I hate to say this, I really do.
The Trailblazers have been really good so far. It suprised everybody I know, but there have been no serious problems with them. Lots of recalls, but no real problems.
I expexted them to be complete crap, especially with the trim stuff, but nothing has come up.
I still don't want one, unless it's a 6.0l SS.
Clay
I can speak directly about the brand new Trailblazers, because I drive one at work. Total joke of a vehicle as far as off road goes.
Sure, so far (they are nearly brand new) we haven't had near the problems the previous 2000/2001 Blazers we used to drive, had. Everything from doors falling off, electric failures, suspension failures and transfer case failures. But the funny thing is the old Blazers had about three times the ground clearance, and they were slammed to the ground as it was.
I'm dead serious, the new Trailblazers have WAAAYYYYY less ground clearance than my wife's 2003 Subaru Forester. It's a complete joke off road and I have to drive it on some really muddy, rocky roads. I literally can't drive on roads than an old 2WD toyota pick up could. Even with 4WD, because it gets high centered on pebbles.
Other than that, it's an OK vehicle, but geeezzz, if anyone actually pays what we paid for these things, i seriously feel sorry for them.
Cost about 28K but look, feel and drive like they are worth about 16K. I think that right there in a nutshell sums up GM's problem.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />
Ok, let me clarify my stance on Trailblazers.
1. I am not a fan of GM products. I work as a tech at a GM shop, so I see a lot of them.
2. Trailblazers were
not designed as a serious off-road vehicle. You can tell just by looking at them.
3. Being a GM tech at a GM shop (and a busy one at that) I can tell you from a first hand, mechanics point of view that those are vehicles that, when used for their designed purpose, have demonstrated a very high degree of build quality.
4. they most certainly are overpriced (by about $10,000). I wouldn't buy one.
I really like the Z71 Colorado with 4 doors and a short bed, but those are overpriced too.
We do get Colorados in as well, and they appear to be of a similar build quality to the Trailblazer, the only big difference being that the Colorado 4x4 appears to be much better suited to off-road use and the folks bringing theirs in for service appear to be using their trucks at least in the dirt. Again, no problems that I've seen.
The Colorado is also overpriced by about $10,000 as far as I am concerned.
I live in Kalifornia, and most of the people in my area are putting 50-70 thousand miles on their vehicles in a year. It's not at all uncommon to see a trailblazer comein with over 200,000 miles on the odometer. I've seen 0 problems that appear to be "normal". A few trannys, but that is to be expected. I've never seen the head off a Trailblazer, or even the oil pan. I've never seen our shop replace an engine in one either. No axles, no huge electrical problems (wierd, they are GMs after all), and the only time I've ever seen a door problem was when the wind caught one and forced it open further than it wanted to go. Somehow GM glued the hinges to the body. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> The replacements get bolted, but the body shop does that.
The 6.0l SS is 2 wheel drive. It's way expensive too.
Clay
