2010 Chevrolet Traverse: What's It Like to Live With?

What do you want to know about?

• Introduction
• Seats Like Kansas
• What's That Sound?
• Wedding Day Ride
• Track Testing
• Can handle small dogs
• PAM > BSM
• ...or 2009 Ford Flex?
• Five Thousand Mile Slow-Motion Panic
• Blind Spot Mirrors
• Reachable
• Humanized
• Visibility
• Dirty Seat Disease Already
• Almost Good iPod Interface
• Clean Machine
• What a Moron
• It's a Keeper
• Get Cloth and Smaller Wheels
• Suspension Walkaround
• Furniture Mover
• This Is America, Not Europe
• Making Good Use of Saturn's Demise
• Highway Speeds
• Gauges
• Wheel Design
• Something I Noticed
• What are the chances...
• Next Oprah Giveaway?
• What is today, Twinsday?
• Noisy Cabin
• Good Wipers
• Mmm, Seat Heaters
• Past the 10 Grand Mark
• Will Billy and Forhoja Fit?
• Trouble With Trim
• Yay Butt Coolers
• Who Uses These Dash Bins?
• ShakyCam Walkaround
• 10,000-mile Service
• 5-Star Safety
• A Getaway Car?
• Love/Hate
• 10 MPG?!
• Audio Impressions
• Gentle Giant
• Lousy Dipstick Access
• Audio Review
• 2011 Model Is a Top Safety Pick
• A Look Underneath

Introduction

It happens to the best of us.

You wake up one day, look around and there's a spouse, a kid and even a small mammal running around and shedding those golden locks that the expensive pet food promised would be shiny. And then you look to the driveway and there — sitting as it has for weeks — is the sports car. The one you wanted since high school. You know, the black one with the big wheels. It's collecting dust while the minivan racks up more miles than an Amtrak train. Time to put 'er out to pasture, or at least in storage until the nest is empty.

We've had a similar epiphany. Looking down our list of Long-Term Road Test cars — coupe, coupe, foreign, pretentious sedan, racecar and even a 20-year-old Miata — there is precious little to support our growing families and our readers' growing interest in "real cars." We need another three-row crossover. We need something we trust.

And while there are plenty of alternatives when you choose a crossover with three rows of seats, one struck us as a pure practical choice, both comfortably full-size and just plain comfortable: the 2010 Chevrolet Traverse LTZ.

Plus we could get a screamin' deal on one.

Why We Got It
Done gasping yet? Of course you're raving, "But it's the same as the 2008 Buick Enclave you already had for a long-term test!" But it turns out that there have been some significant changes to GM's Lambda-platform crossover since then. Thanks to direct injection, the Traverse's V6 now makes 288 horsepower instead of 275, while torque output has swollen to 270 pound-feet from 250 lb-ft. There are other key differences, like the Skyscape sunroof that's $1,400 in the 2010 Chevy while it was $1,300 in the 2008 Buick. Big things, really.

OK, so we just needed something with three rows of seats. Something we'd put miles on comfortably and consistently, something that wouldn't be in the shop or look out of place at a parent-teacher conference. We needed a grown-up car and Chevy had a good one.

And there's always the opportunity to compare and contrast it to our 2009 Ford Flex Limited.

What We Got
Our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse is optioned with the LTZ package, so it's a top-of-the-range model with a six-speed transmission, leather upholstery, power-adjusted heated/cooled seats, power liftgate and 20-inch wheels with P255/55R20 107H Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza all-season tires. In front-wheel-drive guise, the Chevy Traverse starts at $29,224. Loaded up with the LTZ package, the Traverse carries an MSRP of $37,985. Just like our Enclave, we ordered up our Traverse in front-wheel drive. If it rains, we'll be fine; if we get 2 feet of snow here in So Cal, well, traction is going to be the least of our worries.

One thing we did want in our Traverse was second-row seating with straight-through access to the rear row, and since there's an optional $300 console that local Chevy dealers like to install, we had to do a bit of shopping to find the vehicle we wanted.

But shopping was part of why we got a Traverse. We knew there was "cash on the hood" and we pay in full, and that goes a long way with a car dealer. We finally found an LTZ without the goofy rear bin, and in a color we could tolerate sitting in. It happened to be at Selman Chevrolet in the city of Orange, California, which is located in (surprise!) Orange County. The MSRP was $42,050 and it was being offered at $39,875. We called and told them we previously owned a Pontiac, so they gave us a discount and then offered another surprise discount. We didn't argue and paid $36,406 before taxes and fees.

The Year of Growing Up
Sure, this 2010 Chevrolet Traverse LTZ isn't sexy, though it's sharp-looking for a large crossover. Neither is it particularly fun to wheel around, but it does its job of hauling people and goods reliably.

It won't be a year of burnouts and racetracks, and that's exactly what we're hoping for.

Current Odometer: 1,616
Best Fuel Economy: 20.9 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 19.0 mpg
Average Fuel Economy: 19.6

Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.

Seats Like Kansas

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating, here's photographic evidence of just how flat the front seats are in the Traverse. Strangely enough, they're not quite as awful to sit in as it might appear.

There's decent cushioning, so it feels soft at first. But after, oh ten minutes, they start to feel a bit stiff. And should you actually go around a turn in the Traverse don't expect anything to lean on, there's simply nothing there.

That said, I've plunked down in worse chairs over the years, but given the price of the Traverse I was expecting a little more. And yes, I know the Traverse has no sporting intentions whatsoever, but that's no excuse. A comfortable seat is a comfortable seat.

What's That Sound?

A three-row Chevy? You mean a Suburban? No, that's a truck, and our long-term 2010 Chevrolet Traverse Traverse is really a station wagon. And that's fine by me.

Despite its size, the Traverse really does drive in a very carlike manner. It's compliant without being sloppy, easy to get into and out of, and quite quiet.

