American Essentials: The Suburban

Over the most recent break I shared with most other North American college students, I had the pleasure of driving perhaps one of the most quintessentially American modern vehicles, the Chevrolet Suburban LTZ. This particular example was in Budget's rental fleet, and we were upgraded since they recently decided they would not put ski racks on the premium cars, Chrysler 300c's and the like. Anyway, walking up to one of these is easy as you can spot it from miles away. Weighing in at 5,820 pounds and measuring over 18.5 feet long the USS Suburban is no lightweight. This one had 9,3xx miles on it when we rented it.

Sitting behind the big steering wheel you notice that the space available in the driver's seat is akin to that of standard sized futon. Quite a change from the smaller and much narrower Discovery and Mercedes. Finding a nice position is easy once seated as the pedals are adjustable. Nice feature, but for $60k I would have expected a steering wheel that telescopes as well as tilts. Alas. Once underway, the ride is 100% truck, but rather smooth and compliant with well tuned damping that keeps the old ladder frame settled. It handled potholes of which there were many well, but not quite with the aplomb of the LT that has smaller alloys installed at the factory. The steering was expectedly numb but felt overboosted especially on the highway. In general though, it handles well enough to still drive like an asshole. Perfect

Playing in the same sandbox as handling is speed. Even with 320hp from the 5.3 liter Vortec V8 under the hood, it feels lethargic. Sure it's faster than both the Benz and the Rover, but it just felt underpowered. I couldn't tell if this was due to poor maintenance and ignorance of the break in procedure, or if it was just slow. No matter though, most of the time driving up and down the canyons I just dropped the column shifter to its M mode and used the convenient buttons to cycle through the 6 ratios as desired. Fuel economy is impressive and I've observed low 20's average mpg with other suburbans on the same routes.

The inconvenient truth about the suburban however is that it is a behemoth. The cavernous cargo area makes throwing skis, roadkill, car parts, luggage, or Uncle Vinnie in the back easy. It also seems that most of the time the Suburban is relegated to carrying one person and taking up the space of three cars. I see why now. With copious interior appointments and gadgets to cool, heat, and relax your snacks hands and even Vinnie all the way in the back the Suburban is a pleasant place to be. With a tow rating of 8000 pounds I would even consider owning one.