2026 Chevrolet Trax

Boasting one of the more affordable starting prices among subcompact SUVs, the 2026 Chevrolet Trax dazzles with its head-turning styling and its crowded list of standard features. Sure, we’ll bellyache a bit about its rather tepid acceleration, but can’t say enough about its generous cargo room. All things considered, it’s a fine choice for anyone shopping for a starter SUV.

We’ve logged hundreds of hours driving and evaluating this generation of subcompact SUVs, including the latest Chevy Trax.

Chevy completely redesigned the Trax for the 2024 model year; therefore, the updates for 2026 involve swapping out paint colors. In with White Sands and Apex Red, and out with Crimson Metallic and Nitro Yellow Metallic.

What Is the On-Sale Date?

We expect the Trax to arrive in showrooms in late summer or early fall of 2025.

The Trax resides on the more affordable end of the subcompact SUV spectrum, along with smaller entries like the Nissan Kicks and Hyundai Venue. It starts a few thousand less than Chevy’s other subcompact SUV, the Trailblazer, which is half a grade ahead in materials and refinement. As much of a bargain as it is, we’d pass on the base LS trim in favor of the LT, at the very least. As a matter of fact, the LT is by far the best-selling of the Trax trim levels. If you need more space and want to stay with Chevy, we recommend the compact Equinox.

Before buying a Trax, check the Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price to know what you should really pay. Resale value has not been a Trax strength, but the new version is significantly more competitive; consequently, we expect to see some improvement in that area. Remember, recouping more money when you sell a vehicle can mean a bigger down payment and lower monthly payments on your next one.

The 2026 Chevy Trax isn’t the most powerful subcompact SUV on the market, but we’ve found it surprisingly satisfying to drive. Its small, turbocharged 3-cylinder engine is a bit coarser than the segment’s more common 4-cylinder engines, but it’s responsive enough around town and delivers sufficient power for highway merging. The Trax is an eager and competent little SUV with great steering and brake feel. Nearly every reader review comments on the Trax’s excellent ride quality. We agree it’s pretty good, if a tad on the firm side. Active noise cancellation helps minimize the outside racket that reaches your ears.

Fuel Economy

At 30 mpg in combined (28 city and 32 highway) driving, the Trax delivers about average fuel economy for its class.

The Chevy Trax interior has a pleasant layout, and the tech features are easy to use. A feature-rich touchscreen slants toward the driver, and you still get simple-to-use knobs and buttons for the HVAC controls. We like the 11-inch infotainment touchscreen, which replaces the 8-inch unit you find in lower trims. We also appreciate the available dual displays and crisp graphics.

Some of us felt the seats started to feel a bit small on longer drives; however, a few of us are bigger than others, and seat comfort is highly subjective. We thought the seat fabric on the base LS trim was a little low-rent, but luckily, it doesn’t cost much to get nicer seats on higher trims.

The Trax boasts nearly best-in-class rear-seat legroom. At 38.7 inches, that’s more akin to a midsize car. Only its stablemate, the Chevy Trailblazer, delivers more (39.7 inches) second-row legroom in the subcompact class. Indeed, we found rear legroom and headroom generous, even for adults. However, the expansiveness of the accommodations is countered a bit by the fact that you can’t get air vents, a center armrest, or cupholders in the back.

The Trax has 25.6 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats, ranking it among the roomiest in its class. Naturally, you get more cargo room when you fold down the rear seats.

To say the designers paid homage to the larger Chevy Blazer when penning the lines of the current Trax would be an understatement. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn the design team used a checklist of the Blazer styling cues when they huddled up to design this generation of Trax. With size being your only clue that they aren’t one and the same, the resemblance is uncanny from the front. All in all, the Trax has serious curb appeal.

Chevy Safety Assist
Standard on every new Trax, this bundle of technologies includes forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection. Other included technologies are lane-keeping assist, lane departure warning, high-beam assist, and a following-distance indicator.

Bigger touchscreens
LS and 1RS trims feature an 8-inch display, while the upper trims feature an 11-inch screen.

Driver information display
We appreciate this 8-inch programmable display because it provides a host of information about the vehicle and its various systems that’s uber easy to read. It becomes standard starting on the LT trim.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Whether your smartphone operating system is Android or Apple’s iOS, we like that it will interface with the Trax infotainment system without cables.

Driver Confidence Package
Available for all trim levels, this package is an affordable way to add some must-have safety tech like blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear-park sensors, and lane-change alert. It costs a little more to add it to the upper trim levels, but it also includes adaptive cruise control for the LT, 2RS, and Activ grades.

LED headlights
Every Trax model arrives with LED headlights that illuminate a longer, wider area than halogen lamps. Moreover, they are more easily seen by approaching drivers. We are always amazed by the difference LEDs make.

The Chevy Trax has similar power to many competitors within its value segment, though it uses a smaller engine to create it. The 1.2-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder engine generates a modest 137 horsepower but a more gratifying 162 lb-ft of torque. That power runs through a traditional 6-speed automatic transmission. Yep, that’s right. The Trax uses a traditional automatic transmission, which we argue helps create greater responsiveness than a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) that’s increasingly common in the segment. Sadly, the Trax is among a handful of subcompact SUVs offered exclusively with front-wheel drive (FWD), with no provision for all-wheel drive (AWD). You’ll have to step up to the Trailblazer if you want a small Chevy SUV offering all-wheel go.

3-year/36,000-mile Warranty

The 2026 Trax is covered by Chevy’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty and 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. This level of warranty protection, which also includes 24/7 roadside assistance, is typical for the segment.

Safety

One area where we harbor some disappointment is crash testing. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) put the Trax through four crash tests. It rated the top score of Good on two of them, Acceptable on another, and Poor on the fourth. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded the Trax an overall score of 4 out of 5 stars in its crash testing. The Trax does have several advanced safety technologies as standard equipment, including forward automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, high-beam assist, and more.