In fact, were it not for the Traverse's effective noise-banishing ways, I might not have heard the suspension gronk it makes. Not a gronk, more a rattlesqueak. Skrattle? Whatever, you hear it at low speed when the front left wheel encounters minor road zits. I craned my head under there to see if anything wasn't screwed down but found nothing obviously amiss.

Oh yeah, its nav system makes Space Invaders video game noises similar those in our long-term Cadillac CTS. But those sounds are kinda cool. The suspension noise, however, will need to be looked into.

The photo above has nothing to do with this post; I just thought it was an impressively large mud splat.

Wedding Day Ride

Last weekend our still fresh long-term 2010 Chevy Traverse hauled four full-size adults to a wedding 75 miles from home. And back of course. This is a picture of two of the adults. Be kind, one of them is my wife.

By the end of the long day, which included a late night run to L.A.'s famous Tito's Tacos, we all agreed that the Traverse handled the task as we hoped it would. It is commodious, comfortable, fuel efficient and its navigation system was easy to program and the directions it spit out were accurate. It also rides very well on the highway.

One of the three passengers did complain about the Traverse's seat design, saying it felt like a park bench covered in thin foam padding. The rest of us like the seats.

Track Testing

All long-term cars pass through the same instrumented test gauntlet. Our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse is no exception. It just has more body roll than most.

Vehicle:
Odometer: 1,769
Date: 3/2/2010
Driver: Chris Walton

Specifications:
Drive Type: Front wheel drive
Transmission Type: 6-speed automatic
Engine Type: 3.6-liter SIDI V6
Displacement: 3,564 cc (217 cu-in)
Redline (rpm): 7000
Horsepower (hp @ rpm): 288 @ 6300
Torque (lb-ft @ rpm): 270 @ 3400
Brake Type (front): 12.8-inch ventilated cast-iron disc with single-piston sliding calipers
Brake Type (rear): 13.0-inch ventilated cast-iron disc with single-piston sliding calipers
Steering System: Speed-proportional power steering
Suspension Type (front): Independent, MacPherson Struts, Coil Springs, Stabilizer Bar
Suspension Type (rear): Independent, Multi-Link, Coil Springs, Stabilizer Bar
Tire Size (front): P255/55R20 107H M+S
Tire Size (rear): P255/55R20 107H M+S
Tire Brand: Bridgestone
Tire Model: Dueller H/L Alenza
Tire Type: All-season
Wheel Size: 20 x 7.5
Wheel Material (front/rear): Cast Aluminum
As Tested Curb Weight (lb): 4,801

Test Results:
0 - 30 (sec): 3.3
0 - 45 (sec): 5.4
0 - 60 (sec): 8.2
0 - 75 (sec): 12.4
1/4 Mile (sec @ mph): 16.2 @ 86.9
0 - 60 with 1-ft Rollout (sec): 7.9
30 - 0 (ft): 33
60 - 0 (ft): 130
Braking Rating: Good
Slalom (mph): 59.8
Skid Pad Lateral Acceleration (g): .78
Handling Rating: Good
Db @ Idle: 42.6
Db @ Full Throttle: 72.8
Db @ 70 mph Cruise: 69.2

Acceleration Comments:
Turning off the aggressive traction control allows just enough spin to keep the engine on the boil. Engine feels torque-rich and free-revving with a relatively high (7,000 rpm) fuel cut-off. Very smooth upshifts in Drive, but "L" with manual shifts proved slower.

Braking Comments:
Good power/effectiveness and fade resistance. Pedal stops short of going all the way to the firewall and remained so throughout.

Handling Comments:
Skid pad: Non-defeat ESP relegates the Traverse to circle with the throttle pinned to the floor with no brake application. Steering feels a little overboosted and doesn't offer much information. Slalom: It feels far more confident and capable than the physics and ESP will allow, where understeer is rectified with both throttle bleeding and brake application.

Can handle small dogs

This is a cheap excuse to show a picture of a cute dog I hang out with. The dog, some manner of Boston terrier / Chihuahua / Australian Shepherd / ??? mix doesn't ride back there, but this should illustrate both that the Traverse has a lot of space and that this dog is fewer than 116.4 cubic feet. What it does not show is that the dog is terrified of the automatic tailgate — which I'm a big fan of.

PAM > BSM

Properly adjusted mirrors with the aid of the mirror-in-mirror feature that our 2010 Chevy Traverse has, are better than electronic blind spot monitors. This solution is cheaper, easier to use and about a million times less irritating than those expensive, beeping, complicated ones seen in our Audi S5.

And as I'm typing this, Vehicle Testing Manager Mike Schmidt is standing over my shoulder saying, "I dig those on trucks, but on the Traverse, they're just too small. Not useful."

I, obviously, disagree. What say you? Problem solving: (expensive, obtrusive)Electronics or (simple, cheap, elegant) physical solutions.

...or 2009 Ford Flex?

I got lucky and parked behind our 2009 Ford Flex's twin the other day and it got me thinking: Ford Flex or Chevy Traverse. I know we'd done this before when the Traverse originally came out, but I'd just spent a few hundred extremely comfortable miles behind the wheel of our Traverse and found it quite nice. But then again, I've also driven our Flex to Massachusetts, Phoenix, Sacramento, Vegas via Death Valley....you get the picture.

Here are the relevant specs:

Our 2009 flex cost us $37,658, seats *6* ( 2- 2- 2), has Sync, super-easy fold-flat seats and a refrigerator.

Our 2010 Traverse cost us $36,406, seats 7 (2-2-3), has a functional USB input and navigation, more power, heated AND cooled (!) seats and a manual mode on the shifter.

Which one you buying and why? And no cheating and voting for the big red truck that ruined this lucky photo op!

Me? I'm taking the hearse.... they had me at refrigerator.

Five Thousand Mile Slow-Motion Panic

I nearly missed this one. Our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse passed the 5 kilomile mark less than 1 mile away from the office while I was in the midst of maneuvering the Chevy onto the clogged major artery that is the I-10 freeway in Santa Monica.

