Acadia, traverse , enclave, strong sellers !

[MARK_VANDERBENT]

I have been following sales stats from goodcarbadcar.net most months, and am amazed at the comination numbers each month of these 3. They outsell any other suv. Does anyone have one of these and tow anything??

[2500HDee]

Ron3rd wrote:

easycamper wrote:

bucky wrote:
It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

Or if they won't buy a minivan, which are better people movers and just as good for towing. But good for GM that they sell so many of them.

The minivan is the best people mover ever conceived, the wife had a Caravan many years ago, it's just no soccer moms want to be seen in them anymore.

The lambdas are minivans without the sliding door. 3 rows of seats with seating for 8 and front or all wheel drive. They are not trucks and aren't really marketed as them.

[Ron3rd]

bucky wrote:
It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

Not all soccer moms want that big of a vehicle, my retired soccer wife did not. Surprisingly, there's not a big difference in price between a Tahoe and Traverse. A loaded Traverse is about $42K sticker.

Having said that, we have the Tundra for towing and the Traverse to serve as people mover. It's a pretty good grocery getter too although my Tundra will hold more groceries and more cases of beer.

[Ron3rd]

easycamper wrote:

bucky wrote:
It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

Or if they won't buy a minivan, which are better people movers and just as good for towing. But good for GM that they sell so many of them.

The minivan is the best people mover ever conceived, the wife had a Caravan many years ago, it's just no soccer moms want to be seen in them anymore.

[Ron3rd]

The wife has a Traverse and loves it, lots of room, excellent fit and finish. We would not tow anything with it but I guess you could if you wanted to.

[rexlion]

Some people seem to feel that no one with hair on their chest would be caught dead towing with a unibody vehicle.

But, body-on-frame has been around since, what, the middle ages? :B So what if some of us bought something that's a little more 'Twenty-First Century' technology? 😛 LOL

Seriously though, unibody vehicles have good strength and great rigidity. With the right drive train, cooling, and hitch receiver connection, they could tow right up there with the HD pickups. Body-on-frame is not sprinkled with magic pixie dust.

[Fordlover]

rexlion wrote:
I have the similarly-sized Toyota Highlander (2008) and have towed with it for around 140,000 of its total 162,000 miles. The HL acts like it could go for another 162K. Not bad for a "car".

I imagine the Traverse and its sisters should be able to do about the same... despite the disadvantage of being GM products, lol. 😉

Zing!

Just think how many of this vehicle they would be selling if they still had Oldsmobile, Pontiac, SAAB, Saturn, Hummer etc. to prostitute the platform with badge engineering.

[Campfire_Time]

bucky wrote:
It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

I'd agree with you except for the fact that Escalde/Denali/Tahoe's are FAR more expensive. For a lot of folks that don't need to haul around a family and a 7k# trailer, why would they want the expense of owning a full size GMT platform SUV. Like any vehicle, they tow just fine within their rating. What exactly is the issue with the Lambda platform? Other than the obvious fact that you wouldn't drive one, or that it doesn't fit you needs.

[easycamper]

bucky wrote:
It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

Or if they won't buy a minivan, which are better people movers and just as good for towing. But good for GM that they sell so many of them.

[dodge_guy]

I think they are rated for 5k lbs! I won`t say much more than that on them!

[Dadoffourgirls]

As noted elsewhere, I have had several of these in AWD. I have towed many livestock trailers. It does a great job for them, and is much easier to manuever the trailer than a HD CC pickup.

[JTrac]

We have an 11 Denali with a tow package and regularly pull my Ranger bass boat with it. Not sure what it weighs but I would think 3K at a minimum. It is hard to tell the boat is even back there. Plenty of power and no sag when I hook up.

[jbardram]

We have an '14 Acadia, which replaced our '09 Outlook which is essentially the same vehicle. The Acadia has the tow package (tow/haul mode, factory hitch and cooler). I wouldn't want to tow a camper with it, but we routinely tow a utility trailer with two ATVs and gear (probably 3250lbs inc trailer) on 600 mile round trips to our cabin. Ive been very impressed with the Acadia. In some ways I prefer it for that trailer to our Silverado. Mileage isn't terrific with the utility trailer in tow (around 16mph on highway), but it never lacks for power or feels like the suspension is stressed, and that is with five people and two dogs as well.

Im not surprised at how well they sell. The Lamdas (Acadia/Enclave/Traverse/Outlook) have more interior room than a Tahoe and get better mileage, although real world is very close.

[bucky]

It's a soccer mom vehicle if they can't or won't buy a Escalde/Denali/Tahoe. They are wonderful people movers, I'll leave it at that.

[poppin_fresh]

I tow my small hybrid with a Traverse. I'm probably around 3300lbs on the camper (I dont tow with full tanks), plus wife, 2 small kids and some stuff in back.

It does completely fine on secondary roads at speeds up to 50MPH or so. I hardly even know the trailer is back there.

On the highway, it's a little different story here in hilly New England. The Traverse's low final drive makes it feel a little underpowered with the wind resistance 65MPH provides. Not that it wont do it, but you will definitely see it turn some RPM on the hills.

[rexlion]

I have the similarly-sized Toyota Highlander (2008) and have towed with it for around 140,000 of its total 162,000 miles. The HL acts like it could go for another 162K. Not bad for a "car".

I imagine the Traverse and its sisters should be able to do about the same... despite the disadvantage of being GM products, lol. 😉