Chevy Tahoe? Any reason to NOT get one?

Brigala said:

My vote would be for the Suburban unless he needs something shorter for parking purposes.

There's a huge range of gas mileage in different Suburbans depending on how they're set up. Look at the engine size and the gear ratios. You won't need the burliest truck if you're not doing towing and that sort of thing. We used to have a Suburban that got about 17-18 miles to the gallon. I loved it. But DH decided he wanted something to pull heavy tractors over the mountain back and forth between our farm and my uncle's ranch, and so we sold it to his daughter and bought a different one that only gets about 13-14 mpg. :thumbsdown:

Generally speaking, a Suburban 1500 is likely to be set up with the more efficient gear ratio and a 2500 is likely to be set up with the heavy-duty but less fuel efficient ratio. But that's not a set in stone rule. Even if you go with a Tahoe I imagine there will be different options and this information might be important.

He says you're looking for a higher rear-end ratio, which is a lower number. Ours has a 4.11:1 rear end ratio, and our old one had a 3.70:1 ratio.

Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks . When I'm looking at used vehicles, where do I look to find this info?

Parking... sigh... that's the one thing (likely the ONLY thing) I'll miss if he gets rid of his little car. After driving the big vans all the time, it's so nice to be able to take his car shopping and just scoot into whatever spot (even if people park over the lines ).

I know you've already got big vans ... so this may or may not be a factor.

DH looked at the Tahoes briefly, before settling on an Expedition -- b/c of towing capacity, my parents have a large travel trailer and no Tahoe was going to be able to pull it comfortably. His work pays for his gas, so we do not worry about fuel economy at all. DH can put 600+KM on the truck in one day, so his priorities are different than some, the truck is very comfortable to drive, which was key.

It's been a dream to install carseats in, lots of LATCH positions, he rarely has the 3rd row set up, and has tons of cargo space when they are down -- they do fold flat -- we can go camping for a weekend with 2 kids & dog in the 2nd row, and my 'excessive overpacking' of gear all fits in the back. DH also got a 3 across set up w/ a Snugride/Maestro/3-in-1-giant-eddiebauer thing with room to spare. HOWEVER, that does mean that it FILLS most parking spots in both width & length.

The back lid/door closes more easily on his truck than my Freestyle, and the model he has -- has air conditioned seats which are sort of nice.

I like my freestyle. I have the 6 seat model, 2006 I think. Plenty of cargo space for daily stuff (several bikes fit w/ a wheel off, stroller - big jogging one, and groceries fit fine etc.) with the seats folded down for the 3rd row.Still ok on space - one stroller that is not the big jogging one, or a couple weeks of groceries or a kid bike or two - with the 3rd row seats up. Only one rear tether in the 3rd row though, which annoys me. It's better on gas than the Expedition, not sure how much better, I consider buying gas to be a necessary evil and don't think about it too much! I filled up this morning from nearly empty for 80$, and the car tells me I can do 588KM on that.