In fact, the Traverse was inching down the freeway on-ramp itself when I glanced down to see the odometer flash from 4,999 to 5,000 miles. I was totally unprepared for this. A mad scramble for my stowed camera ensued. Would there be time to take the picture before it rolled to 5,001 miles?

I needn't have worried. It took over 5 full minutes to cover that single mile, including plenty of 10-seconds dead stops. I easily snapped off a shot or three while sitting stock-still.

Gotta love the west side commute.

Blind Spot Mirrors

I think the 2010 Chevy Traverse is the first vehicle I've ever driven with blind spot mirrors tucked into the top outside corner of the sideview mirrors.

And I don't think I like them.

The constant double-image kept catching my eye, and even after two days, I still found it more distracting than helpful.

Maybe I'll get used to it. (Maybe not)

Anyone know offhand what other models have those mirrors?

Reachable

I've written before about feeling small in our 2009 Ford Flex. I can't reach the center controls and feel like a little kid sitting in my father's chair.

Not so in the Chevy Traverse. While the interior is roomy, all of the controls are still well within my reach from the driver seat, even though the Traverse is a bigger vehicle than the Flex.

I ran the two cars through my favorite tool on Edmunds.com, the Comparator. I pulled out the dimensions so you can take a look at them side by side. The dimensions for the Flex from 2009 to 2010 are unchanged.

Somehow, in the Traverse I can adjust my seat more comfortably, despite it having fewer power controls than the Flex. The Flex also has adjustable pedals as an option. No matter how I adjust, I can never get situated in the Flex, which is disappointing because I like it. The Chevy Traverse is more comfortable for me.

Humanized

I love this commercial for the Chevy Traverse. I was the little sister of five. This little cutie finally gets to sit in the big boy seat.

Brilliant.

You'll have to click through to see it, embedding has been disabled.

Visibility

Here is a video I made to show you the visibility in the Chevy Traverse.

Sorry if you hear me breathing heavy, I wasn't trying to creep you out, I had a cold.

Dirty Seat Disease Already

We've experienced this problem with light-colored interiors before — the Audi Q7 and Hyundai Azera for instance — but after only 5,673 miles on the clock, the Traverse seems to be succumbing to seat staining earlier than most. Granted, its color is even lighter than most, but this is still surprising.

Nevertheless, this is a fact of life for most light-colored interiors and we'll see how easy it is to clean. I personally would stick to darker seat colors unless I was buying a sports car or something that wouldn't see a lot of butt-squirming, jeans-wearing miles.

Almost Good iPod Interface

One update made to the GM Lambdas since our go-around with the Enclave is the addition of a USB audio jack and iPod interface. The jack is located in the chasm-like center storage bin, which keeps your iPod out of prying eyes — unlike the standard aux jack, which remains on the stereo/navi faceplate. And unlike our GMC Terrain and the Cadillac SRX I recently tested, the Traverse is good to go with the standard white wire that comes with every iPod. Using it in the Terrain alphabetizes all of the songs in your playlists and doesn't include "Podcasts" amongst playlists, artists, genres, etc. We're looking into getting a separate connector for the Terrain to get proper functionality.

I thought the usability of the Traverse's iPod interface was quite strong as well. While the SRX's redundant rotary control knob and button setup (in addition to touchscreen) does a better job of mimicking the iPod's actual controls, the Traverse's touchscreen is still intuitive and pressing the down button skips full pages of playlists rather than going down one at a time like some others annoyingly do.

EXCEPT, you can't do it while driving. You can press playlists, songs, etc, but once inside that menu those scroll buttons on the right disappear. You can skip "pages" using the up/down buttons on the steering wheel, then press the song's touchscreen icon to play it. It's a weird system and not very efficient. It's strange how the lawyers have a problem with using the iPod interface while driving the Traverse, but not in the Terrain and SRX.

So close, but no cigar.

Clean Machine

After my first stint in our long-term 2010 Chevy Traverse, I'm digging it quite a bit more than I thought I would. My sentiment began even before stepping inside, as this is one cleanly styled SUV. I think Chevy is starting to get its mojo back with this minimalist, mid-west-sparse design language (the Impala is another revived example). Sure the logos are big, but like towering silos on a Nebraska plain, there's plenty of featureless space for them. This puppy is big, but hides most of it with smooth.

Easily the best looking of the Lambdas (topping even the purposeful GMC Acadia), the Traverse speaks to the shopper who actually needs the cargo space, three rows, and some towing capabilities, but wants none of the lux-SUV frippery of the chrome-happy Enclave. Sleeker than any minivan, the Traverse takes those same practical attributes and jacks up the floor. You lose cabin height, but the added ground clearance opens up a whole new avenues of soft-roading and you'll never fear that steep driveway approach again.

Like other Lambdas, the Traverse could probably shed four or five hundred pounds, but from behind the wheel, it feels far lighter than it looks. Low-effort steering helps, as does a compliant but not floppy suspension tune. The long wheelbase helps it track down the interstate like a freight car, and it manages to handle flowing pavement in a composed way at pace that makes you think, "Hmm, not bad...". You will miss the deep well of torque from GM's awesome push-rod V8's, but the Traverse makes up for most of it with the revvy D.I. V6 and a quick-witted tranny.

Slam the Traverse and you've got the Flex, which makes ingress/egress and cargo loading easier, and feels less liner-like around town. The Traverse provides better views however, and the worse the roads are where you live, the more you'll appreciate that added ride height. Either of the new trucksters avoids the minivan-shame stigma, with nearly the usefulness and now a smaller mpg penalty. The Traverse's tall, handsome, corn-fed styling seems to speak clearest to the ex-Tahoe/Expedition crowd, a market that would gain much from embracing it.

What a Moron

We have reached a new low in distracted driving. Kelly Toepke and I found this clown during our carpool home from the office yesterday. Need I say more?

