Thoughts On The New Metal From A RECENT Suburban Owner
As a recent first-time domestic vehicle owner, first-time truck owner, and first-time Chevy owner with my 2018 Suburban, I was keenly interested in the new 2021 Chevy Suburban and Tahoe, and what changes and improvements they might make. It’s funny how I’m digesting all of the facts and figures about these trucks, but couldn’t tell you the first thing about the latest BMW 3-series or ///M cars. My, how times have changed, but that’s a story for another day.
I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the new full-sized SUVs from GM, and that there’s a lot to like. You can read from my previous two blogs about my 2018 Suburban, which I’ve found to be an overall very well thought out and engineered vehicle. The 2021 Suburban and Tahoe will be even better.
CHEVY SUBURBAN LYFE - ONE YEAR REVIEW - November 15, 2019
FULL REVIEW: HOW THE HELL DO YOU GO FROM DRIVING A BMW 335I TO A 2018 CHEVY SUBURBAN - February 2, 2019
Big Gets Bigger
The Tahoe is now a Suburban Lite
Both the Suburban and the smaller Tahoe have grown in size, but the biggest difference is actually with the Tahoe, which has seen a substantial lengthening of 6.7 inches, and a wheelbase stretch of 4.9 inches. 2nd row legroom improves by 3 inches to 42.0 inches, and 3rd row legroom is improved by a whopping 10.1 inches to 34.9 in, finally giving the Tahoe a 3rd row of seating that’s fully usable by most adults. But wait, there’s more. The rear cargo area behind the 3rd row of seats is also hugely improved from a skimpy 15.3 to a generous 25.5 cubic-feet. Maximum cargo area (with all seats folded) is also improved from 94.7 cubic feet to 122.9, giving the new Tahoe as much total cargo area as the outgoing Suburban! This is thanks mostly to a cargo floor that appears to be around 6 inches lower than before, but is also due to the additional length. The new Hoe almost really is a Suburban-lite, and is now also a more proper big brother to the Traverse large crossover SUV, with more space, more capability, and more performance.
If Only THe Suburban Were a Bit bigger…
The Suburban really can’t get much bigger, or else it will start to reach a size where even the better than average drivers who buy them won’t want to deal with them anymore, so fortunately the biggest changes are inside of the Suburban and not with its exterior dimensions. The Suburban picks up a gargantuan 23 cubic-feet of additional total cargo space, up to 144.7 cubic-feet from 121.7, due to the same lowered cargo floor as the new Tahoe. This will make loading bulky cargo into the Burban a good bit easier than before, which has been one of my few complaints with my 2018 Suburban.
Other than that, dimensional changes to the Burban are minor. It stretches in overall length just 1.3 inches, and gets a wheelbase stretch of 4.1 inches. Inside, the 2nd and 3rd rows of seating each get about 2 inches of additional legroom, and the rear cargo area behind the 3rd row of seats gains about 2 cubic feet of space, thanks mostly to the lower cargo floor.
I’m not going to say that any of the Burb’s increase in size is going to fundamentally change its maneuverability, but that one Trader Joe’s parking lot that has already tended to be a skin of your teeth affair with my 2018 Burb, might finally be out with the new one. It’s amazing how maneuverable the big Burban is in tight parking lots, but I really hope that GM engineers have somehow been able to keep the turning circle in check!
Updated and Entirely New Powertrains
You can still get V-8 Engines!
Praise the Lord that GM stuck to their senses and kept their excellent small-block V8 engines in the lineup that just keep getting better and better. The 355hp 5.3L and 420hp 6.2L V8 engines are back with the same outputs as before, and with the same updates as on the Silverado pickup line. The biggest difference is that the new engines have a dozen or so different cylinder deactivation modes versus just V-8 or V-4 on the outgoing engines. Hallelujah for no peaky DOHC V6 engines (GM’s 3.6L is actually pretty good), and heaven forbid not their turbocharged 2.7L 4-cylinder.
The GM-Ford jointly developed 10-speed automatic is now standard across the board, so the solid but basic GM Hydramatic 6-speed 6L80E is gone, as is the clunky 8-speed 8L90E that never seemed to work as it should. It’s also been reported that a 3.23 axle ratio will be the sole available rear-end ratio. This might be somewhat disappointing for those that hoped to get the 3.42 axle ratio with the 5.3L V8, which had been a really nice combination when opting for the Max Towing package. Hopefully the additional cogs in the 10-speed automatic will even things out.
A Duramax 3.0L Inline-6 Turbodiesel
The biggest news of all with the new trucks is the addition of a segment first diesel option, in the form of GM’s new 3.0L Inline-6 Duramax engine, with 277 hp and 460 ft-lbs of torque. I’ve been saying that these full-sized SUVs have been screaming for a diesel engine for ages, and now they finally have one.
