Chvrolet Blazer Test drive 5 doors 1997 - 2005 SUV
Brazilian cruiser
The General Motors Corporation received an invitation to visit her joint venture in Elabuga (Elaz-GM). This did not cause much joy, I was already there two years ago and, knowing our pace, did not doubt the lack of radical changes. However, the program of the current trip included not only the inspection of the plant, but also the opportunity to ride on a full -wheel drive Blazer by truly off -road. It seemed tempting. In addition, some strange rumors about the untimely death of the project appeared ... Departure from Moscow on May 12, in the morning early. On the plane in the head all the time was spinning: and when the Brazilian cruiser comes, the captain will tell us about the geyser ... from Vertinsky. Probably, in Elabuga they will tell no less than the sale at the joint venture after last August are not brilliant. Well, let's listen ...
The airport in Naberezhnye Chelny seems to be a dead crisis. Cool, the rain is drizzling. Through the haze of the fog, the dull look of the roller roller spilled to the horizon. A pretty decent road to Elabuga, there are very few cars. It is amazing how obedient drivers of one appearance of a traffic police machine with a milek (she accompanied our bus) was enough for everyone to go to the sidelines and stopped instantly on the sidelines. In Moscow, to achieve such an effect, it would be necessary for a riot police detachment: to lie to everyone, the face in the mud .... someone said that the President of Tatarstan commanded when calculating fines for violation of the rules to be considered the minimum salary of as much as 300 RE.
We got to the hotel. I turn on the TV: ... accepted the resignation of Evgeny Primakov. Your mother, this was just not enough. The faces of the leaders of Elaz-GM are preoccupied, they clearly do not like such a turn of events. What do you like here?
The assembly of the rear -wheel drive Blazer began in Elabug on December 19, 1996. Slowly, Polegonka ... On April 29, 1997, they sold the first car (which served as the reason for my trip two years ago, who wanted to get acquainted with the details, I send to the motor E 6, 1997). Things gradually went uphill, 2,600 cars were already sold. But here is the cold August of the 98th ... By the way, my assumptions confirmed the changes at the factory are invisible, almost everything, as in 1997, the same small assembly of cars from machine tools, the same huge empty, only the floor concreted the workshop where they plan to start the real production of Blazer and Vectra, the same heaps Clay in front of the front sign of the Elaz-GM corporation.
Be that as it may, last year they collected 2500 cars, both the rear and all-wheel drive. Of these, 1100 still stand at the factory warehouses-platforms of finished products. In November, prices did not help. On the first of April, the case went again (from January to May only 22 cars were sold, but almost everything since April). The plan for this year is a modest 700 cars. True, no one knows that now ...
Despite the difficult situation, General Motors is not going to leave the Russian market, this was firmly declared. Rumors that SPELAZ-GM have died are not true (some of the media either because of inattention, or in pursuit of sensation hastened to announce the death of the enterprise. In fact, it was only about the fact that they stopped so far. The assembly of new cars must be sold already collected). Moreover, the project of organizing the assembly of Opel Vectra cars in Elabuga is also alive, let the process slowly, but it goes.
At first, the corporation made the main bet on a relatively inexpensive (from April 1 $ 16,000) an rear -wheel drive Blazer with a 2.2 liter of a motor. Now for the help of him a full -wheel drive version with 4.3 l V6 ($ 28.500) has come to him. She could not do without problems. It was planned to start sales last year, but the August crisis prevented. Then they settled with the traffic police funny question. The engine of this car is Canadian. In Canada, it is not customary to knock out the numbers on the engines. And formally, the car is Russian, which means that it should correspond to the GOSTs ... The question eventually settled down, but it took three months. And then, finally, everything is ready, you can start sales on May 12 ... Honestly, foreign entrepreneurs who came to Russia, it’s just a pity.
So what is the Brazilian cruiser? The SUV, built on the basis of the S-10 pickupa, appeared in the Gamm of Chevrolet back in 1983 under the name S-Blazer. This is a real old -timer of the market. The heroic name used Chevrolet thirty years ago (Motor E 8, 1996). The company believes that it was Blazer that laid the foundation for the new class of compact SUVs. In 1995, a radical modernization of the machine was carried out, and a year later it began to release it in the Brazilian branch of the General Motors called Gmb 330 Blazer. The Brazilian version was different from the American appearance (the forms of the front and lighting equipment were Europeanized in accordance with local tastes), the gamut of engines (at first weaker motors were used) and, most importantly, adaptation to Brazil’s road conditions, incomparably more difficult than in the United States.
Adaptation was carried out for real. First of all, it touched the suspension, which became more powerful and tougher. Its design remained unchanged (the front independent two -winged torsion, the back of the unreasonable bridge on springs, reptile stability stability at the front and back), but many elements, in particular levers, ball supports, rotary fists and springs are borrowed from a heavier C/K pickup. In general, all this resembles an off-road ZR2 package designed for the High-Wider version, only hydraulic shock absorbers are used. In addition, compared with the North American version, the body has been strengthened, more powerful brakes are installed, road clearance is increased, and the belly of the machine is covered with a shield. The carrier frame for 4x2 and 4x4 options is the same.
What is suitable for Brazilian roads is also suitable for Russian. Climate amendment: injector seals, battery, wires are all in frost -resistant design. The all -wheel drive Blazer is equipped with more powerful than in the 4x2 version. Two cylinders grabbed two cylinders from the classic V-shaped eight, added a balancer shaft and received 4.3 liters of Vortec 4300 V6 motor. Power 180 hp, torque 340 nm.
