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Anyone have a Trailblazer?

BulldogK5

BulldogK5

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Anyone have a Trailblazer? My wife is in need of a new vehicle and I have not had any experience with these. She likes the look and ride enough but I am wondering about the dependability and driveability of them. We don't need another 4x4 (she thinks three is enough) but something for her and the future kids to get around in, as well as family trips. I am just looking for some input. Thanks. :D
 
My mom has one, ive been drivin it a lot this past week or so...my trucks BACK in the trans shop, so ive gotten a good feel for it. My mom has the regular sized one, not the funky longer/bigger one. Has the 4.2L I6, 700r4, and 7.5" 10b i bevieve. The 275/275 is hard to believe when u first step on the pedal, torque management is KILLER on it. Once you get to the top of the gear you can feel it pretty well. I believe my blazer with a TBI 350, 700r4, 3.08 rear and 33s could beat it to about 50 mph. I dislike the way it handles. I dunno what it is about it, seems like too much body roll. To me it almsot seems like my truck with 7" lift has less roll than that low ass 2wd thing does. Ours has i think arould 8000 miles on it, and i don't believe its been back for warrenty work yet...the cd player acts up sometimes, but what do u expect with the POS they use now in their cars and trucks...Next time she goes to get her oil changed there (free for life) shes gonna mention it to them again and they will order a new one they said, other than that, its been a good lil truck. Mileage sucks IMO. i can not get it to break 14 in the city...i go through almost as much gas in that as i do in my truck, kinda rediculous. The heep grand cherokee we used to have got like 16-17 in the city and its about the same thing...Overall, its not a bad truck, esp for a woman who needs it to haul the kids around and get groceries, but thats about as far as it goes.
 
I appreciate the info. It is down to this , the Durango and the Grand Cherokee. The sizes are about the same. With the "everyone gets GM employee discounts the Trailblazer looks better and better. I wish we could wait on the SS version but that is in the fall. Discounts are over in July. How is it for a long drive. I am a rather large guy @ 6'5" & 240. II am concerned with comfort on the long haul as well. Thanks for the info.
 
I work at a dealer,as far a dependability they are good, haven't seen too many towed in other that the few ignition switch problems but i belive that was fixed in 03. The 5.3 is available on the ext model, but isn't much better the the 4.2 it is a heavy truck. I heard from one of the engineers that the i6 made more power than the v8 when the motor was beeing developed, but had to be de-tuned because they didn't want a 6 cyl making more power that the v8. when you drive one it feels like someone hits a switch at around 4600 and then it kicks in.

redneckdude: The cd player issue will probably take a reprogram to fix, there have been a few updates in the radio program
 
long ride, i couldn't really tell you. I haven't been on a trip in this thing. I know you can get plenty of leg room in the front seat. I can have the seat back all the way in my truck and be comfortable, in this, its a stretch to touch the pedals. Head seems to be there, atleast for me its not bad, but you will have to be the judge of that. It rides pretty smooth i think, havin coils on all 4 corners so it def won't beat you to death on the highway, and seats seem to be a personal preferance thing too, so i can't really say about how much ur ass is gonna hurt after a 4 hr ride...lol
 
ericguy320 said:
when you drive one it feels like someone hits a switch at around 4600 and then it kicks in.
Click to expand...

You got that right. It has such a power boost at that range, and goes to what, 6K rpms or something? Those 1500 rpms or so pulls pretty nice, but much below 4K leaves somethign to be desired, largely in part to the TqM IMO.

BTW, the cd player problem is strange. sometimes when you crank the truck up, it won't play the cd if it was playing before you shut the truck off. My mom claims its when its close to the end of a song, but i don't know, i didn't pay enough attention, i just know it did it to me like 4 times out of about 8-10 that i cranked it up one day (im the runner for a lawyer, so i gotta make a buncha stops during the day). Pop the cd out and push it back in and it works fine.

