CHEVROLET TRAX: The little chevy that could.
From 1962 until 1982, British tobacco company John Player & Sons began a long and fruitful relationship with the Lotus Formula One team. As a kid, I was enamored by Lotus’ Formula One cars, in particular the ones piloted by Mario Andretti. This included the short-lived Lotus 77, and its successor the Lotus 78.
Under the guidance of legendary Lotus Chairman Colin Chapman, engineers Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie, along with designer Ralph Bellamy and aerodynamicist Peter Wright, the Ford Cosworth DFV V8-powered John Player Special Lotus 78 went on to win the 1978 Formula One Constructors Championship, as well win Mario Andretti – an American pilot! - the Drivers’ Championship.
Yes, my friends, a Formula 1 car sponsored by cigarettes.
What a time to be alive!
huh?
Let us, therefore, address the Camel in the room by pressing pause for a moment on any moral outrage at the mention of a big tobacco company in any conversation.
Yes, they are cancer-peddling-conglomerates, and the product they sell is bad for you. But chances are you also agree with the decriminalization of marijuana and other once illicit and much more powerful drugs, which I might add, are not good for you either. Yet, someone is manufacturing them. Someone is selling them. So then, if you agree with this trend, any “moral” outrage or criminalization of cigarettes should be anathema to you.
Recall then that cigarette manufacturers were a major sponsor of many sports. Crazy right, I know. Well, as absurd as that might sound today, there are many things we do today that no doubt will be seen as absurd by future generations. So let’s skip any provincial and period-tainted morally relative judgments against those involved in motorsport at the time when Big Tobacco was their main sponsor, and continue here.
As I was saying, the Lotus 78 was a winner, and what a winner it was. Not understanding engineering or design at the time - I was a little boy - I was in love with the look of the car, its black with gold pin-striped livery was dramatic and is still, to this day, my favorite racing livery. Its simplicity and elegance are unmatched.
This brings me to the subject of this essay: The Chevrolet Trax LT, which I was surprised to find waiting for me at the car rental center.
It is by no means an especially good-looking car, that is unless soap bars do it for you. But much to my surprise, the little Chevy waiting for me had the same black and gold pin-striped livery of the legendary John Player Special Lotus 78.
Dear readers, what follows, I will be the first to admit, might well be a rose-colored glass (pink rose) review of the vehicle in question tainted of course by its color scheme.
Can the color of a car be such a powerful source of pleasure as to skew judgment? I dare say not, as it would be unfair to the little Chevy which impressed me in ways I would never have expected.
Let’s talk about its shape and exterior design first.
Well, let’s not. It’s not pretty.
On second thought, let’s talk about it. It’s a pill on wheels, with as much design inspiration as a Zoom meeting.
In the case of a Zoom meeting, it is to make your work peers feel important by giving them a safe space to reiterate out loud things that are obvious, preemptively explore the snooze-fest subjects of the next meeting, and provide a stage for all those frustrated pets who wish to make it big in Hollywood and who find in Zoom their best and last chance to catapult into internet meme/gif fame.
In the case of the Trax, it has four wheels, good. It has doors that open, well done. It has windows from which you can see through, how enlightening. It can also be drawn by a child with ease. This last bit is not a derogatory comment for you can say the same thing about the Volvos of yore, those lovely bricks we petrol-heads adore, especially in wagon trim.
So, the Trax is not particularly handsome. Got it.
Inside, though, one is met with a tall, spacious cabin that defies its exterior dimensions. An automobile interpretation of a Tardis. Now, true to its segment, the interior suffers from the Rubbermaid school of material design, yet it all works well. The controls are where they should be, and are found intuitively (I’m looking at you Tesla).
Visibility, not in the least thanks to its long-slopped windshield, as well as the small triangle windows aft of the A-pillars which allow you to see ahead of the side mirrors, is quite extensive.
Expecting the drive to be economy-box-hideous, I was again pleasantly surprised by the car’s agile steering, even if it does feel sterile. But once it was underway, the peppy Trax cruised at 80mph in such a planted manner that I forgot the livery and began to appreciate it for what it was, not what it looked like. It was unshaken by the passing of larger vehicles, and it reacted to highway expansion joints and other imperfections with the emotional expressiveness of Mike Pence.
Like Mike Pence, the Trax passes by unnoticed. Yet, one can imagine that this is the point here: a true vehicle to take you, worry-free, from point A to point B. This is something I have rarely considered since I have never bought a vehicle as an appliance, it has always been a choice with some redeeming aesthetic or performance value tied to it.
Does it possess any emotions? I am sure Mike does.
And the Trax certainly does, too.
Flick the steering wheel quickly and instead of complaining it hurls itself into the turn, probably happy someone is finally trying to have fun with it. Its suspension never flinched - I am still in disbelief - and continued, powered by its small 1.4-liter turbocharged engine, which as small as it sounds, is perfectly matched to the suspension with its 177 lb-ft of torque.
The Trax never feels outmaneuvered under normal yet slightly spirited driving conditions, which in a world of unnecessarily overpowered sedans, crossovers, and SUVs – I am looking at you, the unnecessarily resuscitated Hummer (of all brands, really?) - that says a lot. The engine is not trying to challenge the chassis, it is working with it. Something many more powerful cars should take notes from.
I reserve a special mention, on its own, for the brakes. They are truly remarkable for the segment and considering that the rear ones - at least on the one I had - are drums, it is even more incredible. Not since my Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9 - which had 4-wheel disks - have I driven a small hatchback with such good brakes. In the case of the Peugeot, it only weighed a perfectly svelte 1,896 lb.! The Trax though comes in at a portly 3,292 LB, which is almost exactly the weight of my S54-powered BMW E86 M Coupe. That later car has M cross-drilled brakes, it is supposed to stop well. But the Trax, with rear drums! Dave, my mind is going… I can feel it...
During my four days with the little John Player mini-Special, I faced extreme heat, which the AC annihilated with easy even though it is a black car, as well as torrential rain, which the tires and suspension managed with as much drama as Barack Obama.
The rental was up. I returned the little soapbox to the agency, no fanfare, no parades, no fireworks, not even a human to receive the keys and ask “Whataya think?”. Nothing.
I left the little car wiser for it and with a smile, for I realized that there are very few bad cars out there today. Mind you, I said cars, not SUVs or Pickup trucks.
Even a car as humble as the Chevy Trax made someone who values performance cars, dynamic driving, and design, feel enjoyment at its wheel, sadness at leaving it, and acknowledgment that it did its job, did it well, and with a smile.