![\"traverse_fr-dunes\"](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/09e6bbff2302145849b5d0b896145cf47ca58b8e\/c=949-0-3956-2261&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/09\/27\/DetroitNews\/B99579372Z.1_20170927182241_000_G9A1LUVH1.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>Sleeping Bear Dunes west of Traverse City is Michigan\u2019s Grand Canyon, a supersized natural wonder that attracts families from all over to witness its grandeur. From the summit, you can barely see the people contemplating the daunting 450-foot climb back to the top after an effortless run down to the Lake Michigan shoreline. \u201cEnjoy the view from here,\u201d reads the state park sign, \u201cDon\u2019t risk the 2 HOURS it may take to get back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the summit you can also contemplate the state of America\u2019s auto market.<\/p>\n
The Dunes parking lot is stuffed with five-door SUVs of all sizes, the rows of hatchbacks interrupted by the odd sedan, pickup or pony car. Pickups and SUVs today comprise 60 percent of new-vehicle purchases, but I count 80 percent utes up here in nature\u2019s Disneyland.<\/p>\n
Mid-size chariots are the family ute of choice, offering the essentials American owners crave: high seating position, three rows for families of four or more, peppy engines and interior versatility for long drives to nature\u2019s remote grandeur. Every mainstream manufacturer is in this hot segment, determined to establish themselves as\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0family brand. But how to tell them apart when everything is a five-door box?<\/p>\n Ford\u2019s Explorer looks like a stylish Land Rover with its flying buttress C-pillar and toothy grille. The Toyota Highlander features a bold grille and graceful, blacked-out windows. Honda\u2019s Pilot looks like an oversized Accord. The Jeep Grand Cherokee looks like a Jeep.<\/p>\n But my all-new 2018 Chevy Traverse tester is a wallflower, its conservative styling undistinctive.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a change from the last-generation Traverse, and there were plenty of examples surrounding me as we traversed Traverse City. The old Traverse took its cures from Impalas and Camaros with a wrap-around grille and unique \u201cboat bow\u201d rear window shared with the lovely Buick Enclave (which shares the Traverse\u2019s platform).<\/p>\n The new Traverse is squared-off in back, its front end adopting Chevy\u2019s confused split-grille design. It\u2019s an oversized Equinox, which is Chevy\u2019s staid, compact ute entry.<\/p>\n But where the Traverse is content with vanilla packaging, it is a rich serving of Michigan Moose Tracks Caramel Chocolate Chunk under the skin. Chevy knows how to supersize interiors and the Traverse is state of the art.<\/p>\n With two inches of wheelbase over its predecessor \u2014 most of it going to legroom \u2014 the Traverse is the largest vehicle in class, beating the Explorer, Highlander and Jeep (heck, the Grand Cherokee doesn\u2019t even offer a third row). At 6-foot-5, your oversized auto reviewer was comfortable in every row of the Chevy including the third where I had more knee room than Delta coach class. Just as important, Chevy makes it easy to get back there.<\/p>\n One pull of the side-seat handle and the second-row captain\u2019s chair in my meat-of-the-market, $46,580 LT grade tumbled forward. (Though with still enough room so you don\u2019t have to extract a kid\u2019s car seat first. Clever.) The action is nearly as easy as Honda Pilot\u2019s one-button solution \u2014 though Chevy only offers its feature on the right-side seat, whether to encourage curb-side entry or to save money.<\/p>\n Once back there, I had light (thanks to a full moonroof, highly recommended), legroom, USB port for my smartphone, and a cup and fry holder for my fast food. Mom, text me when we\u2019re there.<\/p>\n Needless to say, the middle and front rows are even roomier, with the front center console rivaling a pickup truck in its versatility with storage and cup holders galore. My favorite console is the Pilot\u2019s clever purse-swallowing space, but the Traverse is worthy of comparison while offering a more intuitive shifter compared to the Pilot\u2019s less-intuitive push-button system.<\/p>\n GM has been a pioneer in connectivity and Mrs. Payne and I found our way across Northern Michigan\u2019s vast spaces with ease using Apple CarPlay navigation and WiFi connectivity while working on our laptops.<\/p>\n With such attention to detail, however, the Traverse\u2019s shortcomings stand out especially at the volume-selling LT\u2019s hefty sticker. For the same price, you can get a Toyota Highlander Hybrid with 40 percent better fuel economy. More glaring, the Toyota (like the Pilot) comes standard with safety systems like adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection, automatic high beams and lane-departure alert. Not the Traverse LT. Heck, a Mazda CX-5 offers these gadgets for $10,000 less.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very strange decision not to include these features,\u201d Auto Pacific analyst Dave Sullivan says. \u201cOffering a family vehicle in 2018 without that equipment is a miss.\u201d<\/p>\n Where Chevy focuses its tech is in chassis and drivetrain.<\/p>\n The Traverse has managed to slim down even as it got bigger. On GM\u2019s new CY1 platform \u2014 shared with the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5 \u2014 the big Traverse has lost 360 pounds.<\/p>\n Hitch this beast to Chevy\u2019s reliable 310-horse V-6 and first-in-a-large-ute 9-speed transmission, and the Traverse is genuinely fun to drive. With its torque-vectoring all-wheel drive rotating out of Sleeping Bear twisties, the transmission smoothly downshifted to find the right gear ratio and maintain the 4,500-pounder\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n Together, the frame and transmission increase the SUV\u2019s fuel economy by 5 miles per gallon. That expands the Traverse\u2019s range to 470 miles on a tank of gas, which is welcome security when karting the family over Michigan\u2019s gas-station-sparse farm country.<\/p>\n