Twitter Test Driver: Jesse Rodgers

Vehicle: 2009 Chevrolet Traverse

Twitter account:@jrodgers

Jesse Rodgers was our next Twitter Test Driver. He drove a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. He has posted a blog about his travels. Please click here to read an expanded view of his Twitter Test Drive experience.

What did you like about the vehicle?

• Back row of seats—although not entirely usable for adults (what back row is?) there are plenty of seat belts for when you need to move kids around town
• Even with the back row up you have space for stuff—something I didn’t expect given it isn’t a Yukon or Tahoe.
• The 3.6L engine can actually move the thing—it has enough acceleration to be fun
• Overall design of the interior—although not up to European quality of materials, it certainly is well designed and comfortable

What didn’t you like about the vehicle?

• The stock GM technical parts that you see in 20-30K vehicles in this one that has a 50K+ price tag—The quality isn’t there in the 20 year old digital displays compared to similarly priced BMW’s and Mercedes.
• The exterior lighting—again, for the price I would expect xenon lights and less ‘cheap’ looking plastic
• Mileage—this vehicle isn’t broken in but but the avg economy on a highway drive between Waterloo and Hamilton was 12L/100km (~20 mpg). Why wouldn’t I just drive the V8 Tahoe?
• The one I had was front wheel drive only—for the price I would expect all wheel drive.

What was your overall impression of the vehicle?

Overall I think it is a great XUV (SUV is so 1990s) that does pretty much all of what a mini-van offers but with a much more solid vehicle that you can use on light off-road fun and snowy days.

What was your overall impression of  the #TwitterTestDrive?

As far as I know the Waterloo Auto Mall is the only dealership trying to actually use social media and reach out to its customer base. I think it is a brilliant idea to try out and let the users of social media reach out to their online friends about a real experience that is essentially word of mouth marketing. I expect the #twittertestdrive hashtag will be filled of some honest and interesting experiences over this summer that will influence at least a couple car buying decisions out there.