The Chevy Trailblazer has some weirdly-designed controls and amenities
May 22, 2006I rented a Chevy Trailblazer this past weekend for a little road-trip. Over the course of 24 hours I drove it about 7 hours, mostly highway with some city and stop-and-go traffic thrown into the mix. While I thought the roominess and power were pretty good, I found some of the controls a little awkward and some of the amenities were poorly thought out.
First the good–the V6 model I rented was plenty powerful enough, had no problems doing 75 and had power to spare whenever I needed to rev it up a little so I could go around somebody. And the roominess inside was nice–a comfortable driver’s seat, good visibility, yet controls all within reach.
But some of those controls were more than a little odd. For example, the cruise control–there was no indicator light of any kind to let you know when the cruise control was engaged. And the control itself was confusing. There’s a stalk coming out the left side of the steering column, with a switch at the end that you would slide to the right to turn cruise control on, back left to turn it off. Once turned on there was a thumb button mounted at the end of the same stalk that you’d press to set the speed. And to bump the speed up you’d push the switch a little farther to the right and then release it. But there was no way to bump speed down a little, you had to just turn it off or tap the brakes and then re-set at the lower speed.
The same stalk that housed the cruise control also housed the turn signal controls as well as the front and rear windshield wiper/spray controls. Why they had to cram so many controls onto a single stalk is beyond me–they could have moved a couple to a stalk on the right side of the steering column.
I also thought the folding rear seats were a disappointment. They did not fold flat, nor did the seat lift forward like it does in my CR-V to give you even more room. So you did not get a whole lot of extra storage room out of folding the rear seats.
Finally I have to say something about the mirror mounted on the back of the sun visor. Unlike most cars, there was no plastic hinged cover on the mirror itself. So when you have the visor pressed forward to block the setting sun the uncovered mirror reflects your crotch. For God’s sake put a little hinged cover on the mirror so people driving don’t have to see their own crotch in the reflection.