Test driving the Cheverlot Traverse on my Twitter Test Drive
Over the past couple of days I have been driving the Chevrolet Traverse as part of a Twitter Test Drive arranged by Waterloo Auto Mall. Overall I think it is a great XUV (SUV is so 1990s) that does pretty much all of what a mini-van offers but with a much more solid vehicle that you can use on light off-road fun and snowy days.
What I really liked about it:
- Back row of seats—although not entirely usable for adults (what back row is?) there are plenty of seat belts for when you need to move kids around town
- Even with the back row up you have space for stuff—something I didn’t expect given it isn’t a Yukon or Tahoe.
- The 3.6L engine can actually move the thing—it has enough acceleration to be fun
- Overall design of the interior—although not up to European quality of materials, it certainly is well designed and comfortable
What I don’t like:
- The stock GM technical parts that you see in 20-30K vehicles in this one that has a 50K+ price tag—The quality isn’t there in the 20 year old digital displays compared to similarly priced BMW’s and Mercedes.
- The exterior lighting—again, for the price I would expect xenon lights and less ‘cheap’ looking plastic
- Mileage—this vehicle isn’t broken in but but the avg economy on a highway drive between Waterloo and Hamilton was 12L/100km (~20 mpg). Why wouldn’t I just drive the V8 Tahoe?
- The one I had was front wheel drive only—for the price I would expect all wheel drive.
The two top things I don’t like is (I think) because this model has a 50K price tag but there is a 35K version. That is something that I think plagues GM vehicles as a whole. You can’t upgrade bits here and there and add that much to the price because you start getting into BMW and Mercedes land that have all those features and more in a much nicer designed package with quality finish. BMW and Mercedes just don’t have a lower priced option… GM needs to either upgrade more in a vehicle or stop trying to have premium domestic vehicles.
My verdict
If you can get an all wheel drive version at the 40K level you are getting a great vehicle. The quality, the performance, and the utility is certainly there. However, I am not convinced I wouldn’t look seriously at a Jeep Commander instead if I want a 4×4 that can do family stuff for ~35K.
Also: See the Edmunds report on the Traverse
About TwitterTestDrive
As far as I know the Waterloo Auto Mall is the only dealership trying to actually use social media and reach out to its customer base. I think it is a brilliant idea to try out and let the users of social media reach out to their online friends about a real experience that is essentially word of mouth marketing. I expect the #twittertestdrive hashtag will be filled of some honest and interesting experiences over this summer that will influence at least a couple car buying decisions out there.
