SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday March 27, 2013
We resisted at first, having driven a 2,8-litre diesel TrailBlazer with manual transmission already, but the GM press fleet manager wasn’t backing down: “I know you’ve driven the entry-level, Toyota Fortuner 4x2 with 2,5-litre diesel,” he said, “and this is Chevrolet’s equivalent. It’s almost as stripped down, but not quite. In the interest of balanced reporting, you really should try it.” When your objectivity is being questioned, what else can you do?
There are distinct similarities. Both are large body-on-frame SUVs with useful ground clearance, both use lightly stressed 2,5-litre diesel engines matched with five-speed manual gearboxes, both are rear-wheel drive 4x2s and both seat seven when a pair of occasional seats are deployed.
The Chevrolet is slightly bigger on a wheelbase that’s 95 mm longer; it offers 11 mm more ground clearance and carries about 100 litres more luggage when the second row of seats is folded down. The Toyota offers more underbody shielding, has vehicle stability control in addition to ABS, EBD and BA fitted to both, and its differential can be locked. TrailBlazer counters with a limited slip differential, four airbags rather than two and there are more variances in standard equipment than we can get into here.
Being an entry-level car, the 2,5 TrailBlazer is trimmed to LT specification rather than the LTZ kit of the bigger-engined 4x4. That gives it a manual air conditioner, a six-speaker radio and CD player with auxiliary, mini USB and Bluetooth, fabric upholstery with manual adjustments for the front seats, fog lamps, roof rails, running boards, powered windows and mirrors, ISOFix, backup alarm, remote central locking with autolock, cruise control and a trip computer. That’s pretty much all anyone needs, isn’t it?
Staying with basics, this smaller-engined ‘Blazer makes no secret of the fact that it’s a diesel. Very little effort was apparently made to mask the distinctive tock-tocking sound and its progress is relatively gentle, rather than hectic. One-hundred km/h comes up in 12,5 seconds and it runs out of steam at 171. It’s still a pleasant engine though, revving quite freely to 4500 and with no awkward gaps in its power band. It lugs contentedly just off idle, but you can feel things getting stronger at around 1800 revs and continuing the good work up to its maximum. Top gear at 120 km/h shows 2300 rpm on the dial; still within its best torque range and able to accelerate fairly strongly should you need to.
On the inside, there is enough space for big people in all seven seats, everyone has a belt (obviously) and a head restraint (not always so), there are more than sufficient cup holders – they even pop out of the ends of the dash – and storage spaces abound. Dash trim in a blend of tannish-grey and slate - sounds odd but it works – and matching upholstery work well together to give the basic TrailBlazer a touch of class less evident in its Japanese competitor.
Dialling expectations back from “big SUV” to “family bus” makes you better able to appreciate how pleasant this car is; getting you to the end of your journey perhaps a few minutes later, but more relaxed than you may be used to. If you remember, we felt rather undecided about the 2,8-litre 4x4. Granted, it did have awd, more toys and a bigger engine. We just felt that it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been; more like this one, for instance. And its price puts it into company in which expectations are higher. Frankly, talking bang for buck, we like this “little” one better.
Test car from GMSA press fleet
The numbers
Price: R364 000
Engine: 2449 cc, DOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 110 kW at 3800 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm at 2000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 12,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 171 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,8 l/100 km
Tank: 76 litres
Ground clearance: 231 mm
Approach and departure angles: 30/22 degrees
Luggage: 205 to 1830 litres
Maximum towing capacity (braked): 2500 kg
Warranty: 5 years/120 000 km; with roadside assistance
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km; at annual or 15 000 km intervals
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8