Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited

23 messages, Last post on Apr 07, 2009 at 6:39 PM

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What is this discussion about? Ford Flex, Chevrolet Traverse, Car Comparisons, Wagon, SUV

2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited - Only $1,005 separates the base prices of the all-wheel-drive versions of the 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 and 2009 Ford Flex Limited ($36,250 and $37,255, respectively). However, thanks to a pile of options on our Flex Limited tester and none on our Traverse LT2, there's a $7,000 cost gap between the cars in this test.(more)

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#13 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [narg] by zone4 Nov 13, 2008 (7:23 pm)
Replying to: narg (Nov 13, 2008 3:22 pm) Have you forgotten that Ford, Chevy, and Dodge sell their vehicles overseas? In fact if it wasn't for their overseas markets they would be more in debt and probably out of business. So when the people of other countries buy American vehicles they are sending money overseas also to America. American car companies don't make enough money to pay all their employees without selling cars overseas. So the people who buy American vehicles in other countries are helping to keep people in America employed. If you think we should not buy foreign cars then maybe we shouldn't buy their oil also. Then the oil companies can charge $12 a gallon and we can ride around in 30 gallon American made SUVs. Don't forget how telephone service was when there was only AT&T. Competition can sometimes make things better. Although I do think American quality has gotten better (I love the Traverse) it basically boils down to personal choice. Even though we see things differently, just buying American is not the answer. Replies to this message: narg (Nov 23, 2008 8:43 pm)
#14 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [narg] by guy1974 Nov 18, 2008 (1:07 pm)
Replying to: narg (Nov 13, 2008 3:22 pm) I have also looked at the Traverse and think it is a good looking large CUV. Similar to the Buick in some details. The GMC Acadia is the more traditional SUV styling and looks handsome. My wife and I looked at a Honda Pilot and a Chevy Traverse and my wife who usually favors imports thought the interior design and quality was better in the Chevy. one thing though Narg - I would resist quoting anecdotes because someone else will have a story where the import was better than the domestic. I would recommend going to www.truedelta.com which rates reliability using statistics rather than anecdotes. Replies to this message: narg (Nov 23, 2008 8:48 pm) guy1974 (Nov 25, 2008 8:50 am)
#15 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [zone4] by narg Nov 23, 2008 (8:43 pm)
Replying to: zone4 (Nov 13, 2008 7:23 pm) Nope, zone4, I didn't forget about others. And YES competition is a very good thing. In this case it was an EXTREMELY good thing, as I stated that now American made cars and trucks are vastly better than before, and today becoming better than any Asian made vehicle. (P.S. don't get me started on the telecom thing, remember it blew up in the early 2000's due to competition problems. So sometimes competition can be bad too.) In the context of this conversion, yes buying American is a very good answer. Is it the perfect answer? None of us can answer that, so I'm not going that far. How far will I go? Well, to start with, there is a 2 day old Traverse now sitting in my driveway (WOOOT!!) I test drove a Ford Flex, and loved it too. But GM's incentives and the ride of the Traverse beat the Flex. The Flex had some better features, but I just "fit" the Traverse as if "fit" me better than the Flex. Either of these two would be a much better choice than any foriegn crossover SUV today. I think that many good reviews say the same thing, as like in JD Powers showing initial quality of American vehicles outdoing foriegn makers today. It's an exciting time in the car market today. Competition has brought us here. It's also seperated folks from reality, as the advertising has somewhat brainwashed a few too many folks, IMHO. Basically zone4, we agree. The Traverse is a very lovable SUV.
#16 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [guy1974] by narg Nov 23, 2008 (8:48 pm)
Replying to: guy1974 (Nov 18, 2008 1:07 pm) guy1974, I'm a participant in www.truedelta.com. If you look closely at their data, you will start to see the American cars moving upward, where foriegn cars are stagnating in quality ratings. (you can find the same movement in Consumer Reports, and other car rating sources.) Also consider this web site is unfortuantely easy to "taint" with bad data. Competition in the car market with owners is feirce, so much so I would not give collections like this one much room for correctness. Just as in any statistic, there is "X% room for error", not sure what the calculated error rate on truedelta is though. Simply, take it with a grain of salt. Replies to this message: guy1974 (Nov 25, 2008 8:50 am)
#17 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [narg] by guy1974 Nov 25, 2008 (8:50 am)
Replying to: narg (Nov 23, 2008 8:48 pm) Narg - I am totally with you that the domestics (prehaps not including Chrysler) have improved greatly and are comparable to Toyota and Honda in quality. Truedelta does bear out that GM and Ford have improved over time and I have much more confidence in treudelta's data than Consumer Reports which has no numerical values and is 12-18 months out of date. Truedelta will have Traverse data in February '09 whereas the 2009 Lamdbas in CR will not be reported on until end of 09 at the earliest. As a prospective buyer truedelta fits a need and I am interested in the next quarterly update in February 2009. Enjoy your great new Traverse.
#18 of 23 saturn89 by Saturn89 Jan 18, 2009 (6:39 am)
