What It's Like to Live with a 2024 Chevy Traverse Z71 (POV)

All right we're all loaded up and ready for our walk. Got both kiddos, got the dog, got... Oh, um, she's gonna be upset with me. I go in to get a drink and you're gone? Hey crew, I've got the key to that 2024 Chevy Traverse Z71 and today we're gonna see what it's like to live Oh my gosh, that is a... There's another one. A bird went ham on you. I'm so sorry. Anyway, back to the spacing in my driveway which is 16 feet wide by 19 and a half feet long. I've got the Traverse parked a few inches in from the edge sitting next to a new Audi RS6 Avant Performance that both my wife and I are reviewing. If you want to check out her content it's at MobileMama on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. I've got about an inch and a half to two inches of space there and with that parking job I do have plenty of room to walk between the two vehicles though not enough space to wheel our double stroller through. And I've got the nose of the Traverse parked a little further forward so that at the back I do have room between the garage door and the vehicle and enough space to walk in between the hedge along to our front door. When first hopping inside the Traverse with the key fob in my pocket I can access the smart keyless entry so just hit that button there that'll unlock the doors or when you're walking away you can lock the doors and that's up there on the front doors and the back. Going to the first opening notch can't quite make it to the second so I've got to leave it here and that's a fine access point just tuck in my shoulders a little bit not too bad and closing up that door kind of loud. Hey cabin crew thanks for joining for this day in life in the 24 Chevy Traverse Z71. Now this is a new generation Traverse and I want to see in this video if Chevy is missing anything in their mission statement to be very family friendly and to that end it's going to be a very lived in video. I have the car seats out right now but they were just in and I've got random kid stuff sprawled throughout and I do want to show you where I've stashed the items I brought with me first. So I've got my granola bar and wallet in here sunglasses kind of just hovering up top there's a wireless smartphone charging pad got my phone up on there inside the console which does have two levels I've got the storage tray taken out right now I've got my large water bottle in that console there's another big storage cubby down here that's where I've got my GoPro accessories and my zero to 60 race box timer. Let me fire up the vehicle first I almost did that that is definitely the volume knob down here I'm gonna crank on that turbo four cylinder and now I want to hear the idle from outside it's a raspy rumble not so loud as to disturb anyone but it is louder than I expected. Okay now to go into drive pull in and down on the gear selector and then the parking brake's over here but that's already been released and it's a good thing I got the Z71 here that extra ground clearance not sure I would make that a gutter in my driveway. My very first errand in the Traverse is going to be to get some coffee but before that I want to just see about this turning radius so I'm going to flip it around here and in so doing bring up surround view camera system to monitor my progress wheel cranked well that is a very fine turning radius indeed for a three-row SUV it's terrific that'll listen for the turn signal I love the Chevy turn signal it's like a gallop don't mind it honestly now what about the world famous horn test wake up the neighborhood whoa really we'll be waking them up that is uh sound like the horn was facing me like I did something wrong and I deserve to be honked at whoops you know I think the honking was telling me I was doing something wrong I don't need to store my sunglasses down here amidst all the mess I can actually put them up top where there is a cubby and a felt liner to protect the lenses on route to coffee let's talk through this turbo four-cylinder which is now the only engine option in the Traverse it does have best-in-class power and torque now 328 horses 326 pound-feet of torque and it's routed through this eight-speed automatic transmission in the Z71 you get a part-time all-wheel drive system too so right now we're just in front drive that's that's all we need and the turbo four-cylinder I think is also all I need it's got plenty of go fast it just happens to still sound like a four-cylinder and it is moving a big three-row SUV so it sounds like it works pretty hard to do that activity and it sometimes clatters a little like a diesel powertrain it doesn't really get all that annoying unless you're kind of at full throttle all the time which you're not going to be again there's enough torque so you just get up to speed and then it kind of coasts along but it's not the most refined sounding powertrain it just has great power delivery and the eight-speed auto that is refined that's super smooth in the changes between the gears and with these all-terrain tires and the adaptive dampers of the Z71 the ride in this thing is great little extra sidewall there with those all-terrains and the adaptive dampers kind of filter out the worst of the road blemishes does kind of bop around a little bit but I'm not looking for Lexus ride quality I kind of want some rough and tumble with my Z71 and bounciness is always a little more fun for