Trailblazer

I went with Becca and Mikey to the Chevy dealer along Otis St. to view the new Trailblazer, which is a 7-seater SUV designed to compete with the Toyota Fortuner, the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Mitsubishi Montero.  The exterior comes in rugged form and looks like a mean macho vehicle sporting a 2.7 liter Duramax diesel engine (CRDi and VGT).  The 4 x 2 model, shown above, comes with a stickshift and costs P1.3 million thereabouts, while the 4 x 4 model comes with AT and costs P1.7 million.  I like the exteriors and the interior finish, which is a combination of black and beige.

We were quite disappointed with the leg room of the third row--pretty tight.  The Toyota Innova has a lot more space, and this is critical for us since Panini always sits on the third row.  I would imagine the ride and drive of the Trailblazer would be on par with the others of its class, so that didn't bother me much.  One other issue we had was that Chevy vehicles reportedly need casa maintenance, which would be costlier than that of the Japanese brands, which could be maintained and repaired with any decent motor shop.  Also, being a newly introduced SUV marque, the Trailblazer may not be as hot on the second-hand market as would the more established brands.  In any case, we'll continue with our window-shopping before we decide on which vehicle to purchase.