rl7greg
Active Member
Just wanted to give some feedback on my experience after a week towing with the Chevy Traverse. Our Traverse has the factory tow package, and it tows very well I think. I just drove it 2000km from BC to Manitoba pulling our new Heartland Edge M22 (3600lb dry weight, 4900lb gvwr). the Traverse is rated for 5200lbs if you have the tow package, 3000lbs without it apparently.
I was a bit worried about the mountains, but it at least did a bit better than most of the semi trucks up the very steep passes. We went on the Coquihalla Highway in BC, which has some lengthy 8%+ grade sections. The tow mode button does some magic I think, and it doesn't shift gears sporadically, especially once you get the feel of what speed it will be happy to go up the hill.. The transmission temperature guage was constant the whole time, except for one short section I overdid it, just to see if the guage was working ;-) The engine is happiest not to go over 3500rpms for very long up hills. That meant keeping at 60 or 80 on the steeper hills, but it was not painfully slow, just understandably slow.
Down hills the engine seemed to automatically control the speed to keep it below 100km/hr, probably also part of the tow mode button magic...
There is also a manual shifting mode when you put it in 'low' as I'm sure you know, but it seemed better and less work in 'drive', than shifting manually.
On the flatter sections it was comfortable at 100-110km/hr, maybe up to 120 at the most. I ended up getting the Reese Strait-line hitch and it seems to work pretty good. The trailer is longer than what is traditionally recommended for the wheelbase of the traverse vs a truck, and in a crosswind you do feel it, but I was driving in pretty good sidewinds at the same rate as semi trucks, so I think it's ok for me. A few gusts made me grip the wheel, but it wasn't scary, just knew I should slow down a little.
I'll figure out the fuel economy after I get back in a couple weeks. It's not great, the tow mode seems to favour saving the transmission over saving gas, but I don't think that's a bad thing.
Greg
I was a bit worried about the mountains, but it at least did a bit better than most of the semi trucks up the very steep passes. We went on the Coquihalla Highway in BC, which has some lengthy 8%+ grade sections. The tow mode button does some magic I think, and it doesn't shift gears sporadically, especially once you get the feel of what speed it will be happy to go up the hill.. The transmission temperature guage was constant the whole time, except for one short section I overdid it, just to see if the guage was working ;-) The engine is happiest not to go over 3500rpms for very long up hills. That meant keeping at 60 or 80 on the steeper hills, but it was not painfully slow, just understandably slow.
Down hills the engine seemed to automatically control the speed to keep it below 100km/hr, probably also part of the tow mode button magic...
There is also a manual shifting mode when you put it in 'low' as I'm sure you know, but it seemed better and less work in 'drive', than shifting manually.
On the flatter sections it was comfortable at 100-110km/hr, maybe up to 120 at the most. I ended up getting the Reese Strait-line hitch and it seems to work pretty good. The trailer is longer than what is traditionally recommended for the wheelbase of the traverse vs a truck, and in a crosswind you do feel it, but I was driving in pretty good sidewinds at the same rate as semi trucks, so I think it's ok for me. A few gusts made me grip the wheel, but it wasn't scary, just knew I should slow down a little.
I'll figure out the fuel economy after I get back in a couple weeks. It's not great, the tow mode seems to favour saving the transmission over saving gas, but I don't think that's a bad thing.
Greg
