2007 Chevrolet Tahoe
In Hollywood you're only as good as your last film. It's the same in the hyper-competitive car business. So Chevrolet can be forgiven for the palpable sense of nervous anticipation that wafted over the press introduction of the next-generation Tahoe. Industry sales leader in full-size SUVs since 2001, the stakes are huge for GM. Fortunately for them, it's clear that they've gotten it right. Nearly every niggling complaint I had about the previous platform has been addressed.
Start with the interior. Gone is the low-rent plastic and exposed sheetmetal of yesteryear. It's been replaced by artfully styled, upscale materials with a premium look and feel. The instrument panel is moved forward and down and the windshield is enlarged and raked back at a 57-degree angle, significantly enhancing visibility. Base LS models receive an attractive brushed-metal upper-instrument panel treatment while the LT and range-topping LTZ receive accents of man-made burl wood that looks better than much of the real stuff we've seen.
There's an enormous center console, enlarged glove box and storage pockets everywhere. Front seats have longer travel and fairly flat lower cushions for easy entry but the upper backs offer enough lateral support to keep you from sliding across the cabin when cornering. Second-row rear seats can be optionally heated; they can power-folded via controls located in the overhead console and at the rear cargo area. The third-row seat, when so equipped, is removable. There's 16.9 cubic feet of cargo room with all three seats up, rising to 60.3 cubic feet with second row folded. Two-seat models with second row folded have a whopping 108.9 cubic feet of cargo room.
The large screen of an improved nav system dominates the upper section of the center stack and doubles as a monitor for the backup camera, a feature that can easily pay for itself in a single missed encounter with a fixed object or worse, an errant pedestrian.
Bodywork is tastefully restyled, marked by a body-color split grille flanked by projector-beam headlights and nicely integrated bumper and front fascia. Overall length is up by three inches. Weight jumps by 500 pounds, something most large vehicles can do without, this one included. The 5.3-liter V-8 (320 hp and 340 lb-ft, up from 295 hp and 330 lb-ft in the previous model) now has Displacement on Demand, switching seamlessly between 8- and 4-cylinder operation and increasing fuel mileage 10 percent. EPA mileage rating is a realistic 16/22 for 2WDs. In a loaded 4WD LTZ 4WD, at steady freeway speeds I saw 25.4 mpg, a phenomenal number for a 5,500-pound SUV. (The 295 hp 4.8-liter V-8 does even better and an E85 flex-fuel 5.3-liter variant is also available.)
The chassis receives substantial upgrades. Hydroformed frame rails increase torsional rigidity by a claimed 46 percent. Front track is widened 3.2 inches and the rear by one inch. There's a new coil-over-shock front suspension. And finally, rack and pinion steering. Now there's some on-center steering feel and the Tahoe tracks obediently without the need for constant little steering corrections.
Different sets of suspension tuning are available. Standard on 2WD and 4WD models is the ZW7 Premium Smooth Ride. The Z55 Autoride suspension is standard on LTZ models and switches automatically between two suspension settings to optimize the ride/handling compromise. Driven over a mix of paved and gravel roads full of chatter bumps, Autoride demonstrated an impressive ability to filter out harshness without sacrificing handling ability. Even the base suspension is vastly more capable than before. Levels of interior NVH are among the lowest I've seen in this class of vehicle.
Other than being burdened with a 4-speed automatic-Cadillac/GMC upscale models get the new 6-speed before the others-the 2007 Tahoe is a highly refined, well-equipped sport-ute with some very compelling virtues. One additional virtue: a reduced price. The 2WD Tahoe LS is base-priced at $33,855; the 2WD LT is $35,625 and the 4WD LT starts at $38,420. These prices exclude the $900 destination freight charge.
At the press launch of the new Tahoe the GM press-relations folks were generous in their use of superlatives to describe this GMT-900-platform vehicle. That's to be expected. They get paid for doing that. But after spending time in the Tahoe, in large part I'd have to agree with them. It's a remarkably superior vehicle to the outgoing model.