My wife and I both loved our 2012 BMW E70 X5d, which also had a 3.0L Inline-6 turbodiesel engine with a bit lower output. All of the torque provided very zippy performance around town, and it easily achieved 26-28 mpg highway on long trips. With my current Suburban managing around 23-24 mpg on the highway with its 5.3L V8 and 6-speed automatic, I have no doubt that the new Suburban and Tahoe ought to be able to achieve 25-26 mpg highway if not a tad more depending on configuration, and probably 16-17 mpg city with the new Duramax. These would be pretty significant improvements for such large vehicles.
Thoughts from a former 3.0L Turbodiesel Inline-6 SUV Onwer
Since I’ve actually owned an SUV with a turbodiesel Inline-6 engine, here are some thoughts on what to expect from the Duramax Hoe and Burban.
Our diesel X5 had a curb weight of 5200 lbs and had 265 hp and 425 ft-lbs of torque. Considering the regular gasser X5 had 300 hp and 300 torques at the time, losing 35 hp but gaining over a hundred torques was a bit of a no-brainer. For the most part, you could just fling yourself around with that massive wall of torque. It felt pretty zippy and even light on its feet for most local driving, but definitely lacked top-end passing power when you really needed it — think country two-lane passing maneuvers.
I expect that the newly stretched Tahoe is going to come in at around 5800 lbs equipped considering its increase in size, and that the Suburban will probably be just as heavy as before also. Not one word of GM’s press release said anything about weight, weight reduction, or weight savings, so I think whatever platform weight savings there might have been in going from the K2xx to the T1xx platform has likely been gobbled up in the vehicles themselves being larger, especially with the Tahoe, and from all of the content that’s been added. While I considered the wheezy 265hp top-end of our diesel X5 to be just barely enough when you really needed maximum horsepower, these GM SUVs are going to be quite a bit heavier for only 12 additional ponies to be handling.
I think the Duramax will make for an excellent pairing with the lighter Tahoe, especially if 2WD, but if you’re talking about a fully loaded 6000 or more pound 4WD Suburban loaded to the max with people and gear, I expect that the Duramax is going to come up a bit short. Going from 355hp with the base 5.3L gasser V-8 to only 277 hp with the Duramax diesel is a lot of power to lose in such a large vehicle — we’re talking barely any more highway passing power than a Toyota Yaris, and probably getting smoked by a base Corolla. You can do the math yourself (peak horsepower per ton of vehicle is a useful metric), and the results aren’t pretty.
Yes, all of “dat torq” is great most of the time, but peak horsepower still matters when you need it, and these Duramax SUVs are definitely going to leave a lot to be desired here. So unless you absolutely don’t care at all about tricky highway merges, passing performance, or “get yourself out of trouble power”, most will probably be better served by the standard and updated 5.3L V8. Regular fuel does tend to be a bit cheaper than diesel as well. I’m sure some performance chips will be available for the Duramax practically as soon as the vehicles themselves are on the lots to rectify the issue, but that also involves tossing warranties out the windows of brand new $50-80k SUVs.
What these full-sized SUVs really needed was that baby 4.5L Duramax V8 that GM never made. Its 310hp and 510 ft-lbs of torque would have made it just about perfect for these 5600-6000 lb SUVs, but I’m happy to have the any Duramax as an option. The diesel they have to offer at a reasonable cost (around $2500 in the Silverado pickup line) is better than no diesel at all. While the engine’s power might be better suited to the lighter Silverado pickup trucks, I’m glad that GM product managers didn’t try to put the 310 hp turbocharged 4-cylinder engine in these beasts, which would have been sacrilege, and have gotten very mixed to negative reviews. Just no to that.
It’ll be interesting to see what the take rate is with the Duramax in these full-sizers, and I look forward to reading about them and possibly sampling one in a Tahoe myself.
ALl The Other new Stuff
Independent Rear Suspension
The “antiquated low-tech donkey cart live-axle rear suspension” is finally gone. GM and auto journos will hype the improved ride quality and how much better it is, but the truth is that there hasn’t been even a single ride quality complaint from any family member in my 2018 Suburban. The ride is definitely a bit jittery when empty when they’re not in the truck, but that tends to be the case with heavier truck suspensions that are designed to haul things. The 22” wheels don’t help anything either, but neither of those two have anything to do with the live-axle rear end. GM has stuck with the live-axle for so long because it’s simple, effective, and also very rugged, and because they’ve actually managed to make them ride pretty well. GM didn’t come to dominate the full-size SUV market because nobody could stand the ride.
