2017 Chevrolet Trax First Look Review
Speedy Refresh: At Age 2, Toddler Trax Gets a Major Makeover
ManufacturerPhotographerFrank MarkusWriter
2017 Chevrolet Trax First Look Review
Speedy Refresh: At Age 2, Toddler Trax Gets a Major Makeover
ManufacturerPhotographerFrank MarkusWriter
Baby CUVs are the hottest-growing vehicle segment these days, and Chevy's entrant became the third-best seller by claiming 15 percent of this market in 2015, its first full year of sales. At just over 63,000 units, the tooling is hardly worn out, but it's getting a major makeover this fall for 2017 because the global Trax, in production since April 2013, is due for an upgrade. The hood, front fenders, front and rear fascias, headlights, and taillamps are all new, with the revised dual port grille and headlight design more closely resembling those on Chevy's newest cars such as the Malibu, Volt, and Bolt.
The interior also gets a major upgrade, with an all-new dash that apes the dual cockpit look featured on the newest Chevys, housing a new 7-inch screen that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone-screen replicating systems. Naturally, 4G LTE connectivity will also be offered, allowing five occupants to connect seven devices.
Making much of this possible is a major electrical architecture upgrade that also supports all the latest and greatest safety gear, including forward collision alert (a must to grab that coveted IIHS Top Safety Pick+ ranking), side blind-zone alert, rear cross traffic alert, and lane departure warning. These goodies are optional on the two upper trim levels (LT and Premier, which replaces LTZ). Of course, even the base LS variant gets 10 airbags and a rearview camera. Those upper level versions also get LED signature lighting front and rear and the option of fancier interior trim that includes a combo featuring black seats with brandy inserts, or at least amber accent stitching. The look of the interior generally seems to have taken a baby step closer to that of its uptown cousin (and the segment's second-best seller), the Buick Encore.
Apart from all the wires and ECUs supporting the new electrical gizmos, there's not much new under the skin. The port-injected 1.4-liter Ecotec turbo soldiers on in 138-hp/148-lb-ft guise, bolted to a six-speed automatic. Likewise, the suspension architecture and tuning are unchanged, but then there's not much motivation to meddle with such things when the thing is attracting mostly newcomers to the brand, 60 percent of whom are female (that makes Trax Chevy's number-one chick car, by the way). You can probably expect the strong sales to continue, but don't expect the next major makeover to come quite as quickly.
