2007 Chevrolet Tahoe

New Tahoe Is Grand In Size And Price

by James E. Bryson

Pulling out all the stops on redesigning its fleet of cars and trucks, Chevrolet is making it clear that it will not lose any more ground (nee, market share) to any and all of its rivals by bringing more new product to life this year. We got a chance to spend a week with the all-new 2007 Tahoe and what a ride it is.

Redesigned from the ground up, the Tahoe now has rounded lines and tight seems where it had angular surfaces and plastic cladding to hide behind for the last 10 years or so it seems.

What the designers and stylists have done is give the old girl a much-needed facelift and tummy tuck. The lines have been smoothed out and the muscles are showing, not bad for a vehicle that can trace its lines to the 1930s.

In stark contrast to the ’07 GMC Yukon we recently drove, the Tahoe we were given to test was tops of the line with four-wheel-drive, leather captains chairs all around and three rows of seats, making this one a seven-passenger. While this is close to what you might get with a Suburban, the space behind that third row is not very useful, where the extra inches the ‘Burb carries goes directly to the cargo area, making it much more efficient at carrying all those people and their stuff.

And don’t misunderstand, the Tahoe is no slouch at carrying seven passengers, as long as the rearmost row is full of little people and they don’t need silly things like clothes and toiletries.

The new look features clean lines and softer styling, while keeping a similar look from years past; think of it as an evolution not revolution.

Up front, the grill is given the now-standard Chevy treatment of a strong crossbar with integrated Chevy bowtie, tying the design with the other Chevy products. Also, the domed hood and aggressive angles of the headlight clusters give the new Tahoe a snarl that seems to say “get of my way or I’ll roll over you.”

As with the Yukon, gaps are controlled and smaller, giving truck a more quality, carved-from-one-piece-of-metal look. Add to that the all-black luggage rack and running boards and the Tahoe seems to be moving uptown, with interior accoutrements to back that assumption up.

Speaking of the interior, the four captains chairs are comfy and make long rides something to look forward to. Heated seats are always good and these were well bolstered and much better than the bench in the Yukon.

The new dash design is quite handsome and the materials were the best we’ve seen in a Chevy truck. Everything also felt very familiar, like they updated the look and feel, but didn’t stray far from the previous design. Again, evolution.

One thing we found particularly neat was the rain-sensing wipers. These systems have been around for a few years but we weren’t expecting it to show up on a Chevy, let alone a Tahoe. We figured it out on a day when the rain was spotty. We turned on the wipers to get the windshield clear and wondered why they didn’t keep running every minute or so (as we had set the intermittent interval for). Then, a few raindrops and the wipers sprang to life! How glorious it felt to not have to keep adjusting the timing, or to turn the wipers on when a little rain fell. Talk about a home run for “America’s brand”.

And speaking of rain, that same day, as we were out and about in a heavy downpour, we actually got the big Tahoe into a four-wheel drift by hitting the go-pedal a bit too hard and inducing wheelspin. The only non-fun part was the intervention of the traction control system, which we immediately shut off for some more good times.

Handling for such a big vehicle is always in question and the Tahoe answers by giving good feedback through the controls and keeping most body motions to a minimum, as the laws of physics will allow. Wit that said, this new truck with its improved structure with fully boxed frame, wider front and rear tracks and a lower center of gravity handles like a vehicle half its size. We found ourselves driving hard a fast through areas we would never had thought to do in the old Tahoe, which brought us to the conclusion that it’s a little big for rallying but what a blast it might be out there!

Power is good enough to get you moving to highway speeds without too much fuss (5.3-liter V8, 320 horsepower/335 lb.-ft. of torque), just not good enough to push you deep into your seat. But with gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon, it’s good to know that the Tahoe we drove, with Active Fuel Management that shuts down four cylinders when at cruising speed, should save trips to the gas man, just not as many as we’d like. The EPA rates the 5.3 in our test Tahoe at 15 city and 21 highway, compared with 14 city and 18 highway for last year’s model.

Pricing on the Tahoe is in the stratosphere for non-luxury SUVs, but you do get a lot for what you pay. The base price on our four-wheel-drive LT was $37,665.00, which included such niceties as four-wheel antilock disc brakes, the flex-fuel 5.3-liter V8 with active fuel management 17-inch aluminum wheels, a review mirror with autodimming, compass and outside temperature, tow package, luggage rack and heated outside mirrors.

Add to the lofty price our options (LT3 equipment group ($3650)—leather bucket seats; 12-way power seats for driver and front passenger; radio with MP3-capable six-disc changer, Bose speakers and XM; power adjustable pedals; head curtain side airbags; rear parking assist; outside power folding mirrors with auto-dimming and turn signals and triple-zone climate controls.); three-passenger third row seating ($860); second row bucket seats ($490) with heat ($200); power liftgate ($350); P265/70R17 all-season tires ($125); rain-sensing wipers ($95) and a destination charge of $875.00 and the as-tested price for our loaded Tahoe was $44,605.00. Whew!

If you're looking for a solid truck-based SUV to haul/tow/wreak havoc, the Tahoe is your stead, and the saddle is comfortable enough to keep you going long after the ride is through.

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