Jim Park’s 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS Driving Impressions:
Stuffed with a milder 395 horsepower version of the 6.0-liter LS2 small block motor from the C6 Corvette and priced under $32,000, who cares how the 2006 Chevy TrailBlazer SS drives? It’s a 4,400-lb. SUV that moves like stink with a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 5.7 seconds and quarter-mile times in the 13’s (according to GM). ‘Nuff said. Or is it?

The TrailBlazer SS has surprisingly predictable road holding manners around sweeping corners with better-than-expected steering response. Credit the tuned SS-specific ZQ8 Sport Suspension package with Bilstein shocks and high performance Goodyear RS-A tires wrapped around 20-inch wheels for making the SS feel downright nimble around these sweepers. But as an SUV, it doesn’t fare nearly as well on tighter slalom-like turns requiring scalpel-sharp precision, or on brisk drives on the highway where wind buffeting pushes against its slab sides.

Unrealistic expectations of a corner-carver aside, stab the throttle and let the LS2-equipped SS do what it does best: pound out power and torque. Off-the-line starts are bit tamer than one would expect with nary a chirp but once the TrailBlazer SS gets going it does so with brutal authority. Acceleration isn’t quite up to the C6 Corvette, which weighs about 1,100-lbs. less, but fellow commuters in their sports sedans are in for an unexpected lesson in torque over heft. On the highway, the TrailBlazer SS is never at a loss for passing power. Before you know it, you’re exceeding safe highway speeds but the four-wheel disc brakes (with Corvette-spec pads) do a competent job of reigning in the horses. There is little brake modulation offered. Scrubbing speed on a two-plus ton SUV is more akin to on and off braking but ABS is present should braking require more elegant intervention. One niggling annoyance for me was the height and placement of the pedals relative to each other. On more than one occasion, letting off the throttle meant brushing the brake pedal with the inner sole of my shoe – during panic stops one can’t help but feel he’s going to get caught on the underside of the brake pedal before being clear and able to step on the brakes.

Now the question comes to mind: Why would anyone need almost 400 horsepower in an SUV while gas prices inch toward the $4.00 per gallon mark? The TrailBlazer can’t handle quite like a sports car and nobody needs such prodigious power to haul the kids to soccer practice. But for the select few (most likely husbands and fathers who lived and breathed petrol and smoky burnouts in their youth), having a Corvette engine stealthily transplanted into an SUV gives them the best of both worlds, a stoplight bruiser that can bring home the groceries and eight bags of potting soil for the garden.

Christian Wardlaw’s 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS Driving Impressions:
The 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS caused me to laugh out loud the first time I punched the accelerator and hauled ass down the road, and I cannot remember any vehicle having that effect on me in 10 years of test driving – except the Ford Mustang Cobra R. Maybe I was tired from two trying days spent attempting to pick the TB SS up after a Detroit-based buff magazine’s west coast flunkies A.) kept it longer than they were supposed to, B.) forgot to tell Chevy that the truck was to be picked up in Costa Mesa rather than at their offices in West L.A., and C.) failed to inform anyone that it had a flat tire requiring repair. Regardless, I was overjoyed by the TrailBlazer’s thrust, vociferous exhaust note, and bare-bones equipment level. This test vehicle adhered to the classic muscle car recipe like no other modern interpretation of that iconic American performance species: Take one pedestrian, stripped-down, utterly unremarkable mainstream vehicle, insert a huge V8 engine, and call it a day.

Chevy tightened down the rest of the TrailBlazer’s hardware, too. The brakes feel terrific, the truck is shod with 20-inch low-profile performance tires on handsome wheels, and the suspension is firmed up and riding lower. The result of these changes is the GM SUV that should have been available when the current crop of Buick, Chevy, GMC, and Isuzu marshmallows debuted back in 2002. The steering still needs work, though. It’s vague on center, and the giant Goodyears tend to hunt on lumpy pavement, giving the TrailBlazer SS an unsettled feel in a straight line. Handling is better than expected, especially considering how the standard version rolls over and plays dead when turning corners. I wasn’t too thrilled with the transmission, though. It hesitated to downshift, and when it did grab a lower gear, it shifted hard into a well of unexpected power and torque.

Despite my glee over this SUV, acceleration is not overwhelming. The TrailBlazer SS sounds faster than it is. Driving home down Pacific Coast Highway, a guy with a Hemi in his Dodge Ram Quad Cab four-by gave chase. He couldn’t keep up, but neither did that gleaming gun-sight grille fade to a speck in the Chevy’s rearview mirror. If you buy this rig, don’t take on any Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8s – you just might get spanked. I expected more from what is essentially a transplanted Corvette motor.

Thom Blackett’s 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS Driving Impressions:
This is one car that, more than any other, makes me think of Tim Allen and his apish grunts from the Home Improvement television series. Tim was all about more power, added to everything from a blender to a lawn mower. And he was a fan of American muscle. The Tool Man would like the 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS.

Packed under the hood is a 395-horsepower Corvette engine with punch aplenty, using 400 lb.-ft. of torque to aggressively launch the truck. Put the hammer down and speed climbs quickly, all while the tuned exhaust screams a deep growl. That’s the good stuff. What’s not so pleasant is the excessive wind noise and a four-speed transmission that randomly decides whether to shift smoothly, though a quick dip into the throttle will invariably result in a sudden lurch and some possible neck pain. Even more disappointing is the inability to get the rear 20s smoking. With StabiliTrak turned off and a heavy foot on the throttle, the SS simply launches; standing on the brake and gas at the same time will get the rubber spinning a bit and the tail drifting side to side, but any high school kid can do that in his dad’s beat-up pickup.

Out on the road and away from burnout experiments in deserted parking lots, the TrailBlazer SS proves to be quite nimble, especially given its 4,417-lb. curb weight. In tight corners the front end and Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires give up some traction, but when hitting some gentle sweepers at high speed the SS holds the line with no worries and minimal body roll. However, in a stretch of quick switchbacks the tail end can get a hair loose. The highway ride is on the stiff side, with expansion joints causing some mild bucking, and regardless of speed or road surface, the steering is short on feel and responsiveness.