The four-speed adaptive automatic box 4L60 is a textbook, included in all textbooks (by the way, it is used on Jaguar and Aston Martin cars). The two-stage hand-tarac hand gearbox has electronic control from the driver's seat. Standard modes: 2HI, 4HI and 4LO. There is a self -locking differential of the rear axle.
The car testing program turned out to be surprisingly serious, this is by no means racing around the Kremlin, which took place in Moscow on the same days. It included ordinary city streets, public roads, a paving stones-probenka, a smacked country, smashed to smash a primer, climbing a steep hill along the sand and high-speed section of the highway, which was proposed to squeeze everything from the car to which it was capable of. Almost everything is under tedious drunk rain.
The cars pumped out for the test were distinguished only by the color of the Blazer 4x4 in Russia is proposed in the only (rather rich) option of configuration. The initial inspection of the passenger compartment and the body did not reveal any external differences between the Brazilian version from the American (made for Europe with the gearbox lever on the floor), with the exception of the already mentioned front-line and lighting equipment, and even the rear door, which in the Brazilian machine is whole, on the upper loops, And in the American, it spreads through the belt. The door was quite heavy that when opening, when closing. How do fragile Brazilian women cope with her, because Blazer, as we were informed, are their favorite car? The answer is quite logical: the name is to help gallant Brazilian men. Apparently, the men there are not only gallant, but also nimble: if you do not try to close the dirty door by the inner handle, a certain agility is required so that the hand does not pinched ...
On the cabin, perhaps, only two comments. The first step of changing the slope of the steering column is too big, the steering wheel is either too low or too high. The second plastic of the finish seemed unnecessarily sonorous. And one more thing: the front passenger armchair feels some kind of crooked, you slide to the left and forth. The assembly defect or with your back is something wrong? I tried several cars everywhere the same thing, however, to varying degrees. The American version of the seat has a slightly different profile, and the effect of sliding is not observed.
On the front seats, it is not too spacious in width, the passenger is deprived of the opportunity to use the central armrest (this interferes with the driver) and is forced to press his hand to his own side. At the same time, on the bumps, a hard armrest rubs the elbow. The engine copes with its duties, the acceleration is confident. I really liked the automatic box: the switching is instant and absolutely invisible that up, what is down. The steering wheel, as usual among the Americans (albeit in the Brazilian performance), is quite cotton. The brakes are in order.
On the smooth highway, the car is quite comfortable even at high speed, but on irregularities it shakes significantly, and the passengers of the rear seat strive to try their heads with the strength of the ceiling (after several checks, they were convinced of the ceiling durable). No goat is observed. On the bumps in the bend, the rear bridge, of course, rearranges, but within quite reasonable limits.
It seems that the rigidity of the suspension is chosen optimally (it is not necessary to drive on bumps with crazy speed). In two days, not a single breakdown, even in cases where the legend listed: a gentle hole. Speed \u200b\u200bno more than 100 km/h. Speaking of speed. On the 18-kilometer section of the freshly built highway (not without bumps, turns and clay lumps on wet asphalt), the car developed 175 km/h (along the speedometer) with four saddles and the front bridge disconnected.
The sound insulation is good, the noise of the wind in the outer mirrors is heard only after about 80 km/h. It is annoying that the brushes, especially the driver’s way, noticeably pop up at speed.
Now briefly about patency. As already mentioned, the off -road route was prepared quite decent, not Camel Trophy, of course, but for demonstrations quite. And her entire Blazer was only on the rear drive without turning on the lower row. And this is on universal rubber. Only once I had to connect the front bridge when the car in wet clay porridge turned across the road, and did not want to fidget back and forth to level it. There were a couple of funny cases. Ringing the engine and grinding with wheels wet sand, Blazer climbs along a blurry winding path on a steep hill, and there ... I immediately remembered the Pepsi advertising video, where the climber, with difficulty climbing to the top, sticks the flag with his physiognomy and sees a bunch of the same Flags with portraits of a grandfather, infants, dogs ... So, on the hill we saw Zhigul. True, as it turned out, he drove from the other side along the road.
Or other. Colleagues put one car on the belly. The traffic police officer who watched what was happening went after the tractor with a migamillers. And the tractor driver from him to fly into the field, it is clear that something was frightened. Barely caught up with ...
Some of the participants in the test criticized the decision to place the spare tire from the bottom, they say, it would not be too pleasant to get it in the mud. Probably. But I told the creators of the car thanks after, turning around in the forest on the car she had given a vapor, I did not look in a thick mast pine in an embrasure with an embrasure with a grated backbrush (somewhere here Shishkin painted his paintings). There is contact! The case ended with the rumpled rear bumper. And if the reserve hung from behind, playing behind the bumper, the injury could be more serious: the door would suffer ...
General Motors Corporation considers Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and ... Honda CR-V Corporation. The first two cars competitors are straight (similar designs, engines, purpose), but are significantly more expensive (Pajero from $ 36,000 to $ 43,000, Prado from $ 39,000 to $ 42,000). But why Honda? With almost the same as the Blazer 4x4, the buyer receives the cost of the carrier instead of the frame, a noticeably less powerful engine and obviously weaker off -road opportunities.
That's perhaps that’s all. It remains only to say that I am pleased with the trip to her, I will not hide, I had the attitude towards Brazilian products (as I am sure, most Russians) had a priori somewhat skeptical: what they have in Brazil, except for the mass of wild monkeys. But this, in my opinion, is guilt and General Motors. The corporation is not that the origin of the car did not advertise. But it was necessary, on the contrary, shouting about him on every corner: we have by no means American roads.
Photo by the author.
Source: Motor magazine [No. 2/1998]
