With a family road trip planned, GM Canada offered our family a 2013 Chevrolet Traverse to take instead of our usual ride. Since I review vehicles often (we did a Buick Enclave review in June) our family adjusted to new vehicles relatively easy – but would they adjust to a new vehicle on a 6 hour (one way!) road trip spanning a full week?
I wasn’t so sure.
You see, back in 2010 I swallowed my mommy pride and bought a van. My only request was that if I was going to drive a mommy-van, it had to have all the bells and whistles. Leather seats, dual DVD system, automatic doors. Over the past 3 years I’ve become quite used to our ride and appreciate how easy it makes life for a family of 5. Still, I would much rather be driving an SUV. Except for road trips. Road trips are when I really appreciate my mommy van. We have lots of space, entertainment within and I know what to expect. It’s comfortable, like my yoga pants.
What I learned while on our Chevy Traverse family road trip is that while yoga pants are comfy, there’s a danger when you find yourself wearing them everywhere and becoming, shall we say, too comfortable in your mommy-gear.
Our road trip was a great success with the Chevrolet Traverse and our family of 5, and here’s why:
1) The interior is spacious, yes really! Comparing it’s length in my driveway to my van, there wasn’t a lot of difference. Inside, while the storage behind the third row wasn’t as large as that of my van, the seating space was great for our family. My girls (in a booster seat and car seat) sat in the second row captain’s chairs enabling my 9 year old son to get to the third row seat with ease. On our adventure, we folded down one side of the 60/40 third row to give us more storage room for our stroller and suitcases. And a potty.
2) The entertainment system was awesome and kept me from wanting to open the door and jump out somewhere between Edmonton and Calgary. I feel like a granny when I tell my kids that, “When I was little I read Archie comics on road trips,” while they look at me with a blank stare in response. We don’t go on any road trips without electronics and a DVD entertainment system is a must.
3) It handles well on slick surfaces. On the first leg of our journey we encountered a downpour. The rain was so heavy that traffic was slowed substantially and on the Yellowhead Highway there’s no shortage of vehicles everywhere. My husband remarked on the control and stability the Traverse had in the rain, and I was thankful for it.
4) Everyone has their own space, own climate control, and no one is poking anyone else because they’re not seated anywhere near each other. In other words, the Traverse gives passengers their own space. No progress on any technology that eliminates, “are we there yet?” however.
5) The two-panel sunroof brings in a lot of natural light in what otherwise would be a dark second and third row. On a summer road trip, I like the extra sunshine! If the glare is too much for the DVD screen, you can pull the sun visor closed, still leaving you with more light than a vehicle without this feature.
6) The third row is made for humans bigger than 4 feet tall. Yes, really! The Traverse boasts that it’s third row seating, “Designed with comfort for every passenger in mind, Traverse features a third row that’s even comfortable for adults,” and they’re on target here. If you’re a mom with young kids, you’ve likely had to hike it to the back seat to break up a fight, feed the baby, or simply allow someone else your seat in the front. On our road trip, 7 of us jumped in to the Traverse to go to the Chuckwagon Cafe in Turner Valley (best hamburgers ever, even You Gotta Eat Here says so!)
Truth be told, I was anxious before our road trip. I like comfortable. I like predictable. My mommy van is comfortable and predictable just like my mommy uniform of yoga pants and a tank. However, trying out the Chevrolet Traverse on our family road trip showed me how fun it can be to try something different.
Perhaps that mommy-van isn’t so necessary after all. Maybe it’s time to give up the mommy-van and go back to an SUV Crossover and get some of my cool back.
Don’t touch my yoga pants though.
Ooooh! Very sweet ride indeed! the crossovers tend to be the way people are going these days – you still get the size and room with a little cool thrown in 🙂
wish we had one of those when my kids were little my hubby always had to pick something like a sidekick that had zero trunk space
Looks like a comfortable ride would be nice to eliminate the “Are We there yet?”
Love it!!!
Looks great! I would have liked a little more room in the back for luggage, etc but it’s a sharp looking vehicle
that looks nice an roomy,,pleanty of room for the kids an adults
I think this looks just like an suv not like the mini vans in the 80 and 90s and you fit in a lot of stuff, i like the look of the Traverse
That 60/40 Third row looks so handy!
It’s good that a SUV can be spacious without having to be really big. It looks like a nice ride.
We took one out for a test drive & were very impressed with the ride.
Such a well written post Tenille with your incredible humour!! I was impressed to read that the SUV had 3 rows of seating…I thought I could only get that in a van. Thank you for the post, it was fun to read and the pictures are great!
What an awesome ride! Love that no one was poking each other and how roomy the interior is inside!
When these first came out, I thought they looked weird and funny, but looking at all the pics and how spacious it is, I hope we get this for our rental car on our vacation next week!!
That’s awesome! Sounds like you had fun. That vehicle is quite gorgeous.
Nice! It looks quite spacious and comfy!
I like the trunk space. Nothing ruins a road trip when you can’t take all the things you need with you.
What a great vehicle! Love all the trunk space!
For me it’s trunk space won’t be enough, because for the safety reasons I don’t want the child in the 3-rd row to be surrounded by strollers and other heavy items (I’ve just seen too many vans and SUVs after the crashes while doing my research on car seats and scared to death to think where the stroller could go in a situation like that), but otherwise it really looks cool.
The Chevrolet Traverse sounds like a very sweet ride
I enjoyed reading The Chevy Traverse Family Road Trip article.
The 2013 Chevrolet Traverse looks like a great vehicle.
Great family size vehicle,super comfy and lots of loading/storage area too!
This is the perfect family car! Love the large trunk space!
we have 3 kids also haha, like you didn’t know that 😉 But we don’t have a mini van. As soon as we had 2 in boosters and only one left in a carseat, the van had to go. I HATED the mini van.
We have a Dodge Journey SUV crossover. LOVE IT!
I hate a cramped backseat
I’m looking forward to our first family road trip – hopefully, next summer. It would be great if ours was as comfortable as your trip!
I like that you sat in the backseat with your children. I am impressed by how much space this vehicle offers.
I’ve never taken the kids on a road trip, other than driving my north end of the city to the south side which can take up to an hour lol. Looks like you had a great time!
We have a very little minivan (Mazda MPV) and we just got home from a 5 day camping adventure. We needed way more space than the van afforded us to travel in comfort. We had camping gear for my 3 kids and I (including a giant tent, a stroller and, yes, a potty) as well as my husband’s golf clubs (in their giant travel case for the airplane) and his carry-on bag since we dropped him at the airport and he flew to a wedding, leaving us to finish the trip to the campsite. I wonder if the Traverse would have more room…
Roomy, and comfy. Hard to find nowadays.
If we had a third, I’d definitely want something like this rather than a minivan. I just can’t see myself in a van!
It’s a nice-looking vehicle. The extra spacious seating sounds like one of the best features – especially with individual climate control! That type of comfort would be so key on a long road trip like yours. Cute pic at the bottom of you and the kids!
Nice Vehicle. I miss having a van when the family comes to visit.
The Chevy Traverse looks like a very cool ride, sure wish we had one. What I like is that everyone has their own climate control which is a huge issue on family road trips.
weee!! What a comfortable looking ride!! This is a great review & thank you!! Gives us something to think about as we are looking for another vechicle!
Great looking car, we need a new ride and after your review I might take a test drive soon. I like the 3rd row is large enough for adults. I love all the new crossovers!!
looks like a great ride