The 2021 Chevrolet Trax is a small SUV perfect for city drivers and commuters. It handles nicely and is smooth without sacrificing too much speed. It’s great for those who are seeking a budget-friendly vehicle, as its price starts around $22,000 MSRP. 

It may seem difficult to justify buying the Chevy Trax over the other subcompact SUVs in its class. For a small SUV, the Trax offers you all the basics, yet somewhat undersells in additional features. 

What Is the Chevrolet Trax?

The Chevrolet Trax is a five-door, subcompact SUV that comes with four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, depending on the trim. It has been around since 2012 and was first revealed as a concept at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The finished model first appeared in 2013 at the North American International Auto Show. In Canada, the Trax was made to be the successor of the Chevrolet Tracker, which was discontinued a few years prior to its introduction.

Its design, its comfort, and most of its features have stayed the same throughout the years. Despite being a subcompact SUV, it’s one of the more spacious on the market. Pack for as big a trip as you need—with folding passenger seats, you can fit much more inside than you may think. You get all this, plus a stylish look, for a nice price. 

The 2021 edition took away some of the trims that had been available in previous years, leaving just the LS and the LT. But you still have many options and packages to customize and enhance your ride. The NHTSA gives the Trax a 5-star overall safety rating; this means that you can drive around in style knowing that you’ll be well protected.

What’s Under the Chevrolet Trax’s Hood?

No matter which trim you choose, the Trax comes with the same engine: a turbocharged, 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine with 138 horsepower, 148 pound-feet of torque, and standard 6-speed automatic transmission. It may not seem like much, but it’s quite an upgrade in power from previous years of the Trax. You do have the choice of selecting FWD or AWD. 

An engine of this specification will do fine on city roads. Its steady handling and swift steering provide a solid overall driving experience. However, you’ll face some lag when on highways or hills. You may experience a difficult time accelerating or downshifting; in acceleration tests, it took around nine seconds to go from zero to 60 MPH. 

This engine does provide fairly decent fuel economy. With the FWD, you get an EPA-estimated 9.1 L/100km in the city and 7.6 L/100km on the highway. The AWD model gets you 10.0 L/100km in the city and 8.0 L/100km on the highway. 

How’s the Chevrolet Trax’s Interior?

The Trax’s exterior design looks nice, but this vehicle’s also built to give you a nice amount of room inside. Because of the Trax’s height, you’ll get a generous amount of headroom—39.6 inches in the front row, and 38.8 in the second. In the trunk of the Trax, you get around 18.7 cubic feet of cargo space. When you fold over the rear seats, you can max out the cabin space to 48.4 cubic feet. 

The legroom is also pretty impressive for the front row, measuring at 40.8 inches. Passengers in the rear seats may feel a little squished. The legroom only measures 35.7 inches, and the seats are narrow.

When it comes to the Trax’s interior design, it’s very stylish. Many parts of the Trax’s interior surface feel nice to the touch. Closer observation reveals that the Trax’s interior is on the cheaper end. 

How’s the Chevrolet Trax’s Tech?

The Trax comes with a 7-inch infotainment touchscreen as standard. This system includes features such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are useful since built-in navigation is not included. Your devices can stay connected as well, thanks to the Trax also having a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot. For sound quality, you get a Bose premium 6-speaker audio system. 

When safety-related tech features are looked at, you’re going to want to look at just the LT trim. The LS trim comes with few safety tech features besides a rear-view camera. But with the LT, you get features like cruise control, heated outside mirrors, and remote start. 

To upgrade your safety tech, a few optional packages are available. The Driver Confidence Package will give you blind spot monitoring, rear parking sensors, and rear cross-traffic alerts. To give a slight boost to the interior quality, the Premium Seat package provides heated synthetic leather front seats. For the LT trim, its Convenience package gives you a leather steering wheel and a six-way adjustable driver’s seat. 

Our Take on the 2021 Chevrolet Trax 

Of all the changes Chevrolet made to this year’s Trax, the removal of other trims was quite a loss; however, the added engine power has been helpful. For those of you who do lots of light-to-medium travel or need a decently priced commuter car, the Trax would be a decent choice. The $22,000 starting MSRP offers easy-to-control driving and swift turning. 

However, for the included features and engine specs, we believe that you should look for other subcompact crossovers in its path. The Trax does a decent job on the road but does nothing exceptionally well in comparison to its competition. Many other SUVs in its class offer the same features, plus much more. Sure, the price tag may be appealing to some. But we think you could gain more by saving a few extra hundred dollars towards other SUVs. The Chevrolet Trailblazer might be another vehicle to consider, depending on how much price matters to you.