I can think of exactly one time in a year and 15,000 miles of driving my 2018 Suburban where I managed to run over a bump that upset the rear-end in a way that an independent suspension would have handled better. I do live in an area where the roads are relatively well maintained, so take that for what it’s worth. I’m more about the big picture and what will get the job done, and less about which specific ingredients are involved to make it happen. Claims about improved ride and handling when I don’t have any real complaints about ride and handling relating to the live-axle doesn’t sell me.
What does sell me is below.
Massively Lower Load Floor
The biggest thing the independent rear suspension will do for buyers of these trucks is lower the load floor to make loading bulky cargo a bit easier, because of the space that’s cleared out in the floor plan of the vehicle. Depending on how exactly you calculate it, the outgoing Suburban has about 40-45 square-feet of cargo floor. Without any significant change in length or width, GM is claiming that the new Suburban has gained 23 cubic-feet of cargo space. To gain that much additional cargo space in a vehicle that’s not really any taller, wider, or longer, means the new load floor is about 6 or so inches lower than the old. Indeed, this is about what it looks like from these comparison photos with my own Suburban on the left, and the new Suburban on the right. You can see that the load floor of the outgoing Burban falls at about the middle of the seat back, whereas it’s down at seat cushion level with the new one. That’s a huge difference, and will make loading bulky items a whole lot easier than before.
I couldn’t line up the angle exactly, but pay close attention to where the seat backs of the 2nd row lands against the front seats, and especially the arm rests of the second row. The new load floor is much lower! That’s my 2018 Suburban on the left, and the new 2021 on the right.
Here’s another view of the Tahoe at a slight angle.
I’m guessing that the vertical opening of the rear hatch is now tall enough, and the load floor short enough, that maybe you don’t have to take the legs of couches off before stuffing them inside. Then again, furniture legs will snag on and scrape up various interior pieces anyway, so you’d still probably want to take them off. We’ve now had more than a few couches in the back of our Suburban, and they’ve all fit one way or another, even without a lower load floor. I think furniture designers take these dimensions in mind when designing their furniture. “Has to fit inside a Chevy Suburban.” Check. Lol
Lights, Cameras, Action, and Screens Galore
There’s now a zillion different camera angles and “Surround HD vision” or whatever they’re calling it for parking [HD Suround Vision, I was close]. There’s more displays in the interior, and they’re bigger, the HUD is fancier and has more colors, and blah, blah, blah. I’m personally not a fan of the “iPad stuck into the dashboard look”, but it’s just how they’re doing things these days. This stuff doesn’t really sell me. I just drive.
On the outgoing SUVs, the rear backup camera and auto tilt-down on both side view mirrors while using your “Mark I Eyeballs” gives you 270 degree coverage to the sides and rear while parking, which I’ve found more than good enough for me, and then there’s front parking sensors which help also. I specifically didn’t opt for any of the interior entertainment options in my own Suburban not just because it kills head space, but because both of my kids are more than happy to keep their eyes glued to their iPads all day long if we let them.
Call me weird, but as an Electrical Engineer I already spend my days fiddling with electronics that don’t work, and strongly prefer to just drive when I’m in vehicle and not be fiddling with screens and electronic doo-dads. And as a former BMW driver, I’ll say that BMW killed my enthusiasm for many of their cars by making them overly electronic and fake feeling, isolating drivers that know the difference from the glorious mechanical engineering that resides underneath! Why pay premium money for a BMW when they don’t feel any better to drive than a Toyota? I realize I’m getting off on a tangent, but you feel more “connected” to the vehicle and road driving my 2018 Suburban than you do with most BMW’s these days, which is really sad! I hope that these new SUVs maintain that level of feel and the confidence that it gives you, and that they don’t become ‘electronically white-washed’ like so many other vehicles have been!
Moving on… /tangent /rant
Air Suspension
The new trucks will now have an optional and adjustable air suspension on higher level models that can raise and lower the ride height through a total range of 4 inches. This will let the trucks squat while on the highway for better aerodynamics, and allow them to rise up if additional clearance is needed for off-roading or snow. On the existing trucks, you get a rear self-leveling air suspension with the Max Towing package, but not a 4-corner air suspension that adjusts ride height. Existing Suburbans and Tahoes just have a fixed ride height and a big chin spoiler to direct the airflow away from the wheels and undercarriage.
The trick air suspension will probably be more useful in the Tahoe, where you can still do a bit of off-roading especially with the Z71 package. Air suspension or not, the Suburban is still going to get owned by its terrible break-over angle limitations because of the huge wheelbase, so the air suspension is more for convenience and tweaking a few tenths of a mile per gallon out of it. I’m not sure that it’s worth the added expense and complexity, but then again you already get a rear self-leveling air suspension in Max Towing equipped vehicles on the outgoing SUVs, so perhaps it’s not that big of a deal to have it at all four corners.
