AutoblogGreen First Drive: Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid
On any given Sunday morning, if I were offered the keys to either a Saturn Sky or a Chevy Tahoe with a big boat hitched to the back, 110 times out of a hundred I would put down that gnarly top on the Sky and make my way to the beach via the twistiest road I could possibly find. Once there, I would much rather go for a swim and lay on the beach than mess around with trying to launch a boat and later haul it out of the water.
Having made my own personal biases clear on this subject, there are clearly a great many people who would make the opposite choice. Many people choose to drive big SUVs for a wide variety of reasons, and with gas prices again at $3 a gallon and rising around most of the most of this country, those people would surely like to get a bit better gas mileage. After a long wait, they will soon have the option of a full-sized General Motors SUV with a new two-mode parallel hybrid setup, and AutoblogGreen has just had the opportunity to take a first drive in one. If this first application of the new hybrid system jointly developed by GM, BMW and DaimlerChrysler is of interest, check out ABG's detailed report by clicking here.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DJ 3:47PM (5/01/2007)
Is it irony that AutoblogGreen is the first to review a vehicle that would only get 20mpg if you dropped it from a helicopter with its engine off?
Reply
Mike 4:17PM (5/01/2007)
Isn't it ironic that GM does a good thing and the first person to post is a mindless idiot?
Reply
DJ 4:21PM (5/01/2007)
OK, I'll bite ... how is this a good thing? Do the math, even on the best case EPA cycle, this vehicle is not 'green'. There is a serious misconception in the marketplace that all things 'hybrid' are green, and this is fueling that misconception.
Reply
PiCASSO 4:25PM (5/01/2007)
"Is it irony that..."???
Irony? Do you mean "ironic"?
Reply
Ari 4:36PM (5/01/2007)
@DJ
While it doesn't get the fuel economy of my Prius, the fact that it improves mileage by 25% on the highway and 40% in the city is very impressive considering how much fuel a vehicle that size consumes. While that might not be impressive enough for you to call 'green', it is still a great achievement IMHO.
Reply
Sagracer 4:29PM (5/01/2007)
DJ....You must be talking about vehicles like the Lexus 600H, right? 20mpg
Anyways, this Tahoe is not green by Prius standards, but believe it or not, people like buying full size SUV's. If I can get one that gets the same combined fuel economy as a medium-large car, why is that a bad thing?
Are you suggesting that they don't put a hybrid powertrain in this vehicle so it burns more gas?
Reply
Talis 4:35PM (5/01/2007)
Ok DJ, your point about not all things hybrid are green is true in some cases, but if you took your head out of your ass long enough to make a real observation you would notice that there are people out there who cannot use a Puris.
For those of us who have large families, and need to tow, or otherwise haul stuff around, will need an SUV or p/u truck. So why can't we get better gas mileage? I live in America, where people can have their cake AND eat it too.
I think your jut a little pissed off that GM (along with DCX and BMW) figured this out and not Toyota.
Reply
smartmlp 4:43PM (5/01/2007)
Tahoe MPG with 5.3L:
16MPG City
22MPG Highway
18MPG Combined
Calculating what GM promises as far as MPG increases a hybrid Tahoe should get:
22MPG City (urban driving 40% better)
24MPG Highway (Estimation based on combined and city)
23MPG Combined (Combined 25% better)
This PLUS the fact that is now a 6.0L that has alot more power then the 5.3L
Reply
SDMike 7:11PM (10/27/2007)
I live in rural SD and must haul a trailer as part of my farming operation. Further, it snows here and a high ground clearance 4X4 is a necessity. Occasionally I wind up driving my Durango to Sioux Falls since I can't afford three vehicles. If I drive 65 I get 21 MPG. Does that mean that any vehicle can be "green" if driven slow enough?
Reply
MikeW 4:56PM (5/01/2007)
So the 2008 Tahoes are getting 6 speed automatics?
Reply
Barney 4:56PM (5/01/2007)
"Irony? Do you mean "ironic"?"
It's ironical Picasso, that you don't see the irony.
Any better mileage on this mammoth is a good thing but will people pay the extra cost for so little benefit.. A few miles will have to be driven to compensate for the extra costs.
