The 2016 Chevy Traverse is One of the Top New Crossovers of The Year

Chevrolet dealers in Kentucky have one of the top new crossovers of 2016 sitting on their lots: the Chevy Traverse. The Chevy Traverse is a mid-size SUV that offers a bold design that houses a modest and sophisticated interior. Boasting spacious seating for up to 8 with class-leading cargo space and a five star safety rating, this mid-size SUV is making some big waves in the even bigger crossover car market.

The Perfect Crossover Starts With The Perfect Design

The design of the 2016 Traverse is bold and poised; it looks like a coiled up cat that’s ready to pounce. It has the standard split-grille design that’s seen on most Chevy models, with the Chevy bow-tie logo sitting in the center of the top grille. Next to the bottom grille, there are two ports on each side that house daytime running lights as well as smaller grille vents. The front and sides of the hood are chiseled downward around the grille and angled headlights. A sharp line runs from the center of the bottom grille all the way up to the back of the hood, giving the raised center rigid definition when combined with it’s chiseled front and sides.

The design continues up past the windshield, and onto the roof of the car. Where there’s an interesting contoured ridge on each side that provides further definition for the Traverse. The angled features eventually taper off up top, and the rounded rear-end takes over. With widely spaced tail-lights and muscular curves, the back of the Traverse looks strong enough to handle whatever you need to carry.

It’s a Nice Design… But is It Practical?

Best part of the Traverse is it’s design is both good-looking and practical. The 2016 Traverse has enough space to comfortably seat 8 people. 8 person seating like this is typically seen in bigger SUVs, but the mid-size SUV is looking to break that concept. Having all this space put into a mid-size shell is a conundrum when thinking about how it’s possible, but the answer becomes clear when you truly look at the exterior design.

The exterior design doesn’t just provide practicality inside the cabin. With the size of the Traverse, it’s just small enough to move easily through city traffic and parallel park it on the curb. But, it’s still large enough to provide seating for everyone and anything you need to carry with it’s class-leading cargo space.

Class-Leading Cargo Space

Thanks to available second-row flat-folding captain chairs, the Traverse is able to proudly boast that it’s the leader of its class when it comes to storage. When the seats in the back are folded flat, the Traverse has 116.3 cubic-feet of maximum cargo space. If the seats aren’t folded flat, it still has 24.4 cubic feet behind the third row. The amount of storage space in the 2016 Traverse is revolutionary, and will surely cause its competitors to up their game.

Plenty of Technology

The Traverse has plenty of technology that is sure to keep you entertained and on-track during a long road-trip. The infamous Chevy MyLink technology is present, and it allows you to operate the wireless features provided with your phone via Bluetooth. Some of these features include handling calls, playing music, and even accessing contacts while driving. With the use of touch commands or voice control.

OnStar is also on board with the Traverse, and it allows you to utilize a Turn-by-Turn Navigation system. This system can work side-by-side with MyLink Navigation to provide you full GPS coverage. Plus 2-D/3-D maps, points of interest, and NavTraffic from SiriusXM. The SiriusXM system features options like streaming Pandora or the Satellite Radio offers by SirusXM.

All of these features are displayed through a 6.5-inch diagonal color touch-screen, optimized to provide you with an easy operation experience.

5-Star Safety Rating

The 2016 Chevy Traverse won a 5-star safety rating, and for good reason. On top of state-of-the-art technology, the Traverse also pioneers a new type of airbag. The industry-first front-center airbag deploys between the driver and passenger, preventing a possible injury to one that may occur from the other. It will deploy in a side-impact collision, and when rolling over. Whatever the case, it’s an added plus that other midsize-SUVs out there won’t have.

On top of the industry-first airbag, the Traverse also sports plenty of safety features to prevent and protect you if a collision happens. It has features such as forward collision alert, a traction control system, side blind zone alert, and rear cross traffic alert. Along with many more safety features and six standard air bags, you are encased in a vehicle that has been made out of high-strength materials to help mitigate damage. 

Reliable Performance

The Chevy Traverse is a powerful vehicle when equipped with it’s 3.6-liter V6. It nets up to 288 horsepower and 270 pound feet-torque, and offers a towing capacity of up to 5,200 pounds. The towing capacity isn’t best in it’s class, and neither is it’s performance, but it has utility on it’s side.

On top of towing a heavy trailer, there is plenty of room for passengers and cargo. For fisherman, this is a perfect vehicle. It has the capability to tow a decent-size boat, and it has room for fishing rods and tackle inside the car. There’s also an AWD option available for the Traverse, making it perfect for traversing (yes, I did that) hazardous terrain.

Even if you don’t need it for towing, the Traverse is still able to hold plenty of cargo and 8 passengers while getting 19 mpg combined, with enough kick from the base engine to get you where you need to go.

The Price

The price of the Traverse starts off at a modest $32,100 for the base FWD model, and goes up to $34,100 for the AWD model. Like any vehicle, it goes up from there depending on trim levels and options. For $45,040 you can get the best trim offered with most of the upgrades and features.

However, even if you opt for the baseline trim, you will still be getting reliable performance, a superior safety rating, a handsome design, and class-leading cargo space. Making it one of the top crossovers of 2016.