What Car Surprised You the Most When You Drove It?
I didn’t have high expectations for the Chevy Trax, but ended up really enjoying it. What cars have you flipped on after driving them?
Professional car testers get asked this all the time, but I'm curious to hear if any readers have had their preconceptions challenged or minds changed by a test drive at some point. What car surprised you the most when you drove it?
I have a litany of examples I could run through, since I have a lot of strong automotive opinions and end up driving a diverse range of hardware most years. But one that sticks out in recent memory is the Chevy Trax.
I was on the first Chevy Trax launch when the car debuted in San Diego, something like eight or nine years ago. At the time it seemed, well, OK. But spending real hours in that thing was not particularly fun. So when the new one came around, I did not collect the keys with high expectations.
But I'll be damned if I didn't end up liking that thing a lot. Check out the whole review for a proper download, but the short story is, I enjoyed the current-gen car so much more than its predecessor. I was pretty pleased with it even among its rivals.
All this to say—I was surprised by how much I liked it. Not only had it come a long way from the previous generation, but it was a damn decent-looking, comfortable, and fine-driving little car for its very modest list price in the $25,000 neighborhood.
