2013 Chevrolet Traverse

Chevrolet’s three row Lambda crossover has aged so well that it’s hard to believe it’s five years old already, the Traverse is still very competitive, it even fared very well in a motor trend comparison that pitted it against several much newer SUVs, including the Ford Explorer, and the Honda Pilot, both of which scored worse than the Traverse. That being said, the Traverse does have its down sides too, the exterior styling is rather bland, and the interior materials are sub par, Motor Trend went as far as to say that if these two areas had been better, the Traverse could have easily taken first place. At the Chicago Auto Show GMC began the revamp of the Lambdas with the 2013 Outlook Acadia, and last week GM announced that Chevrolet Traverse would be the second to receive the updates. CLICK READ MORE

Earlier today GM published more photos of the face lifted crossover that makes a point of fixing the problem areas of the original model. Everything from the A-Pillar forward is all new, the bumper itself has gained some definition, and looks allot like the new Malibu, quite an improvement IMO, the signature Chevrolet split level grille has surprisingly been left off of this model in favor of a much smaller 5 point grille with three chrome bars, and I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed, it just seems more generic and less distinctive.

The grille’s pattern is replicated in the lower front fascia, and new fog lamps have taken their place in the chrome housings. The headlights themselves are also all new, the shape is slightly different, and they have a completely new design, chrome light housings seem to float in the blacked out borders, and they flow with the belt line better, but by far the largest complaint I have with this car is that it has lost its projector style headlamps, what the heck is that!? I may be making way too big of a deal out of this, but for some reason I think headlamps are really beautiful, especially projector ones, they can make or break a car for me, but since the car has had them since 2008 why take them away now when the model just got so much better?

The sides of the car were completely left alone, but the rear has received a few updates. New Camaroesqe tail lights with black surrounds like the headlamps filling a more angular footprint than the old model’s, and the License bracket has been relocated to the center of the hatch, eliminating that somewhat awkward area where the body creases meet below the bow tie. The lower area of the rear was also rehashed with new cladding. A new transmission will be mated to the existing engine to complement the Changes

As far as interior updates go, the Dashboard was recovered in much better materials, a new Camaro inspired Instrument panel, updated A/C Controls, redesigned seats, an updated steering wheel  and the myLink system have all been added, solving the Traverse’s Biggest issue, but I would like to know if it is slated to get the dual tone stitching found in the new Malibu, so what do you guys think about the new design?