Chevrolet TrailBlazer LTZ.(evaluation)(Brief Article)

``What's wrong with the TrailBlazer, now?''

With that all-too-familiar refrain emanating from the cube farm at One AutoWeek Tower, you can probably guess all is not rosy with our long-term Chevrolet TrailBlazer LTZ. The silvery sport/ute's first quarter of duty was fraught with everything from niggling little complaints to the apparent complete failure of the awd/4wd system. More on that later.

On the upside, we logged 12,052 miles in our first three months, including a shakedown trip that involved towing a camping trailer for 1600 miles and a later tour to the great American West, towing a motorcycle trailer for 4700 miles. In between, the TrailBlazer saw duty as a day-to-day commuter, local boat hauler and hunting vehicle.

We remain impressed with the 4.2-liter inline-six and its 270 horsepower and 275 lb-ft of torque, spacious interior, overall good looks and bump-handling chassis. We're less than infatuated with the truck's poor build quality and materials (note the plastic at the top of the liftgate-before you hang a heavy bicycle rack on it), less-than-stellar fuel economy, spongy brake-pedal feel (brakes work just fine), vague on-center steering feel and last, but certainly not least, spotty OnStar service.

Early complaints centered on a wiggly ...