2018 Chevrolet Traverse LT Leather All Wheel Drive 4-Door, Sable Brown Metallic

2018 Chevrolet Traverse LT Leather All Wheel Drive 4-Door, Sable Brown Metallic

2018 Chevrolet Traverse Review

Written by: Jen Dunnaway, Automotive Enthusiast

What's new:

The Chevrolet Traverse is all new for 2018, with revised interior and exterior styling, a more powerful and fuel-efficient V6, and a lovely 9-speed automatic trans in place of the outgoing 6-speed.

What's hot:

• It’s spacious, with ample cargo and particularly impressive comfort in the middle and even third rows, and minivan-like ingress/egress due to wide and low door openings.
• Revised 3.6L V6 delivers both sharp acceleration and respectable fuel economy.
• Surprisingly stable and precise handling for an SUV of its size.
• Cool tech frills like a mobile hotspot and rearview mirror that’s actually a screen.

What's not:

• Some of the tech is a bit annoying, like a not-great nav and a lot of distracting chiming from the infotainment.
• The auto stop-start can’t be disabled.
• Active crash-avoidance tech only available at top trims.

The Chevy Traverse seems at first glance like your quintessential workhorse: plain-looking and functional, it carries out its duties faithfully, without fuss or flattery. The big grey beast I tested for a week was personable, easy-driving, and had the right bones to serve as a comfy and utilitarian people-mover. Where it lacked was mostly in areas that are red hot right now: our otherwise well-equipped tester was missing the active crash-avoidance features that automakers seem to be falling over each other to offer customers, which on the Traverse are only available at top trims. However, this rig provides a bevy of other thoughtful features, many of them standard, that are hard to find elsewhere—it’ll give you a mobile hotspot, a driving report card for your teenager, and a reminder when you might’ve left a kid or a pet in the backseat. Chevy took a gamble with some unique flourishes and value-adds, and when you combine them with the Traverse’s solid overall functionality and great driving character, the result is a pretty likeable SUV. Is the Traverse your cup of tea? Take a closer look and you might be surprised.

2018 Chevrolet Traverse LT Leather All Wheel Drive 4-Door, Sable Brown Metallic