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

2013 Chevrolet Traverse

Chevrolet has released the first official photo of the 2013 Traverse, which will be unveiled alongside the new Impala at the New York Auto Show. GM has been in the Process of revamping its seven Passenger Lambda SUVS, they started with the Acadia, and the Traverse will be the next to get an Overhaul. In the teaser GM released today we see a new interior, which has a strong resemblance to the Acadia, though it has more Chevrolet cues. including unique dash appearance, though the layout is the same. We are most likely looking at the Range topping LTZ model, with French Stitched leather appointments on the seats, dash and door panels. The rest of the plastics are expected to be upgraded to soft touch materials, like in the Acadia. I think the driver’s side will most likely have the Camaroesque Instrument panel, and more Chevy oriented styling. From what we can see of the infotainment system, it has gained MyLink, but that was to be expected. Overall this should make an already great crossover even better, as the Travers’s only real drawback before was the interior.

2013 Opel Astra MCE

Recent spy shots have given us a strong hint as to what Opel has in store for us in the upcoming Astra refresh.

The Astra will get a new Corsa inspires front fascia with a larger smile, new projector style foglamps sporting chrome accents, a new grille with a slimmer chrome bar that curls up at each end. The bumper itself is much less defined, and while it looks a great deal more like the Corsa, which I think is a very smart looking subcompact, I think I actually prefer the old Astra’s muscular creases.
The new rear bumper actually looks less like the Corsa, the license plate cove is redesigned to have more harmony with the lower bodywork, and a chrome spear has been affixed to the body crease.
You don’t really notice these changes until the cars are next to eachother, and it really doesn’t make too much of a difference to me anyway. If it ever does come to the US the front end at least would most likely be completely redesigned, which brings me to the same rant I give every time I talk about the Astra, Dear GM let us buy this car! You already build a version in China, the Buick Excelle Xt, and we have the Astra’s Sedan Counterpart here already, and sales of the Verano have been great so why not capitalize on that and add variants, I would love to be able to buy one of these, give Buick a competitor to the high end golfs GTIs, it makes perfect sense, yet we still can’t get it here. Head over to World Car Fans to see the Photos!
http://www.worldcarfans.com/112031942525/2013-opel-astra-facelift-spied-undisguised/photos