Chevrolet Traverse

What We Like

Storage and cargo area

As expected in a vehicle well-suited to road trips, small-item storage in the cabin is quite good. The front door pockets are deep and fairly wide, and there are well-defined bottle holders that don’t compromise the rest of the pocket. There is an open bin under the center console that is a little tricky to access, but it could come in handy for the right items. We do wish the wireless phone charge mat was skewed to one side to make the space more useful.

The rear liftgate moves briskly, opening up a significant amount of space behind the upright third-row seat. Conversely, the third row is a bit snug on legroom, but for most owners, this may be the perfect compromise.

Plus, there is deep underfloor storage in the back that is large enough to hold a sizable emergency kit or even be used to stow groceries or sports gear. We wish there was a power lock button on the liftgate, in addition to the “close” button.

Visibility

A large windshield and tall side glass are a boon to visibility. But thick A-pillars flanking the windshield hamper the outward view, particularly when the driver looks to the passenger side due to the shape of the pillar. The driver’s-side pillar is less intrusive. The rear corner styling, with the Tetris-like glass panel, compromises over-the-shoulder visibility, like when preparing to change lanes. When not in use, folding the third-row seat forward, or at least tilting its head restraints, does help the rear view. On the plus side, the excellent surround view camera helps when backing in or out of parking spots.

Handling

For a sizable SUV, the handling is solid. The Traverse turns into corners well, with decent steering precision and feedback—aside from a noted vagueness when the wheel is centered. The more the wheel is turned, even just a few degrees off the center position, the better it feels.

Ride

Like the Acadia, the Traverse’s ride is comfortable, with muted kicks over most bumps and smooth highway cruising. We did observe that some impacts resonated through the suspension rather abruptly. Overall, the Traverse is settled and controlled, and it seems on par for the segment.

What We Don't Like

Controls

Some controls are head-scratchers, being either less convenient or less intuitive than expected; the stalks are examples most commonly referred to in our logbook. The left turn-signal stalk has a complicated secondary function for the windshield and rear-window wipers, often leading to accidental activations, while the right-stalk gear selector can take some getting used to.

Other observations include the frequently used start/stop button, which is obscured by the steering wheel. Then there’s the drive mode button that is low on the left side of the dash, adjacent to other same-sized buttons. The screen that it activates to show the selected mode is the 17.7-inch center infotainment display—far away from where the driver is looking in making the selection.

It is odd that you have to hit L on the steering wheel to use the paddle shifters. This does prevent misapplication when using the volume or media skip buttons, hidden behind the steering wheel, but it also leads to accidental button presses. The more conventional solution would be to allow the paddles to activate manual shifting when squeezed and place the paddle shifters away from the media controls.

The hazard button to activate the flashers is small and nestled in the ceiling by the OnStar button, making it tricky to activate in a pinch, such as when there is an emergency on the road.

Most climate functions use physical buttons, but some, such as sync, can only be accessed through the touchscreen. Due to the small button sizes, some drivers found the buttons too low down and the touchscreen difficult to use while driving.

We also noted that lowering the brightness at night makes the displays difficult to read because blacks become grays, hurting the crispness.

Center dash vents

The front center dash vents are ideally positioned for freezing the driver’s elbows, a low placement dictated by the wide screen’s position. From a design perspective, it is easy to understand why they are placed there. To move them higher, the screen would need to be positioned higher—arguably a preferred arrangement. But from the user’s perspective, they are very low.

What We'll Keep an Eye On

Powertrain

Overall, the powertrain works pretty well in the sense that it has decent, linear acceleration and a fairly smooth-shifting transmission. But the overall impression is that the small engine is often working hard based on the laboring sounds it makes. The 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine boasts 18 more horsepower than the previous 3.6-liter V6, but it lacks the smooth, unstressed feeling that the previous engine conveyed. As one logbook entry quipped, it sounds like someone told Spotify, “Play country song, ‘Where Have All the V6 Engines Gone?’” Indeed, the entire segment has moved away from V6s, with Hyundai and Kia being notable exceptions. Increased noise, vibration, and harshness are now the norm for the segment.

