Chevrolet sold about 20,000 Tahoes in the first two months of 2007, which isn’t bad, given volatile gas prices that have, more than any other factor, crippled sales of large SUVs. Ford sold 13,644 Expeditions during that same period, so Chevy has to be pleased with how the Tahoe is doing.
Which must be a relief, given the megamillions the company sank into the 2007 redesign of its big SUV family, which includes the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL and Denali, and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV. The big-ute family is holding its own.
It’s an undeniably profitable segment, too. Our test Tahoe, a four-wheel-drive LT with the Z71 off-road package, started at $38,420 and ended up at $47,825. And the LT isn’t the top-of-the-line Tahoe; that would be the LTZ. Click enough option boxes on the LTZ’s order form, and you’re nudging $57,000, which is sobering because the GMC and Cadillac versions are supposed to be the deluxe versions.
The test Tahoe was plenty deluxe enough, with leather seats, a touch-screen navigation system, a rear-view camera, an XM satellite radio with the Bose sound system and the aforementioned Z71 off-road package. The Tahoe, with a 5.3-liter, 320-horsepower V-8 (which runs happily on regular gas) has loads of power, but weighing in at 5,537 pounds, it isn’t exactly light on its feet when taken off the highway. Still, there’s plenty of ground clearance, so it can go off-road if required.
The 4×4 settings allow for rear-wheel-drive, four-wheel-drive, low-range four-wheel-drive and automatic, which is what we used mostly: The drivetrain operates essentially in two-wheel-drive until onboard sensors detect wheel slippage, then the front wheels get powered, too, to help stabilize the vehicle. Present too, of course, is electronic stability control and anti-lock brakes, plus side air bags.
On pavement, the Tahoe rides exceptionally well. The steering is a little twitchy, but that could be the 18-inch tires that come with the Z71 package. The engine can’t be faulted — the EPA rating is 15 miles per gallon city, 21 mpg highway — but our highway mileage exceeded that slightly. The transmission is a four-speed automatic, which is fine, but that sounds less impressive that the five- and six-speed automatics in other SUVs. Towing capacity is 8,200 pounds.
Inside, the front seats are comfortable and supportive. Middle seats are reasonably roomy, but the old-fashioned flip-up third-row seats are not that adult-friendly; headroom is fine, legroom is not. If you need to put grown-ups back there often, get a Suburban. The Tahoe is 202 inches long, and the Suburban is 222.4 inches long. Even so, the Tahoe still has almost 17 cubic feet of room behind the third seat, which certainly is adequate for groceries or quite a bit of luggage.
The Tahoe is one of my favorite big SUVs, with the styling alone enough to move it to the front of the line. When the gasoline/electric hybrid version arrives as a 2008 model — supposedly upping mileage by 20 percent or more — it could find a whole new set of customers.
