You can blaze trails and wear a blazer. You could do both — or neither — in today’s Chevy Blazer, seeing as the model has a rep for being pretty good both off-road and on. What might all that flexibility be worth?

Let’s just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the we looked at yesterday is a piece of machineryclosing in on 30 years of age. It’s a testament to the fine folks at Lexus that the car is still functioning and that the consumable parts are still available. Equal props to go the seller since, by all appearances, they seem to have kept the car in fine shape. The final kudos goes to the $7,800 asking price since that found the favor of 65 percent of you who awarded the big coupe with a solid Nice Price win.

Of course, big coupes are out of fashion these days. What people really want are tall but compact wagons. Most of these, like the hot-selling Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, are unibody designs, sharing much of their undersides with cars like the Camry and Civic. Few models in this size category offer serious off-road-ability, as they lack things like locking diffs or rock-crawler gearing.

Once upon a time, however, you could get a compact utility wagon with a stout, pickup truck-based body-on-frame design and capable 4WD system for frolics both on and off the beaten path. The cool thing is, that wasn’t all that long ago, and quite a few of those trucks are still around.

This is one such truck. Is it going to be as quiet and refined as a CR-V or RAV4? Oh hell no. But when the zombies attack or the floodwaters rise, this is the kind of truck you’ll want to have to spirit you to safety.

The seller lists this silver over gray four-door as an “S10” Blazer, but that model prefix denoting the truck’s close relationship to Chevy’s beloved mini pickup had been discontinued with the introduction of this second generation edition. That’s ok though, it’s still befitting as the Blazer shares a ton of its mechanical systems with its sister pickup.

The seller doesn’t note the trim level, but based on the number of accessories matched with simple cloth upholstery, it’s likely something mid-level like an LS. Power is provided by Chevy’s 4.3 liter Vortec V6 which offers 200 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. That’s mated to a 4L60-E four-speed automatic and electrically-controlled transfer case with high and low for the 4WD.

The ad notes new tires and a refreshed alternator along with some switch replacements to ensure everything is working as it should. The bodywork looks straight and without major issue, and comes with a roof rack up top, and factory alloys down below.

Inside, things are… well, ok, this wasn’t a good time for GM interiors. Still, it appears clean and shows minimal wear even if the plastics do look chintzy. An aftermarket double-DIN head unit sits in the dash, but the seller notes that they will throw in the factory unit with the sale if you’re a stickler for originality.

One of the truck’s big selling points is its mileage. That’s just 56,000 miles which means that there’s likely a lot of life left in the little 4x4. Another plus is the clean title. All that comes at a $5,500 cost, which it should be noted will also get you something like a CR-V or RAV4 of about the same age. Remember though, with either of those you’re more likely to get eaten by zombies or caught in a flood.

What’s your take on this more-capable 4x4 and that $5,500 price? Does that make this Chevy feel like a rock-solid deal? Or, low-mileage aside, is this just too rough a truck to ask so much?

You decide!

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