Chevy Trailblazer

[yzguy15]

I've been half looking at mid-size suvs and decided that I like the Trailblazer the best. I've always been a Chevy fan, and I really like the way they feel inside. The other cars I was looking at are the Xterra, Grand Cherokee, 4runner, etc. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with the Trailblazer. Looking at probably an 02 (first model year) with as few miles as possible, in the 25-40k range.

Is there anything specific I should look for? Any maintenance issues I should ask the dealer about? What about gas mileage?

 

[Patman]

A good friend of ours has one. Mileage is not it's strong point but it does about 1 or 2 mpg better than her Grand Cherokee did. It seems to ride very nice but is a little wobbly in a cross wind. The third row seats are nice to have. She has to take it in to the shop about on par for other American vehicles which seems more often than their Volvo or most Japanese vehicles but less than her Jeep. Actually it's in the shop right now for a strange dead battery / no dead battery type starting issue and a constant "clicking" problem when it is running.

 

[yzguy15]

Mileage is not really a strong point on any of those vehicles. If I really wanted something for the mileage I would get a Honda CR-V or something like that. I know that it will not be too good, just curious if it's more like 14-16 or 16-18... or 12-14.

 

[Patman]

She see's 13-15 on mixed driving I believe. My wife gets 26-28 on her CR-V.

 

[jeffd]

Well, for starters it is a chevy....
that should be a major red flag right there!

Rule of thumb - NEVER buy a 1st model year car. That is when they are still figuring out all the crap they did wrong.

stay away from the Jeep, I had one and it sucked. It was small on the indside and just flimsy. I leaned against the fender once as I was rotating the tires and the fender caved in. It was in the shop several times for electrical/computer problems. Oh yeah - the fuel pump sending unit was bad so the gas guage was never right. It would show 1/8 of a tank + but be bone dry. That is a nice feature to discover during rush hour traffic...

 

[yzguy15]

That's a lot of the reason I was asking if there were problems with them, I didn't want to find out there were major problems with the 02's after I got one.

 

[KC10Chief]

My dad had an 02. I guess I should say my stepmom had an 02 Trailblazer. It was a nice vehicle. My wife and I borrowed it earlier this year to drive from OKC to Galveston, Texas since we were going on a cruise and her car was a POS and there was not enough room for luggage in my S-10. His TB had the V8 engine in it. Plenty of power. Anyways, we made it all the way to Galveston and checked into the hotel. Our cruise left the next day. When I went to move it to our room, it was dead. It had power, just wouldn't start. OnStar said it was the computer. But I disconnected the battery and let it sit for a while. It was fine after that. We made it to our cruise and all the way back to Oklahoma City afterwards. But it did it again to my stepmom soon afterwards and they took it in to the dealer. Turns out it was just the ignition. They traded it in for a Cavalier of all things. My little sisters are driving now and I guess they didn't need it. Matt

 

[hlinar]

I just rented an 05 and put 1900 miles on it last week. gas mileage averaged 18 mpg highway with No a/c usage.