the kids I grip with Jeep Wranglers we call them whoopee wee cars because you were just in the back with that solid axle this isn't that bad this is more refined than that it's just it's a bit entertaining I have arrived at coffee dose it's time for my daily dose of that decaf coffee yeah you heard that right I still can't drink caffeine now can I park this Traverse now I'm going to try next to that F-150 who's parked diagonally in the space just not the best move I'm looking for a challenger still but not uh not something that's going to take me on an Austin Powers multi redirect so with the high-res backup camera and the trajectory lines here I can line up between the lane markings just so and we're going to see how well I fit in this space another way to show off the dimensions of this Traverse there we go I feel the vibration of my seat that tells me I'm close and it really gets your attention let's see from outside to get between the lane markers I'm kind of sitting on that one marker that's pretty good I'm happy with that man this thing looks cool looks like a Tahoe I like a little crossover this is a properly good vibe to enjoy my caramel decaf latte go ahead judge me I care not I did forget to show it this morning but the Traverse does have a remote start feature which is great for chilly mornings to get the heaters going or in a hot day like today get the AC going at least for the next five seconds of my walk to the car as I'm ready to head out once again I am reminded of how much I appreciate the simplicity and yet brilliance of this gear selector and I know a column mounted shifter is nothing new here but the way this one is pulled off is pretty smart because unlike the turn signal over here which can of course move freely this one locks you out unless you pull it in and then go up into reverse or down into drive so you can't accidentally put yourself into gear that's very smart and then also of course having it up here frees up the space in the console as opposed to having one down there and for something you interact with every single day multiple times a day it's nice to have something so intuitive oh and one thing I didn't show when entering this space is the auto park assist here it knows I'm exiting but it's asking if I'm exiting a parallel or perpendicular space in which direction I want to go I'm going to go left and now I can take my foot off the throttle and brake and my hands off the steering and let it do its thing giving me enough clearance from the vehicles on either side before it then cranks the wheel and has plenty of space to clear that curve right there and I could let it continue on probably going to back up as well but uh I'm going to say that's good enough now obviously my use case here isn't the most relevant but you can imagine in a tighter parallel or perpendicular parking situation how that'd be pretty handy I'm going to turn my attention now to the family friendliness of this SUV and I'm going to solicit the help of mobile mama to install some car seats I'm going to cut you off right there let's install some car seats but first let's talk about what we have available to us what we have available Bob is two sets of lower latch anchors right here on the captain's chair I'm wondering if you can get a bench seat I bet you can't no I know you can't yeah you can't I know you can't what you got here on the base LS trim you get a bench seat eight seating is all right Bob take a look back here you got nothing down low nothing that's fine but you do have a headrest in the middle that's just side note you have one two three four five tethers all right so you can't install a rear-facing car seat in the third row but you can install a forward-facing one I mean you can do a rear-facing one you're just not going to have lower latch anchors you could use a seat belt so lots of options here's what you're saying that's good let's install the car seats and see what our spacing is like all right talk it through with me what's good all of it's great so I don't have the seat belt attached because you can do this tilt and slide feature with the car seat in easily get to the tether and tighten it which is really nice but then you also have this space to get even with the car right so you have that since you have the tether now of course now you got to put the seat belt you can't do that when the seat belt's connected you got to disassemble a little bit to get in there okay and in my situation one I really love how wide the door opens it was really easy to load in this car seat and now with this rear-facing setup which takes up more room like this than the forward-facing one I didn't have to move my driver's seat at all so that's me six feet and I still have room for my hand to pass through and if I wanted to get into the back well I would have to take out the car yeah not gonna work there climb through the trunk through the trunk oh you're just speaking in generalities you didn't actually mean for me that yeah as much fun as that would be to try to get in through the trunk I'll do it this way because it's so much easier and now let me see if I can fit in the third row behind that whole convoluted setup of a full-size driver in the front a car seat in the middle and now a full-size passenger in the third row I can fit my knees are just kind of grazing against the seat back if I did have to pull them in to accommodate a middle passenger here then it's