Some Enthusiasts Are Hot Under the Collar for a Chevrolet Blazer SS

Indeed, so jazzed are these enthusiasts, they’ve created a rendering of a hypothetical Blazer SS to compete with the very real Ford Edge ST. If you’re already thinking this vehicle boasts canary yellow paint with wide, black striping, fear not — your assumptions were bang-on.

It’s an interesting idea, given that Ford’s Edge blows the existing Blazer out of the water in ST guise, but the merits of waging a hot tweener crossover war are debatable. And the vehicle itself might not be doable.

You can see renderings of the Blazer SS at the chevyblazer.org forum. The author envisions a vehicle endowed with the power of Cadillac’s twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6, which would place more than 400 horsepower in the hands of what we can only assume is a thirtysomething family man who once played in a garage band before going to work for an insurance company. This, after lamenting that the 6.2-liter LT1 found in the Camaro SS is a no-go. Dream on.

Memories of the long-departed TrailBlazer SS still loom large in the minds of GM superfans, it seems.

While surely some buyers will pine for more oomph than the Blazer’s uplevel 3.6-liter V6 (305 hp, 269 lb-ft) can muster, one wonders if the Edge ST is really a vehicle in need of a rival. The gap-filling Blazer is designed to make GM money in the most efficient way possible.

Cadillac’s 3.oTT, found in the CT6 and upcoming CT5, would definitely give a Blazer driver a kick in the pants. However, while the engine was designed for transverse and longitudinal positioning, the Caddy’s 8L45 transmission is designed for rear-drive, longitudinal applications. The Blazer, riding on GM’s C1 platform, is a front-drive, transverse-engined vehicle. As well, the V6 version’s nine-speed 9T65 transmission doesn’t seem up to the task of managing the 3.0TT’s torque, assuming the thing could bolt to the hi-po mill.

Were we to cobble together a Blazer SS ourselves, a possible powertrain option would be the one found in the Cadillac XTS V-Sport. That seldom-spoken-of front-drive sedan uses a twin-turbo version of the 3.6-liter found in the Blazer, mated to a 6T75 six-speed transmission. Unfortunately, as the XTS bites the dust this year (joined by the all versions of the ATS and CTS), it’s uncertain whether St. Catharines Propulsion will continue building this engine variant. As well, the home of the 6T75 — Warren Transmission Operations — is one of the five North American plants expected to close this year.

The possibility of a Blazer SS that’s anything more than a glorified appearance package is indeed dim. This might not make readers sad.

[Image: General Motors]