I finally got on board with my spouse’s desire to buy a camper. Next question: What do we get to pull it?
As I wrote back in January, my spouse Helen and I decided to purchase a small R-Pod trailer. It clocks in at about 3800 pounds, fully loaded, which is more than even her VW Jetta Wagon could pull, much less my VW Golf. We also wanted to make sure we weren’t straining to pull that weight, so we decided to look at vehicles with at least a 5000-pound tow capacity.
We test drove a few SUVs in that range, but nothing wowed us. I then e-mailed Joe LaMuraglia, GM’s LGBT Communications Manager, who’d invited our family on a Chevy media trip back in 2013, to see what he’d recommend. He suggested either the Chevy Traverse, a mid-sized crossover SUV, or the Chevy Colorado, the brand’s completely redesigned mid-sized pickup. He offered to provide us with a loaner of each for a week.
First up was the Traverse. Rated to pull 5200 pounds with the optional tow package, it arrived in our driveway looking brawny yet toned, a three-row SUV that remains substantially trimmer than the behemoths of the Chevy stable, the Tahoe and Suburban. Our all-wheel drive test model was the fully-loaded LTZ trim package, with a silver exterior and distinctive rust-colored leather interior. (Chevy calls the color “saddle.”)
After driving the compact Golf for several years, driving the Traverse felt a bit like driving in my living room—but with a better sound system and more fashionable seating. That’s not to imply that it handled like a house—it just felt roomy and well appointed. In fact, it had nice tight steering and maneuvered surprisingly well for a vehicle of its size. I didn’t expect it to turn or accelerate like my light little hatchback had, and it didn’t, but the 3.6L V6 felt more authoritative off the line than the other SUVs we tested, and accelerated even more nicely once in motion. That was important—while neither my spouse nor I is a speed demon, we like to be able to merge confidently and safely.
Safety in general was high on our feature list. The Traverse met our minimum requirements with a Five-Star Overall safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and exceeded them with traction control, anti-lock brakes, a front-center side-impact air bag, and a host of safety sensors, including a side blind zone alert, rear cross traffic alert, forward collision and lane departure warnings, and a rear vision camera. For me, making the switch from a much smaller vehicle, the side blind alert was particularly useful, lighting up an icon in the side mirrors when another car is to the side.
Our 11-year-old son was, not surprisingly, wowed by the impressive infotainment system. It included a drop-down DVD screen for the rear seats and wireless Bluetooth headsets, so passengers can listen to different audio than the driver. This was brilliant—I could listen to NPR while my son grooved to his pop music or watched Star Wars for the umpteenth time.
The infotainment package on the LTZ also comes with a Bose premium 10-speaker sound system, Sirius XM satellite radio (for a monthly fee after a three-month trial), navigation, integration with Pandora Internet Radio and Stitcher Smart Radio, and GM’s OnStar system (again for a fee after a trial). Both Android and iPhone users can access many of their phone’s voice-recognition features via steering wheel controls, for things like hands-free dialing and voice reading of text messages. (After the car reads you a text, it can also send back canned replies at the touch of a button on the dashboard screen.)
Numerous charging and USB jacks are standard on almost any vehicle these days, and the Traverse is no exception. Additionally, it has auxiliary input jacks in the second row. Our son took one look at these and said, “I wonder if I could get my Wii to work here?” While we’re always trying to balance his screen time with, well, almost anything else, we figured we had to try in the name of science. Indeed, the Wii worked and he could play his games on the drop-down screen. Thankfully, the back-row headsets meant that my spouse and I were spared the litany of beeps and deedle-deedle noises.
The all-wheel drive meant it handled marvelously well in the snow. For our comfort in the cold, it also came with heated front-row seats and a heated steering wheel, as well as independent climate controls for the second row. The latter was something I particularly liked, since I’m often chilly but dislike driving with gloves.
There’s plenty of cargo space, especially with the third and second rows folded down—but when the third row is up, the cargo area was compact enough that I didn’t need to fling myself into the back end to reach my groceries. (I’m short; trust me, this has happened with other cars.) The power rear lift gate was also handy, opening and closing at the touch of a button on the car itself or on the key fob—the latter particularly handy when the car was crudded with winter road schmutz.
Our son was also taken with the second-row captain’s chairs and the aisle between them leading back to the third row. It’s a nice layout with better third-row access than in many competitors. I’m not sure what struck our son so favorably, except perhaps that it felt more like the still-off-limits front seat to him—or maybe the aisle gave it an airplane-like feel. If you have two children who squabble over back seat territory, the separate seats could be useful, too.
The AWD version is rated at 16 MPG in the city and 23 on the highway. I got a pretty consistent 18 with a mix of driving over the course of a week. That’s pretty standard for its class.
The Traverse shares everything under the hood with its nearly-identical siblings, the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave. If the Traverse leans towards sporty and capable, the Enclave leans classier, and the Acadia more rugged. It’s a matter of trim options and features, though, rather than anything substantive. (Bonus fun fact: In ABC Family’s two-mom family drama The Fosters, mom Stef drives a GMC Terrain, the Acadia’s smaller two-row cousin with a similar look.)
Features aside, I like that Chevy included same-sex parents in the Traverse ad that ran during the 2014 Winter Olympics. (Here’s my post about it; alas, the video of the ad is no longer active.) I won’t buy a car just because a company sticks a family like mine in an ad (and more car companies are targeting LGBTQ consumers in any case), but it doesn’t hurt to know the company is helping raise our visibility.
The Traverse was named one of Edmunds.com and Parents magazine’s “Top 10 Family Vehicles” last year (this year’s list isn’t out yet), and I can see why. It’s roomy, safe, stylish, strong, and has all the mod cons for both parents and kids.
But how did the Traverse stack up for our needs against the pickup truck of many a dyke’s dreams? Stay tuned for the next in this series, Part III.