tighter then my knees are pressed in but without that I'm comfortable I've got headroom here I've got a usb-c ports got an air vent up top this is pretty great well I think we can say with full confidence the Traverse is what's this one is family approved you are absolutely right Bob it is still and it's bird poop approved too oh yeah are you gonna clean that I I need to I meant to yeah I I will get to that because I still have to go put a bike in the back of this and uh see how well it fits all right do that first she left me to clean off the windshield that's fine oh the wipers don't even reach I have to do manual labor I'm a clarence 750s I'll get to you soon okay into the trunk of the Traverse so I do have the car seats removed now we've got them installed in the r6 performance but I left up one seat just to show you that you could bring an additional passenger or leave one of the car seats in while still fitting a bicycle with plenty of room to spare look at that now's a good time to talk about visibility so with the third row folded I can see really well straight out the back but even if it were up and say it was filled with people or there was cargo load in the back I could still see through all that with the digital rear view mirror in terms of your over the shoulder visibility where that second row headrest comes up it blocks the small window between the c and d pillar so there is a big blind spot there I do have blind spot monitoring but I wish I could see more with the naked eye at least the up front visibility is great because the hood isn't raised up too much and it's a nice tall windshield also the view outside windows is excellent yeah but what you really want to know is how quick the Traverse will get to 60 so I've got my race box set up here to record I've got it in all-wheel drive and sport drive modes I'm going to brake boost it off the line build up those revs let it go oh there it is it's awake and the rush to 60 arrives in 7.91 seconds that's fine yeah the Traverse definitely feels quicker in the mid-range than it does from a dig and what I'm not going to do with the Z71 is go to a real off-road trail to prove its capability but I will hit up some potholes like this one right here and this one right here yeah could handle that just fine and then drive on gravel in the off-road drive mode hey got some good grip from these all-terrains sure-footedness in about as technical an environment as someone who actually buys this is likely to encounter but if you did want to try to venture there is a twin-clutch automatic in the Z71 that has a similar type of engagement to a real four-wheel drive system and with that ground clearance with all-terrain tires with the tow hooks and the skid plates you should be just fine you should have that confidence in everything except for uh the Rubicon trail stay away from that and that'll do it for today I will see you guys tomorrow for a family outing okay the fam is getting ready to go on our walk but I do need to do some prep back here because while our 95 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback actually does fit behind the third row of seats in a tighter quarters he is not going to fit alongside our family's double stroller so I do need to fold the seats down that's easy enough just pull on the straps and push forward and both will go down even with that seat pulled back a little bit to accommodate the car seat then I'm just going to lay out this blanket so he doesn't tear into the fabric lining on the floor and lift up the double stroller now this I am going to lay on its side so it doesn't tip over onto our dog and that's still going to be plenty of room for him to lay down now to go get that beast okay pop come on up yes so much room okay keep those paws in tight here we go just to make sure he pulled back and he fits along with the stroller let's get the daughter roe in now tolly's gonna get in while holding llama corn that's that's actually really impressive okay so you got a handle here and then another one above your head just for stability and you did it just in time for roe to get upset all right we're all loaded up and ready for our walk got everyone here got both kiddos got the dog got oh um she's gonna be upset with me i'm so i'm sorry i go in to get a drink and you're gone it's just i thought we it was a lot to get everyone in you got everything yeah i know it's just i thought we had everything everyone sorry everything everything everyone i knew there was a distinct lack of backtalk and nagging oh that's how it's full car now it's a full car all right let's go on our walk whoops sorry babe love you we'd never forget you we'd never forget you we'll talk about it later we'll talk about it later yeah that's how it goes and what's a hike without snacks so we had to pick up some from irvine ranch market what'd you get what'd you get the girl uh it's kind of like a charcuterie thing we're doing a little charcuterie oh so fancy your family's so fancy it's really just some turkey cheese and crackers you know it sounds better though and fruit yeah yeah it's a charcuterie spread well we'll have a chance to consume it on our walk here at newport beach back bay the upper newport bay upper bay lower yay let's go play let's get the dog out let's get the kids out and we'll won't forget you this time well maybe i'll take a break and stay inside oh we'll work out well for you obi was very eager