Is Chevrolet finally beginning to turn its image around? For decades, this company defined itself as exclusively, unapologetically American, and the rest of the world didn't really figure in the game plan. Consider one of its most famous ad taglines: 'Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet'. Which wouldn't have gone down particularly well in Berlin. Or Birmingham.
Now its fortunes are on the up in Europe, and in the same way that nobody smirks at Kia anymore, people don't assume you line-dance at weekends if you rock up in a Chevy (well, not many of them do).
To any European, the engine range will look like familiar territory. There's an entry level 1.6-litre petrol with a miserly 113bhp, a more potent 138bhp 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol and a 128bhp 1.7-litre turbodiesel. There are just two trim levels, LS and LT, but Chevrolet reckons that virtually everyone will opt for LT trim. There's only one engine on offer in LS trim, and that's the weedy 1.6 petrol, so we'd have to agree with their assertion.
No, the default engine, as with virtually all competitors in the B-segment SUV market, is the diesel. It offers the best combination of performance and economy, with a non-too shabby claimed combined fuel consumption of 62.8mpg. And the least expensive two-wheel-drive only version is the 1.7 LT VCDi.
That model isn't cheap, but it is one very well equipped car. Chevrolet's MyLink with smartphone connectivity and a 7-inch display features, as does a reversing camera, 18-inch alloys and much more. It's the pick of the range, and while it lacks all-wheel drive, the Trax isn't much cop off-road anyway. So unless you live in a snowbelt, the extra cost for four-wheel drive doesn't look like it's worth it.
