2022 Chevrolet Trax

The 2022 Trax (first generation, final years) uses the updated 1.4L turbo LE2 rated 155 hp, up from the 138 hp of pre-2021 cars; it is the only engine offered.

Peak torque of the sole 1.4L turbo; modest for the segment but reached low in the rev range.

No major-outlet instrumented test of the 155 hp car was found; third-party performance databases put it at 8.8–9.2 s, and Consumer Reports timed the earlier 138 hp FWD car at 9.3 s.

The small turbo gives usable low-end torque but runs out of breath at highway speeds and sounds coarse when pushed; reviewers call acceleration merely adequate.

The conventional six-speed automatic shifts smoothly in normal driving but is slow to kick down when passing, making the powertrain feel sluggish.

Chevrolet does not recommend trailer towing with the Trax, so it carries no tow rating.

An on-demand AWD system is optional on every trim (LS, LT, Premier), but it is a basic reactive system with no terrain modes or torque vectoring.

A car-based subcompact crossover with roughly 6.2 in of ground clearance and no off-road hardware, trims or drive modes; pavement-oriented.

One engine and one transmission for every trim, with no hybrid or electric option; only the FWD/AWD choice varies.

The EPA combined rating for the volume FWD configuration is mid-pack for a gas subcompact SUV.

EPA city rating for the FWD Trax.

EPA highway rating for the FWD Trax.

The small 14-gallon tank limits range despite reasonable economy.

EPA's current-price annual fuel cost estimate for the FWD Trax on regular gasoline.

Every trim runs on regular unleaded gasoline, with no premium requirement.

NHTSA rates the 2022 Trax five stars overall in both FWD and AWD form, with five stars frontal and side and four stars for rollover. 2022 is the final US model year of the first-generation (2015–2022) Trax, a carry-over year.

The Trax has Good ratings in driver-side small overlap, original moderate overlap, original side, roof strength and head restraints. It is only Acceptable in passenger-side small overlap, where the seat belt allowed too much forward head excursion, and in the updated side test, where driver torso injury was Marginal. With no front crash prevention and Poor headlights, it earned no award.

No 2022 Trax trim has automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning or adaptive cruise. The earlier Driver Confidence II package disappeared with the Premier trim. The only assists are blind-zone and rear cross-traffic alerts, and only as an LT option, which leaves it far behind segment rivals that made AEB standard years earlier.

AEB was not offered on any 2022 Trax, so IIHS has no vehicle-to-vehicle or pedestrian front-crash-prevention rating to report.

Side Blind Zone Alert with Rear Cross Traffic Alert comes only in the optional LT Driver Confidence Package and is unavailable on the base LS. It warns but never brakes or steers, and there is no safe-exit alert.

No lane assistance of any kind is offered on the 2022 Trax: no lane departure warning, lane keeping or centering.

Every 2022 Trax has conventional cruise control only. Adaptive cruise and highway assist are not offered on any trim.

Super Cruise was never offered on the Trax, and the car has no forward radar or camera-based assists at all, so no hands-free option exists.

The Trax uses halogen reflector headlamps with LED DRLs and no automatic high beams. In IIHS's small-SUV headlight evaluation, the unchanged first-generation lamps were rated Poor, with inadequate low-beam reach on every curve test. IIHS does not list a separate 2022 headlight rating.

The tall, upright cabin gives a good view forward and to the sides. Thick rear pillars and a small rear window limit the view out the back. A rear camera is standard and rear park assist is available on the LT, but there is no surround-view camera.

IIHS rates the LATCH hardware Acceptable. Both outboard positions have full LATCH, but the lower anchors sit too deep in the seat. The center seat has a tether only, and the narrow rear bench realistically holds two car seats.

The 2022 Trax (final model year of the 2015–2022 first generation, a carry-over year) seats five in two rows on both LS and LT.

The tall, upright body gives generous front headroom for a subcompact.

Front legroom is on the short side and the cabin is narrow (54.1 in shoulder room), so taller drivers feel hemmed in.

The boxy roofline gives good rear headroom, the rear seat's one real strength.

Rear legroom is adequate but tight for adults, and 52.8 in of rear shoulder room makes three across a squeeze.

A two-row subcompact crossover with no third row.

Cargo space behind the rear seat is small even for the subcompact class. HR-V, Kicks and the newer Trailblazer all offer more.

Maximum cargo room is below the SUV band floor. A fold-flat front passenger seat helps with long items, though.

It has several useful touches for its size: dual glovebox-style upper dash bins, and on the LT an under-seat storage tray, a cargo shelf, a fold-flat front passenger seat and a 120V outlet. The console storage is small, though.

The soft seats stay comfortable on longer drives, but the LS offers little adjustment, a power driver's seat comes only in a package, and the narrow cabin and tight rear bench limit comfort for adults.

