaped outer ends and horizontal main lights, and a compact lower grille. At the rear, there is a steeply raked windscreen and a tailgate that has a lower concave and wide combo lamps with a slim extension.

By 2023, it is a clear goal of GM’s to have 22 models on sale to feature Super Cruise driver assistance, and the door-to-door hands-free Ultra Cruise technology will officially arrive the same year. Once you are comfortable, the green light bar on the steering wheel lets you know that Super Cruise’s driving system is available and ready to lead the way! From then, simply press the Super Cruise button on the steering wheel, take your hands off the wheel, and it does the job for you! 

2024 Silverado EV RST to Bring Back “No-Tie-Down” and Hazard-Conquering Multi-Flex Tailgate

At Jim Butler Chevrolet of St Louis, we finally got together and began thinking about just how excited we are for the future and all the new opportunities that 2022 will bring! The last two years have brought massive change, and the electric models are going to reshape the playbook forever in the consumer auto market!

The 2024 Chevy Silverado EV showcases 400 miles of range, a towing capacity of up to 10,000 pounds, and a 0-60 sprint that would be ideal on any mountainside of under 4.5 seconds. As the new generation of electric trucks ushers in a brand-new sense of progression, many longstanding Chevy fans will be able to appreciate features to honor rough and tumble jobs that trucks have always been known and appreciated for. 

The Multi-Flex Tailgate feature is available on the Silverado EV’s RST First Edition Trim and allows you to fold down the wall between the cabin and the bed, keeping it open for an area continuously ready for cargo. With the Midgate wide open, the overall cargo storage length goes from 5’ 11” to just over nine feet, and with it down, it increases to just under 11 feet. That means when it’s time to get the kayaks out, they will stay inside the truck easily while being transported. 

The staff at Road and Track thought that this new Silverado was likely to be one of the most important vehicles of the coming decade and were amazed by its available 664 horsepower and smooth character that it ran with on GM’s Ultium EV platform. Power is delivered to all four wheels from two motors, and there are also DC fast-charging capabilities of up to 350 kW onboard. This means that 100 miles of range can be added in just ten minutes when using the optimum charging station.

We admit that we are full on head-over-heels with the way trucks looked during the 1970s and 1980s, with enormous grilles and first-impression presences that packed a mighty wallop. The advancements in engineering have given Chevy the freedom to design a truck that looks toward the future but still possesses an amazingly athletic stance. You can still opt for the Work Truck model that brandishes just a bit less in the torque and horsepower departments. We guarantee that this will be a truck with abilities and ingenuity that will heartily drive and tow while embracing the premise of leaving gasoline behind. 

Corvette Racing Goes Global with IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships: Z06 GT3.R Set to Take Pole Position for 2024

Everyone here at Jim Butler Chevy of St Louis agrees that 2022 will be a monumental time to make history, as opportunities for brand-new beginnings are always appreciated most after periods of struggle and uncertainty! Corvette Racing will now take on the duty of contesting multiple endurance racing championships for the first time in its 24-year history, during a 2022 racing schedule that will provide the thrill of taking place in locations worldwide. 

Corvette’s production-based race team is now set for the task of full-season championship challenges in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The massively capable and track-savvy Corvette C8.R will have an esteemed model in each of these series, doubling up with a pair when the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place. The familiar faces from last year’s behind-the-wheel expertise will return, as Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, and Nicky Catsburg hold things down in IMSA. Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy, and Alexander Sims take part in the WEC. 

Both Taylor and Garcia are taking on the full 10-race championship in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevy Corvette C8.R, sporting the GTD-PRO Corvette C8.R. The C8.R will be barreling through the corners with Michelin tires, as dictated by GTD regulations. The powertrain for the GTD-PRO model will be the same 5.5-liter, flat-plane V8 with an anti-lock braking system and slightly decreased power output over the GTLM rules stipulations.

Since 2001, Chevy has won 13 manufacturer’s championships in IMSA. This current presence of Corvette Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship provides an ultimate showdown as Chevy will now fight for the GT manufacturers world championship along with another IMSA Manufacturers title in 2022. Now that the goal is to push forward full force for a ninth class victory, the Corvette Racing entity will see a completely new and aggressive weapon with the Z06 GT3.R. 

This will exist as a close link to the Z06 with a few notable differences, and the same flat-plane crankshaft architecture that so many immediately were smitten with on the C8.R. The development of the GT3.R will now allow eager customer race teams the chance to put forth a Corvette that has already stood the test of time from Corvette Racing’s illustrated history. 

This is a team we will be watching closely, as it has already done a great deal of development and preparation for the coming year, and so many are excited as can be at just how many resources have been maximized to make this happen. Using the C8.R as a benchmark will no doubt provide a winning formula and usher in a season to be all-out inspired for first-place commanding prowess!