The Chevy Traverse is a midsize 3-row crossover designed for people who could use a van but would rather not get a van for 2019 the Traverse is continuing its move up market bringing premium features to mainstream buyers is it worth it let's find out before I received one to test the Traverse was not a vehicle I ever thought much about it's a big rather anonymous looking crossover that is based on the Buick Enclave or you could say the Enclave is based on the Traverse either way the Traverse is a mass consumption version of the Enclave coming in at a significantly lower price point even when very well equipped the Traverse competes directly with the Ford Explorer Honda Pilot Volkswagen Atlas and the Subaru ascent the model I drove was a nearly top-of-the-line all-wheel drive premiere trim it was loaded with leather navigation and a v6 for forty nine thousand five hundred ninety dollars including destination under the hood was a 3.6 liter v6 it put down 310 horsepower and 266 pounds of torque you can option a 2-liter turbo in the RS model but that only gets you 257 horsepower and it's only limited to front-wheel drive I don't really see the point in that model personally power from the v6 was pushed through a 9 speed automatic transmission to all four wheels when and only when the driver selects it otherwise you're rolling in front only mode which I presume that mechanism keeps costs down chevy makes you get the fifty four thousand one hundred ninety five dollar high country for the twin clutch system that automatically moves torque front to back on all other trims you need to turn the traction knob to get all-wheel-drive enabled hopefully before you get stuck still once engaged the system provide ample power to the back to keep things interesting we took the Traverse to one of our favorite off-road playgrounds and just tossed it around in the loose stuff even with eight inches of ground clearance I did still managed to bump the undercarriage a few times which did discourage me from going out on the more difficult trails but under most conditions the system was just fine the Traverse also has specific off-road and tow modes as well offroad sends more torque to the rear while the towing mode keeps the Traverse in a lower gear but I didn't have anything to tow and honestly the off-road conditions were just fine I didn't need to go into a special mode oh do note that the chassis of the Traverse is rated up to 5,000 pounds of towing capacity inside the Traverse the cabin was nice but it was on the bland side even keeping in mind that this is an upper-level trim it just didn't have much for me going on visually that said it was loaded with features but one that I turned off almost immediately was the digital rear view mirrors my eyes simply couldn't handle focusing that close and because it was a digital image that means there was no perspective there was no depth so I just disabled that one immediately unfortunately when you disable that screen the standard mirror is much darker than a normal one I would prefer a standard mirror and just rely on the excellent surround view camera system which is on the lower screen for backing up and parking that lower screen is eight inches and it is so much easier to look at and not just because it's bigger it's also slightly further away from your eyes making it easier to focus on let's talk about that infotainment in spite of the ridiculously out-of-date graphics the standard at this trim level eight inch system was really nice it supports apple carplay and android auto plus it features all the usual hits XM radio navigation with quick search here watch as I do a search for the nearest Starbucks it may not be as quick as asking Siri or hey Google to find it but this system also doesn't rely on an internet connection sometimes especially enough crossover when you go off-roading you'll be off-grid and at that point you are reliant on the built-in Maps the main screen is also where you can manage the team driver feature this allows you to restrict top speed when handing the Traverse off to a younger driver you can also limit stereo volume so they don't blow your system or get too distracted while driving the front seats feature dual zone climate control and can also be heated or ventilated with a push of a button though the buttons were kind of oddly placed but they did work fine an LTE 4G Wi-Fi hotspot is also included at this trim level that makes it easy for the whole family to enjoy internet access while on the road of course you could also just enable internet sharing on your existing mobile device you don't need a car for that still I guess some people like the idea every row also comes with USB sockets for easy charging yes even the third row and speaking of the third row I surprisingly fit back there just takes a little human origami to get into spot and you're good the second row was even better of course this one came with the optional captains chairs the second row also gets heated seats as well as personalized climate control you also get lots of door slots which you undoubtedly will lose stuff in the rear power liftgate can be activated with the push of a button it also supports hand-free by waving a foot under the rear gate or by pressing a button on the remote with the third row up it had 23 cubic feet of storage which is already pretty good all things considered plus it had a handy false floor for secure items with the third row down you can fit up to 57.8 cubic feet of stuff in there fold all the rows and you're looking at a whopping ninety eight point two cubic feet of total capacity that's an additional 10 cubic feet of storage over the subaru ascent and two more feet compared to the Volkswagen Atlas it's pretty impressive I think we found the purpose of the Traverse hauling stuff driving the Traverse was good it had plenty of power for the size and it handled well for a vehicle of this class my biggest concern was for a vehicle focused on family buyers Chevrolet did a good job of keeping the best safety tech out of lower trim models even though the premiere was loaded with blind spot monitoring front collision warning Lane detection rear cross-traffic alerts and Auto high beams you still had to get the even more expensive high country to get front auto braking competitors like Subaru and Honda include this features standard on all trim levels even the base models also adaptive cruise control wasn't available on any trim level in the Traverse that's becoming more common on competitor cars and it would be a nice addition here especially a vehicle so focused on travel as this one and honestly nothing makes a state to state trip nicer than adaptive cruise control overall the 2019 Chevrolet Traverse is a fine vehicle if you need something large and feature-rich but you don't really want to move into a minivan and considering it starts at 31,000 125 it's actually relatively affordable if you don't need the extras the premier model I drove was easy to live with everyday and it could even handle basic off-roading tasks thanks to the available all-wheel drive and enough ground clearance to be usable but the lack of advanced safety is concerning in this price range it's clear that Chevrolet is using safety the lure buyers up market so unless you're looking at one of those top models already and you don't need every inch of storage the Traverse can provide you might consider something from the competition like Subaru or Honda or even this Mazda cx-9 since all of those give you more safety features without making you spend $50,000 to get them for driving sports TV I'm Ryan Douthit thanks for watching be sure to subscribe leave a comment and rate this video also check us out on Instagram we post almost every day giving you a preview of what's to come we'll see you next time Up next
