You have a lot of options if you’re on the market for a midsize SUV – it’s an incredibly popular market segment, and every manufacturer knows it. With so much popularity, however, there comes a great deal of competition and inevitable comparisons, such as looking at the 2020 Chevy Traverse vs 2020 Ford Explorer to see how they stack up. Honestly, the Ford Explorer does have a lot to offer, but there are also some definite reasons to choose the 2020 Chevy Traverse instead.
If you’re a Chevy fan and you’re not sure which midsize SUV is right for you, but you have your eye on the 2020 Chevy Traverse (and who can blame you, it’s a gorgeous piece of machinery), then you might be wondering why you should choose it over the competition. And even if you’re not wondering that – perhaps you’ve already selected the Traverse – you might want some reasons to brag to your Ford-loving friends. Well, either way, I’m going to give you some fuel for the fire and provide you with a few good reasons to pick the Traverse rather than the Explorer (or some new ways to show off).
Reason #1 – The Lower Starting Price
So let’s kick things off with one of the biggest reasons I can see to choose the 2020 Chevy Traverse over the 2020 Ford Explorer, and that’s the price. Now, this might matter to some people more than others, but no matter who you are, I’m sure you want a good value on anything you buy. While the starting MSRP might not be the only thing you look at, and specific deals or incentives can come into play when purchasing a vehicle, it’s a great place to start and worth checking out.
Any other factors aside, the 2020 Chevy Traverse starts at $29,800 MSRP. Again, you might find dealer specials that can bring this even lower, but that’s a good number to have in mind when looking at your options. Higher trims will, of course, run you more, but even if you look at the Chevy Traverse High Country, which is its highest trim, you’ll see that it has a starting MSRP of $50,900. For a great midsize SUV, that’s a solid price point to start with and gives you a lot of wiggle room to get what you want among the various options and packages available.
Now, if we look at the 2020 Ford Explorer, we can see that it starts at $32,765 MSRP – again, putting aside any possible specials you might find. That’s quite a bit higher than the 2020 Chevy Traverse, which means it could put the Explorer outside your preferred budget to start with before you look at any other trims. Speaking of other trims, the highest trim of the 2020 Ford Explorer, the Platinum, takes that starting MSRP up to $58,250. Once again, that’s substantially higher than the highest trim of the Chevy Traverse.
To be entirely fair, when you look at all of the specific features of both vehicles at each trim, they’re not identical, of course. There are differences to be found, and some of that may account for these differences in price. But, that being said, it’s clear that the 2020 Chevy Traverse starts off at a lower price than the 2020 Ford Explorer, and as you look at different trims, it pretty much stays that way.
Reason #2 – More Seating for Passengers
If you want a midsize SUV, then you probably want the impressive interior space and seating that comes with such a vehicle. After all, you could easily choose a small or compact model to get two rows of seating if that’s all you need. But with a midsize SUV and its three rows of seats, you want to have plenty of room for your passengers to all pile in and be comfortable.
The 2020 Chevy Traverse has seating for up to eight people when properly equipped, thanks to a second-row bench seat that gives you room for three in the middle, along with three in the third row and two upfront. This second-row bench seat comes standard on the starting L, and LS trim levels, and it’s an available option on the LT trim, which you can choose with either cloth or leather seating. The higher trims of the Traverse are a bit more focused on luxury, and so they have a pair of captain’s seats for the second row, rather than a bench seat.
With the 2020 Ford Explorer, however, there is no such option at any trim level for a second-row bench seat. This means that every model of the Explorer has seating for only seven people total: two up front, two in the middle, and three in the third row. If you need to have room for eight people, then you’re simply out of luck when looking at the Ford Explorer.
Reason #3 – Greater Interior Passenger Volume
Speaking of interior space, the comfort of yourself and your passengers is not all about seating. Anyone that has ever flown in a commercial airplane knows that it’s not about the number of seats as much as it’s about the amount of room each person has. With that in mind, we should take a look at the available passenger volume in each of these vehicles to see how they compare.
This is a pretty simple numbers game: the 2020 Chevy Traverse gives you more than 157 cu.ft. of interior passenger space, while the 2020 Ford Explore offers about 152 cu.ft. of space. Now, that might not seem like a huge difference on paper, but once you visualize that in three-dimensional space, it becomes much more impressive. So your passengers will have more room to stretch out and enjoy themselves in the Traverse.
Reason #4 – Greater Interior Cargo Volume
Of course, passenger volume is not the only thing that matters – what about when you need room for all of your stuff? That’s when cargo volume comes into play, and once again, the 2020 Chevy Traverse comes out on top. The Traverse gives you more than 98 cu.ft. of total cargo volume, while the 2020 Ford Explorer has just over 87 cu.ft. available. That is a pretty huge difference that can really impact what you can take with you when loading up your SUV.
Reason #5 – The Teen Driver Safety System
Both the 2020 Chevy Traverse and the 2020 Ford Explorer have a long list of excellent standard and available safety features. One thing the Traverse has that the Explorer doesn’t, however, is Chevy’s Teen Driver system. This lets you assign a key fob to your teenager, and then the system will automatically enable and disable certain things to help improve their performance as a new driver. This includes things like limiting the volume on the stereo system to help avoid distractions.
The Teen Driver system also provides you with an in-vehicle report card you can check to see how your young driver is doing behind the wheel. This gives you information you can use to make sure you’re reinforcing safe behavior and providing lessons on areas they might need help with. You won’t find this on the Ford Explorer, and it makes the 2020 Chevy Traverse the clear choice if you have a young driver that you’re teaching to stay safe behind the wheel.
