×
×
homepage logo
SUBSCRIBE

Sunday Drive: New Chevrolet Traverse proves to be a great ride with the grandkids

By Craig and Deanne Conover - Daily Herald | Jun 4, 2022
1 / 6
An exterior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.
2 / 6
An exterior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.
3 / 6
An exterior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.
4 / 6
An interior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.
5 / 6
An interior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.
6 / 6
An interior view of the new 2022 Chevrolet Traverse Premier.

The three-row SUV market has become fierce and very competitive with new additions like the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade. As millennial families have grown during the past few years, they are looking for a larger SUV that can get them and all their stuff around.

This has been evident in our own family. Both our boys now have two children, all still in car seats, and they each have a larger three-row SUV for going on vacations and simply getting the family around every day. With the large child seats now needed along with strollers, diaper bags and whatever else the day may call for, these types of vehicles are now entrenched in modern America.

The Chevrolet Traverse now in its fifth year after a complete redesign in 2018. We were happy to see how its change from being a more egg-shaped vehicle to a larger, truck-like SUV had affected the interior, now one of the most spacious within its class.

Watching our grandkids grow has been exciting, of course, but watching their parents mature has been even more so as they have had to make decisions in their lives somewhat like our own. When it comes to transportation, however, there are many more choices available today for getting a family around.

Back when our sons were younger, we had to change from a small Subaru sports coupe that we really loved to a large SUV. Our first foray into that world was a full-sized Chevrolet Suburban, which served both the purpose of getting the family around and towing trailers full of equipment for Craig’s sound and lighting business.

As the boys got older and we added a younger sister, our first brand-new car purchase was a Chevrolet Tahoe. Back then, the Traverse didn’t seem like a great option for us. Now, however, as it has grown in size (and most families are not pulling the kind of weight we had to at the time), it makes for a much better choice.

Cargo space is one place where the Traverse excels next to the competition, with 23 cubic feet behind the third-row seat, 58 cubes with the third row down and a total of 98 cubes with both rows down. It’s enough to get anything home from Ikea that a growing family might need.

With that in mind, it seemed like the perfect test for the Traverse would be to pick up one of our boys and his family along with all the stuff that comes with them for an afternoon drive and dinner. We ended up putting the car seats in the second row, thus forcing our son Jacoby and his wife, Hailey, to the rear seats for the drive. This was part of our plan to see how two full-grown adults would fit in the back.

With 33.4 inches of leg room in the rear seats, they felt it was more than any of the other third-row SUVs they have looked at to date. There is also more than 38 inches of space in the second row. Of course, the grandkids, at 3 years and 8 months old, had no complaints about that. With all that space, we even had plenty of room for a stroller and other stuff that comes with a baby and a toddler.

The great part was that the second-row captain’s chair would slide forward and tip slightly, allowing the rear occupants easy access to the back row while our granddaughter Monroe was still snugly strapped in her car seat. Having the captain’s chairs in the second row also allowed Hailey to easily check on the kids during the ride, a bonus for keeping them entertained.

Having the adults in the front and rear seats did prove to be a small inconvenience when it came to having a conversation. The addition of an entertainment system in the rear seats would have helped keep grandson Madden entertained during our almost two-hour drive.

Our Saturday excursion took us up through Provo Canyon, into the Heber valley and on to Park City. This always proves to be a great test for any vehicle we have coming with its twisty mountain roads and with some freeway driving on the way home.

With the Traverse’s redesign, there is only one engine currently offered: a 3.6-liter V-6 producing 310 horsepower and 266 foot-pounds of torque. This is mated with a nine-speed automatic transmission. Our drive through the mountains had the Traverse plowing through all the gears when passing the occasional semitruck.

After the drive into Park City, which came complete with some wet roads, it was decided to head into Salt Lake City and finish the ride with a nice dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The drive down through Parleys Canyon can always be a test, but the Traverse handled it with ease, even when we switched into 4-wheel drive when we thought there may be too much water on the road.

Stopping at the restaurant proved once again the ease of getting four adults and two small children in and out of the Traverse.

At this trim level, the interior of the Traverse was nicely equipped with leather seating surfaces, heated front seats, a large 8-inch screen with navigation and 4G LTE Wi-Fi on board that allowed everyone to use their devices during the entire afternoon and kept Madden entertained with his Amazon Fire.

This year, Chevrolet chose to make the adaptive cruise control standard on the RS and high trim levels, a great addition when taking longer drives. Other safety features included forward collision avoidance, forward pedestrian alert, blind spot monitor, automatic high beam headlamps, lane keep assist and departure warning and rear cross path detection.

The verdict all around was that the newly refreshed 2022 Chevrolet Traverse would be a great addition to a growing family and provide room for all their stuff, even with the third row being used.

Base price: $46,200

Destination charge: $1,195

Price as driven: $50,040

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)