Chevrolet Blazer review: a good-looking crossover carrying the wrong name for Gulf expectations
3.6/5motorssouq Editorial Team
Buy the Blazer RS with the 3.6-litre V6 if the styling and the on-road manners appeal, and go in understanding it is a crossover, not a successor to the K5 or S-10 that wore this badge for decades. The AWD system is for wet roundabouts and the occasional soft-sand shoulder, not dune driving, and buyers who need real off-road capability should look at the Trailblazer or Tahoe instead. As a stylish, well-equipped family car for city and causeway use, the V6 Blazer is a legitimately good product let down only by a name that promises more than it delivers.
Pros
- Genuinely stylish, distinctive cabin and exterior against segment rivals
- 3.6L V6 RS trim is smooth, willing and better resolved on-road than most competitors
- Sold and supported through Chevrolet's official GCC distributor network
- 2.0L turbo entry grade keeps running costs sensible for city use
Cons
- The Blazer name promises off-road capability this crossover does not have
- Modest ground clearance and no low-range gearing rule out serious desert use
- V6 AWD trims are noticeably thirstier than segment rivals in mixed driving
- Not the choice for buyers who actually need Bahrain's original desert-going Blazer
Chevrolet resurrected the Blazer name in 2019 for a car that shares almost nothing with the vehicles that made the name famous in the Gulf. Gone is the ladder frame and low-range transfer case of the S-10 and K5 Blazers that once did real work in the region's desert; in its place is a unibody crossover built on GM's C1 platform, shared underneath with the Cadillac XT5 and GMC Acadia. That is not a criticism of the car itself — it is a genuinely well-resolved crossover — but it is a mismatch with what the badge historically promised here.
On Bahrain's roads
Judged as a crossover, the Blazer is one of the more entertaining in its class. The 3.6-litre V6 in RS and higher trims is smooth and willing, the steering has more weight and feedback than most competitors, and the cabin is genuinely stylish rather than merely functional. On the causeway and Bahrain's dual carriageways it settles at speed with good isolation, and the AWD system adds confidence in the occasional winter rain shower without pretending to be a serious off-roader.
The 2.0-litre turbo four on entry grades is the more sensible everyday choice for buyers who never plan to load the car with passengers or gear, and its lower running costs suit daily city use better than the V6's thirst.
Where the badge oversells the car
Take the Blazer near sand and its crossover roots show immediately: ground clearance is modest, there is no low-range gearing, and the AWD system is tuned for on-road traction rather than desert recovery. Buyers who cross to Saudi Arabia for dune driving or need genuine off-road capability are better served by the body-on-frame Trailblazer or a used Tahoe — this Blazer is not built for that brief, regardless of what its predecessors were.
As a family crossover it earns its place: comfortable, well-equipped, and distinctive-looking against a sea of similarly-priced Japanese and Korean alternatives. Just do not buy it expecting the desert-going Blazer of a previous generation.