well where to start.......

-blazer/jimmy has the typically low hanging chevy frame
-IFS...do i really need to say more
-the 4.3 is quite the gutless POS
-they are notorious for having the exhaust burn through the 4wd vacuum line
-ive come across many on trails that managed to tear out the shift linkages[auto]

im sure theres more

 

The old K5 blazers, I'd prefer over an XJ honestly but I HATE S-10 Blazers/jimmy's. Ugly, slow POS's. The K5 with a 350 is actually pretty quick for what it is, would beat an XJ. K5's have the best of both worlds in my opinion, solid axles, and truck frames. I do like XJ's a lot though just so you guys don't think I'm a fan boy haha

 

Don't they "technically" have more potential in the long run because BOF ?


This is a very fine quality built automobile with a very strong reliable 3/4 of a V8 4.3 mated to a wonderful 4L60e automatic trans, why do you guys put it down ? Just look at those sleek lines ready to knockout a wary XJ on the trails.... I mean Live Axle is for the feeble so they say on the Blazer forums ?

(The second pic is the only Blazer I have ever seen that I like at all, hahaha)

 

Yeah, a modded 370Z which run's 12's with full bolt ons(ran 12.94 @ Thunder Valley Raceway), a new edge 13's Mustang GT 5 speed, Pontiac G8 GT, Dodge Charger R/T..... But those are all slow compared to 11 second cars, which are SLOW compared to 10 second cars, which are dog **** slow compared to 8 second cars. It's all relative. It's fast for a 6 cylinder Jeep, in fact the XJ is damn quick for what it is.... With exhaust and tune it will outrun any 6 cylinder Jeep(and beat 5.2 ZJ's, I beat one, the owner is on this forum ), as stock it will outrun/run even with 290 hp Grand Cherokee and beat the same 3.6 equipped Wrangler. But like I said, it's all relative, some may (rightfully) call that special olympics bench racing.... but some may say the same when discussing 11 second cars.

 

Guys, quit the pissing contest.

 

I'm sorry but that first blazer is hideous. The second one is alright but it still dosent excuse the fact its a blazer. Although I will admit just maybe with a SA swap theyd be decent. Theres a 99 S-10 with a SA swap and 6 inches of lift on 32's running around my college campus. I'll try to get a picture some time, I will admit that its nice and nicely done. But regular blazers? Never going to happen.

 

My forum name here should tell you a lot. I had a 98 ZR2 Blazer that wasn't a bad rig for the 185K I put on it. Acutally I bought it with 40k, so not quite. But it's still running, must be over 200k by now.

I liked the interior okay, it drove fairly decent on the road and I did have some fun times with light wheeling in it, so I can't ***** too much.

I did get sick of replacing idler arms, pitman arms, ball joints, etc every time I turned around. I also broke CV shafts which were weak. There are a few upgrades to make it a little better, but it's still a weak design. I also had trouble with the electronic 4wd motor.

I could have, and actually considered doing an SFA, but I wanted to keep it road legal and that meant a lot of money for the kit and axle, etc. I couldn't see putting the money into it, so I sold it and bought the XJ.

There's no comparison on what an XJ can do offroad compared to the ZR2. The after market support far outways the BOF design if you ask me.

 

HAHAHA bro, we're not comparing a Jeep to your Nitroused Honda (Didn't anyone ever tell you that useless wings are for penguins), we're comparing it to other SUV's and trucks. Fast cars have nothing to do with the conversation, and 14 on the track is pretty goddamn acceptable for a stock SUV.

 

They run nowhere near 14s stock I don't know what you guys are smoking. Somewhere in the mid 16 to high 17 second range depending if it's a stick or auto, elevation and who's driving. That's STOCK on STOCK 215s, without the weight of bumpers, winch, etc. added. It would be much slower. So your average joe with 500lbs of add ons running 33s with stock gears, stock motor and an auto is probably running 18s or 19s. There's a guy online that kept his bone stock other than the motor and did a stroker, head work and all the bolt ons and got it to dip into the mid 14s. Still, no weight added, and it's a stick with stock tires. That is respectable, you're in bone stock automatic mustang territory, but it took a lot to get there. They are slow folks, I apologize, but there is no way around it.

That being said, S10 blazers are huge piles of ****, no way around that either. IFS is the biggest joke ever to be introduced to the 4wd vehicle. No flex, weak as hell, pain in the butt to work on, and very limited upgrades. Oooo but it rides like a car. Yeah, sign me up. Sure, if it's sitting in the mall parking lot where it belongs and you measured it, there might be a little more ground clearance than the pumpkin on a solid axle with the same size tire. But as soon as you hit a bump that front crossmember stoves into the ground and you have a snow plow in the mud. Not to mention when you lift it the massive drop brackets hanging down for the control arms and torsion bars. Not sure how it would go in the mud with broken cv joints and the ball joints falling off either.

As far as racing experience, who cares what's faster on the street, that's not what it's for. But, at our last mud drag event there was an S10 blazer there stock height on boggers (31s or 33s). I must have ended up next to him at least a dozen times and beat him by half a track every time (300ft lanes). I was on 33" boggers, have 3.73s and minor engine bolt ons running in 4 low. I can also say every time we've been to the Vermonster mud drags there's multiple S10s in the 6 cyl class, even one with a really wild sounding built 4.3, and it's always our cherokees in the finals

 

I've got a 95 s10 blazer, all stock with 30" Bfg A/Ts. It's gone through the same stuff that a lifted Cherokee has gone through no problem.

There are quite a few big differences between a blazer and Cherokee. The blazer is a lot heavier than a Cherokee. Braking on the blazer feels sluggish compare to the Cherokee, and the blazers ABS is very annoying and dangerous IMO.

The frame on the blazer has been good and bad. The frame gets hung up a lot, but it has prevent my exhausted from getting ripped off multiple times.

Offroading in a blazer not very comfy, the ifs makes for a bumpy and shaky ride.

I'm looking forward to my jeep mainly because of the aftermarket products. The 95-97 blazer has almost no aftermarket parts that are affordable.

 

I raced my friends blazer on the track twice beat it both times

 

Not to mention both are times were not that good and i won by like half a second

 

My brother has a 94 S15 Jimmy that I drive every now and then and I can honestly say that if I had to pick a vehicle to sleep in it'd be the Jimmy with its nice soft seats. However as a vehicle his Jimmy-a 2 door to my 4 dr XJ- feels heavy and slow. I'd rather drive the XJ any day, on road or off.

 

I'm smoking whatever he was smoking, I've never gone that fast in my Jeep... it would rattle me into a concussion about halfway there.

 

who cares bout the seats and sleepin, if im sleepin in it the back seats are knocked down, that said ive slept in both and the cherokee felt roomier, even though overall length for a 4DR xj is 166" and 4DR Blazer is 181"....not sure what the interior dimensions are with the backseat down....either way at just short of 6' i had to sleep corner to corner