Blazer Hot Take

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
06/22/2018 at 10:47 • Filed to: None

People on the FP poo-pooing the new Blazer because FWD and unibody forget that the actual LAST Blazer, not the one from the 70's and 80's that evolved into the Tahoe, was a giant POS.

Hell, even the 80's and early 90's full size Blazer was kind of shitty.

People need to take off the rose colored glasses and realize there’s nothing to a name, and the general public and sheeple who are going to buy a new car don’t give a shit what GM made 30 years ago.

DISCUSSION (36)

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 10:55

They’re just mad it’s another crossover and not some “end all be all” suv that nobody on the fp will buy

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 10:57

But muh BOF!

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:01

i just wonder why they opted to revive the Blazer name which was kinda at least synonymous with an off road suv and not the trailblazer name which i feel like would have made more sense

Urambo Tauro > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:03

I can learn to accept a unibody Blazer . But not a FWD one .

adamftw > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:03

These things were a great motor surrounded by cheap shit. The fullsize Tahoe and Burbs were typical 90s GM quality, but man they REALLY cheaped out on this platform.

Ash78, voting early and often > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:04

At least the name was already retired and is being resurrected.

Unlike Nissan taking a huge stinky dump all over “Pathfinder.”

Names are brands unto themselves, and this is far from the worst use of a historical name. I’m just not psyched that it looks like a Lexus also-ran. And they seem to be really late bringing it to market.

Takuro Spirit > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
06/22/2018 at 11:04

Because the Trailblazer is fresher in the minds of people who know they sucked , GM is hoping the Blazer is old enough for people to have forgotten that it sucked.

Then there’s this.

Kinja'd!!!

Takuro Spirit > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 11:06

FWD, RWD, most people don’t care. Most people don’t even know what the difference is, they’re buying into the name.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:06

my friend had one that would routinely leave him stranded in the parking lot at work, he replaced it with a 4th gen dodge ram that wasnt much better. he now drives a renegade lol

For Sweden > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:07

But they’re all good Blazers

Takuro Spirit > Ash78, voting early and often
06/22/2018 at 11:11

Hey, it worked for the Jeep Cherokee, right?

Ash78, voting early and often > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:17

I still don’t see those and think “Cherokee” — I still think that was a mistake for such a cash-cow brand for FCA. But at least the name went away for a while beforehand...

Cash Rewards > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 11:23

wh at were you going to do with a new blazer where it would make a difference?

Cash Rewards > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:25

The Jimmy, on the other hand, was a fine automobile. As was the bravada.

Hamtractor > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:25

Kinja'd!!!

Totally NOT “kinda shitty”... IMO, the best 4x4 GM ever made...

Snailkite > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:25

Maybe I’m totally off base with this, but to me the Blazer was always the crappy SUV for poor people who weren’t cool/didn’t care enough to get an Explorer.

HammerheadFistpunch > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:34

The S10 blazer wasn’t bad. It could go places. the interior would fall to pieces and heaven help you if you got it salty and wet but functionally it was all there.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 11:57

People who have never given the slightest f**k about the Blazer before are acting so offended by this new Blazer.

Friends who have owned like three old Blazers actually like it and say it’s a logical evolution of the nameplate.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Hamtractor
06/22/2018 at 11:58

He clearly stated that he was talking about the smaller S10 Blazer, not the K5.

Hamtractor > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
06/22/2018 at 12:01

“ Hell, even the 80's and early 90's full size Blazer was kind of shitty.” Directly quoted... ;)

His Stigness > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 12:01

And it’s not as if previous Blazer buyers even knew whether their car was RWD or FWD or not, so why should it matter now? All people want now is AWD because that’s what every salesman says they need, even if they live in Southern California where it never fucking rains.

Urambo Tauro > Cash Rewards
06/22/2018 at 12:01

I’m not complaining about the platform itself . I’m complaining about the name being applied to that platform . Chevy established long ago what a Blazer is, and this ain’t it.

jasmits > HammerheadFistpunch
06/22/2018 at 12:04

A friend of mine had an S10 Blazer he bought for basically nothing, $100 bucks non-running from his girlfriend’s dad who had it as a farm truck, it was in decent shape but needed some stuff to be roadworthy. Less than $1000 all-in for it to be roadworthy . For a few hundred bucks it made him a pretty cool, fun, capable beater/daily . At the same time I had a 4Runner from the exact same year(1991) and the difference in build quality, interior finishing etc was astounding and I don’t think the 4Runner was much more expensive when they were both new.

