2026 Chevy Trax

The number of new vehicles you can buy if you’ve only got about $22k to spend is on par with the number of habitable planets in our solar system. There’s Earth – and theres’ not much else.

The Chevy Trax is something like that. In fact, it is one of just two new vehicles you can still buy for a little less than $22k.

What It Is

The Trax is a subcompact crossover and one of just two new vehicles of its type or any type that you can still get for less than $22k. The other is the Hyundai Venue – which at $20,550 to start takes the win as the most affordable new vehicle you can still buy in this country.

Base price for the Trax LS is $21,700 – but for that you get a significantly larger, roomier subcompact crossover (the Chevy is 178.6 inches long vs. 159.1 for the Hyundai) and one with a more powerful (if smaller) engine paired with a six speed automatic instead of a CVT automatic.

You also get a Wi-Fi hotspot, a decent four speaker stereo, AppleCarPlay and Android Auto, LED headlights and 17 inch steel wheels.

There are four other available trims. The $23,200 LT gets a better (six speaker) stereo and a larger (11 inch) LCD touchscreen as well as automatic climate control AC and 17 inch aluminum wheels. The $23,200 1RS gets 18 inch alloy wheels, gloss black exterior trim, roof rails and a heated/flat-bottomed steering wheel and the better six speaker stereo. The $25,400 2RS gets 19 inch alloy wheels as well as the LT’s available Convenience Package, which bundles heated front seats and steering wheel, keyless entry and heated outside mirrors. The also- $25,00o Activ gets the same upgrades but different cosmetics as well as unique-to-this-trim 18 inch wheels.

All Trax trims come standard with the same drivetrain, which consists of a turbocharged 1.2 liter three cylinder engine paired up with a six speed automatic and front wheel drive. Like its main penny-pinching rival, the Hyundai Venue, the Trax does not offer AWD.

What’s New for 2026

This year is a carryover year with no major changes from last year. The base price has gone up – but by just $200 vs. 2025.

What’s Good

More than just affordable, the Trax is practical.

Standard engine may be smaller than the Hyundai Venue’s – but it’s stronger because it’s turbocharged (the Venue’s isn’t).

Almost four inches more backseat leagroom and almost 20 cubic feet more cargo room.

What’s Not So Good

That little engine is under a lot of pressure to make enough power to adequately move this Chevy.

Standard 17 inch wheels impart add weight and impart rolling resistance that hurts fuel economy.

AWD isn’t available (if you care about that).

Under The Hood

The Trax has the smallest engine you’ll find in anything with four wheels – that isn’t an ATV or side-by-side. Just three cylinders and 1.2 liters. I have a sport bike that has a 1.2 liter (1200 cc) four cylinder engine – and my bike only weighs about 450 pounds. The Trax weighs 2,983 lbs. – empty. With two average-weight people on board, the Trax will weigh around 3,300 lbs. – which is a lot of weight to place on the shoulders (so to speak) of a 1.2 liter, three cylinder engine.

That’s probably why it’s got a turbo – which boosts the output to 137 horsepower and 162 ft.-lbs. of torque (at 2,500 RPM). This makes it stronger than the Venue’s larger 1.6 liter four cylinder engine, which only makes 121 horsepower and just 113 ft.-lbs. of torque (at 4,500 RPM). Both cars tout a 0-60 time around 8.8 seconds, but the Chevy feels quicker and doesn’t sound like it’s given ‘er all she’s got, cap’n just trying to keep up with traffic (about which more below).

Unusually, a six speed automatic that shifts up and down through gears is standard. Most inexpensive new cars – including the Venue – have CVT automatics, chiefly for the fuel efficiency advantage. In this case, though, there’s little difference. The Trax rates 28 city, 32 highway vs. 29 city, 33 highway for the Venue.

Chevy could probably have squeezed an additional 2-3 MPG out of the Trax by fitting it with 15 inch (rather than the standard 17 inch) wheels that are lighter and impart less rolling resistance. In the past, economy cars usually had 14 or even 13 inch wheels and that is part of the reason why many of them were more economical than today’s entry level cars. What happened? “Rims” slang for big wheels – became a thing and that’s why all new vehicles now have “rims.” Maybe they look good – to some. But they hurt gas mileage by adding weight and rolling resistance.

Gnomesayin’?

