Folks looking to buy a small SUV are likely interested in both space and fuel economy. The Chevrolet Trailblazer broke cover nearly a year ago as a compact Blazer-esque offering in the Bowtie’s lineup, slotting between the entry-level Trax and the extremely popular Equinox. Now, we finally have an official EPA rating for the Trailblazer’s fuel mileage. Sort of, anyway.

The Trailblazer is offered with either a 1.2-liter or 1.3-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine, turning either the front wheels or all four. Fueleconomy.gov has a listing for just one Trailblazer, however – a 1.3-liter all-wheel-drive model with the nine-speed automatic transmission. That’s the highest-spec powertrain option and, presumably, the one with the worst mileage rating. It’s still not bad, however, with a combined EPA rating of 28 miles per gallon.

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Looking further into the numbers, the 2021 Trailblazer achieves a 26 mpg rating in city conditions. On the highway, 30 mpg is the official rating. That’s actually slightly better all around than Chevy’s tiny Trax with its up-spec 1.4-liter turbo three-cylinder and AWD. The smallest Bowtie crossover gets a combined rating of 26 mpg in an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Trailblazer also bests the larger Equinox regardless of its configuration. Opt for the 1.5-liter turbo with AWD in the Equinox, and it's nearly a match at 27 mpg combined. 

How does the Trailblazer stack up with notable AWD competition? In a word, favorably. Its combined 28 mpg rating is a dead match for the Honda HR-V, though the Honda rates a bit better on the highway. It’s just ahead of the Mazda CX-30 which rates 27 mpg combined, though the EPA gives the CX-30 a highway rating of 32 mpg despite its much larger 2.5-liter engine. Domestic competition can’t quite match the Trailblazer, however, with the Jeep Renegade returning a combined 26 mpg. Ford’s EcoSport, which actually matches up closer to the Chevrolet Trax in size, only manages an EPA-rated 25 combined mpg.

Gallery: 2020 Chevy Trailblazer

Logic dictates that a Trailblazer with the smaller 1.2-liter engine turning just the front wheels will have better fuel economy, but as previously stated, those figures aren’t available yet. Judging by estimates from FWD competitors, we expect that form of Trailblazer to clock in somewhere around 30 mpg combined.

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