2013 Chevrolet Traverse LTZ

[singlepic id=13334 w=640 h=480 float=center]

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra

It clearly wasn’t the best of weeks weather wise here in Southern California. Gone was the sunshine, the blue skies, and the overall feeling of joy and happiness. In exchange all we got was overcast skies, drizzle, rain, relative cold, and the chaos on the road that is associated here with that weather, enhanced by ignorant drivers who treat this weather here as if a phenomenal winter storm has hit the major parts of Europe. It really is THAT bad here.

We didn’t want all of this circumstance influence our evaluation of the 2013 facelift of the Chevrolet Traverse in LTZ trim.. but how could it not..?The facelift on the front does make the car look a little fresher, and the interior is comfortable, nice, but not overtly out of its class in color and trim nor in fit and finish. Add to that the in this version, the car feels severly underpowered, which shows itself at any acceleration from a traffic light, and worsens with every hill you’re trying to take. On flat freeways it works well, but anything getting you through to cruising speed, or any occasional overtaking ends in annoying high revving volume.

All in all, the Traverse is showing its age, but I’m sure Chevrolet will soon replace it with yet another variant using mostly the same underpinnings, and sell that off as completely new. The people do know, and do get that this is what is going on, and do understand that its the cheap way out compared to the ever increasing quality and innovation presented by the major competitors.. Admittedly, they’re not called Chevrolet, and it appears it takes a long time to run a brand name in the gutter, but it will take even longer to get it back out from there.

[nggallery id=216]