It's a Keeper

You drive it, you wash it, is a basic rule of driving test Edmunds test vehicles.

This is especially true on Mondays when the entire long-term fleet needs a bath after a weekend of doing who-knows-what with your family or friends in tow.

As I was waiting at our local car wash this morning, making sure our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse was free of mulch residue from the six bags I picked up from Lowe's on Saturday morning, and clear of sand and spray from Sunday's birthday party at Camp Pendleton's Del Mar Beach, I started to think about how much I would like to keep the Traverse all to myself.

It's no wonder GM's latest crossovers, Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave, and GMC Acadia, are so popular. They're the right size for my small family of three, right size for hauling landscaping equipment, ideal size for parking along neighborhood streets, perfect for taking the Girl Scout troop to the nature center.

Not too big, not too small. This one's just right for me.

Get Cloth and Smaller Wheels

Our old Buick Enclave was more comfortable than this new Chevy Traverse.

Culprit 1: The Chevy has 20-inch dubs whereas the Buick had 18's. Do the bigger wheels look better, probably, but they also add impact harshness around town. Is the ride unpleasant? I wouldn't say so, but the Buick's was better. Could there be subtle suspension differences between the two, sure, but I still say stick with the smaller wheels given that the Traverse we tested with 18's also had a better ride.

Culprit 2: The Enclave had cloth seats. Yes, it had a weird pattern on them, but they were softer and comfier than the fairly hard leather-wrapped seats in the Traverse. I've noted this in other leather-equipped Lambdas as well. Given that our light-colored leather is staining quite early, I'd say cloth is the way to go (hopefully they've canned the dopey pattern).

Suspension Walkaround

You never got to see the Lambda-platform underpinnings of the 2008 Buick Enclave we used to have in the fleet because, at that point, I hadn't yet begun my suspension walkaround series.

No problem. Our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse gives us another chance because it also rides on the same Lambda platform, as do the GMC Acadia and discontinued Saturn Outlook. And prototype examples of a yet-to-be-released Cadillac Lambda SUV are almost certainly running around behind the fences of GM's various proving grounds.

All of this means the Lambda platform is still very relevant. Let's have a look.

The Lambda platform is a front-drive architecture with a transverse-mounted engine and transmission. So it's no surprise that our 2010 Chevy Traverse rides on MacPherson strut front suspension.

Like almost every front-drive chassis out there, the Traverse's rack and pinion steering (green) does its work from behind the front axle centerline. Further out, the front wheel bearing rides within an aluminum front knuckle (yellow).

Here's another view of the same components.

The front stabilizer bar connects directly to the strut housing via this slender link. It connects to a point high up on the strut so there's no interference as the strut sweeps left and right during steering maneuvers.

Those two bulges in the brake caliper (green) make it easy to tell these are 2-piston sliding (aka floating) brake calipers. And check out how taut the brake hose is when the suspension is at full droop and full left lock. That's an admittedly uncommon circumstance, but it still looks like they've used no more material than is absolutely necessary.

Here you can clearly see that the lower control arm is made of two pieces of stamped steel that are welded together.

Here's another look at the dual-piston brake calipers and their ventilated rotors.

Multilink suspension is used in the rear. Here we see an upper link (yellow), a toe link (green), and a lower arm (orange). But this doesn't look like enough links to keep the wheel pointed properly. What's missing?

Before we find out, have a quick glance at the rear brake hose which, like the front, is no longer than it needs to be.

And here's your missing link. The lower aluminum arm (orange) that looked like an A-arm in the last picture is really an H-arm. But the stray leg of the H in the foreground does not connect to the knuckle. No, it connects to a slender vertical link (white) that connects to the knuckle at the top.

GM calls this a "linked H-arm", and since that seems descriptive enough, we'll roll with it.

Here's what's going on: The background leg of the H connects to the knuckle at a single point, like an A-arm would. So far so good. Since the free end is not connected to the knuckle, the toe-link (green) can apply torque to the knuckle to add dynamic toe-in without binding any of the bushings. The vertical link that's connected to the free end of the H absorbs the torque reaction cause by braking and, in AWD models, acceleration.

This angle shows this last point a bit more clearly.

The rear leg of the H-arm (white) connects directly to the knuckle. The front leg of the H (green) connects to the vertical link, and this allows the shorter toe link (yellow) to pull the front part of the knuckle inwards as the body rolls for a stabilizing dose of toe-in without causing any binding the neighboring bushings; the top of the link simply shifts left and right slightly to absorb this motion. But the link's vertical rigidity absolutely keeps the knuckle from rotating during accel and braking.

Meanwhile, the upper arm (yellow) is far enough above the tire's contact patch that it doesn't have to exert much effort to hold the top of the knuckle at the proper camber angle. That's why it can have this curious shape cut from a flat piece of steel.

This overhead view shows how the upper camber link and the vertical link share a common pivot axis and mounting bolt.

The aluminum H-arm carries the coil spring and bump stop about 60% of the way out from its inner pivot point. The shock absorber mounting bolt, just visible in the background, connects to the other leg of the H at more or less the same 0.60:1 motion ratio.

Don't worry too much about the bent appearance of the spring. This straightens out somewhat when the car is sitting on the ground and the suspension is compressed to the neutral position. Things get pretty parallel when the suspension compresses further with additional load.

Single-piston sliding brake calipers and ventilated rotors take care of rear braking.

Our Traverse is a 2WD model, so of course its rear hubs don't have any drive axles poking through the center.

Our Chevy Traverse rides on these optional P255/55R20 tires. Sure they look "better" than the 18s, but the ride is nowhere near as smooth and compliant as our departed long-term Buick Enclave, which rode on 18" rims and higher-section tires. OK, some of that has to do with the Buick ride tuning philosophy, but we can't ignore the fact that these tires have less sidewall and they weigh a full 71 pounds when mounted on their heavier "dub" rims. Maybe we should re-insert the letter "m" into that nickname.