The last-generation Traverse returned 20 mpg overall in our tests. The new SUV is expected to be a little more efficient, and we have observed more promising fuel economy figures on the trip computer. We are eager to see if the noise is offset by gas savings, making it a possible compromise.

Brakes

Our initial impression is that the brakes, while effective, are a bit abrupt in their responsiveness at both low and high speeds. As in the Acadia, the brakes can be applied with a bit more force than intended. Some drivers adapted to this more readily than others.

Access

Entry into the front row is quite easy for a vehicle of this size, aided by large, wide-opening doors, the low floor, and the square-shaped roof. It is a natural move to step in and plunk down on the hip-height seat base. Second-row entry isn’t quite as smooth, as theater-style seating has raised the seat bottom, requiring a slightly more difficult entry maneuver and some ducking to enter, but there is a convenient grab handle to aid the process.

Fit and finish

The cabin is typical for the category. We like the tasteful contrasting stitching, trim accents, and padded surfaces. Our SUV’s cabin is black and rather businesslike, but inoffensive. Thankfully, there is very limited piano black—the shiny plastic trim that has found favor in competing models, where it reflects light, collects fingerprints, and looks cheap. At $50,000, we would have welcomed a couple of touches to make the interior feel a bit more special, but at least there is nothing weird or off-putting about the cabin. Look closely, and cost-cutting measures can be found, such as the unlined center console, door pockets, and glove compartment, which has some rough edges. Some drivers feel that the Acadia is a touch nicer. Overall, the cabin finish feels typical for the class.

Driving position

Most drivers praised the front accommodations, citing generous headroom and well-placed door-mounted and center armrests. However, it was commonly noted that the padding for those armrests was thinner than preferred. A couple of drivers criticized the position of the left footrest, aka dead pedal, considering it to be too far away and too upright. For them, this meant a tendency to not sit squarely, causing mild discomfort on trips.

Front seat comfort

Impressions were mixed among the first staff drivers regarding front seat comfort. There were comments about the seat being a bit flat, with notable vertical seams on the seat back that make it feel lumpy. Adjusting the lumbar support helped some drivers, but passengers lack that ability. The head restraint is further forward than we have seen in many competitors, causing drivers to recline the seat more than preferred to compensate. (Oddly, the second-row head restraints are much farther back.) Generally, drivers struggled to find comfort with these seats.

Second-row seats

The captain’s chairs in the second row are flat and wide, with firm cushions. They allow a natural sitting position while enjoying generous headroom and leg and foot space. Our first impression is that they are decent. Having climate controls on the back of the front center console allows rear passengers to dial in comfort.

Third-row seats

The third row in any midsized SUV brings inherent compromises. As with most competitors, the rearmost Traverse perch is best reserved for kids. Taller passengers will want to stretch a leg out between the two second-row seats, as legroom is quite tight otherwise. As with competing models, that rearmost bench is really only for two passengers, and it is best used for carpooling rather than road-tripping. On the positive side, access is easy thanks to the wide walk-through space between the second-row captain’s chairs, and the ceiling vents aid comfort.

Styling

The front three-quarters of the SUV resembles the full-sized Tahoe—broad and boxy—making the new Traverse look tougher than before. Fresh ideas are rare these days, but the odd geometry of that back corner window (shown above) may take some time to embrace. Initially, the back portion looks like it was designed by a different group, especially as the lines don’t all flow into the body. Perhaps it will grow on us.

Safety and Driver Assistance Systems

The Traverse comes with the Chevy Safety Assist suite of active safety and driver assistance features, which includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, and automatic high beams.

Other standard features include adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning with reverse automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, and sign recognition. Some safety warnings are communicated via vibrations to the driver’s seat.

In addition, the Traverse has a “Buckle to Drive” feature that requires both the driver and front passenger, if there is one, to fasten their safety belts before the SUV can be driven. It also has GM’s Teen Driver feature, controlled via an app, which allows parents to apply certain restrictions, such as speed and audio volume, and track a teen’s driving performance.

Available upgrades include a driver attention monitor, active parking assistance, and the Super Cruise active driving assistance system, which allows hands-free operation on many highways. In our early experiences with Super Cruise, we noted that this feature has become available on more roads, with the anticipated downside that, on some smaller roads, control might be handed back to the driver unexpectedly in locations where support ends.