On The Road

The Trax has torque – more than the Venue does – and it is torque more than horsepower that gives any vehicle the feeling there’s power available (EVs set you back in the seat because their electric motors produce immense torque – immediately). If you went by just the 0-60 stats of the Trax vs. its main low-cost rival, the Venue, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference. But you can feel it when you drive these two small crossovers back-to-back.

The Trax’s little 1.2 engine feels stronger, sooner – and with less pedal effort – because it is. All of its 162 ft.-lbs. of torque is produced (as note above) at just 2,500 RPM, an engine speed just above a fast idle. It is – effectively – available almost as soon as you begin to accelerate away from a dead stop and once  you’re rolling, the engine is in the sweet spot of its torque curve. You don’t have to floor it – and rev it – to get going at faster than a box turtle’s pace, in other words. The engine RPMs – and so, engine noise – also decrease as you accelerate because the six speed automatic shifts up to the next-highest gear as you accelerate. In a car with a CVT, the engine revs increase as you accelerate – and stay high, as you accelerate (because the CVT doesn’t shift up). In a car with a marginally powerful engine, the effect is magnified. The engine sounds like it’s being abused but you almost have to abuse it in order to get going at faster than a box turtle’s pace.

The Trax isn’t a drag racer. But it’s not a box turtle.

Its weight also has some good points. The economy cars of 40 years ago typically weighed closer to 2,000 than 3,000 pounds and while that was great for fuel economy (many economy cars of the ’80s got better gas mileage – 40-plus MPG – than today’s entry-level cars) it wasn’t so great for high-speed stability. Cars that only weigh about 2,000 pounds can get pushed out of their lane by the slipstream of a passing semi. This small crossover is nearly as heavy as the mid-sized cars of the ’80s and so it feels more planted. The big 17 inch wheels help with that, too – even if they do not help with gas mileage.

The Trax is also more pleasant to be in for longer – especially for passengers – because it’s roomier. More about that follows.

At The Curb

Though small, the Trax is significantly larger than the Hyundai Venue, which is the only other small crossover available for less than $22k. The Venue is 159.1 inches long vs. 178.6 for the Trax, which is not that far away from qualifying as a compact-sized (rather than subcompact-sized) crossover and sometimes, size does matter.

When it comes to practicality, at any rate. 

The Venue’s a great little commuter and having the rear doors and rear seats does mean it’s feasible to carry more than just two people. But it’s much more comfortable for more than two people inside the Trax, which has 38.7 inches of legroom for the backseat occupants vs. 34.3 inches in the Venue’s back seats. That is not a small difference. It is the difference between being able to sit back there without your knees rubbing up against the backs of the front seats – and having space between your knees and the backs of the front seats.

There is also much more space – almost double – for cargo in the Trax: 54.1 cubic feet with the back seats folded forward vs. 31.9 in the Venue. The Trax also has 25.6 cubic feet of space behind its back seats vs. 18.7 in the Venue.

The not-slittle Chevy’s looks belie its price. Put another way, it doesn’t look cheap relative to more pricey small crossovers such as the VW Taos ($26,500 to start) or the Honda HR-V ($26,500 once again) or the Toyota CorollaCross ($24,580) and its standard equipment roster leaves nothing essential off the table. Power windows, locks, cruise control and a pretty decent stereo with connectivity are all included. With the larger (11 inch) LCD touchscreen and LCD main gauge cluster, the inside of the Trax looks a lot like the inside of an Audi or Lexus from not-so-many years ago. Also a Camaro – which is not by-accident. Chevy borrowed styling cues (including the canting of the secondary LCD screen toward the driver) and the big, ball-type air vents from the Camaro, which of course you can no longer get. But you can get distant echoes of it.

The Rest

Given how hard AWD has been sold as a must-have thing, some may see the absence of AWD as a big negative. It might be worth some more thought. Yes, of course, AWD increases traction and that helps keep you on the road (and moving forward rather than sideways) when it snows. But the truth the car companies would rather you not know is that a set of good snow tires makes a FWD car almost as grippy in the snow and you can save a lot of money by not paying thousands more for a feature you may only need a couple of weeks out of the year – if you need it at all.

The Bottom Line

Americans looking for an affordable car that isn’t cheap – there’s an important distinction there – or impractical ought to take a look at the Trax.

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