The Best SUV Chevy Has Ever Built Although 2006 is in its infancy, I recently spent the day driving Chevy's new 2007 Tahoe SUV. GM introduced the full-size rig to
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| Chevy introduced the full-size 2007 Tahoe to an assortment of auto journalists in Arizona. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
an assortment of auto journalists in none other than sunny Arizona; but if you think the plan was to simply drive the latest GM product down Scottsdale's cacti-lined Boulevards, guess again. Our route took us along a series of secondary highways that connected Lake Roosevelt to Tortilla Flats via the Apache Trail. As Terry Woychowski put it, Chevy's Chief Engineer for full-size trucks, "If we didn't have confidence in this vehicle, we wouldn't have tackled the Apache Trail," a dust-laden roller coaster of a dirt road that clings to canyon walls, dipping and diving hundreds of metres (900 feet) at a time. This former supply trail is characterized by blind hairpin turns, severe wash-boarding and steep inclines - the compilation of which push a vehicle's traction and handling capabilities to the max.
With interior craftsmanship and design beginning to fail the test of time, combined
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| Most apparent to the eye in transformation from 2006 to 2007 model year, is the new Tahoe's tremendously clean sheet metal, (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
with exterior styling that was long in the tooth, there's little arguing that Chevy needed to pay some immediate attention to its full-size line of SUVs. To rectify the detractions, the bowtie division didn't just plaster on a new front grille and throw in a revised instrument panel. No, they pretty much re-did the Tahoe from rubber to roof. Most apparent to the eye is its tremendously clean sheet metal, which by the way has resulted in a remarkable 0.36 co-efficient of drag (CD) - that's equivalent to the sleek C4 generation of Corvette (1992-1996) incidentally. And of course the better the CD, the better the
fuel economy. Plus, a slippery shape generates less atmospheric turbulence, translation: reduced wind noise. Anytime an auto manufacturer can move something roughly the shape of a breadbox down a highway without it producing wind noise equivalent to a category-5 hurricane, progress has been made.