The short wheelbase and firm tuning produce a choppy, busy ride over broken pavement, and the car feels unsettled at highway speed.

Road noise is constant and the 1.4T sounds strained under load, so the cabin is noticeably louder than newer segment rivals.

Every trim gets single-zone manual climate control. Heated front seats come only through the LT's Premium Seat Package, and no trim offers a heated wheel, automatic climate or ventilated seats. Remote start is standard on the LT.

In the final model year of the first generation, the LS FWD with the 1.4L turbo four and six-speed automatic was the entry trim at $22,595 delivered, below the floor of the SUV band.

The LT is the mainstream trim, adding the option packages (power seat, heated seats, blind-zone alert) that most retail buyers chose. At $24,395 delivered it sits below the $27,000 floor of the SUV band.

No 2022-specific cost-to-own figure could be retrieved (Edmunds blocks automated requests), so this blends nameplate estimates. The older 1.4L turbo four and six-speed are simple, but the first-generation car carries more repair exposure than the redesigned model, so the figure sits slightly above the 2024 estimate.

The 2022 model year was bought during the chip-shortage price spike and has held value far better than the nameplate's normal projection. Extrapolating the observed 3–4 year curve gives roughly 58% at five years.

GM's 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper coverage is the industry minimum and the bottom of the band. The Hyundai Kona, Venue and Kia Seltos offer 5 years/60,000 miles.

Powertrain coverage of 5 years/60,000 miles is the floor of the band and half the 10-year/100,000-mile term Hyundai and Kia give their subcompact SUVs.

Chevrolet includes one maintenance visit in the first year/12,000 miles plus 5 years/60,000 miles of roadside assistance and courtesy transportation. Connected services (OnStar, Wi-Fi hotspot) are trial-only; the 8-year OnStar Basics inclusion did not arrive until the 2025 model year.

$24,395 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (58% retained, or about $14,149) leaves about $10,246 in depreciation. Add the projected $6,000 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $16,246 in total.

2022 was the final US model year of the first-generation Trax (2015–2022), a well-developed carry-over with years of running changes behind it. J.D. Power's quality & reliability score of 78 is average rather than strong, and U.S. News places the Trax 6th of 7 subcompact SUVs on reliability.

Chevrolet sits in the upper half of recent dependability studies without reaching the top tier — tied 3rd among mass-market brands in the 2024 J.D. Power VDS and 5th overall in 2025.

The 2022 Trax has no NHTSA safety recalls on record, a clean result for a late-generation carry-over. It stops short of the top band because the first generation carried earlier campaigns, including two welded lower-control-arm recalls on 2017–2019 cars and airbag-module software recalls.

The 2022 Trax uses GM's long-running 1.4L turbo four (155 hp / 177 lb-ft) with a six-speed automatic, a family with plenty of high-mileage examples but a known list of age-related faults — turbo issues, PCV/valve-cover and coolant-hose leaks and oil consumption past ~100k miles — and sensitivity to stretched oil changes. Mixed history, no catastrophic pattern.

By 2022 the Trax cabin was a decade-old design dominated by hard plastics on the dash and doors, and reviewers consistently rated it behind newer rivals like the HR-V, Kona and Seltos.

A mature, Korea-built design in its last year benefits from years of production refinement and draws few assembly complaints, though electrical gremlins are the most-reported owner issue.

Chevrolet's roughly 2,800 US franchised dealers give it one of the densest service networks in the country, but its service satisfaction is good rather than leading among mass-market brands.

Eight years of first-gen production and the 1.4T shared with Cruze, Sonic and Encore make parts cheap and plentiful with a deep aftermarket, and routine running costs are below average.

Both 2022 trims use a 7-inch Chevrolet Infotainment 3 touchscreen, and no larger or navigation screen was offered once the Premier trim was dropped.

Chevrolet's Infotainment 3 is simple and reasonably responsive, with physical climate knobs, but the small screen and dated graphics look old next to 2022 rivals.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on both trims but work over a USB cable only. Wireless projection was not offered on the first-generation Trax.

No 2022 trim offers built-in navigation; voice control is a basic Bluetooth/phone-assistant passthrough. Owners depend on phone projection.

The only audio system is a basic six-speaker stereo with SiriusXM. The Bose upgrade left the lineup along with the Premier trim.

Motorcycle-inspired analog gauges with a small driver information display; no full-digital or configurable cluster is available.

The Trax predates GM's Vehicle Intelligence Platform, so it gets no meaningful over-the-air updates. Software updates are done at the dealer.

The myChevrolet app with OnStar Connected Access offers remote lock/unlock, remote start (LT), vehicle locate and diagnostics, but most functions need a subscription and there is no digital key.