Furniture Mover

Here's the obligatory, "I needed to move some stuff" blog post. What you see above are two square end tables, one antique desk, one long occasional table, and two large pictures. I was amazed at how large the Traverse's cargo bay was, and looked up its official dimensions when I got home.

Cargo volume behind 1st row / 2nd row / 3rd row is quoted as follows:

116.4 cu-ft / 68.8 / 24.4.

This got me thinking about what the comparable Chevy Tahoe dimensions might be. They are:

108.9 cu-ft / 60.3 / 16.9.

Interesting — to me anyway. Besides the sheer volume ot the Traverse, I noticed the 2nd-row captain's chairs don't maintain a contiguous floor when they're folded flat (note the gap between the armrests) and the third-row doesn't quite go fully flat either. Still, I was impressed and pleased.

This Is America, Not Europe

Just back in the Chevrolet Traverse, the first time I've driven one of the GM Lambda crossovers in months. And am knocked out by just how good this package is.

As much as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche rattle on about the perfection of their own crossovers, the Euro utes have become too autobahn focused just like they used to be too off-road oriented. Only BMW understands that a crossover has to occupy the middle ground, which is the key to its all-purpose utility.

And nothing does the middle ground quite like the Chevy Traverse. It drives easily and comfortably enough to be a relaxing refuge in commute traffic, yet it's still big enough to haul stuff and tough enough to tow stuff.

The Traverse drives like a car, but it's not afraid to be a truck. That's what you need in America.

Making Good Use of Saturn's Demise

I noticed this sticker affixed to the door jamb of our Chevrolet Traverse last night. Seems a bit ironic given that GM built the Spring Hill plant to jump start its small car brand. Now it's churning out some of the biggest crossovers on the market. Oh well.

On a more pleasant note, our Traverse reminded me why I don't hesitate to recommend the Lambda-based crossovers to my friends. Not only is it sized to fit just about any combination of passengers or cargo, it still remains very easy to drive.

The steering is relatively light, the sight lines are good and even the turning radius is pretty tight for such a large vehicle. In fact, it's almost exactly the same as our long-term Honda Crosstour which is nearly a foot shorter. There are a few elements of the interior I could do without, but overall it's a far better family vehicle than most full-size SUVs, the Tahoe included.

Highway Speeds

I grew up in a Chevy household. You all know about my beloved Caprice and I probably told you about the time my father won a Chevette in a raffle contest. So, Chevys are very familiar to me. They feel comfortable. They feel like home. That's partly the reason I like the Traverse.

Also, it moves well. It's just as comfortable cruising at highway speeds as it is strolling around town. The engine doesn't wheeze. The transmission doesn't delay. It takes it all in stride. And like all GM products, it has a kicking air conditioner.

Check out this beautiful sky on my commute last night as seen out the front window of the Traverse.

Gauges

When I posted a picture of the speedometer last time, a lot of you complained about the way it looks. I don't see anything wrong with the gauges. They are clear and easy to read. The instrument panel has a nice balanced look.

What exactly don't you like about it? Is it the green lights, the shape of the gauges, something else?

How would you improve it?

Wheel Design

I like the simplicity of the wheel design on the Traverse. It's not too complicated or pretentious. The bold spokes give a feeling of strength to the profile of the car. And they look easy to clean.

What do you think?

Something I Noticed

Here's a spare shot I had laying around after my suspension walkaround of the 2010 Chevy Traverse.

That's the plastic fuel tank (green), hanging beneath the floor. It's low enough that this "rub rail" (yellow) has been fitted so the tank is not quite the lowest point.

And then there's this...

This is the point where the gas tank's filler neck crosses under the rub rail. No, it's not touching.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. That rub rail doesn't look like it gives the low-hanging tank any real protection, but it does at least look like it will keep road debris from knocking the filler neck off.

What are the chances...

...of spotting two Kustomyzed Chargers on one drive home? Of course, they both have "vanity" plates. My guess is that there was some sort of Bring Out Your Purple Mopar Meet up the road.

Next Oprah Giveaway?

Back in 2004, Oprah Winfrey gave away a boat-load of Pontiac G6 cars. Well, rumor has it over on GM Inside News that the multimedia mogul is going to do the same thing today on her television show. Of course, we're all hard at work typing, so it may have already happened, but rumors suggest the next GM vehicle to be given away will be a Chevrolet Traverse. And Oprah only had a small tease on her own web site here.

In related Chevrolet Traverse news, there was a seatbelt-related recall issued yesterday here.

Update: Apparently there was no give away, rather a cadre of the Oprah elite drove to the premier episode of her final season in some new Traverses on loan from GM. We guess this recession is hitting everybody.

What is today, Twinsday?

It turns out there is a "Twins Day" celebrated in Twinsburg Ohio, but it just occurred in August. And what is it about the Chevy Traverse that promotes these "What are the chances?" sightings?

What are the chances I'd spot twin Priuses (from different model-years, however), twin school buses, and then twin SL500s on the drive home? There might even be another gourmet food truck ahead of that one, too. Actually, in Santa Monica, the chances of all this happening are pretty good. Forget I mentioned it.

Noisy Cabin

Maybe it was because the ground was still damp, but not really because it was dry this morning. A lot of road noise leaks into the cabin of the Chevy Traverse.

At first I thought somebody left one of the windows cracked open. But I checked them all. Then I thought maybe the sunroof was slightly ajar. But no. Then I turned off the A/C to see if it was fan noise. Nope.

Static from the audio system? No, just tired classic rock.

The Chevy Traverse has a pretty noisy ride. There is some engine noise and wind noise around the side mirrors. But mostly it's noise from the road. You can cover it up with music. But I wouldn't blast music if I had kids in the car. Sometimes you just want to be quiet, you know?

Anyone else have a Traverse and notice a similar din?

Good Wipers

More driving in the rain. I took a long trip in the Chevy Traverse yesterday. It's not so rainy in this picture, but boy, was it coming down at times. The front windshield wipers work just fine. But it took me awhile to locate the rear wiper switch.