HammerheadFistpunch > jasmits
06/22/2018 at 12:07

oh im not saying the S10 blazer was a well made car, but I think it was a highly functional car and no worse made than most other suv’s of its time. There was a reason the Japanese came in and cleaned house though thats for sure.

Cash Rewards > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 12:07

Its their name, though. They're allowed to do whatever they want with it. Just because it was something at one point doesn't mean it can't be different at some other point. I don't get this point of view at all. It's the same as people complaining the charger wasn't a two door. It is what they say it is. They used the name to sell a vehicle they thought would make a ton of money then. They're doing the same now. It's all any business ever does.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Hamtractor
06/22/2018 at 12:11

I haven’t had coffee yet, excuse me.

Urambo Tauro > Cash Rewards
06/22/2018 at 12:15

It’s brand identity. The name becomes a shorthand for that type of vehicle, as offered by that automaker. You say “Blazer”, and everyone’s instantly going to expect that you’re talking about a front-engined RWD/4WD SUV with decent towing and off-road capability . Abandon that well-established identity, and you have to question whether it really counts as another generation of what everyone’s come to know as a Blazer .

See also: Mitsubishi Eclipse, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Chevrolet Lumina ...

jasmits > HammerheadFistpunch
06/22/2018 at 12:41

Yeah I was agreeing but got sidetracked on my anecdote haha . It was really a pretty nice little truck from a function and engineering standpoint . If the beancounters had let them spend a bit more on interior materials and keep developing the platform instead of just giving it new sheet metal later in the 90s it could easily have the following Toyota trucks have.

Cash Rewards > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 12:58

I agree with almost everything you're saying, from the perspective of of it is or isn't a good idea. I think the eclipse is a good example of it not, or Ford bailing on taurus for 500 for a couple years. But when you say "whether it really counts" is when you lose me. Good idea or no, it counts if they say it counts, good bad, successful or otherwise.

BigBlock440 > Takuro Spirit
06/22/2018 at 13:01

I don’t like that SUVs are turning into CUVs, but I’ve accepted that. Just like the Cherokee, this is the current evolutionary path we’re on . I’ve never known the Blazer to have any serious offroad following, so eh, whatever. It is as ugly as the Japanese vehicles are though. Oh well, a s long as the Wrangler remains, there is hope.

Hamtractor > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
06/22/2018 at 13:07

The Dude abides, it’s all good brother!

Urambo Tauro > Cash Rewards
06/22/2018 at 14:37

Maybe I’m taking the term “generation” too literally. I think of car names and generations the same way that the animal kingdom is categorized. When you assign a name to a particular type of car, that name mustn’t be used for something totally different. And platform layout is definitely a significant enough factor somewhere along that hierarchy to help separate one “genus” or “species” from another. A FWD car and a RWD one may have similar ancestry, but when it comes right down to it, they are as different as a bear is from a kangaroo and absolutely do not deserve to both be called “bears” .

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 15:27

I guess I would want to know if you were similarly dogmatic about the Ford Explorer’s platform shift when it happened. (It had a 20 year heritage as a truck-based FR/FA platform before it went FF/FA unibody a few years ago.)

Urambo Tauro > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious
06/22/2018 at 15:47

Very much so. But again, it’s not the platform itself that I’m hating on. It’s the fact that out of all the names they could have used, they got lazy and re hashed an old name that was unfitting to the car, confu sing and outraging their previous fanbase. When people say they want a car company to bring back a certain car, they’re asking for more than just the nameplate. They’re using that name to describe the kind of car they want to see return to market.

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > Urambo Tauro
06/22/2018 at 15:59

Ah, I see. It’s the resurrection of the nameplate for this particular car that you have a problem with. Yeah, I get that.

Urambo Tauro > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious
06/22/2018 at 16:05

E x a c t l y . I t w o u l d h a v e b e e n s o e a s y t o j u s t . . . p i c k a n o t h e r n a m e . I s t h a t t o o m u c h t o ask?