Super Sport Magic

LS2 Testosterone Transforms the Chevy Trailblazer

By Bill Moore   Photos by the Author

In America there's one sure way to pump your sales of trucks or cars -- just add horsepower.

If you're an executive at Chevrolet, the Super Sport performance package has always worked magic, and it does the trick with the 2007 TrailBlazer, too!

By spending $5,195 on the SS Package, you skip right onto something magical. Instead of the pedestrian 4200 SFI Inline-6, you get the Corvette LS2 6.0-liter V-8 engine with a herd of 395 ponies inside. That’s a big step to putting on a smile.

While the Corvette engine delivers between 15 and 19 miles per gallon (not great, mind you!), it helps launch the TrailBlazer from 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. Best of all, it comes with a 4-speed automatic transmission that works. While other 5- and 6-speed automatics spend a lot of time looking for the right gear, this unit goes right to work!

Thoughtfully laid out, the interior is just plain comfortable with logical controls. If you don’t like a lot of bells and whistles, this will fit right into your garage. The natural goodness of Chevrolet is always on hand, but it's something you can hear, starting with the clunk of the heavy doors, the seals so tight you need to open a window to close the doors.

Inside, there are all the things you need, but not in the luxury mode of a Cadillac Escalade which carries an additional price bulge of $30,000. There’s no navigation system (surely, you remember how to use a map!), there’s no third row of seats  (so there’s more room in the back) and there’s no leather except on the steering wheel. But the SS Performance cloth seating is grippy, and holds you in place when you push the very fine road course-tuned suspension that works with sticky P255/50R-20 tires on 20-inch, 6-spoke polished aluminum wheels.

On the outside, the TrailBlazer has a clean, utilitarian look.

Because of all those things, we think the 2007 TrailBlazer is a winner. It has both the room and performance to set it apart from the herd and it sells for a reasonable price. It'll cost you a total of $30,795 for the Super Sport model, and $24,280 for the basic rig. And, since it's late in the season, we'll bet your can talk yourself into a better deal at this point.