2026 Chevy Trax

Name: 2026 Chevrolet Trax Review
Brand: Chevrolet

Release Date: Summer 2025

Estimated Price: Starting around $22,000

The 2026 Chevrolet Trax is one of the most affordable SUVs on sale today, and you won't have to sacrifice as much as that price suggests. It's roomy for its class and comfortable on longer drives. It doesn't offer all-wheel drive, though, which could limit its appeal if you do a lot of wintertime driving on icy or snowy roads.Read full review

Contact your local dealers about upcoming availability and pricing details.

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2026 Chevrolet Trax Review

by the Edmunds Experts

Pros

Many features for the money
Roomy seating and cargo area given its subcompact size
Available 11-inch center touchscreen is big and easy to use

Cons

Slow acceleration
All-wheel drive isn't available

What's new

We don't expect significant changes for the 2026 Trax
Part of the second Trax generation introduced for 2024

Overview

The 2026 Chevy Trax is the automaker's entry-level vehicle. Unlike bargain-priced Chevrolets of old, this small crossover SUV has a nicely appointed interior and feels roomier than you'd expect based on the Trax's small footprint. And despite its low starting price, the Trax comes reasonably well equipped with driver aids like lane departure warning and a lane keeping system to help make long highway drives a little easier. That's in addition to features like wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration. The price starts to climb once you add some desirable options, but overall we think the Trax is a good value.

Edmunds spotlight: A better than expected interior

The Trax is a small vehicle that punches above its weight when it comes to interior space, offering a total of 54.1 cubic feet of storage when you drop the second row. That's enough for most of the common cargo-hauling tasks you'll probably want to use the Trax for. The Trax's space is complemented by a smooth, comfortable ride and seats that you won't mind road-tripping in. If you want the practicality of an SUV but don't need the additional space of the larger Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 or Chevy Equinox, the Trax makes a lot of sense.

Competitors to consider

The Trax competes with the sporty Mazda CX-30 and the slightly upscale Volkswagen Taos, both of which are excellent SUVs. But the biggest competitor for the Trax may be Chevy's own Trailblazer. The Trailblazer is a little smaller and more expensive than the Trax, but it comes with more standard features and offers all-wheel drive. (The Trax is only available with front-wheel drive.) None of these rivals can beat the Trax on price, but they are generally better equipped in their base forms.

Edmunds Expert Rating

Our Verdict

Good

8.0

out of 10

edmunds TESTED

We drove the 2026 Chevrolet Trax on our test track and on real roads. Our Edmunds team conducts rigorous independent vehicle testing, driving 500,000 miles a year.

Rated for you by America's best test team.

Driving experience

8/10

How does the Chevrolet Trax drive? The Trax comes with a three-cylinder engine, which might seem like a recipe for sloth-like acceleration. However, our test vehicle sprinted from 0 to 60 mph in 9.1 seconds at our test track, which is on par with its rivals. Around town, the little engine provides plenty of torque and keeping up with traffic is a breeze, but on the highway it feels bit wheezy.

Braking and handling are about what we expect from a compact crossover SUV. It's easy to park thanks to the light steering, and the brake pedal provides smooth stops and adequate emergency stopping power when you need it. The Trax isn't sporty, but it feels stable around turns and has a comfortable ride.

Comfort

8.2/10

How comfortable is the Chevrolet Trax? The seats in the Trax are somewhat flat and don't support you all that well when you're driving around turns. But the soft padding is good for comfort. We put a few hundred miles on the Trax in a relatively short time and had no complaints after a long stint behind the wheel. Passengers in the rear should be comfortable.

There's a moderate amount of wind and road noise on the highway, but it's never loud enough that you need to shout and it's really no louder than any rivals. The main issue holding the Trax back is its climate system. While it is powerful enough to keep you comfortable, the lack of dual-zone climate control and rear air vents is a drawback if you often have passengers aboard.

