Short Take Road Test
It began in 1935 as the Suburban-Carryall, a pickup-based wagon whose all-steel body upstaged its woody rivals, and it has gone on to become the perennial big kahuna of utility vehicles.
Note the omission of the word "sport" in the foregoing. At 18.5 feet long and more than three tons, the Suburban is as sporty as a brontosaur, and just as deft in tight parking lots. Hence the term suburban, with its vast shopping-mall parking-lot connotation, is particularly apt. So is the term carryall. All of what? Well, whatcha got? People? The Suburban can carry up to nine. Cargo? Payloads range between 1593 and 2561 pounds, or 137 cubic feet, the max volume behind the front seats.
Towing goes from 8000 pounds for 4WD 1500-series models such as our test vehicle to 9700 pounds for a 2WD 2500-series. There are essentially two V-8s—a pair of 5.3-liters, one of them iron block, the other all aluminum—and two 6.0-liters, ditto, with variable valve timing on the aluminum version, a $1095 option included in our tester.
Like GM's smaller (comparatively) full-size utes, the Suburban has been extensively revised for 2007, starting with the new GMT900 truck chassis. This firm foundation, plus a new coil-spring front suspension and new rack-and-pinion steering, yields distinctly more decisive responses. Improved dynamics, including stronger braking, are augmented by a raft of active and passive standard safety features, plus the option of four-wheel drive.
Inside, this truck has a more upscale look, especially in our loaded LTZ (a package that adds more than $8000), and of course interior volume rivals that of a good many Tokyo apartments.
All in all, it's a better Suburban, and still the big boy to beat. But the future is full of question marks. The fuel-economy question, of course; we averaged 10 mpg. At this writing, unleaded regular is climbing past $2.50, making that kind of mpg barely acceptable, and for how long?
More important, vehicles such as this are becoming less and less PC, as CO2 phobia sweeps the electorate. Owners probably don't have to worry about torch-bearing mobs just yet. But they'd better be prepared for increasing disapproval.
