The Chevrolet Traverse has long been known for its mainstream adaptability within the countless homes of suburbia as a respected midsized three-row crossover. For the 2024 model year, the Chevrolet Traverse has been completely redesigned, welcoming many new capabilities and an off-roading Z71 package found on my new test vehicle. The new Chevrolet Traverse Z71 adds some off-roading prowess but conveniently doesn’t take away from its road-going theme that most will choose over going full-on rugged. Moreover, the price of the new Chevrolet Traverse remains respectable and you can save on a new Chevrolet Traverse with a free quote to get the best deal through a local network of dealers.
For the third-generation redesign, the Chevrolet Traverse becomes more mature and truck-like in many ways when you look at its new appealing design. The more up-right attitude up front and more definition within its sheet metal look closer to its larger body-on-frame Tahoe/Suburban sibling. Not to mention, the new Traverse is almost as big as its Tahoe stablemate, with an overall length that’s just under a foot shorter than that of the Chevy Tahoe. However, the refinement of the vehicle seems to have taken a pause when you consider the harsh sound of its new turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. There is much more to the turbo 4 apart from its unkind sound in having a respectable amount of power for its class, more than the outgoing V6, in addition to more efficiency. Overall, the new Traverse bodes well for its definitive duties in being a midsized mainstream crossover.
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The new Chevrolet Traverse takes a different approach to its powertrain for the redesigned 2024 model year, bringing in a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. The new turbocharged engine isn’t all that bad other than the rather disconcerting and harsh buzzing sound that it makes. The rough sound finds its way into the cabin under most conditions when you’re moving somewhat downplaying its robust power output at 328 horsepower and 326 pound-feet of torque.
The robust power doesn’t feel immediate as there’s some turbo lag to contend with from a standstill. However, the engine performs well enough to get things moving just the way you want, as it’s mostly predictable except for the initial start sluggishness. Part of that sluggish start may be that you’re working with a heavier vehicle than the outgoing generation, where the 2024 carries around nearly 200 extra pounds. Zero to 60 mph takes place in 7 seconds, which is decent and about average for such a vehicle.
Once you’re out on the road the Traverse performs perfectly fine with plenty of overtaking power or assurance when you want to do some light off-roading, which is where the Z71 trim tends to come alive with its all-terrain tires wrapping stylish 18-inch wheels. The unfortunate part of having the all-terrain tires is that the steering has a bit more play in it than I would like with an exceptionally soft and easy initial feeling. Moreover, the front-wheel-drive-biased all-wheel-drive setup tends to break the front tires loose quite often when you’re accelerating out of turn. Such an uneasy feeling doesn’t give you much confidence in how well the Traverse is otherwise planted out on the road. Conversely, the 1.2-inch suspension lift over other Traverse trims doesn’t seem to negatively affect the Z71 trim’s road-going abilities and stability. Even with the off-roading traits, very few of them, the Traverse Z71 isn’t going to be a serious off-roader, but it dials up the capabilities knob a bit over many other midsized mainstream crossover offerings.
Having the new turbocharged 4-cylinder engine places the Traverse at an advantage over the outgoing model to get as much as 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway on a front-wheel-drive-equipped trim. However, opting for the Traverse Z71, which comes standard with all-wheel-drive and knobby all-terrain tires, fuel economy takes a hit to match its 19-mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 21 mpg combined EPA estimates in the real world. Still, that’s a marginal improvement over the outgoing Traverse – we’ll take anything we can get these days.
Inside the new Traverse is a reworked interior space that’s airy and accommodating for families. Up front, the dashboard is dominated by a large 17.7-inch infotainment touchscreen that serves up many functions and essential settings, such as having the LED headlight controls embedded into the system. There’s an attractive 11-inch digital gauge cluster that makes wise use of its real estate by giving you several preset displays, some of which include map views or a simplified display. Chevrolet did well here to keep things simple but made the best use of the display that catered to information for the driver. One aspect of the gauge cluster that may be confusing to some is the limited customization of what is displayed, where you are often required to display information in the touchscreen display first and then set it to be displayed on the gauge cluster on the left side of one preset display theme.
The integration of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is a bonus in our opinion considering how GM is starting to take away such functionality in newer models starting with their EVs. Also, we welcome the wireless charging pad being in a convenient space under the climate controls and having active cooling to keep your phone from overheating.
There’s a welcoming set of physical automatic climate controls below the screen and center-front vents. The controls are redundant as you can control the system through the lower portion of the touchscreen. The large volume knob is a nice touch as it hovers over the top left portion of the touchscreen, which is a dedicated area to quickly access essential vehicle functions, such as the headlights, surround-view camera system, and even the onscreen button to disable lane keep assist.
The seating areas, set in a 7-passenger configuration for my Traverse Z71 test vehicle, are plenty comfortable up front, only offering heating, while the second-row captain’s chairs have a good amount of adjustability with the ability to slide forward and back. The third row is an inviting space for even adults as there’s a surprisingly good amount of space and the seat bottoms are high enough that you don’t feel so cramped or forced to shove your knees into the backs of the second-row seats. The 8-passenger configuration is standard on the base LS trim and available on LT with a second-row bench seat. Z71 and the sporty RS trims get the 7-passenger setup only.
The cargo room is good, too, with the bonus of a deep storage area below the removable cargo floor. While many of the dimensions of the new Traverse aren’t all that different from the previous generation, there seems to be more of a smart use of space. The one issue I found is that the third-row seatbacks hit the second row when folding them down, requiring you to slide the second row forward for the third row to fold flat. Otherwise, the cargo situation is good and can be accessed by a smart power liftgate.
The new Chevrolet Traverse elevates safety somewhat with the availability of Super Cruise, which proved to be quite intelligent with the ability to automatically change lanes when necessary and even nudge slightly to the opposite side when passing a larger vehicle. You get the typical bundle of highlighted active safety features, such as lane departure warning/lane keep assist, blind-spot monitor, parking sensors with rear cross-traffic alert and emergency braking, forward collision warning/emergency braking, a 360-degree surround camera system, and adaptive cruise control. There’s also a buckle-to-drive setting that, when enabled, will require that front passengers buckle their seatbelts before you’re able to drive off.
The Chevrolet Traverse has traditionally been known for being a good value for a rather large three-row crossover vehicle. Such a tradition somewhat continues with its starting price of $37,600. However, when you opt for the higher trim levels or even my loaded-up Traverse Z71 AWD test vehicle, things tend to add up quickly, as they do here with an as-tested price of $54,050. Still, with such a price and the feature-packed content that you get, the Traverse remains a good deal on the full scheme of comparing it to other midsized mainstream three-row crossovers. Fortunately, you can save on a new Chevrolet Traverse with a free quote to get the best deal through a local network of dealers. Many dealerships in our network are known for working special deals on vehicles like the new Chevrolet Traverse.