to get out of the traverse before we could even unload kids or the rest of our items so to make sure he doesn't run off we got the leash hooked up to one of the four tie downs i wonder if they thought of this when they designed these probably not but they work well for our youth this is such a lovely walk but you know what i have to take a quick detour because i see something pretty interesting over here there it is new for gt old gt40 super performance yeah it's very cool love the gold delivery all right which is better guys gt40 or new gt oh so different so beautiful oh wait oh wait you didn't wait for me at all i had to catch up how does it feel what how does what feel oh you're still sour about that no mercy wait christina is talia in the stroller where is she where's oh we're leaving people all over the place oh you're on my head of course great walk everyone really just top form wow everyone well i mean there is one member of the family that would get the mvp award mep most enthusiastic player oh yeah and who is that christina romey what i mean she was she was having a great time once we got to the playground slash parker she loved it the real mvp of today was obi really defying his he's five years old so 35 in dog years defying his 35 years just ripping around that playground park area loved it and now i know who's going to love where we're going next talia do you want acai bowl yeah and the best acai bowls come from blue bowl look at these the girls are gonna just love them and so will i you know mobile mom but we haven't talked about how the traverse drives on the highway so what better excuse than a cadillac preview like an hour and a half away in traffic let's do it let's do it are you gonna show them super cruise i will yeah let's do that let's start with that oh i clicked it twice once is all you need and then you know this is an option that we have on this vehicle but it's a really great option i wish you didn't have to pay for it after paying for it but you do so you pay for one but we both really like super cruise we've had a great experience with it it always just does what it's supposed to do and it communicates with you with the light bar so when it goes like flashing blue then it's about to transition out from the green uh when it goes red obviously you got to take over but it is a true hands-free thing and if you set the speed to be faster than the pace of traffic and there's an opening in traffic then it'll change lanes for you don't do anything if you're going on a long road trip which you're probably going to road trip in this vehicle yeah you should it's very comfortable super comfortable then that's a great feature you're not gonna get as fatigued not as fatiguing as headgear the one christina's been talking about my camera setup that's headgear it's not not orthodontia it's the modern headgear the this is the modern head what is this fixing for me making my life possible i suppose yeah no this isn't headgear christina wore headgear no i didn't we've been over this you definitely wore it when you're in junior high you're wrong you had a bionator i had a bionator for my uber bank and i had a amara yeah see it's changing lanes it was like hey we did not have headgear let the record show yeah yours were installed permanently mine i could take in and out how does this tell us how this how the it does it drives well on the highway what can i say uh it's it's decently quiet in here for the price point decently quiet um not too much wind noise tire noise is a little more than with regular all-season tires the all-terrains have a bit of a hum to them especially on this lot of road surface but it's really not bad at all i'd be happy to family road trip in this thing well because yes you could land your space wide open spaces you know she's got she's got wide open spaces that you don't want to say you don't want to say that out loud no it's the dixie chick oh probably not so we looked it up it's not she's got wide open spaces it's she needs she needs wide open space i forgot she makes a lot more sense yeah for a country song yeah a little more appropriate as well we don't have wide open spaces right now and that's when supercruise is really valuable for sitting in traffic just gonna take us to our cadillac optic preview like the ride take us to preview oh okay we made it let's go check out the cadillac optic yeah so i couldn't actually show you any of the new cadillac optic because the embargo for that clears after this video comes out so what can we say christina i'm not even seeing you right now what can we say christina he threw me to the back in the book um it's a very cool luxury electric vehicle from cadillac it's gonna be one level below the lyric and yeah like a lot of value for the money which can't tell you what the price is but you know it's coming soon well crew at the beginning of this video i pondered whether this new generation chevy traverse was missing anything in its pursuit of family friendliness and after living with this suv running errands enjoying hobbies shuttling kids navigating traffic i've concluded this is a competent crossover in just about every regard with the exception of a labored four-cylinder soundtrack and some cheaper trim pieces the traverse z71 is faultless in its mission and a fantastic family vehicle even off the pavement i hope you guys have enjoyed this day in the life and i will see you again next time