Well, here I go again, reviewing another sport-utility vehicle.
But don't blame me. I'm not the trendsetter here. As long as so many of you out there in Freewayland keep trading in your cars for sport-utes and trucks, the motoring mavens will keep sending them to me for review.I understand what they're up to. Back in the 1970s, Detroit refused to acknowledge the public's shift to fuel-sipping small cars until Japan had quietly appropriated a third of the U.S. market.
This time, the Big Three are determined to be the leaders in the Great Uncar Revolution of the '90s. You want trucks? Trucks R Us.
The 1996 Chevrolet Blazer I've been driving this past week isn't really a truck, of course; it is officially designated a compact sport-utility vehicle. But not long ago, sport-utes were little more than trucks in which the bed was enclosed with a metal roof and seats were bolted down where the plywood and 2X4s used to go.
No longer. The Blazer, completely redesigned for the 1995 model year, has moved away from its pickup ancestry to a position closer to what Mr. and Ms. Consumer apparently want.
I say "apparently" because Mr. and Ms. C. don't actually come right out and declare their wants. They're more subtle than that. That's why General Motors has a staff of gurus dedicated to divining buyer psychology.
Their conclusion: Buyers want to be coddled on the highway 99 percent of the time while maintaining bragging rights to venture into the great unknown that other 1 percent.
This is not an easy assignment, but the Blazer - and its near identical twin, the GMC Jimmy - pull off the compromise quite nicely.
Most noticeable is the Blazer's precise, well-modulated steering characteristics, the best I've ever encountered on a truck or sport-ute. On the highway, it tracks perfectly with no need to make constant steering corrections to keep it in its lane. It's equally good on a winding road.
The steering is matched by a wonderful ride, neither too firm nor too soft but, as Goldilocks might say, just right.
Buyers may order four different Blazer suspension setups - "standard," "premium," "touring" or "off-road" - according to their intended use of the vehicle and the sensitivity of their posteriors. My test vehicle had the "premium" setup, which includes de Carbon gas-pressurized monotube shocks, soft-rate springs and other refinements.
The result is possibly the smoothest, most comfortable highway ride possible for a vehicle that can also go bouncing in the boulders.
Unfortunately, boulder bouncing is tough on a car's underside unless it has sufficient ground clearance, and at 28.4 inches from the rear load floor to the ground, it's considerably higher than any car. Some sport-ute wannabes find clambering up into a sport-ute the one feature that sends them back to Buicks.
Ingress and egress were particularly difficult with the two-door Blazer I reviewed last year. A four-door model I've been driving this time around makes a lot more sense. Four doors make any vehicle more accessible, but for a sport-ute they should be mandatory.
A word about Blazer history. The new version is the first major redo of the marque since 1983 - long overdue considering that Japanese carmakers believe in a shelf life of about four years for their models. The 1983-94 compact was called S-Blazer; its replacement, the car we're talking about here, is just Blazer.
To ease the confusion, the full-size Chevy sport-ute formerly called Blazer has been renamed Tahoe and has turned out to be one of the hottest tickets in town. Dealers can't keep them in stock.
The gargantuan Suburban soldiers on with the same name in both Chevy and GMC versions. So we now have, in ascending order up the Chevrolet sport-ute food chain, Chevy Blazer, Chevy Tahoe and Chevy Suburban.
The new Blazer is slightly longer than its S-Blazer predecessor, but its 107-inch wheelbase is unchanged, as is its ladder and frame construction. On the inside, space is about the same, which means four adults can get along just fine, but don't invite a fifth to the party unless he or she has yet to graduate from fourth grade. If you need to carry more than four, Tahoe is for you.
The dash has been redone and is well thought out, and the seats are supportive and comfy. All the usual luxury-car gadgets that have become standard on upscale sport-utes are present and accounted for.
Cup holders? You want cup holders? The Blazer has plenty for everyone.
On the safety side, a driver's side airbag is now standard, as are antilock brakes. Being a high and rather heavy vehicle (4,023 pounds), you would think that Blazer's occupants would likely fare better in a crash compared to most other vehicles. Unfortunately, that may not be the case.
Last week, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave a "poor" accident rating to the Blazer and several other sport-utes. The institute claims that the stiff and strong construction of such vehicles causes crash forces to be transmitted to the occupants rather than dissipated as the vehicle deforms in an accident.
But the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers criticized the institute's data, saying they don't jibe with actual accident statistics.
"In the real world, these vehicles have an occupant fatality rate less than half that of passenger cars and have injury and vehicle damage insurance results somewhat better than average for all cars," the association said.
Base price of my four-door 4X4 test vehicle was $23,252. Options included a locking differential-rear axle, $252; all-season tires, $133; AM/FM stereo with tape deck, equalizer and clock, $205; tachometer, $59; "decor" package, $346; underbody shield, $126; heavy-duty trailer package, $210; a preferred equipment group that included cruise control, power doors/windows/mirrors, luggage rack, premium suspension package, overhead console, power seat and remote keyless entry, $3,568; and destination charge, $490. Bottom line: $28,041.
That figure is about $900 less than the full-size 4X4 Extended Cab Chevy truck I reviewed last week, but such comparisons are meaningless unless you really, really need the truck's open bed. As a mode of transportation for the majority of people, the Blazer easily beats the C/K pickup.
My test vehicle was powered by Chevy's new Vortec 4300 V6 engine, a very smooth and quiet motor - and seemingly peppier than the V8 in last week's C/K pickup - that is well-suited to the sensible folks who are buying Blazers.
Chevy's demographics describe Blazer buyers as having a median age of 39 and a median household income of $65,000. Half have attended college, 68 percent are male, 83 percent are married, 55 percent have children and 60 percent are white-collar workers.