2020 Chevrolet Traverse Review: One Option Among Many

When General Motors went bankrupt in 2008, one of the explanations given to explain its skidding off the rails was the American giant's stubbornness to multiply the number of models it produced on a single platform. All too often, the same vehicle was being put on the market wearing a different set of clothes. The series of minivans produced by the automaker (the Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay and Buick Terraza) is but one eloquent example of this unfortunate habit.

Starting with the sinking of Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer in 2008, this overuse of the same platform has gradually given way as the company restructured. But there are still indelible traces of this past mentality in today’s lineup of models under the GM banner.

Take the company’s three-row crossovers. GM offers the Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave, with the Cadillac XT6 joining the fray in recent months. They're all family utility models, and while there are a few elements specific to each model, in the end, we’re still uncomfortably close to the “old GM” formula. On the other hand, given the head start proffered on any model dubbed an SUV these days, you can’t really fault the top brass at General Motors for going back to the same well over and over.

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The most budget-friendly of GM’s quartet of crossovers, the Chevrolet Traverse is one of the most welcoming for occupants in its segment, and it's also decidedly better built than its predecessor. I spent a week with the spruced-up RS version of it at the tail end of winter.

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