Reply
Paul Y 5:02PM (5/01/2007)
I'll be happy about this the day that the hybrid system is standard.
In the meantime, it's a good idea, admittedly.
The thing I hate most about hybrids is that everyone insists on coming up with numbers to say that it takes X time to recoup the 'hybrid premium.' A big part of the appeal is the gadgetry, and as long as enough people buy into the hybrid appeal, the technology will improve and cheapen, and then everyone wins. Not everyone worries about how many miles they'll have to drive to "break even" versus a normal car.
If the resale value of the Prius wasn't ridiculous, I'd buy one, admittedly, but not just for the fuel savings: it's a really slick, sophisticated machine.
Still, if jerks who think they need a bus to haul their 2.3 kids and tow a boat they only hypothetically own can be coerced into wasting less fuel, that works, too.
Reply
beanspants 5:30PM (5/01/2007)
that was an excellently written article, from an information conveyance perspective. nice job Sam.
Reply
Will 5:50PM (5/01/2007)
Am I the only reader who's curious what it was like to actually drive the truck? I mean, was the hybrid operation transparent to the driver? Did it seem to pull away from a stop like a sleepy slug? Anything?
Reply
far jr 7:59PM (5/01/2007)
I sense a lot of fear and anxiety from the Prius crowd. Now soccer moms will be able to drive a Tahoe with better fuel economy than many cars and vans along with more towing ability and 8 passenger seating. If this capacity is utilized frequently, this is a very efficient vehicle. For city drivers with large families, this will be more efficient than a Sienna or Odyssey minivan!
Maybe the Toyotaphiles are just upset because this will make their Sequoia look like even bigger gas hogs. Why can't Toyota design a hybrid Tundra? Why don't I have the option to burn E-85 in all Toyotas? This is a very simple thing to make happen isn't it?
Reply
rrr 8:10PM (5/01/2007)
This system will never take off. Here's why, Bob Lutz and the rest of GM team are on record trashing hybrid vehicles, saying they are not worth extra money, there's no need to consume less gas...there's no global warming.
Come on folks, if you have ever read Autoblog or Automotive News than you know that a week does not go by that Bob Lutz doesn't take a shot at environmentaly good cars. At this point an average GM consumers has been bombarded by Lutz' propoganda. And now all over sudden GM wants to sell these hybrids.
Can you imagine CEO of Toyota saying that Hybrids are horrible do not buy them............NO because they are the biggest hybrid sellers......but that is exactly GM is right now, they spend billions on R&D on technology that Lutz attackes every chance he gets.
Look, is Prius all it is craked up to be? Nooooooooooo, but people who buy that car LOVE the hybrid technology, GM owners probably do not like that tecnology because they only heard bad stuff about it.
Reply
shifter 2:21AM (5/02/2007)
"AutoblogGreen First Drive"
They did not drive it. Read their article.
Reply
Julius 10:19PM (5/01/2007)
Ah - if the hybrid system improves mileage by 25%, then it wouldn't take much time to recoup the hybrid costs at $3/gal and up. What hasn't been mentioned in any hybrid discussion to-date is how battery capacity reduction in age reduces the mileage benefit. I have a 3-year-old IBM laptop that has perhaps 60% of its original capacity - and I presume batteries in hybrids of similar age have some drop-off as well.
Has anyone re-tested any of those NYC hybrids to check what mileage they get after 100k of city driving?
Reply
Derek 7:59AM (5/02/2007)
#17 - yes, they did. Read the second to last paragraph. The one that begins with "After a brief drive at the GM proving ground in a pre-production prototype..."
Regarding the mileage, I wonder if that is compared to the 5.3L engine using the 2007 or 2008 EPA testing?
Reply
Sam Abuelsamid 8:07AM (5/02/2007)
Derek, I did indeed drive the Tahoe, albeit briefly. The mileage numbers are based on running both drivetrains on the same cycle. The final 2008 numbers are ready yet, but the relative difference (the 25% improvement) will be about the same. That is the 2008 hybrid mileage will be 25% better than the 2008 5.3L mileage. Similarly, the hybrid tested based on the 2007 procedure would get 25% better than a 2007 5.3L.
Reply