The Chevy Traverse can be brushed off as an overpriced, oversized crossover as well as yet another spin on GM's long-in-the-tooth Lambda platform. Or it can be considered a practical, roomy vehicle that comfortably straddles the line between functionality and entry-level luxury.
Truth is our long-term 2010 Chevy Traverse LTZ falls somewhere in between. That it has all the bells and whistles helps make the case that it's a contender in its class; that it also has a bloated sticker price of $42, 050 doesn't. But you don't have to spend a dime over the base price of $37,985 to get the standard Bose Surround Sound System on the LTZ trim level. And even if the Bose system is buried in the base price, we still wondered if it's worth it and how the system performs.
The Setup
The Bose system in the Traverse LTZ comes with 10 speakers. These include a 3.5-inch "Twiddler" high/midrange speaker in the center of the dash, a 1-inch tweeter in each A pillar, a 6.5-inch “wide-range” speaker in each door, another 3.5-inch Twiddler on each side of the third-row seat and a 5.25-inch woofer in a sealed enclosure in the center console. Bose doesn’t supply power ratings for some unknown reason, and will only say that the Traverse system has eight channels of "custom equalization."
The Sound
A favorite pastime of audiophiles is bashing Bose, and in certain instances the criticism is justified since the performance of the brand’s products can be inconsistent, particularly in the car. But Bose practically invented the category of premium OEM audio decades ago and that experience can translate into really good car audio. The system in the Traverse is an example.
Tonal balance, timbre and tonal accuracy were good if not great. The system had the characteristic midbass boom and high-end harshness of most midgrade OEM car audio systems. Distortion, particularly on the bottom end, was noticeable but not too distracting. And I had to listen hard on high-pitched notes from, say, an acoustic guitar or cymbals, to hear a slight sizzle. The lowest bass notes were perceptibly blunted and dull, with a weakness of the 5.25-inch woofer dedicated to those frequencies easily revealed. But overall the system had an open, spacious and pleasing if not perfect sound.
We’re seeing more systems with A-pillar tweeters and a center-channel speaker, and the setup is hard to beat when it comes to soundstaging and imaging. In the Traverse this translated into an expansive soundstage and near-precise imagining. The system easily nailed the non-audio tracks used to judge soundstaging and imaging: voices mixed left, center and right and seven drumbeats that march across the dash at precise intervals. With two tracks used to gauge linearity -- a measure of how well sound is reproduced at low- and mid-volume levels -- the system scored poor and fair, respectively. But it easily passed a zero-bits/absence-of-noise test.
The Sources
The Traverse comes with a single CD/DVD player in the dash and AM, FM and XM radio. A USB port buried deep in the center console allows a portable media player like an iPod or a USB drive loaded with music files to be plugged in, without requiring an extra-cost proprietary cable. An aux-in jack is next to the USB port for an old-school device hookup, which came in handy since the system didn’t play nice with my iPhone 3GS after a while.
The primary interface for a USB-connected device is the in-dash touch screen, and it’s fairly intuitive, although somewhat slow to respond. It also requires much more eyes-on time to navigate than a system with good voice activation. The head unit provides full iPod menu options, including audiobooks and podcasts, along with the usual suspects of songs, albums, artists and playlists. A similar menu scheme is used for files on USB drives, minus the extra categories.
The system has a convenient set of rear-seat audio controls that’s not very common in this vehicle class. Located on the back of the center console, they allow rear-seat passengers to plug headphones into a pair of jacks and listen to and control any audio source except the one being listened to by the front-seat passengers.
What We Say
A couple of months shy of its one-year anniversary in our long-term fleet, the 2010 Chevy Traverse LTZ has become a go-to vehicle for hauling cargo, kids and up to eight passengers. That the standard Bose audio system does an above-average job of reproducing audio fits with the over-achieving yet low-frill feel of the vehicle.
The Scores
Sound: B-
Source Selection: B
iPod Integration: B-
Cost: A
Doug Newcomb, Senior Editor, Technology
mrryte says:
02:07 PM, 02/21/11
"....and a 5.25-inch woofer in a sealed enclosure in the center console."
"The lowest bass notes were perceptibly blunted and dull, with a weakness of the 5.25-inch woofer dedicated to those frequencies easily revealed."
I'm sure BOSE has their reasons; but why couldn't they use a bigger size woofer? It's not like they don't have the space..... :-?
stingray454 says:
02:42 PM, 02/21/11
Long in the tooth?? Well, the Lamda platform is nearly 5 years old now, but I think it has aged well and doesn't look or perform long in the tooth at all. Any of the GM Lambdas are far superior to such bland and ugly competitors such as the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot, IMO.
billt9 says:
03:26 PM, 02/21/11
I don't get what you mention price.
All vehicles this segment run $27,000 - $42,000.
You must be a GM hater.
And GM is America.
So you must hate America.
thehankhill says:
05:49 PM, 02/21/11
+1 to bilt9's ergo logic...
texases says:
07:10 PM, 02/21/11
+2 billt9 - IL gets these things optioned to the hilt, then they complain about the price? Will they go after the Cruze next?
gspfan says:
07:13 PM, 02/21/11
"Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!"
dougnewcomb says:
08:00 PM, 02/21/11
@billt9: GM hater? Tell that to my '96 Impala SS.
dougnewcomb says:
08:00 PM, 02/21/11
And my TWO '84 Chevy Blazers ...
super_ongoy says:
06:49 AM, 02/22/11
Doug, I have two questions for you. I never have to adjust bass level in my car but when I hook up my iPod or throw in my mp3 CDs in rental cars, I constantly find myself adjusting the bass level. My questions are: 1. What is the cause of inconsistent bass output? Is it a recording issue or is it due to some of these sub woofers not performing well? 2. How good is the sound when it comes from an iPod and is there an inherent problem with the setup? Sometimes it just sounds so flat or distorted (when I crank up the volume). I'm not an audiophile nor have good ears so it could be just me but I never liked how iPod sounded.
willin58 says:
07:44 AM, 02/22/11
There is a dedicated sub, it's located within the dash, under the HVAC controls and in front of the shifter.
bemanix88 says:
08:05 AM, 02/22/11
Still a very ugly vehicle. They look like giant marshmallows wafting down the street... the Buick and GMC cousins are much, much more attractive.
dougnewcomb says:
10:52 AM, 02/22/11
@super_ongoy: The answer to both questions can be summed up in one word: compression. Audio codecs like MP3 and iTunes AAC use compression to squeeze music data down to smaller bit rates compared to, say, CD, so you can fit dozens of MP3s on a CD and thousands of songs on a tiny iPod. In essence, codecs "chop off" parts of the music (bye-bye bass!), which is probably why your low-end is weak when you listen to songs compressed as MP3s or by iTunes. Try listening to the same songs on a CD and see if it sounds better. And you can use "lossless" compression schemes such as Apple Lossless or rip files at a higher bit rate. But the higher the bit rate the less you can fit on a disc or disk.
mustang5507 says:
01:46 PM, 02/22/11
@super_ongoy
also, play with the EQ setting on itunes. that made a difference for me.
super_ongoy says:
03:56 PM, 02/22/11
Thanks!