I know that motor has tons of potential, like a nelson tune or westers garage tune would really liven it up i bet, but the stock computer is just holding it back. I wish i had the chance to tow with it to tell you how that went, but i haven't yet, i just know ours has no tow/haul mode, but does have D (really its OD),3,2,1 so you can just throw it in 3rd and go with it.
 
o yeah, with the 5.3l in 05 you can get the DOD displacement on demand, which is a lot better designed that the old 80's caddy motor. It cut's down to 4 cyl on highway and is supposed to be seamless, you wont even know it is doing it. It's also going to be in the impala ss and monte, I think the gtx also
 
Have them come into Sears when I worked there. Nice trucks, most hadn't had any problems with 60,000+ miles on them. The only sore spot? Batteries. Friggin AC Delco batteries piss out after about a year because they ALL start leaking out of the positive terminal post after about that much time. Buy one, replace battery with Die Hard, and roll on. The 5.3 EXT is REAL nice, that 8 has better torque for hauling it's heavy butt around, although the I6 does well to. You just have to get used to driving it differently. Just get used to it taking just a liiiitle longer to get to 60 without punching the gas. I've had to do that getting used to my 99 Jimmy.

Got this of the Chevy site...
Vortec 4200 six-cylinder
2WD 16/21
EXT 2WD 15/19
4x4 15/20
EXT 4x4 14/18
Vortec 5300 V8 with Displacement on Demand technology
EXT 2WD 15/20
EXT 4x4 14/19
 
redneckdude said:
My mom has one, ive been drivin it a lot this past week or so...my trucks BACK in the trans shop, so ive gotten a good feel for it. My mom has the regular sized one, not the funky longer/bigger one. Has the 4.2L I6, 700r4, and 7.5" 10b i bevieve. The 275/275 is hard to believe when u first step on the pedal, torque management is KILLER on it. Once you get to the top of the gear you can feel it pretty well. I believe my blazer with a TBI 350, 700r4, 3.08 rear and 33s could beat it to about 50 mph. I dislike the way it handles. I dunno what it is about it, seems like too much body roll. To me it almsot seems like my truck with 7" lift has less roll than that low ass 2wd thing does. Ours has i think arould 8000 miles on it, and i don't believe its been back for warrenty work yet...the cd player acts up sometimes, but what do u expect with the POS they use now in their cars and trucks...Next time she goes to get her oil changed there (free for life) shes gonna mention it to them again and they will order a new one they said, other than that, its been a good lil truck. Mileage sucks IMO. i can not get it to break 14 in the city...i go through almost as much gas in that as i do in my truck, kinda rediculous. The heep grand cherokee we used to have got like 16-17 in the city and its about the same thing...Overall, its not a bad truck, esp for a woman who needs it to haul the kids around and get groceries, but thats about as far as it goes.
Click to expand...

We recently took one for a drive. No offense to anyone that owns one, but I felt it handled like a barge. I'll second the body roll comment too. After the drive I told the salesman flat out there was no deal to be made. I hated the way the TrailBlazer rode, as well as the way it felt powerwise.

Just test drove an '02 Durango R/T this afternoon. Much better handling, tons more power and much more comfortable. Fit and finish was decent, interior seemed nicely laid out, will easily tow our trailer and can't get much worse mileage than our current Jeep XJ. Seats 7 too...

Rene
 
BulldogK5 said:
I appreciate the info. It is down to this , the Durango and the Grand Cherokee. The sizes are about the same. With the "everyone gets GM employee discounts the Trailblazer looks better and better. I wish we could wait on the SS version but that is in the fall. Discounts are over in July. How is it for a long drive. I am a rather large guy @ 6'5" & 240. II am concerned with comfort on the long haul as well. Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

my moms got a 99 durango 4x4... 318 and 4sp.
i love that thing. it has a surpisingly high feeling amount of power. we havnt had to get anything fixed on it to this day, owner of 6 years now... gas milage is damn good too. IIRC it has 53k on it now... good truck.
 
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