The
Devil Drives a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid - My Tahoe hybrid Test
drive
Wednesday,
August 15, 2007
New-->
Tahoe
as fuel efficient as a Camry?
GM's
new hybrid face
Temptation.
That's the best way to describe my Chevy
Tahoe hybrid test drive yesterday. Pure and simple
temptation.
I mean large, gas-guzzling SUVs are destroying the world,
right? Besides, when I was invited to test drive one of
GM's first dual mode hybrid
vehicles, I did it to test the technology, not to see
if I liked the vehicle. I hate these SUVs, right?
So, why am I again tempted?
Back at the Detroit Auto Show, I was given a ride from the
show back to the airport in an Escalade. It was a damn
nice ride that made me feel guilty for realizing that it
was a damn nice ride, and I remembered this realization as
soon as I sat in the hybrid Tahoe's big, luxuriously
comfortable seats.
Again, I am tempted.
Maybe it's my six foot frame, or my bad lower back. Maybe,
deep inside the recesses of my soul, I have SUV envy.
Maybe it's my Midwestern influence and the memory of
driving through the snow, sleet and hail. Maybe I just
feel safe and very comfortable inside such vehicles as the
Tahoe hybrid.
Regardless, these vehicles tempt me, especially hybrid
versions of these vehicles because I believe in hybrid
technology. Hybrid technology in any passenger vehicle
helps drive down the costs of hybrid technology for all
passenger vehicles, especially the small hybrid cars that
I prefer to buy.
True, some automakers are using hybrid technology to
simply add more power to a vehicle, and using hybrid
technology purely for performance gains is a slippery
path. Fortunately, the Tahoe hybrid is not one of those
hybrids.
While the standard Tahoe achieves a paltry 14 mpg in the
city - where I do 95 percent of my driving - the Tahoe
hybrid achieves 20 mpg. This 40 percent improvement in
fuel economy is achieved as the Tahoe intelligently
utilizes its dual mode hybrid powertrain, deciding how
many cylinders to use, how much regenerative electricity,
etc. For example, the Tahoe hybrid can go from V8 power to
acting like a V4 economy vehicle, instantly, without the
driver ever noticing, and that's just one trick in the
dual mode hybrid's bag of tricks.
Still, while driving through the streets of Santa Monica,
I didn't notice this shift, or any other of the vehicle's
hybrid shifts and tricks, except when I was watching the
hybrid screen on the dashboard display how the hybrid
powertrain was being utilized.
Speaking of hybrid screens. GM has done a nice job of
supplementing the somewhat conventional hybrid screen with
a small gauge next to the speedometer. This gauge helps
drivers simply maximize the performance of GM hybrids, to
fully utilize the hybrid's bag of tricks to hypermile
through commutes - if they so choose.
But, back to the transmission shifts, or lack thereof,
caused by the hybrid powertrain. Instead of such shifts,
what I was able to notice was quick acceleration,
responsive handling and a smooth ride. What Tahoe fans
will realize, however, especially city-folk, is the huge
savings at the gas pump - the main distinction between the
standard Tahoe and the hybrid Tahoe ( Yes the Tahoe hybrid
also offers some unique badges, running boards, grill,
rims, etc, as well.).
And, while 20 mpg is an amazing improvement in efficiency,
what makes it even more amazing is the fact that you can
connect a 6,000 pound camper, boat or other trailer to the
hybrid Tahoe, and drive out of the city up into the
mountains for a weekend getaway and not lose any
performance.
What other hybrid can do that?
Answer, there isn't one, other than the Tahoe hybrid's
cousin, the GMC
Yukon hybrid. In this respect, GM's hybrid vehicles
are in a class of their own, and now there is no excuse
for weekend warriors hauling campers and boats across the
highways of America not to do more to help the environment
and to help reduce America's foreign oil dependency.
While GM couldn't confirm the price of the Tahoe hybrid, I
was told that the hybrid version would not be the most
expensive Tahoe option. Still, it will be mostly loaded
and it will have a price tag to match that luxury, in
addition to the hybrid-driven fuel economy.
Nonetheless, both the Tahoe and the Yukon hybrids give
large SUV fans, especially GM fans and American-made
automobile fans, a chance to take some foreign oil
dependency responsibility.
If you have to have a large SUV, make sure to check out
the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids when they come out later this
year. Be tempted into making a better decision, it's
really not that hard if you just drive one of these
hybrids. Even a SUV-hater like me was tempted.
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