The 2025 Trailblazer is now headed into its second year since its mid-cycle refresh, emerging as the ride for busy families, recent graduates, and thriving professionals looking for a budget-minded crossover. The competition is evident here at Jim Butler Chevy of St. Louis while peering sneakily across the fence at the Kia Seltos, VW Taos, and slightly pricier Ford Bronco Sport, along with our very own and quite attractive Chevy Trax. The Autoblog experts took a close look at the Trailblazer last week, and were impressed with its “practical, stylish, and decent value proposition.”
Consumers are hungry for a comfortable, usable, and stylish SUV, which now arrives on the scene with its 1.2-liter turbo powertrain boasting E-85 compatible flex fuel. After it was improved for the 2024 model year with larger and more modern displays, the Trailblazer’s interior design and styling do an excellent job of not feeling or appearing like a dreary or unappealing option. The Activ trim’s yellow stitching and standard heated front seats add high-end touches to an already bright and modern persona, with the RS boasting similar comfort equipment such as a flat-bottom leather steering wheel.
The available 8-way power driver seat is an excellent choice for taller drivers, and 11-inch central infotainment touchscreens are standard across the lineup. There’s a sleek and very user-friendly 8-inch digital instrument panel directly in front of the driver, which is quite similar to what is currently found in the Chevy Trax and Buick Encore. It uses a very simple version of GM’s Android-based infotainment system, which is very user-friendly and simple to navigate. Here the Autoblog staff added that they enjoy the simple layout with the menu icons solidly docked on the left side, along with the convenience of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard.
At first glance, the Trailblazer is one of the larger subcompact SUVs out there, offering a pleasant 39.4 inches of rear legroom. The trim and style up front adds a nice touch along with an intriguing ambiance, with the available panoramic sunroof providing a means of very cool atmospheric enjoyment. Cargo space officially measures 25.3 cubic feet behind the second row, and 54.3 cubic feet when the seats are folded down. The Trailblazer’s fold-flat front passenger seat offers a versatile quality that the Buick Encore can’t quite match, which makes it a great choice for the extended journeys the warm days of summer offer.
The Trailblazer’s standard powertrain is the turbocharged 1.2-liter 3-cylinder, which cranks out 137 horsepower and 162 lb-ft of torque. It’s mated to a continuously variable transmission and boasts fuel economy ratings that are suitable for the varied economic demands of today. The step up in the engine department is another turbocharged 1.3-liter model, which cranks out 155 horsepower and 174 lb-ft of torque. With front-wheel drive, this model nails down 29 miles per gallon city, 33 mpg highway, and 31 mpg combined. The fold-flat front passenger seat provided this testing crew with an excellent amount of utility, while the NHTSA awarded the 2024 Trailblazer with its best five-star overall crash rating.