Towing with a Chevy Traverse?

[greenbean]

My husband and I are ready to buy a 19' Escape - and now we are in the search for the tow vehicle we need. We like the Chevy Traverse - but I've not read of anyone towing with one. Is there anyone out there with experience and/or opinion on the Traverse. We heard from the local dealer that we need to have a factory installed hitch in order to get the tow rating of 5,200# - if it is after market it seriously downgrades the tow capacity - which doesn't make sense to me. Anyone else have any experience with this? Thanks!

[dbailey]

My wife and I rented a Traverse while on vacation in the Yukon earlier this year. We didn't tow with it, but we covered a few thousand kilometers (mostly highway). It was a decent vehicle. If I decide to go SUV for towing, it's on the short list.

I'd be suspicious of the dealer's statement about the hitch. Maybe talk to a different dealer to get a second opinion?

[float5]

Hi, greenbean!

You might get ahold of the manual when looking at a Traverse and see what it says on towing. The manuals are likely in the glove compartments. Info should also be online. You also might ask them where they are getting that claim and that you would like to see where it is written. It could be in warranty info that an owner cannot buy after market.

You need some other numbers to know about towing with that vehicle: the vehicle's curb weight, the maximum loaded weight for the vehicle (GVWR) and the maximum loaded weight for both the trailer and vehicle together(GCWR). When you have those in addition to the towing capacity, you can see the situation clearly.

Above all, you have to check a number of places to verify any comments on towing from a dealer as they often know little, especially the ones in the sales departments, and may completely mislead you. You pretty well have to look at much of it yourself until you understand the numbers for any particular vehicle. The above numbers are a good start with what is involved.

[gbaglo]

To get a class III hitch on my RAV4 I had to go with an after-market hitch. The Toyota class II factory hitch was $900. The after-market class III was $650, included wiring the Prodigy and was installed at the Toyota dealer. My buddy had his hitch and brake controller installed at U-haul for $600.

I would tell that Chevy salesman to get stuffed. Go to another dealer or tell the manager you want to speak to an honest sales rep.
And, if he want to charge you for undercoating ( it's already done at the factory ) or a paint protection plan, tell him to shove it. I fell for the paint plan and got absolutely nothing for my $300.

baglo

[dave macrae]

I just checked on the gm service information, the 2012 chev traverse without (v92) trailer towing pacakage is rated to 2000lbs tow capacity, with the (v92) it is rated for 5200 lbs, It does state that the spec is based on 1 person in the vehicle all other passengers and cargo must be subtracted. Here is my personel opinion on the traverse/acadia, I wouldn't buy one with someone elses money, I have been a gm tech all my working life, we see lots of problems with leaks, suspension issues and engine and transmission issues. Don't get me wrong they are very nice to drive but the reliability is horrible.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by greenbean

My husband and I are ready to buy a 19' Escape - and now we are in the search for the tow vehicle we need. We like the Chevy Traverse - but I've not read of anyone towing with one. Is there anyone out there with experience and/or opinion on the Traverse. We heard from the local dealer that we need to have a factory installed hitch in order to get the tow rating of 5,200# - if it is after market it seriously downgrades the tow capacity - which doesn't make sense to me. Anyone else have any experience with this? Thanks!

Hi: greenbean... Every vehicle has tow rules. When you do tow with it...there goes your warranty!!! Every trailer dealer has rules. Use our hitch and you can tow the world It's to bad that you must sift through all the miss info to find some truth about towing. Most sales people don't have a clue about towing and don't seem to quick to find out either. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[dave macrae]

Alf, I do know that with general motors your warranty is not void if towing a trailer that is within the capacity of the vehicle, unfortuantly some individual dealerships like to play " god" with regards to warranty. If this happens the customer should call the 1800 gm number and general motors will call the dealership and straighten it out.

[greenbean]

Thanks for the responses...It's raining here today so we'll take a look at more cars and different dealerships. We'll take a calculator too - so many numbers!

[paulw]

Here are a couple threads from Chevy forums discussing towing with the Traverse.
Whats in the tow package?:
http://chevroletforum.com/forum/trav...details-24256/

Tow specs/tow mode:
http://chevytraverseforum.com/index....pecs-tow-mode/

[dave macrae]

I have been doing some digging and found that the traverse/ acadia does have a "tow haul mode" that does alter transmission shift and torque converter lock up. This would be next to imposible to have installed after the fact. obviously a trailer hitch and wiring are part of the package as well. I have not found any confirmed information that indicates there is a different cooling system. I would suspect a auxilary transmission cooler would be part of the package as well but this is just a asumption on my part. I certainly would hope it has a cooler because the transmissions blow up when not towing so I can only imagine what happens with a 4000 lb trailer behind it. This little exercise shows how poor the flow of information can be from big companies, even with having access to all the gm service information that i have it is a little embarasing how hard it was to find this info. Just goes to show how lucky all us Escape owners are, we can call or email the factory and get what ever info we need with ease.