I assumed it would be on the same stalk hanging off the left of the steering wheel. But it wasn't. I finally found the button behind the shifter by the seat heater controls.

Don't you think that's a weird place for them?

Mmm, Seat Heaters

On this chilly morning, I was SO appreciative to see this in our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse. OK, even if it wasn't chilly, I'd still be happy to see the seat heaters for both bottom cushion and the back. Oh, happy day. This worked so well. Heated up quickly and the highest setting wasn't scorching but nice and toasty so I didn't have to switch out of it.

Bonus is since it's supposed to be hot this weekend, schizo weather, it's nice to know that our Traverse offers cool relief for the posterior as well.

Past the 10 Grand Mark

The trip computer was on a different screen at the time so I didn't realize our Traverse passed the 10,000 mark until I fueled up at 10,042. Oh well, sorry about that. I hope no one was planning on blowing the Traverse's milestone picture up and framing it on their mantle. My bad.

On the upside, the Traverse hasn't had any problems thus far. If I remember correctly, our long-term Enclave was also quite reliable ... until its power steering failed on a mountain road just past the 20,000 mark. Hopefully that's just a Buick problem.

Will Billy and Forhoja Fit?

Yes.

I moved two weekends ago and this past weekend came the inevitable trip to Ikea for a Billy, a Forhoja (add your own umlauts), a Micke, a Stenstorp and a Bekvam.

Having purchased a couple of Billys before (it's a tall, narrow bookcase) and even used one in this comparison test, I knew I would need something quite long to transport it safely. I originally used our old long-term Cadillac SRX, but the box was sitting awkwardly on the center armrest — not good. Luckily, two of those comparison test vehicles are essentially in our fleet and as the Enclave was deemed Billy-best in that test, I nabbed the Traverse for the weekend to get the job done.

All told, I filled the Traverse's cargo bay with heavy boxes of deconstructed furniture plus various knick-knacks from Target. As a bonus, I did it without needing to fold down the second-row captain's chairs, meaning I could've brought friends or children (shudder) along for the Forhoja-acquiring adventure. I'm not sure if such incredibly infrequent adventures would warrant buying such a big family vehicle, but if you think it does, the Traverse definitely gets the job done.

Trouble With Trim

That....probably shouldn't do that.

What you're seeing here is the passenger side rear door halfway opened on our long term 2010 Chevy Traverse. That chrome thing gouging up the paint? Not supposed to do that.

This chrome trim piece is de-gluing itself at both ends and while the trailing edge (not pictured) isn't really hurting anything flopping about in the breeze, the leading edge catches on the front door and does nasty things to the paint.

But don't worry, I fixed it.

Okay, so a 2 x 6" section of gaff tape isn't a fix per se, but it will hold the thing attached until we can get it to the local dealership (tomorrow) and have it replaced.

We'll see what they do about the paint damage while we're there.

Yay Butt Coolers

Caroline and Donna are our resident heated seat experts around here, gladly toasting themselves to bring you reviews on the latest in heated seat advancements. Caroline seemed to be impressed by the Traverse's seat heaters.

I, however, would gladly trade bun warmers for butt coolers.

I first remember hearing about cooled seats in a Saab, with Mercedes and Lexus picking up the pace thereafter. Nowadays, though, it's GM, Kia and Ford that seem to be running with the feature in non-luxury models like our long-term Traverse.

Technically speaking, the Traverse has cooled seats as it blows refrigerated air through the perforated leather seats. They do the job, but can make you feel like you've sat in some water. Ventilated seats, like those used by Mercedes-Benz, circulates air to more subtly keep you cool. I prefer the latter, but either is just fantastic.

I'm Canadian, I like being cold. But really, who likes swamp ass?

Who Uses These Dash Bins?

Seriously, I'd like to know. These dash bins were all the rage last decade, especially amongst American cars. Within our fleet, the Fusion and Traverse have them. In all the times I've driven cars with these bins, however, I've never felt inclined to put anything in them.

Am I missing something? What do people put in these? A fuzz buster, maybe? Is it just an excuse to use up some empty under-dash space and keep up with the Joneses in the mid-2000s dash bin race? At least its chromed plastic latch catches the sun and blinds you.

ShakyCam Walkaround

I found these videos in my camera that I never posted.

Click through for an 11-second video showing the cargo area...

10,000-mile Service

We dropped out 2010 Chevrolet Traverse off at Chevrolet Santa Monica for its 10,000-mile service and more. The more consisted of: a second row seat belt recall (#10243), a loose side door molding and a leaking sunroof. These would require the Traverse stay overnight.

All items were fixed to our satisfaction. The oil change ran us 46 bucks. The seat belt was repaired per the recall. Our leaky sunroof was the result of a clogged drain tube, which was cleaned out for proper drainage. And the loose door molding, well, that part had to be special ordered. For the time being it was removed. When it arrives, we'll have it installed.

Days out of Service: 1

Total Cost: $46.41

5-Star Safety

OK, this is really about the 2011 Chevrolet Traverse, but thought you'd like to know that it just received five stars in overall safety by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new Five-Star Safety Rating program. This is alongside the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia.

Last year, the NHTSA didn't have that overall safety rating yet, but the 2010 Chevy Traverse still scored five stars for front driver, front passenger, side driver and side rear passenger; four stars for rollover two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive.

On another note, am I the only one who finds crash test videos creepy?

A Getaway Car?

Last week in New Hampshire, a serial bank robber suspect held up a bank and then fled in a silver Chevrolet Traverse. Later, what was believed to be the same Traverse was pulled over on a traffic stop and the driver took off, leading police on a car chase. He crashed the car and then was taken into custody. Initially, I was skeptical of the suspect's choice of getaway cars. I mean, really? But after going back and reading the track test notes on our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse, it might have held its own OK. Wish there was video of the chase!