It has only two USB ports, no wireless charging on any trim, and a 120V outlet on the LT. That is thin for 2022.

The LS has a traditional key with a remote fob. The LT adds remote start, and keyless open/push-button start comes only through the LT Convenience Package. There is no phone-as-key or hands-free liftgate.

A rear camera is standard. Rear park assist, blind-zone alert and rear cross-traffic alert are LT options only, and no surround view is offered.

No head-up display is offered on any 2022 Trax.

The high roof and upright doors make loading a car seat easy, but the rear seat is short on legroom and narrow, and 18.7 cu ft of cargo space barely fits a stroller plus groceries.

It earns five NHTSA stars, but no trim offers automatic emergency braking or lane-keeping, and blind-zone alert is an LT option. That is a clear safety gap for a 2022 family car.

The tight rear bench, lack of rear vents or rear USB, noisy cabin and small cargo hold make it a poor multi-hour family car.

Light steering, a compact footprint and a torquey-down-low turbo make it easy in town, but the choppy ride and weak highway merging add fatigue.

EPA 24/32 mpg city/highway (FWD) runs on regular fuel. Consumables are cheap, but fuel economy trails Kicks, HR-V and Trailblazer.

At 167.2 in long with a roughly 35 ft turning circle and light steering, it is easy to thread through the city. Rear park assist is optional only.

It is not rated to tow and its cargo area is small, so it is not meaningfully work-capable.

The mature Gamma II platform and 1.4T are cheap to fix, but the powertrain is lightly built and the interior plastics are budget-grade. It is not a work tool.

A 120V outlet on the LT and a fold-flat passenger seat are the only work-oriented provisions, and there is no upfit ecosystem.

It is a poor highway companion: noisy, darty and choppy, with cruise control only on the LT and no adaptive cruise or lane assist. A 14-gallon tank gives decent but unremarkable range.

Optional AWD and roof rails help on gravel and in snow, but ground clearance is only about 6.2 in and it cannot tow a small trailer.

The 60/40 folding rear seat and fold-flat front passenger seat let it carry long items, but total volume is small and there is no factory hitch.

It feels nimble at city speeds, but the tall, short-wheelbase body leans and feels nervous on curvy roads and at highway speed.

Light and quick steering helps in town, but it is numb and darty on the highway and needs constant small corrections.

Four-wheel discs give adequate, predictable stops for a light subcompact. Reviews raise no braking complaints, but no standout instrumented distances were found for the 155-hp car.

The 1.4T's low-end torque and the conventional six-speed automatic are smooth in normal driving, but kickdown hesitates and the engine runs out of breath at highway speeds.

The small turbo four drones and sounds coarse when worked hard to merge or climb.

The compact footprint gives a tight turning circle for an SUV. Sources agree on about 35 ft.

The upright seating and big glass give good sightlines and easy entry, but the LS seat has little adjustment, the cabin is narrow, and a power seat requires a package.

It is an appliance-like runabout. The nimble city feel is its only playful trait, while the weak engine and choppy, darty chassis leave little to enjoy.

Every 2022 Trax gets a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot and a rear camera. But no trim offers automatic emergency braking or lane-keeping, which the Kicks, HR-V, Seltos and the cheaper Trailblazer include as standard, and blind-zone alert and heated seats are LT options only.

The Trax is cheap and its 155-hp turbo four is punchier than many rivals' base engines, but at $22,600–$25,000 delivered it gives up standard safety tech, cabin quality and space. KBB notes Chevrolet's own Trailblazer is newer, cheaper, better equipped and roomier at nearly the same price.

The final-year lineup was cut to two trims, LS and LT, with one engine and a FWD/AWD choice; the Premier was already gone. That is close to a take-it-or-leave-it lineup, with a few LT packages for flexibility.

First-generation Trax sales collapsed in its last years, falling from a 2019 peak near 117,000 to about 26,600 in 2022 as GM wound it down ahead of the all-new 2024 model.

Chevrolet is a neutral mainstream badge. The first-generation Trax was known mostly as a budget and rental-fleet crossover, which weighs on its image, though its resale has been propped up by the shortage-era used market.

The 2022 model year sold into the chip shortage, when inventory was thin and discounts were modest industry-wide. As a runout model, the Trax still drew occasional Chevrolet cash and financing offers, but nothing like the deep incentives of earlier years.

2022 was the eighth and final US model year of a generation that launched for 2015, and the all-new second-generation Trax was revealed in October 2022 for 2024. Buyers got an outdated platform with replacement imminent.

Reviewers rated the aging Trax near the bottom of the class for cabin quality, safety tech and refinement, and recommended newer alternatives, including Chevrolet's own Trailblazer. It won no awards or comparison tests.