Chevrolet Trax (2024) Review

Chevrolet did something genuinely unusual with the second generation Trax. It made a cheap car that does not look cheap. The proportions are long and low for the class, the LT and above carry a split lighting signature that would pass on something costing twice as much, and even the base LS gets an eleven inch infotainment screen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a full set of driver aids as standard. At twenty thousand four hundred dollars before destination there is nothing else on an American lot offering this much perceived value.

The compromise sits under the hood and it is not subtle. The 1.2 liter turbocharged three makes 137 horsepower and 162 pound feet through a six speed automatic, front wheel drive only, with no all wheel drive option at any trim or any price. Around town it is fine. It is quiet enough, geared short enough, and perfectly adequate for the commute it was designed around. Ask for a highway merge with four people and their luggage aboard and it runs out of everything at once, loudly. Zero to sixty lands somewhere near nine seconds and feels longer because of the noise, and there is no engine upgrade available to buy a way out of it.

The rest is honest for the money. The interior is hard plastic arranged well, with real climate knobs, a rear bench adults can use for an hour and a cargo hold larger than a Kicks or a Venue. Thirty miles per gallon combined is competitive without any hybrid hardware to pay for. Running costs should stay low: simple mechanicals, cheap parts and the densest dealer network in the country. General Motors reliability has been middling rather than good in recent surveys and this three cylinder is too new to have a record, which is the main thing holding the grade where it is.

Resale is the other soft spot, because inexpensive cars sold in volume to fleets do not hold value and GM has trained its buyers to wait for incentives. None of that changes the verdict. If the budget is a hard twenty two thousand dollars with everything included, this is the most car available for it.