Acceleration Comments: Turning off the aggressive traction control allows just enough spin to keep the engine on the boil. Engine feels torque-rich and free-revving with a relatively high (7,000 rpm) fuel cut-off. Very smooth upshifts in Drive, but "L" with manual shifts proved slower.

Braking Comments: Good power/effectiveness and fade resistance. Pedal stops short of going all the way to the firewall and remained so throughout.

Handling Comments: Slalom: It feels far more confident and capable than the physics and ESP will allow, where understeer is rectified with both throttle bleeding and brake application.

But, hypothetically speaking, of course, would you pick the Traverse as your getaway car?

Love/Hate

Curious to see what actual owners of the 2010 Chevrolet Traverse thought of the car, I browsed the Edmunds forums. There, I came across two camps: "Happy With Traverse" and "I hate my Traverse."

The negative camp seems to overwhelm the positive with its 40 comments versus the 13, but keep in mind that one of the commenters, as decided by the other forum members, had an ulterior motive for going off on the Traverse.

Positives:

"I am surprised how easy it is to drive and back up, and it's also easy to park."

"I do love the way it handles as it is peppy and has a short turning radius."

"I love the turning radius - so much easier to park than my Uplander was."

"The Traverse went right around them all through the deepest of the snow and never spun a wheel!"

"it is a nice comfortable ride & is very roomy."

"GREAT VEHICLE !! Lots of room,cargo space and towing capacity for a midsized CUV/SUV."

"Coming on 8 month of ownership... and im shy of hitting 11,000 miles. No issues with mine. Trans shifts nicely. no weird noises, build quality is great, interior trim lines up."

"On long trips with passengers and cargo- up to 24 MPG."

"I have an 09 Traverse LTZ, now with about 22,000 miles. Has been a very dependable car."

"to all, i just came over from the nissan murano cvt message board. for those of you who hate their suv, go there and get a dose of reality."

"I just got back from a trip to the airport, 125 miles with cruise set at 58 and got 27.1 MPG...amazing!!"

"Made trip to Disney in Orlando from Virginia w 4 passengers onboard. Everyone enjoyed the ride and 2 rear buckets w overhead Entertainment Center."

"Ladies - big purses are in style but there is no place to put them!"

Negatives:

"As soon as it got cold here, I got various computer messages such as 'check airbags,' engine light or the doors not locking but the worst was the vehicle not starting when I was 100 miles from home"

"i find i have to press down harder on the gas to get some power when at highway speeds."

"Kind of amusing that over half the posts in the 'Happy with my Traverse' thread are about problems with the Traverse."

"I regret buying this vehicle every day."

"City/Highway MPG 12.4, WTF way below the so deceptive sticker 17 City and 24 Highway."

"You are smart to do your research BEFORE buying, I'm actually thinking of selling this POS at only 4200miles."

"I expected to get the posted MPG but not worst then my over 13 year old vehicle that i traded in."

"I'm still getting only 12 MPG City driving MUCH lower then their hype of 17 MPG on sticker and GM commercials with ex Football player Howie Long."

"Only complaint (which is minor) is that the transmission sometimes goes 'gear hunting' when speeding up quicky after decelerating (like when merging into traffic between two highways). However, for me, this was mostly a matter of getting used to the peculiarities of the vehicle and adjusting accordingly."

Just for the record, back at our 10,000-mile mark, we reported that we hadn't had any problems with the Traverse.

10 MPG?!

Granted, our 2010 Chevy Traverse doesn't see a lot of highway driving, but when I hopped in to see the trip computer reading 10.8 mpg average, I was a little surprised. Traditionally, these things run on the high side (see: GMC Terrain ) so 10.8 mpg is....well...bad.

So rather than keep speculating, I did the math:

Best MPG: 20.9

Worst MPG: 8.6 (one of eight tanks below 10 mpg — there are 15 tanks between 10.0 and 10.9)

Average MPG: 12.9

This is slightly worse than the EPA estimation of 17/24 for our FWD Traverse, but is similar to the one user review who posted on the EPA's website averaging 12 mpg.

Audio Impressions

I realize that some people put a low priority on car audio. For me, that priority depends largely on what kind of car it is and under what conditions it's being driven in. When I had a Shelby GT500 to drive around in, I rarely had the radio on. With our Traverse, though, I think it's more important since I'm more prone to rotting in traffic than making my run through Beggar's Canyon. The verdict? Pretty good, overall.

The iPod interface scored some points right off the bat. Plus it immediately recognized my iPhone once I plugged in — no lame "This device doesn't work, yadda, yadda, yadda, dismiss button" step. The display itself is legible, with decent-sized on-screen buttons. The physical buttons flanking the screen are on the small side and not as well labeled.

Once I centered the bass and treble levels, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. If anything, the bass started to fall apart when the music got boomy (the Dark Knight soundtrack is good at revealing bass flaws). Still, it was pretty good. Good enough to make the commute seem just a bit shorter, anyways.

The steering wheel controls aren't as intuitive as others, but that wouldn't be a problem for someone who'd be driving this on a regular basis. The volume buttons are tucked just behind the rest of the controls. I thought the placement of said buttons were quite good, with no need to even change my grip on the wheel. The only points deducted here are for the wobbly and thin plastic feel. Nothing to get in a tizzy over, naturally, just something for the designers to think about for the next generation.

Gentle Giant

I hopped into our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse last night, and was struck again by how easy it is to maneuver for its size. Actually, at 205 inches long and 78.4 inches wide, it's really about the same size as any of the current crop of minivans. But the Traverse is a few hundred pounds heavier (4,800 pounds) and it drives large. Sluggish steering response (more sluggish than the published 16.1:1 ratio would suggest) exacerbates that impression.

Yet, when it's time to parallel-park (there used to be Prius behind it on this street), it's very easy to get a feel for the perimeter, with a little help from the back-up camera, and a few turns of the wheel later, there you are, all parked. Add a few screaming kids in the back, and I think parking the Traverse would still be the least of your worries.

