Bocca della Verità — the Mouth of Truth, in Italian — is an ancient carving located just outside the doors of Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria. Featuring a vaguely humanoid face with an open mouth, superstition tells us that anyone who puts their hand into the mouth while telling a lie will get their hand chomped off.
Italian politicians are notably absent from the carving’s list of frequent visitors.
This tidbit of worldly knowledge flashed through this writer’s mind as he explored a hidden storage bin in the 2022 Chevrolet Traverse whilst claiming his waist size hasn’t changed since high school. The cubby’s existence is only revealed after the driver presses a button to shuffle the car’s eight-inch infotainment screen up and out of the way like a reverse guillotine, opening like the maw on our Roman artefact. Since your author is currently typing out this missive with both left and right hands intact, we can safely assume this useful and unexpected feature from General Motors does not subscribe to Italian superstition.
For those who are still sleeping off the effects of our latest mid-winter snowstorm, allow us to reiterate the 2022 Chevy Traverse is the fifth model year of a second-generation nameplate, freshened for this annum with updates to its exterior styling and interior trappings. On tap is a new front fascia bearing standard LED headlamps and an array of fresh trim-dependent grilles. This test unit wears RS badging, easily identified by its lack of brightwork which has been substituted for blacked-out trim and badging.
Unlike models from the halcyon years, ‘RS’ might still stand for Rally Sport but no longer promises anything extra under the hood. The 2022 Traverse is offered with a single powertrain option, showing up as a naturally aspirated 3.6L V6 engine rated at 310 horsepower 266 lb-ft of torque. Mills of this type generally make peak torque near redline, but GM has managed to pull a trick and have all this engine’s twist on deck by 2,800 rpm. This permits the big V6 to display some traits of a small-displacement turbocharged unit (good around-town power delivery) but without a turbo’s complexity or thirst for premium.
This engine is connected to a 9-speed automatic and there are few complaints from this corner about the amount of grunt on tap in this three-row machine though a few more units of torque wouldn’t go astray when pulling out to pass someone loitering below the speed limit on a rural two-lane highway. The 9-speed tends to find a gear and stick with it, though any shifting is subtle and generally goes unnoticed. If one were to reach into our thesaurus for a word to describe this powertrain and chassis, the term ‘unobtrusive’ would suffice. In Canada, all-wheel drive is standard on most trims, a good value play for the brand in addition to being in tune with the unique take rates in our market.
In fact, the 2022 Traverse exhibits strong value considering its feature count in addition to its powertrain. Chevrolet Safety Assist is now standard on all trims, including the likes of automatic emergency braking and lane keeping tools, with rear pedestrian alert included on everything except the base model. Infotainment goodies like wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are no-charge items, as are a passel of audio speakers and satellite radio capability. In a market where several brands choose to reserve these types of features for their costly trims, it is refreshing to see them included as standard equipment in this Chevy. The tasty Red Cherry paint on this RS trim is available on everything except the entry-level LS, as well.
While on the subject of paint colours, your author will beg the leeway of his editors to permit the use of a professional anecdote to point out a potential hiccup on the Traverse option sheet. Many moons ago, this gearhead toiled at a dealership where a customer wrangled a deal for a then-new top-spec coupe, plucking the machine from a special order sheet with a number of particular options — including the paint code for Torched Steel Blue.
When the zoomy two-door arrived several weeks later on the back of a transport trailer, the salesman and person who filled the order (not this author, I hasten to add) were shocked to see a car whose paint was several shades lighter than expected — powder blue instead of dark navy. It turns out the hapless sales manager had checked the box for Steel Blue, not Torched Steel Blue, thus creating a situation in which the customer refused to take the car and placing a weirdly spec’d (and expensive) coupe on the lot that took forever to sell.
The reason I took 174 words to describe that scenario is in response to my own recommendation that the 2022 Traverse looks very sharp in Cherry Red but less so in the much darker shade of Black Cherry — even though both have roots on the same side of the primary colour chart. Make sure you’re signing the note for the one you prefer.
Space inside the Traverse can be measured in acres, particularly in front and middle rows of seats where your 6’6” author had no trouble finding comfort in either the driver’s perch or peanut gallery. Be aware that GM, like many other manufacturers, are in the throes of juggling its allocation of microchips which has forced them to make uncomfortable decisions about certain features. In this instance, our Traverse was devoid of heated seats despite the presence of controls for such on the car’s dashboard. Chevy provides a credit on the Traverse purchase price for this inconvenience and makes a promise to install the appropriate equipment for free at dealer level when parts become available.
A quick-release handle yeets the passenger-side second-row bucket seat out of the way, clearing a path to the third row of chairs. That space features thoughtful touches like USB ports and cupholders but if you’re planning to frequently haul NBA-sized players back there, you’ll need to consider the larger (and more expensive) Tahoe. As residence for smaller members of the family unit, it’s more than adequate.
In fact, the entire interior of this refreshed Traverse featured much better materials than other recent GM products in this category, including soft touch materials on most dashboard surfaces plus a natty spear of perforated leather-like material in front of the passenger. A gauge cluster shared with it smaller and much cheaper Equinox brother is mildly disappointing. Handy features like that hidden compartment, wireless device charging, and dead-simple infotainment menus made this Traverse popular with the troops.
We burned through 69.7 litres of regular fuel while driving the Traverse over 530 kilometres in winter conditions with an ample amount of idling on frigid mornings thanks to the standard remote starter. Back-of-napkin math tells us that’s 13.1L/100 km, better than the NRCan’s 13.6 city rating but well off the car’s extremely optimistic dashboard computer. A 230 km highway round-trip returned 10.3L/100 km, calculated by brimming the fuel tank on this Michigan-built rig before and after the trip.
Buying advice? Stick with the lower trims since they include many must-have features but delete extravagances such as our tester’s panoramic glass roof. In particular, the LS trim is priced $6,600 south of this RS. Yet, it has the same powertrain and interior room but still includes popular kit like a power tailgate and wireless device charging plus gear with which to tow a trailer.
Ample features, reasonable fuel economy, lots of space, agreeable drivetrain — sounds like a machine which, unlike the Bocca della Verità, won’t bite your hand off.
Keyword: SUV Review: 2022 Chevrolet Traverse RS