In-cabin tech

8.5/10

How’s the tech? The Trax shares much of its in-car tech with the latest crop of vehicles from General Motors, though it's been pared down a bit for this little crossover. The most notable difference is the lack of a built-in navigation system or voice commands, though you can use your smartphone easily enough by using the standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. We had zero issues with either a wired or wireless connection, something you can't say for every vehicle with wireless smartphone connectivity.

Storage & cargo

8.1/10

How’s storage and cargo? The Trax's cargo area measures out to 25.6 cubic feet, which is more than nearly every rival in this class. The cargo area itself is wide and deep, fitting a couple weeks' worth of groceries and supplies with ease. The angle of the rear window might make installing taller items a bit of trouble, but that's the case for most vehicles in this class.

Storage in the cabin is good, too, save for one big miss: the lack of rear cupholders. That seems like a big oversight when most rivals offer somewhere for a rear passenger to put a cup of coffee. The deep center console and bins on the front and back sides of the shifter give you plenty of places to put small items.

Value

8/10

Is the Chevrolet Trax a good value? The Chevy Trax is one of the most inexpensive vehicles in its class. It doesn't offer quite as many features (all-wheel drive, for example), but in general we think you're getting lots of value. There are some hard plastic interior panels, but most have a nice design or texture that keeps it from feeling cut-rate. Chevy did a fine job keeping the cost down without making cost-cutting immediately obvious.

The Trax includes a three-year/36,000-mile basic warranty. The powertrain is covered for five years/60,000 miles. You also get five years of roadside assistance, and the first service visit is included.

Continue reading Edmunds Expert Rating below

MPG

7/10

How’s the fuel economy? The Chevrolet Trax has an EPA-estimated fuel economy of 30 mpg combined. That is about average for this class, but we saw a somewhat disappointing 28.7 mpg on our evaluation test route. Other rival small crossovers have done a little better in our real-world testing.

X factor

8/10

The Trax's styling is right in line with most of the rest of the class: sharp and striking without pushing things so far as to be divisive. Simply, it's a handsome little SUV both inside and out. Thanks to a nice ride height and some design tweaks like black trim on the fenders, we think it's one of the few extra-small SUVs that actually looks like an SUV rather than a slightly lifted hatchback. We do wish it were a bit more entertaining to drive, but we also don't think it's something to loathe either. Just simple, straightforward transportation.

Which Trax does Edmunds recommend?

Chevrolet hasn't released official information on the 2026 Trax as of this writing. We'll update our recommendation if anything changes, but based on last year's Trax, the midrange LT trim hits the bull's-eye when it comes to balancing features and price. It upgrades to a much larger infotainment touchscreen, digital instrument panel, and a better audio system, and it's eligible for a heated steering wheel and front seats.

*The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment. Click here to see all Chevrolet vehicles' destination freight charges. Dealer sets the final price.

2026 Chevrolet Trax video

Best SUVs Under $30,000: Subaru Crosstrek vs. Chevy Trailblazer vs. Honda HR-V & More

NOTE: This video is about the 2025 Chevrolet Trax, but since the 2026 Chevrolet Trax is part of the same generation, our earlier analysis still applies.

Looking for an SUV but don’t want something huge or expensive? From Chevy to Mazda to Subaru and more, Edmunds’ Brian Wong & Clint Simone line up nine of the top-selling subcompact SUVs to find out which one is the best for under $30,000. We’ll cover interiors, tech, cargo room and more.

2026 Chevy Trax

2026 Chevrolet Trax Review

Pros

Cons

What's new

Overview

Edmunds spotlight: A better than expected interior

Competitors to consider

Edmunds Expert Rating

Our Verdict

Driving experience

Comfort

In-cabin tech

Storage & cargo

Value

MPG

X factor

Which Trax does Edmunds recommend?

2026 Chevrolet Trax video

Best SUVs Under $30,000: Subaru Crosstrek vs. Chevy Trailblazer vs. Honda HR-V & More

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