Lousy Dipstick Access

I suppose General Motors figured Chevrolet Traverse owners would be in such a sleep-deprived, zombified, parental state that they'd never bother checking the oil. But oil change intervals are long on this crossover SUV — the Traverse had its first service at 10,000 miles and isn't due to go back until 20,000 miles.

So it's not inconceivable to think that a certain percentage of owners would have the presence of mind to check the oil before setting out on a long road trip.

And this simple act is a hassle in the Traverse. Yep, Chevrolet gets points for putting a strut on the hood so you don't need a prop rod. But the dipstick tube is way short, so you have to reach down 5-6 inches to grab the yellow ring. In addition to worrying about getting your hand dirty (if you didn't don work gloves), you have to take care not to burn yourself on any of the warm metal bits.

Mind you, I still checked the oil. The level was fine. But it wouldn't have taken much effort on some engineer's part to make this a easier task.

Audio Review

The Chevy Traverse can be brushed off as an overpriced, oversized crossover as well as yet another spin on GM's long-in-the-tooth Lambda platform. Or it can be considered a practical, roomy vehicle that comfortably straddles the line between functionality and entry-level luxury.

Truth is our long-term 2010 Chevy Traverse LTZ falls somewhere in between. That it has all the bells and whistles helps make the case that it's a contender in its class; that it also has a bloated sticker price of $42, 050 doesn't. But you don't have to spend a dime over the base price of $37,985 to get the standard Bose Surround Sound System on the LTZ trim level. And even if the Bose system is buried in the base price, we still wondered if it's worth it and how the system performs.

The Setup
The Bose system in the Traverse LTZ comes with 10 speakers. These include a 3.5-inch "Twiddler" high/midrange speaker in the center of the dash, a 1-inch tweeter in each A pillar, a 6.5-inch “wide-range” speaker in each door, another 3.5-inch Twiddler on each side of the third-row seat and a 5.25-inch woofer in a sealed enclosure in the center console. Bose doesn’t supply power ratings for some unknown reason, and will only say that the Traverse system has eight channels of "custom equalization."

The Sound
A favorite pastime of audiophiles is bashing Bose, and in certain instances the criticism is justified since the performance of the brand’s products can be inconsistent, particularly in the car. But Bose practically invented the category of premium OEM audio decades ago and that experience can translate into really good car audio. The system in the Traverse is an example.

Tonal balance, timbre and tonal accuracy were good if not great. The system had the characteristic midbass boom and high-end harshness of most midgrade OEM car audio systems. Distortion, particularly on the bottom end, was noticeable but not too distracting. And I had to listen hard on high-pitched notes from, say, an acoustic guitar or cymbals, to hear a slight sizzle. The lowest bass notes were perceptibly blunted and dull, with a weakness of the 5.25-inch woofer dedicated to those frequencies easily revealed. But overall the system had an open, spacious and pleasing if not perfect sound.

We’re seeing more systems with A-pillar tweeters and a center-channel speaker, and the setup is hard to beat when it comes to soundstaging and imaging. In the Traverse this translated into an expansive soundstage and near-precise imagining. The system easily nailed the non-audio tracks used to judge soundstaging and imaging: voices mixed left, center and right and seven drumbeats that march across the dash at precise intervals. With two tracks used to gauge linearity — a measure of how well sound is reproduced at low- and mid-volume levels — the system scored poor and fair, respectively. But it easily passed a zero-bits/absence-of-noise test.

The Sources
The Traverse comes with a single CD/DVD player in the dash and AM, FM and XM radio. A USB port buried deep in the center console allows a portable media player like an iPod or a USB drive loaded with music files to be plugged in, without requiring an extra-cost proprietary cable. An aux-in jack is next to the USB port for an old-school device hookup, which came in handy since the system didn’t play nice with my iPhone 3GS after a while.

The primary interface for a USB-connected device is the in-dash touch screen, and it’s fairly intuitive, although somewhat slow to respond. It also requires much more eyes-on time to navigate than a system with good voice activation. The head unit provides full iPod menu options, including audiobooks and podcasts, along with the usual suspects of songs, albums, artists and playlists. A similar menu scheme is used for files on USB drives, minus the extra categories.

The system has a convenient set of rear-seat audio controls that’s not very common in this vehicle class. Located on the back of the center console, they allow rear-seat passengers to plug headphones into a pair of jacks and listen to and control any audio source except the one being listened to by the front-seat passengers.

What We Say
A couple of months shy of its one-year anniversary in our long-term fleet, the 2010 Chevy Traverse LTZ has become a go-to vehicle for hauling cargo, kids and up to eight passengers. That the standard Bose audio system does an above-average job of reproducing audio fits with the over-achieving yet low-frill feel of the vehicle.

The Scores
Sound: B-
Source Selection: B
iPod Integration: B-
Cost: A

2011 Model Is a Top Safety Pick

NHTSA has already weighed in and now the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has added its pair of pennies to the discussion: It's designated the Traverse a Top Safety Pick. This comes after Chevy's crossover scored the highest possible ratings in the organization's front, side, rear and rollover protection crash tests.

According to GM's media site, the designation applies to 2011 models built "after January." Keep in mind, though, that the 2011 model is basically a carryover from 2010.

Notes IIHS president Adrian Lund: "Car buyers shopping for safety get a big head start with vehicles earning our Top Safety Pick designation. This award highlights the elite group of vehicles that earn top Institute safety ratings across the board, and that have electronic stability control."

Hmm — that's probably the only time you'll ever hear the word "elite" used in reference to the unpretentious Traverse. Congrats to the capable Chevy. It serves as a cooler-than-a-minivan-but-almost-as-functional sort of ride for many drivers, so having this accolade is an important feather in its cap.

A Look Underneath

Bet you forgot we even had this thing in our fleet. Well, we do. And it's time to put it on our 2-post Rotary Lift and look at its not so shiny side.