Hi I'm Joe Weisenfelder with cars dot com
when we staged a comparison test among at large crossover so three rows of
seats
the 2012 Chevy Traverse came in second place behind a Honda Pilot
why well there are a few things we didn't like about it Chevrolet is
addressed a lot of those for this redone 2013
not see how they did one other things we didn't have too much of a problem with
was the fun and styling they change that anyway
most of us find that sexy little bit worse
but you know your results may differ the rear end is a different story
it's a had really dreadful squinty taillights
big broad rare and I never like that they've improved that quite a bit
but larger taillights and general approval
without making it look like a minivan which is always a risk with the vehicle
this pic
welder we found the previous generation to be
really comfortable car a relatively quiet to drive
we find this 2013 to write a little bit more firmly and that's probably because
I've these
20-inch wheels this is an LTZ trim level
that's what this comes with the lower terms have 17th and 18th
10 things we doing the car for in 2012
I was interior quality and they could not have done a better job
improving that this is the LTZ top from level
you can see all sorts of soft touch a
treatment topple the doors on the dashboard to
and when you're looking at up fake aluminum
you know imitation metal doesn't get much better than this stuff
another big improvement
is in the center control panel that was pretty low grade
before 2013 they've improved the look
and the size and feel oven ventilation controls much much better
the touch screen in this one now there's a
center back up camera but we're not crazy about
the touch screen in the optional navigation because it's not that big
some vehicles now have about it 8-inch diameter screen
they can do better in that regard and then there's the capacitive buttons on
either side of the screen
they are non mechanical buttons they're supposed to just sense when you touch
them
sometimes they work sometimes they don't and then there's
the problem with gloves if you drive in the winter as we do here
you got nothing fortunately the touchscreen
still responds with clubs I don't know why they had this feature at all
capacitive buttons
need to go away our experience has been overwhelmingly positive for the 2013
traverse one thing that's been bugging us
really bad squeak air in the center console when you're in motion
um and a new car you don't want to hear that
their couple interesting safety additions the head restraints now
adjust fore and aft you might never noticed
if the head restraints too far back unless you get rear ended and you get
injured
but you might notice if it's too far forward so having the adjustment is
great another innovation is
a center airbag between the two front seats %uh this is to protect you in a
side impact from
you know hitting surfaces or even the person next to you it can help like
spouses from
butting heads up %uh literally butting heads
figuratively I don't think that feature is this yet but you make a lot of money
with
now being such a big vehicle this obviously is great for families
the second row if you look at the dimensions there's a little bit less leg
room then you find and the
mazda CX 9 a Honda Pilot Ford Flex
but as this nice sliding feature so
if there's no one behind your their small you can give yourself more room
my knees are raise the bet not super comfortable but it certainly workable
the traverse his you the choice
%uh a three-position bench seat or two captains chairs like this
regardless so the choice you got this great feature we slide the seat for the
Christian pops up vertically give you a lot a room
for even a tall person to get in so for me
six feet tall I'm fine with head room here plenty of room
not the case with the mazda CX 9 on and with
the second row you moved up a bit I've even got leg room
so %uh if you're looking for a three-row vehicle without going to a minivan in
particular
you could do much worse for space than the traverse
Nov 20 4.4 cubic feet of cargo value behind the third row the traverse has
more then
its competitors and if you don't have any when the thorough you can of course
folded down
with all of the seats folded you get more maximum
volume this thing then you do any other three-row crossover
if you're considering a big family vehicle even a minivan you be knots
not to look into the traverse seriously knots if you had exam