Buying a new car is a difficult experience these days with inventory scarce and average sticker prices pushing $50,000. It’s tough to find a bargain. Chevrolet hopes to buck the trend with its all-new, 2024, entry-level Trax SUV.
The new model debuts at $21,4951 — nearly a grand less than the current model — while offering more room, more tech, more safety, more style.
Taking styling cues from bigger brothers Blazer and Trailblazer, Trax gets an extreme makeover on the exterior while also adding a Trailblazer-like ACTIV trim. A perennial segment cost leader, the new Trax addresses criticism that it has lacked room and technology features compared to competitors like Honda and Nissan.
“The bold exterior and tech-forward interior design of the all-new Trax redefines what an entry-level vehicle can be,” said design chief Phil Zak. “It demonstrates that design doesn’t have to come at a premium.”
Reports of the Trax’s death after the 2022 model year proved premature. Trax continues as the brand’s entry vehicle in the preferred SUV segment, but Chevy also offers a starter Spark sedan at $14,595, one of the most affordable vehicles in autodom.
Along with the Buick Encore, Trax was a pioneer in the subcompact SUV segment in 2013, including a unique, flat-folding front seat that allowed passengers to use the entire length of the vehicle to carry oversize items like surfboards or lumber.
With its wheelbase stretched six inches longer than the outgoing model, the 2024 Trax gains significant interior room. Rear legroom grows by three inches — eclipsing the 37.7-inch rear legroom of the Honda HR-V, one of the segment’s roomiest rides. Cargo space increases by 12%, though it is still shy of the Honda.
You get what you pay for, and Trax has traditionally undercut its rivals by skimping on standard equipment. The 2024 Trax won’t make adaptive cruise control standard, for example, while it is standard on the pricier HR-V and Mazda CX-30. But for the first time, the feature is available on Trax while the base LS model gains significant content.
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for Google Maps navigation is now standard, as is push-button start and cruise control. Wireless smartphone apps have reduced the gap between mainstream and luxury cars, allowing riders to instantly transfer their phone’s navigation, contacts and text-messaging to their cars.
Other standard electronic advances in the Trax include an 8-inch touchscreen, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian braking, lane-keep assist, forward-collision alert and auto high beams.
Work your way through the model lineup — 1RS, LT, 2RS — and Trax makes available more content like the aforementioned adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist, sunroof, 11-inch touchscreen, 18-or-19 inch wheels. Step up to the loaded, adventure-styled ACTIV trim with heated front seats, heated steering wheel, heated outside mirrors, remote start, rear-seat USB ports and power-adjustable seats, and you’re paying the same $24,995 price as the stock HR-V.
Both interior and exterior designs follow upstream models. The infotainment screen is now higher in the driver’s view, forming a continuous dash sweep from the instrument display. The arrangement adds to an interior already praised by critics for its good visibility.
Reducing the price to compete with cost-leader Nissan Kicks also means reducing the number of cylinders and the Trax drops from a 155-horse, 1.3-liter turbo-4 cylinder engine to a mousey 138-horse, 1.2-liter turbo-3 powered by a six-speed automatic. Torque also drops from 177 to 163 pound feet, though the latter still trumps the HR-V’s 138 driven by a continuously-variable transmission.
The Trax’s new interior digs are wrapped in an upgraded exterior that drops 4 inches in height for a leaner, more athletic stance.
Gone is the blocky split grille, replaced by a more integrated shape anchored by thin, Blazer-like headlights. Each trim has unique grille and wheel design. The sporty-looking RS trims (1RS and 2RS) are particularly distinctive with black grilles and red RS badging.
Assembled in South Korea and Mexico, the 2024 Chevrolet Trax goes on sale in the spring of 2023.
2024 Chevy Trax pricing
LS — $21,4951RS — $23,195LT — $23,395 2RS — $24,995ACTIV — $24,995
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.