Hello everybody! I'm in Croatia, at Zadar, to test Chevrolet Trax, Opel Mokka’s brother
and a rival for models such as Nissan Juke and Renault Captur.
Unlike its rivals, Trax put great accent on the practical aspect. The backrest of the
right front seat can be folded in to load long objects over 2 meters.
The trunk is also large: 356 liters or 785 liters with the rear back seats folded down.
There are several elements that I particularly like about Trax. First of all it's the design.
Both interior and exterior of the car have a very coherent design and,
in terms of what the exterior is concerned, it has some very masculine lines,
muscular ones that look very good on this model.
Inside, the space is very well organized and the controls are perfectly right.
The steering wheel, the buttons for the power windows and mirrors adjustment - all come in handy
and gives you a very pleasant sensation of ergonomics, of comfort.
Trax has a multimedia system with a 7 inch touch screen. It's called MyLink and
can mirror from a SmartPhone the BringGo navigation software.
So instead of typing on your phone, you type on the touch screen of the car.
It's a more affordable solution in financial terms and promises to better
keep up with the world of SmartPhones.
Here in Croatia I drove two versions of Trax. I am talking about the 1.4 liter turbocharged gasoline version
and the 1.7 liter turbo diesel.
The most proper combination for Trax is the 1.4 liter turbo gasoline engine with
140 PS/HP which I am driving right now, with AWD and manual transmission –
otherwise, the only one that is available.
The turbo diesel version I drove yesterday is not recommended, from my point of view,
because the engine transmits to the cabin very much noise
and vibrations.
Imagine the sound of a Iveco Turbo Daily minibus - if you ever drove one.
Well, that loud and clear you can hear the diesel engine in Chevrolet Trax.
I think this is the most noisily turbo diesel car I have ever driven.
I spoke to the people from Chevrolet and I asked them about this detail.
They said that, indeed, there is a problem with the soundproofing and, as the cars will be delivered to customers
in the following months, this inconvenient will be solved.
Here in Croatia we drive some preproduction cars, so, these are not the final versions that customers will buy.
The combination of a gasoline engine and a 4x4 traction system makes Trax
a very pleasant car to drive; it is agile.
The steering seems to be working a little better, more promptly than the diesel version
and the consumption is not very high as long as you do not overdo with the speed on the highway.
For the gasoline version the average real fuel consumption is somewhere around 8.5 liters/100 km as an average.
Besides the lack of very modern engines and transmissions, Trax has some restrictions for options
to avoid becoming too expensive and not to cannibalize itself with Opel/Vauxhall Mokka.
For example, the Chevrolet model cannot have under any circumstance automatic air conditioning
or xenon headlights.
As a conclusion, Chevrolet Trax can be a very interesting and practical car if you know how to configure it.
Romanian market price list starts at 15,500 Euro including VAT,
and 4x4 gasoline version as the one tested in Croatia has a price list of 20,800 Euros with VAT,
which also includes ecological leather trim and electric sunroof.