Chevrolet Suburban 1500 4x4For more than 40 years, the Suburban has been the benchmark by which all other fullsize SUVs have been judged. In fact, until recently, it was in a class by itself. It is big and roomy enough to accommodate the largest of families and still provides excellent room for storing all kinds of gear, both inside and up above on the rack.
As big as it is, though, the Suburban never feels overwhelming, at least not to the driver. It is designed to be user friendly in every way, right down to the push-button, shift-on-the-fly four-wheel drive. And lest you imagine that a vehicle with this much sheetmetal must be slow and cumbersome, guess again. Our Suburban came equipped with the Vortec 5300 gas engine and a four-speed automatic tranny. The 5300 puts out 285 hp at 5,200 rpm and 325 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. It shifts smoothly up and down through the gears, and during our towing tests in Moab it produced 0 to 50 times of 16.60 seconds.
Chevrolet offers two towing packages for the Suburban, depending on your needs. For moderate towing, the Premium Ride package is ideal. A self-leveling rear suspension uses the energy created by normal suspension motion to adjust and maintain level vehicle trim. This enhances the Suburban's towing abilities, while also improving handling and providing a firmer ride. For those with greater towing needs, Chevy also offers the Z82 Heavy-Duty Trailering package, which includes a 12,000-pound weight-distributing hitch platform, a seven-pin trailer harness connector, and a trailer brake controller harness that connects to the electric trailer brake lead.
Our Suburban was equipped with the standard tow package, but unfortunately it did not come with the self-leveling rear suspension, which made all the difference in the world. Having driven a Suburban with the self-leveling suspension, we can tell you that it performs wonderfully, both under tow and just around town. Without this feature, though, towing our dual-axle trailer, which was loaded down with a Nissan Xterra, was problematic because the rearend of the Suburban sank to within 4 inches of the asphalt. Going over speed bumps and driving up steep driveways required slowing to a crawl, and even then we scraped. It also required that we tape all of the wiring up out of the way to keep it from dragging along the interstate.
While the noticeable rearward rake was no fun, towing up and down the mountains on the way to Moab was absolutely great. The Suburban features a push-button Tow/Haul mode on the shift lever that causes the tranny to shift much faster, which was essential when tackling some of the steeper grades. In truth, we cruised up and down the mountain passes with so little effort that we often had to slow down and wait for the Dodge to catch up with us again.
However, in all fairness, from a dead stop, under tow, the gas engine in the Suburban lacked the brute force necessary to go from 0 to 60 on a steep ascent. In fact, during a series of tests in Moab, which were performed on a 40-degree grade, we were unable to reach 60 mph launching from 0. In this area, diesels still reign supreme.
Fuel economy on the Suburban was surprisingly good considering the kind of weight we were towing and the fact that we pushed it pretty hard. On the round trip, we averaged 11.1 mpg, not far off the sticker estimate of 14/16.
Pros & Cons - SUVThere are some distinct advantages to towing with an SUV rather than a truck. The first, of course, is that you can haul around more passengers, which is a prime consideration for families. With the bed of a truck, though, you do have the option of putting on a camper, which can be equally as useful. Fullsize SUVs provide plenty of room for all of your gear and are easy to lock up at night so you don't have to worry about anything being stolen. However, truck beds are generally better for things such as extra tires, gas cans, dirt bikes, and other dirty or smelly items you wouldn't want in your back seat. With our Suburban, having power enough to tow comfortably was not a problem, but the suspension was. You have to make sure you get the right tow package to meet your needs. With the Dodge Ram, on the other hand, the heavily sprung suspension took the weight of the trailer with no difficulties at all - a common trait on workhorse trucks.