Electronic Shift Buttons
The totally old school steering column mounted shifter is finally gone, having been replaced with a push button arrangement on the dashboard. The steering column shifter never bothered me, but I know it irked plenty and gave them flashbacks to the bad old days of GM, so I say good riddance.
Unlike a lot of these push-button or rotary shifter arrangements, it seems as though GM has put some solid human factors engineering efforts into this with what appears to be an anchor point for your middle finger such that your hand doesn’t slip, and so that you don’t confuse buttons while maneuvering. It looks like you can anchor your hand with your middle finger, and then use your pointer finger to hit Reverse or Park, and then probably your Thumb to punch it into Drive. It seems like it should work pretty well, and it looks a whole lot better than some competitors new shifter arrangements that look like they’d either be an awkward reach, or would easily be confused.
Sliding Second Row Seats
The second row seats will now slide fore and aft through a range of 10 inches, which is definitely handy and allows for a bit more flexible passenger space. The fixed second and third row seating positions on the outgoing Suburban have seemed just about right for my family, although the third row seats definitely aren’t for larger adults. 6-footers will fit back there so long as they’re thinner framed people, and not giant 6’3” 260-pounders like myself. With the sliding second row seats, now larger people will be able to sit in the third row if needed.
Verdict: NEW OR OLD?
So what’s the verdict? Should you or I buy one or upgrade?
New
Old
The New Burban
If you’re in the market for a Suburban, the new one will be the best one yet for sure, but you could also get a screaming good deal on the outgoing 2020 that’s long had all of the bugs worked out through the middle of the year, and before the 2021’s are hitting the lots. Tough call. I guess if you’re planning on moving a lot of bulky furniture around and really need the lower load floor, or if you’re hung up on fuel economy and are open to a diesel (and don’t care about performance so much), those would be the two biggest reasons to wait around for the 2021’s. It’s not like the outgoing Suburban lack space in any way (lol!) I imagine that for-hire service folks would probably do pretty well with Duramax Suburbans also. Imagine getting in excess of 700 miles per tank of fuel. Otherwise, the outgoing 2020’s are still awesome trucks that you’ll be able to get great deals on.
My family and I love our 2018 Suburban, and we’ll probably stick with that. This was always planned to be a buy it and then drive it into the ground for 10+ years type of vehicle for us, and we’re not fundamentally displeased with it in any way to warrant a trade, nor are we hung up on not having the latest metal. In fact, our expectations have been more than exceeded in almost every area with our existing Suburban, so we’re happy to keep plowing ahead.
The New Hoe
If you need three rows of seating from time to time or even all the time, clearly wait for the 2021 Tahoe, as it has so much more space in the 3rd row, and a much improved cargo area. And unlike the Suburban, I think the new Tahoe will be just light enough to make for a pretty nice pairing with the Duramax diesel. You’ll have a far more versatile truck than before that can also get much better fuel economy, while still having a reasonable level of performance. If 3rd row seating isn’t a factor for you, it might be worth it to get a great deal on the outgoing 2020 models.
If I were to make any move at all, I might try to see if I could downsize a tad to the new Tahoe, and just hook up a hitch mounted locking cargo box to the rear for those summer road trips. That would leave me with a smaller, more manageable, and more efficient vehicle the rest of the time, although I have to say, once you have a nearly 9-foot long cargo area to haul stuff and shove couches into, it’s tough to want to give that up! Suburbans are definitely handy in ways that Tahoe’s aren’t!
For the needs of my own family, the large crossover Chevy Traverse was a bit too small. The Suburban has been amazing, but definitely leans more towards the overkill side of things. The new 2021 Tahoe could finally be the “just right” for our needs, even if it won’t swallow couches whole.
Steve’s Final “First Look” Word For now
I think Chevy knocked it out of the park with the new SUVs. Given these are GM’s prime money makers, they have to get these trucks right especially in the face of emerging competition, and I definitely feel that they’ve done that. The Suburban has seen very nice and meaningful improvements to it, and the not-that-much-shorter-anymore Tahoe now makes a much stronger case for itself than it did before. The underpinnings for success are all there, and I have no doubt that both of these new Chevy’s and their more upmarket GMC and Cadillac versions will be very impressive also, once they’re announced. (Spy Photos: The new Escalade looks fantastic!) Whether you want to wait for the latest, or if you want to get a screaming good deal on the outgoing models, I think you’ll be getting top notch products either way.
All photos credit GM in this blog.
GM’s Press Release
CHEVROLET INTRODUCES ALL-NEW 2021 TAHOE AND SUBURBAN: https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/suburban-tahoe.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2019/dec/1210-tahoe-suburban.html
See the 2021 Chevy Suburban & Tahoe Announcement Site here: https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/suburban-tahoe.html
