2019 Chevrolet Blazer Premier AWD

The thing about the 2019 Chevy Blazer: It is the most-complete Chevy I’ve ever driven, as in seemingly every detail of the crossover having been carefully considered and appropriately executed, from the front end that has a design the likes of which is absolutely rare in a category of vehicles that is getting more undifferentiated by the moment to even consideration given to the piping on the IP.

(This and subsequent images: Chevrolet)

Yes, there are those who consider the Blazer to be something of a Crossover Camaro, which I think misses the case (despite the interior borrowings from the Camaro) and really isn’t all that fair to the Camaro. That is, the Blazer driven here is equipped with the bigger of the two engines available—the 3.6-liter V6 rather than the 2.5-liter I4—and is mated to a nine-speed automatic. The engine produces 308 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque. Which is certainly satisfactory but know that this AWD crossover has a curb weight of 4,246 pounds, so there is a non-trivial amount of mass to move. And you can get a Camaro with a 3.6-liter V6, too, but it produces 335 hp and the coupe with an automatic has a curb weight of 3,454 pounds, so that is more horsepower and less mass to move. Which is why I’m not going for the Crossover Camaro.

One of the interesting aspects of the exterior design of the Blazer is that I found that the more I looked at it, the more I discovered in terms of the sheet metal forming. That is, at first glance the body side seemed rather bland to me but then I recognized that there is really a nice tucking of surfaces. Then going around the back it is evident—which doesn’t always seem to be the case with some vehicles nowadays, which have a look that must have come out of committees that don’t communicate—that the rear was styled by the same person who styled the front. Which is certainly a good thing.

The trim package of the vehicle driven, Premier, brought along the sort of amenities that are nice to have in a vehicle, including heated and cooled seats for the driver and front passenger and heated seats for the outboard positions in the rear. There is a heated steering wheel, which is certainly an advantage for those of us in the Midwest for a longer period of time than those of you who live elsewhere might imagine.

There is an 8-inch touchscreen. There are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The vehicle is 4G LTE WiFi capable. And there is a Bose audio system. (Funny thing: nowadays we see branding from companies like Bose and Apple and consider it to be a good thing, when it wasn’t all that long ago that OEMs were more interested in their own developments that got some sorts of internally developed monikers).

While some people might think that the Blazer is like the Chevy Equinox, it is really a bigger vehicle. That is, the Blazer has a 112.7-inch wheel base and is 191.4 inches long, 76.7 inches wide and 67 inches high; the Equinox has a 107.3-inch wheelbase and is 183.1 inches long, 72.6 inches wide and 65.4 inches high. And while the Blazer has a 107.8-cubic foot EPA passenger volume, it is 103.5-cubic feet for the Equinox. What’s interesting to note, however, is that the cargo volumes provided behind the rear seats of both vehicles aren’t as different as it might seem: 30.5-cubic feet for the Blazer and 29.9-cubic feet for the Equinox, which probably has more than a little to do with the sloped roofline for the Blazer.

Sometimes you’ve just got to give something up for style.