Late last week, GM dropped a few hints before finally dropping the actual product – a new Chevy Blazer. Reaction was swift to the name being hammered onto a vehicle designed as a competitor to the Ford Edge instead of to a ladder-framed off-roader. 

Today, we donned our fallout suits and waded through the quagmire of internet comments about the new trucklet.

Over at our sister site, AutoGuide, commenters were split on the Blazer’s styling choices. User roundthings opined they were expecting “something more butch” from a machine bearing the Blazer name, comparing it to a Mazda. They weren’t alone, with user Dale Coportino saying the same. Geforcepat went a step further, saying “the Chevy Camaro now available in hatchba um cuv/suv form”. Burn.

Not all hands were eager to set alight the hard work of GM engineers. User Paul said the only thing he didn’t care for was the “extra-large grille opening”, a point of contention on many crossovers, truth be told. Despite expecting a butch exterior, roundthings complemented the Blazer’s interior style.

Also See: 2019 Chevy Blazer Makes Its Debut

Swimming through the sewer that is Reddit, a few level-headed and well-informed commenters did appear. Drzhivago138 made sure to point out the new Blazer “shares the Acadia/XT5’s 112.5″ WB midsize platform, but this is a 2-row like the XT5 rather than a 3-row like the Acadia,” in response to other users shouting into the ether about “Lexus-like grilles” and floating roof styling.

Markyymark13 echoed the thoughts of most off-road enthusiasts, saying “I’m disappointed Chevy didn’t make it a body on frame off road ready vehicle to combat Jeep and the upcoming Ford Bronco.” This jumps the gun a bit, as no one is sure what form the Bronco is going to take. The user makes a good point but the market demand for crossovers, combined with a nameplate that has more than a shred of brand recognition, virtually assures Chevy will sell every Blazer they can make. They just won’t sell them to the majority of readers of this site.

In fact, logoster hits the nail on the head when talking about how another crossover, rather than a body-on-frame SUV, makes scads of financial sense. Referring to body-on-frame SUVs, he says “And then not buy it right? [People] complain there isn’t X vehicle, and if there is you’d all buy it, then some car manufacturer makes X vehicle, then you guys are all like, sweet… now to wait for it to show up used because you have to be an idiot to buy new (even though, spoiler alert, someone has to buy new or there can’t be used options), and then the vehicle fails and gets shut down.”

Preach, keyboard warrior.

On YouTube, always a delightful source for comments, various livestreams from Thursday’s onstage reveal of the Blazer, SUV fans were sharpening their pitchforks. “I’m sorry but I was looking forward for an off-road SUV,” fumed Double JJ, before adding “GM already has enough crossovers.” Some went nuclear, with one saying “This vehicle absolutely doesn’t deserve that name.”

Not everyone was up in arms. One Elliott Manning said “That’s actually really good looking,” while Aaron Glisson opined “This looks goodddddd!” (six d’s means he’s extra serious, folks). The fabulously-named SpongeBob99Swell announced “I dig it, personally.”

Car makers aren’t in the game to please everyone. They are, however, most definitely in the game to please those who are actually buying cars. Right now, most people are buying crossovers, so it’s a safe bet the Blazer will do just fine and make cubic acres of money for GM.

We’ll leave the final word to this YouTube commenter, who advocates for a raid of the Colorado parts bin: “I’ll take a ZR2 version, 2 inches higher and wider…DSSV shocks with the 3.0 Duramax diesel.”

Us too, Chevy.

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