Chevrolet Trax

Published · Researched 2026-09-21

Chevrolet Trax review

Verdict: the cheapest good-looking new car in America, with a first-year engine record that should make you pause. Buy 2025+, never 2024, and know exactly what $22,000 buys.

Let's start with what the Chevrolet Trax gets right, because the Facebook owner's group is genuinely joyful and it would be dishonest to skip it. The second-generation Trax (2024+) looks like a shrunken Blazer, costs $21,700 to $25,400 new, and owners love it with the uncomplicated affection people usually reserve for pets. They customize them, they photograph them, they defend the three-cylinder. And they're right about the value proposition in the narrow sense: nothing else new with a warranty looks this good for this little money. A 2025 LS with 25,500 miles recently changed hands in the group at $17,500 — the depreciation math on a cheap new car, visible in real time, and a genuinely good deal for the buyer.

Now the other half, because Consumer Reports put the 2024 Trax on its "vehicles to avoid" list and the NHTSA complaint file explains why. The headline case: a 2024 Trax 1RS at roughly 66,000 miles suffered a loud engine bang on the interstate, smoke inside and out, oil-pressure warnings, and a hole in the engine block. The dealer estimate for a long-block replacement was about $13,400; GM offered partial assistance, leaving the owner roughly $5,200 out of pocket on a car that had just passed its powertrain warranty. A hole in the block. At 66,000 miles. On a two-year-old car.

That case is the tail, but the tail has company. Another 2024 owner documented recurring oil-pressure faults (P0521, P06DE), misfires (P0300), and highway hesitation across 2026 — the same 1.2T turbo three-cylinder, the same oil-pressure theme. Electrical complaints are the most numerous 2024 category (41 on file), and the brake complaints include both a grinding-noise warranty refusal and a loose air duct that blocked the pedals. CR's broader verdict: predicted reliability 43/100, uneven power delivery, stiff ride, cabin noise, "low-rent" fit and finish, no AWD on any trim. The aggregate scorers are kinder — low-80s on a 100-point scale, "excellent" in their words — but aggregates smooth over holes in engine blocks.

Here's the honest calibration: the Trax is a $22,000 car. Not a $35,000 car selling for $22,000 — a $22,000 car. The 1.2T three-cylinder (137 hp) through a six-speed automatic, front-wheel drive only, is adequate and nothing more. Owners in the group say this themselves: it's a three-cylinder economy car, and nobody's pretending otherwise. The customization culture — the wheels, the wraps, the photos — makes it look more premium than it is. That's fine as long as you know the difference between looking expensive and being expensive to fix. The 66,000-mile engine failure is what "cheap to buy" can mean when you're the unlucky one: a $5,200 bill on a car worth $17,000.

The generational split matters enormously. The 2024 is the redesign year and carries the CR "avoid" rating, the 125 complaints, and the severe engine cases. The 2025 shows 61 complaints and a calmer record; the 2026 has nothing on file yet. The 1.2T's long-term record is still being written, but the direction is encouraging — which is exactly why the 2024 is the one to skip. First-year redesign risk, documented in the most expensive possible way.

Support is the usual Chevy story: dealers everywhere, the 1.2T shared with the Trailblazer so parts exist. But note the warranty math from the engine-failure case: 5 years/60,000 miles on the powertrain, and the failure happened at 66,000. Six thousand miles past coverage, $5,200 out of pocket. If you buy used, buy young and buy documented — and consider that the steep depreciation (that $17,500 2025 LS) is the market telling you something about long-term confidence.

Who should skip it: anyone considering a 2024 — the redesign year's engine record is disqualifying at any price. Anyone who needs AWD; it doesn't exist here, and CR was right to keep flagging it. Anyone stretching to buy new when a one-year-old 2025 costs thousands less for a better reliability record. And anyone who reads the customization photos as evidence of premium quality — it's an economy car with nice wheels, priced accordingly.

Sweet spot: a 2025 — past the worst of the redesign year, still under full warranty, and already depreciated into the high teens. Years to avoid: 2024, the CR-flagged redesign year with the engine-block failure on file. The 2021–2022 first-gen cars are a different, older, simpler proposition — fine as beaters, irrelevant as comparisons.

The Trax is honest about what it is, and its happiest owners are honest too. Match their honesty: buy the right year, pay the cheap-car price, and keep the warranty. It's the best-looking $22,000 car in America. Just make sure the engine stays inside the block.