2003 Chevrolet Blazer LS review from North America

Almost from day one, things started to squeak and rattle much more than I had expected. I had figured with any new car, it would stay "tight" for quite a while before everything started to squeak and rattle. I have since put a good many miles on it (I'm a musician and travel constantly), and nothing has happened since then, but after about a hundred miles on any long trip the whole front end squeaks on any bump, but not enough that turning the radio up can't help.

I love the look of the Blazer and am saddened to hear that GM can't look past the idea that sometimes there's more value in maintaining a current model line than in creating a new line that looks like whatever happens to be popular today. The fit and finish of the interior could be much stronger... the upholstery looks like it was completed by a child. The seams behind the seats are uneven and in some cases expose inner-seat foam (towards the bottom). The engine functions well and is quick to pass people on the expressway. The manual transmission is a pleasure, is very responsive, and is quite smart... for example, you don't need the clutch to pop it out of 5th when you're coming up to a light... somehow it knows when you're decelerating that you'd want to come out of gear. So, mechanically and from the outside, I love it, but I think the inside could have been done simpler and more cleanly. In addition, the ride is many times smoother than that of the Cherokee (standard Cherokee) which rides like a pickup truck, where the Blazer feels like a car, but with more spunk. The gas mileage is fairly dismal, but what else is new?