We Americans are selling our country. We send a lot of money offshore with most things we buy today. Foreign countries use the money we send them to buy the United States, or loan us money. This all means we are losing our sovereignty and will soon be controlled by the people who own us.
#19 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [narg] by tfd123 Mar 24, 2009 (1:25 pm)
Replying to: narg (Nov 13, 2008 3:22 pm) This post is so full of inaccuracies and plain old fashioned BS that I barely know where to start. How about the beginning: Let's see. Your first paragraph belittles "Quality Surveys" as nothing more than public opinion based on TV commercials (?). Then, in an attempt to back your claim that domestic manufacturers are building better cars, you reference the most recent survey by saying that Buick (and Jaguar) beats Lexus. So which is it? Are these "Quality Surveys" useful or not? Seems like you're picking your spots. As for the surveys. They are based on public opinion. The opinions of the people who actually own the cars. Would love to see your data on how these are influenced by TV rather than an owner's actual experience. Do tell. As for those "lies" that Toyota tells. Hate to break it to you Captain America - that's called advertising. What about the Chevy ads with the Transformers? Were you expecting a Cobalt to turn into a robot right off the showroom floor? Toyota and Honda built great cars in the 80's because they weren't heavy on "features and parts"? What precisely does that mean? Were Corollas made from 6 or 7 moving parts? Maybe it's because they were well built...period...and didn't fall apart like domestics have for so long. "All cars are basically built the same". Hmm...interesting. So a Lexus LS460h and a Chevy Aveo are basically the same? Didn't think so. The fact is there are still wide variances in the quality and manufacturing processes of all brands of cars, leading to the wide variance in quality among brands. I won't even begin to try to understand why the "Nader Era" has anything to do with the quality of cars today. I suspect you don't understand it either. "Today I drive American, cuz I'm an American". Ahh...my favorite topic. Oh Captain, my Captain, I would love to hear your definition of "American". Would it be the Fusion, made in Mexico of 60% foreign parts? Or the Saturn Vue, built entirely in Germany with virtually all foreign parts? Or how about the Chevy pickup built in Canada, or the Aveo built in Korea? Or maybe it's the Camry, built in Kentucky with 70% domestic content, or the Accord built in Ohio with 60% domestic content. Which is it? Honda, Toyota and Hyundai all have research, design and engineering facilities in the US to design and build cars for US consumption. Like any other enterprise, those "profits" you fret about get plowed back in to the business, to fund...wait for it...more research, development and manufacturing. This in turn employs tens of thousands of Americans. Go to Marysville, OH and tell those guys what you think about their jobs and their kids' futures. My idea of being an American is having freedom of choice rather than being told that I need to buy an American car to be a true American. Your viewpoint sounds like Communism to me. By the way, what do you plan to do with your DVD player made in Japan, your clothes made in Malaysia, your alarm clock made in China or your fruit imported from South America? So let me get this straight...you have a Chevy that's in good shape, and a family member with a Camry with broken door handles. From this exhaustive scientific research, you have concluded that "Asian quality has tanked." Well done. All of the actual research, surveys, etc., showing otherwise just doesn't stand up to Capt. America! What this amounts to is misdirected yahoo flag-waving pseudo patriotism. You ignore a key salient point: we are in a global economy. Domestic vs. foreign was easy to quantify 30 years ago, but not so today. Where's your anger at GM and Ford and Chrysler farming out production, parts supplies and engineering to foreign countries? I will not argue with you on one point: I agree that Ford and GM have made great strides in quality. So much so that after years of import ownership, we are shopping the Flex against the Pilot and Highlander. But stating that "Asian quality has tanked" just because you have a decent 2000 Chevy (you should buy a 2009 Accord to help the US economy) and you believe that Toyota and Honda "lie" (whatever that means) is completely and totally false, and frankly makes you sound like a creepy conspiracy theory-type. Good luck with that DVD player. Replies to this message: nickdago (Mar 24, 2009 3:34 pm)
#20 of 23 Re: Article Comments - 2009 Chevy Traverse LT2 vs. 2009 Ford Flex Limited [tfd123] by nickdago Mar 24, 2009 (3:34 pm)
Replying to: tfd123 (Mar 24, 2009 1:25 pm) Is bloviating your profession or are you just really good at talking without out really saying much. By the way, keeping it short and sweet, we have 6 cars in our family, 5 American and one Honda Civic. The civic is without a doubt the car we least like to drive. It is hard for us to see why people think Japanese cars are really so great. They lack style, they lack the fun factor and from our experience are no better built than any other car. If you ever had trouble finding your car in a parking lot most likely you are driving a Japanese car. The Japanese stardom seems to be more perception than reality.
#21 of 23 A long time ago.... by bgardiner Apr 04, 2009 (8:32 am)
Japanese cars were way better than american. I remember my dad constantly working on our gran torino. A car with over 100k miles and no issues was rare. Today american cars are very well made. That is a fact. As far as style, I like some american cars and some foreign, mostly I think some american cars try to break the mold, japanese cars usually look very similar to one another. Just my $.02.