The Perfect Family Ride–Chevy Traverse

This past month our little family was lucky enough to spend a fabulous vacation in Orlando Florida.  Our agenda for the week; pack in as many fun filled activities as humanly possibly without exhausting the kids (or the already ridiculously tired Mama).  This is a very fine line.  We quickly discovered one of the most important elements when running around on a vacation, or in your every day crazy busy life is a  reliable, family friendly, safe vehicle. 

If this car also happens to be a dream to drive, has an amazing stereo system, back up camera, navigation system, is comfortable, cute and looks good too; well then you have hit the jackpot!  All these boxes and more were ticked when we picked up our brand new candy apple red 2013 Chevrolet Traverse.  Woot!

First confession; I am a car snob. I like convertibles. luxury sedans and adore all things SUV. When I was 16 I swore to my Mother that I would never drive a mini van. Then last year I had the opportunity to drive a Traverse for the first time, hmmm, this Mama had her eyes opened. Not an SUV, not a mini van, but a super sweet cross over that might just be the perfect solution for a busy family.  Check it out. To put it simply, it’s pretty!

Second confession; the first time I hopped behind the wheel I was afraid this large vehicle would drive…well, like a tank.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It took turns with ease, has a fantastic turning radius, was super easy to park and had ridiculously quick pick up!  I also have to mention the back up camera which is simply the best I have ever seen.  You know on some cars that back up camera is a little 2×2 inch fuzzy square in your rear view mirror?  Not on the Traverse!  This car had the BEST back up camera system I have ever seen.  Handy for parking, backing up in unfamiliar territory, or simply knowing that there are no little one’s behind you as you back out of the drive.  I think every car should have on of these!

We loved the comfort and space of this vehicle. This cross over vehicle might be the perfect solution for busy parents on the go.  With a ton of room for your kids, your gear and your own super long legs, it is also sleek and stylish.  We managed to get four full size suitcases, two laptop bags and three carry on bags in the trunk with ease!

My parents came for a visit one day and this vehicle easily sat four adults and two tweens with room to spare.  You can’t go wrong with third row seats while on vacation or in your everyday life.  Actually, as a Mama who carpools A LOT, that optional fold down third row seat is almost a necessity!  I should also note, that third row seat folds down FLAT when not in use.  This means, no rolling apples out of the grocery bags when you open the hatch.  It may sound like a little thing, but is huge when you don’t have to chase those groceries down the driveway once per week!

We had a fabulous time driving through Downtown Disney, the Town Of Celebration, shopping and Sea World, while blasting the stereo and embarrassing the heck out of our kids.  If it is the job of every good parent to thoroughly embarrass their children at least once per week then I deserve an award for parenting. 

When we got lost, and it was so not my fault, we simply pulled over and punched in an address to our desired location on the easy to use navigation system.  It’s a touch screen and I found it quite sensitive to my constant demands and updates as we navigated our way through a traffic jam and changed our routes a couple of times. 

One other unexpected perk was the blind spot indicator.  As you are driving down the road a quick peek into your side view mirror will let you know if there is a car sitting in that dreaded “blind spot”.  How?  There is a small image located on that mirror that lights up to warn you it is not safe to change lanes.  Brilliant. 

Fuel Consumption?  Oh how I wish I had thought to keep track of how many miles/kms we drove on our one tank of gas!!  We picked up the car and the gas gauge was on full.  We feel like we drove everywhere!!  Thirty minutes outside of Kissimmee to Bogey Creek Airboat Rides, all around the Town Of Celebration, to the outlet malls a few times, to Downtown Disney, grocery shopping…we did a lot of driving.  When we returned that vehicle we still had more than 1/2 a tank of gas! This is not a scientific calculation but I can tell you my car at home would have required at least two fills.

All in all I was once again blown away buy the performance, style and bells and whistles on the ChevyTraverse.  My opinion; an incredible family friendly car that doesn’t sacrifice style for safety! 

Thank you so much to GM for the generous loan of your car.  You have four more fans from this family!

Disclosure:  A media vehicle was loaned to me for the purpose for this review, no further compensation was given and all opinions expressed in this post are my own.