GM has our 2027 Bolt again to replace a mystery part that presumably will fix the odd noise issue with the new model.
For the interim, the Chevy dealer has given us a loaner, a 2024 Chevy Blazer EV AWD with the RS trim. At least it’s an EV, the previous loaner, an Equinox, was a gasser. (See Pumping Gas—My My Times Have Changed.)
My quick take? It’s HUGE!
Granted I am spoiled. I’ve been driving compact cars since I learned to drive oh so long ago. My first car was an MGB and if you don’t know what that car is here’s a tip–it had only two seats. I really moved up in the world when I bought a used VW bug that could seat four. Our last true gasser was a Prius. It could seat five. Whoohoo. So navigating in a car the size of the Blazer took some trial and error.
Size
Like the Equinox, the Blazer is made in Mexico. (So much for an American company using American labor.) And despite my protestations that it’s huge, the Blazer is considered a “mid-size” crossover by the automotive world.
Most of the Blazer’s size is due simply to wasted space. (Humans are only so big.) Or space created to give a sense of size. For example, the dash stretches on to the horizon–or so it seems to me. Because the car is so wide, and humans only so wide, the center console is much wider than needed and gives the driver the feeling of a cramped cockpit much like the old Chevy Volt. This really is a car designed to be big, just to be big.
Frunk?
After I figured out how to pop the hood (It takes two pulls of the release lever. Thanks Google.), I was disappointed to not find a frunk. Nor could I see anything but sheets of molded plastic covering the engine bay.
Traction Battery
I charged it to 100% twice. Though the Blazer has 24,000 miles on the clock it was still reporting 279 miles of range on the GOM both times. That could be the default, as that’s what the 85 kWh pack is rated at. Or it could mean that after 24,000 miles there’s been no appreciable degradation.
Efficiency
Surprisingly, the dash says that its efficiency over those 24,000 miles was 4.3 mi/kWh. I don’t believe it. I drove it for 63 miles in mixed city and highway driving, and some off paved roads as well. I only got 3.2 mi/kWh and that’s about what’s to be expected. The Blazer is ~25% less efficient than the much smaller Bolt.
Dimensions
Just how big is the Blazer compared to the Bolt? It’s two-feet longer, ~3/4 feet wider, and almost 40% heavier.
Cost
The Blazer RS AWD starts at $55k and goes up from there or almost twice that of the 2027 Bolt.
AWD
What the Blazer has that the Bolt doesn’t is all-wheel drive. And that’s useful. I volunteer with a group that often does work off paved roads. Saturday we spent the day on roads crossing Sand Ridge. And that’s just what it is–a ridge of sand. One of the roads is steep and it connects to a road that borders a plowed field. It’s sandy. All but one of us had high-clearance vehicles. The one who didn’t had a Prius. They made it in and back out, but I noticed the tires on the AWD Blazer slipping at times going up Sand Ridge. I imagine that the Prius driver got up a head of steam before he attempted that climb.
Automatic Braking
What was unnerving about the Blazer was the automatic braking in reverse. If the car senses an object behind the vehicle, it slams on the brakes. I was trying to turn around on a dirt road that had a berm on one side and freshly plowed sand on the other. As I backed up to the berm, the Blazer kept slamming on the brakes. This was disconcerting as I could see the berm in the backup camera. I couldn’t get as close to the berm as I wanted as I was trying to avoid taking the Blazer over the field of freshly plowed sand—that seemed like a recipe for disaster.
CCS
The 2024 Blazer uses CCS. But unlike the hinged plastic cap that covers the DC pins on the Bolt, the Blazer uses a removable cap with a retaining strap. Sure enough it was gone when I went to charge the car. I found the cap in the glove box.
Cargo Capacity
On paper, the Blazer has 10 cubic feet more cargo space than the Bolt with the seats up. But the underfloor space on the Blazer is limited in contrast to the Bolt. In the Bolt there are two underfloors to work with and that gives you flexibility lacking in the Blazer.
Rear-View Mirror
The rear-view mirror can be switched from a conventional mirror to an electronic mirror using the rear cameras. I wasn’t used to the view that the electronic mirror projected and I found it disconcerting. I drove with the conventional mirror.
The backup camera in the Blazer provides a birds-eye-view for parking. I found this very helpful.
Dash Displays
The dash displays in the Blazer and the Bolt are similar, though I find the display in the 2027 Bolt more informative than the 2024 Blazer. The driver’s display also seemed more customizable in the Bolt. The center displays were also similar between the two vehicles. Again, I found there were more menus to work with in the 2027 Bolt than the older Blazer, maybe because the Bolt is more contemporary.
Summary
Would I buy a Blazer? No. Would I take one if someone gave me one? Sure. But I’d turn right around and sell it and then go buy something much more sensible.
