2024 Chevrolet Traverse: A quick climb, a fast descent, but does it recover?

2024 Chevrolet Traverse RS AWD: Finally, a Traverse that thinks about the driver?

Price: $54,050 as tested. Enhanced Driving Package added SuperCruise, enhanced parking, driver attention assist, rear camera mirror, and Bose audio for $3,755; sunroof added $1,500; Evotex seats added $1,000.

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes the “incredibly spacious interior,” so “even adults can ride in the third row,” plus the “reassuringly firm brake pedal feel.” Less pleasing were the “gruff-sounding turbo four, slow steering, only minor fuel economy gains over the V-6-powered previous-generation model.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Commanding capability.”

Reality: A nice drive to start, but some bumps along the way.

What’s new: The Traverse gets a rugged new look and new engine for the 2024 model year and some more off-road capability.

It was really acting as a great on-road companion as I drove along my first few days. In recent years, I’ve complained that the spacious and otherwise agreeable Traverse has forgotten about the driver, but this year’s RS edition solved that problem.

But about midweek, the Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat, Sturgis Kid 4.0, and I decided to head back to the old homestead to visit Sturgis Best Friend 1.0′s Mom, who’s been like a second mom since school days. Along the way, some annoyances large and small reared their heads (about the Traverse, not the mom; she’s still awesome).

Competition: Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Mazda CX-90, Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid

Up to speed: The Traverse is no slouch in the acceleration department. I passed other cars with ease (at least once, the left-lane Pennsylvania Turnpike’s hogs moved out of my way) and got to way-high speeds without batting an eye.

The 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbo sounds like a little putt putt, but it makes a generous 315 horsepower. The vehicle should reach 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, according to a Car and Driver estimate, which I can totally believe.

On the road: The ride was delightful on the highway. I was even starting to get visions of the BMW X5 as I cruised along, high praise indeed.

We took the scenic route, and the Traverse made the most of winding country roads around Hawk Mountain, twisting smoothly underneath the hemlocks and maples along Maiden Creek. Even some of the best competitors still have a lot of lean, but the Traverse really handled superbly for its size.

Slowing down: And conversely, braking also deserves praise. Some of the curves come on suddenly, and the yellow speed limit signs are quite serious, which I always forget. After I approached them with too much enthusiasm, the Traverse made easy work of slowing down.

Driver’s Seat: The seat was also making Mr. Driver’s buns happy. After two hours of riding, I didn’t have any pain or fatigue, and that was after an hour of heavy-duty yard work. We’re definitely in X5 territory; that $1,000 for the Evotex seems to have been well spent.

Shifty: But it started going downhill suddenly. Almost literally.

Descending Hawk Mountain through Berks County, I went hunting for a way to shift the 8-speed transmission into a lower gear, trying to keep this beast at 40 mph. The triggers didn’t work, and the column-mounted stalk didn’t toggle me there.

Lo, there’s an L button on the steering wheel with the cruise control settings, and that’s your entry into lower gears. Which I didn’t find until we stopped at a shopping center later.

Way to be different, Chevy. Sorry about future warped brake rotors.

Friends and stuff: The middle row provides excellent accommodations in captain’s chairs. Lots of legroom, headroom, and foot room. Unfortunately, the armrests come with just one setting and ruined the experience for Sturgis Kid 4.0.

The rear seat also provides great space, as well, especially because the middle row moves forward and back. But the seat is not nearly as comfortable.

Chevy lists cargo space simply as 98 cubic feet, which roughly matches the 2022 number with all the seats folded. That model year had 57.8 cubic feet behind the second row, and 23 behind the third, but Chevrolet did not offer those numbers for ‘24.

Play some tunes: The 17.7-inch touchscreen is definitely one of the biggest out there. Still, the stereo has some issues.

The interface features a weird black volume dial on a pretty ebony screen that can be challenging to see for reviewers of a certain age. It’s also shallow and can mean scraping the screen and changing something. But it can also be avoided entirely with the steering-wheel triggers.

The touchscreen is big and seems helpful at first, but if you want to adjust the equalizer, please don’t try when the vehicle is in motion, no matter how big that touchscreen is. The function is nested under Settings —> Vehicle —> audio settings —> sound.

And then for my reward, I really couldn’t hear much difference as I adjusted. I call it a B-, which is a pretty low score among today’s vehicles.

Keeping warm and cool: Toggles under the infotainment system and some functions in the touchscreen do the job.

The blowers seem up to the task, as well, which can be dicey in such a large vehicle with a smallish engine.

Fuel economy: This was the toughest information to find of all. I had to message a press person to help me; you set it up from the infotainment screen if you want it to display on the dashboard.

Even this was kind of good news; the Traverse averaged around 19.9 mpg for the previous 450 miles, most of which were mine. It ran as high as 21 in a recorded 1,000-mile trip. So it about matches the Sturgis Family Sienna but has the added bonus of all-wheel drive.

Where it’s built: Lansing, Mich.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Traverse reliability to be a 2 out of 5.

In the end: I remember liking the Traverse every time I’ve had it, and now we’ve moved into a real driving experience with super comfortable seats, making this vehicle a real contender.