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I've never liked the looks of them and never even considered owning one, but my wife seems to like them due to the covered rear cargo space and the seating for 4-5 people. Every year we make a 2000 mile round trip in the U.S. in a Honda CRV, but it gets packed relatively quickly.
I wanted to get some ideas on anyone who's ever owned one or owns one now about if they're good or not and what to look out for. Thanks.
I've never liked the looks of them and never even considered owning one, but my wife seems to like them due to the covered rear cargo space and the seating for 4-5 people. Every year we make a 2000 mile round trip in the U.S. in a Honda CRV, but it gets packed relatively quickly.
I wanted to get some ideas on anyone who's ever owned one or owns one now about if they're good or not and what to look out for. Thanks.
I own a 2009 with the Z71 package. I really like the truck and it drives really nice. It is very comfortable sitting inside and even on long rides it doesn't bother me at all. The truck area has a cover so your stuff will be protected from the weather. It is excellent in the snow and bad weather. There is talk that this might be the last year they produce the Avalanche.
Are there any specific questions you have about the vehicle?
My wife was also smitten with them and we ended up getting a 2003 LTZ Z71. Ours was a little unique as it had the body cladding delete option, so it didn't have all that plastic all over it. We just recently got rid of it, but over the 6 years we had it, it was a great truck.
The LTZ trim Avalanche is pretty much the same interior as a LTZ trim Suburban, so it's quite cushy and has all the nice amenities. We had leather, heated seats, sunroof, Bose stereo, etc. The back bench easily accomodated 3 adults or 3 kids in car seats or any combination thereof. The covered rear cargo area was fantastic and made it just about the perfect vehicle for family vacations. The conversion to a full bed was also easy to do and we did it about 10 times over the time we had the truck.
The 5.3 is a great engine and was plenty adequate for moving the Avalanche around with authority, even when fully loaded. The 6.0 option on the newer ones is a great engine though and probably the one I would pick if I had the choice. Fuel economy was the biggest issue though, we generally average about 14 in mixed driving and were usually able to get around 20 on long highway drives. It has about a 30 gallon tank, so be prepared for $100+ fill ups.
The Avalanche is a good truck worth the money, its got good reviews and about every year ive looked in car and drivers best buys and edmunds and jd power websites its always a recommened Chevy vehicle so go for it.
You may want to consider renting a Suburban or similar for the trip, or maybe pull a small trailer behind your CRV - my thinking is the Avalanche will be thirsty enough you would not want to own it.
Depending on how bad gas prices get, you may not want to take the trip at all this year.
Just sayin' - no one really knows if the upward trend in fuel prices will continue, but right now that's the trend. The higher gas goes, the less useful the Avalanche would be to you, and the less it would be worth as a trade or to sell.
I've never liked the looks of them and never even considered owning one, but my wife seems to like them due to the covered rear cargo space and the seating for 4-5 people. Every year we make a 2000 mile round trip in the U.S. in a Honda CRV, but it gets packed relatively quickly.
I wanted to get some ideas on anyone who's ever owned one or owns one now about if they're good or not and what to look out for. Thanks.
Have you checked out the Honda Ridgeline? It's similar but gets much better consumer reports. Better build as well.
The resale value of my avalanche has actual remained quite high, which I think is unusual. It is a great truck, but I actually expected to see more depreciation. In 2009 they gave the Avalanches a 6-speed transmission and I get about 15-17 city, and 18-21 on the highway. It has the deactivation on the engine where it drops from a V8 to a V4 at cruising speeds or when you don't need the power. For the size of the truck and everything the gas mileage is pretty good.
The interior is nice. I have leather heated seats, sunroof, bluetooth (works really well), power folding outside mirrors, XM radio. I drove some with the Z71 package and without and I prefer the Z71 package. I also liked the way it looked better with the package. Bose stereo came with mine, but I will change that out one day. It is ok, but like basically all Bose products are overpriced garbage...but that is another story. I also looked at some with navigation screens and the clarity of the screen looked cheap to me. From everything I researched they are very reliable trucks. Also, I spoke with many people that had an Avalanche and they all loved them. Really never heard anything bad about them.
I also considered the Ridgeline, but thought the Avalanche looked better, had more power, was more truck-like, and just an overall better vehicle. No complaints here other than I hate car payments and hadn't had one in awhile until I bought the truck.
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