Chevy is upping the performance of the sporty-looking Tahoe RST for 2023. The trim now has an optional Performance Edition package that improves power, handling and braking. And it does so in a way that would make Elwood Blues happy: cop car parts.
While the Tahoe RST Performance Edition has cop suspension, it does not have a cop motor or cop brakes. It has even better ones. It comes only with the 6.2-liter V8 (the pursuit Tahoe just gets the 5.3-liter engine), 10-speed automatic and four-wheel drive. And with a new intake and exhaust, the engine makes an extra 13 horsepower and 7 pound-feet of torque over the standard engine for totals of 433 horsepower and 467 pound-feet of torque. Chevy says it will get to 60 mph in under 5.8 seconds and has a top speed of 124 mph. Towing capacity remains the same as the regular 6.2-liter RST at 7,600 pounds.
The RST Performance Edition will go into production later this year. The package costs $8,525 in addition to the RST's base price of $66,595.
To read more about the 2023 Chevy Tahoe RST Performance Edition and other Chevy news click the links below:
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/09/14/2023-chevy-tahoe-rst-performance-edition-reveal/
https://www.autoblog.com/cars-for-sale/make1-Chevrolet/model1-Taho
TranscriptGREG MIGLIORE: Hey, everybody. Greg Migliore here for "Autoblog," and we've got something really special. This is the 2023 Chevy Tahoe RST. That's Rally Sport Truck Performance Edition. Now, what does performance mean? Well, that's really something special here. It's about $9,000 on top of the regular Tahoe, if you will, and it gives you a lot of different things. It's sort of the intersection of Motorsports, going fast, and with some police spec goodies, so let's check this thing out. Up front here, basically, it's a regular Tahoe, but you'll notice that the emblem is Black. That's part of the design aesthetics of the performance trim. This is how it's looked for the last few years since the latest generation of Tahoe, and Suburban, and GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade launched.
I personally like the look of the Tahoe. I think they've cleaned it up since the previous generation, which launched over 10 years ago at this point. It's a good look. Little things here like the Chevy badge in there. You've got to check that out. That's kind of cool. But as we work around here, this is where you start to see some of the performance things show up. This is lowered. This is a slam Tahoe. You're talking about 0.4 inches lower, so 10 millimeters than a standard Tahoe. It's a little bit lower to the ground. That's kind of cool. It looks cool. You won't really notice it driving, but you will notice it when you get in and out of the truck.
It's a little bit easier to get in and out of this thing. While I'm up front, let's talk about what's under that hood. That's the 6.2 liter V8, a lot of power there. 433 horses, and 467 pounds feet of torque. That's 13 more horses, and 7 more pound feet than the standard V8 Tahoe. That's thanks to the performance edition. It works with a 10 speed, hydromatic, automatic transmission, so that's sort of, like, the grunt, where you get all your power from. All of these performance goodies give you a 0 to 60 time of 5.78 seconds, en route to a top speed of 124 miles an hour. That's pretty fast for your Chevy Tahoe.
I don't know where you're going in your Tahoe that you need to get there that quickly, but hey, that's what the performance model is for, so let's keep going. Another big part of the performance edition is, this is where the police sort of equipment comes in. The brakes, those are torch-red calibers. They're 25% larger in diameter, which gives you greater stopping power. Chevy says you basically save about six feet of stopping distance with all of the police spec upgrades, but specifically, that's where those calipers come in. Again, 10 millimeters lower. You get the police brakes.
These are 20 inch wheels aluminum. It's performance, so again, notice the black wheels, the black badging, which is a really sleek look out of the Tahoe. I think with a big truck like this, a big SUV, I kind of like when you make some of the design aesthetics a little more subtler. I think it really is a good look, so that's more of the running gear, the chassis stuff. The brakes are tuned to police spec. You'll also notice when you're driving this thing that the pedal feel is a little bit different. It's sort of meant to feel like a police SUV. I noticed that right away, and it's kind of cool. I like it.
Walking on around here, this is the running rails there. Easy enough to get in and out, it's a little bit lower, but again, it's useful. Let's put it that way. This is a red, very, very red, Chevy Tahoe, which I like. I don't know if I would pick this. It's ironic. It has so much police gear on it, but also, this sort of looks like a vehicle that you would get a lot of tickets in. Working our way around here, Cat-Back exhaust. That is another area. It helps that V8 breathe a little better. It helps funnel all of the air out of it, and that also is where you get some of your horsepower. RST, Rally Sport Truck. Again, they've used this badge off and on since 1987, and I believe, continuously, since 2004.
If you're a Chevy truck person, you like to see RST. And this performance edition, it gives you a little bit something else. Overall, this truck costs $81,000, give or take, so it's not cheap. About $9,000 of that is the performance trim, so you know, again, for all of the stuff, you're paying for it. All right, so that is the exterior of the Chevy Tahoe RST Performance. We got to see what's going on inside, so let's check it out.
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All right, welcome inside the Chevy Tahoe Performance Edition. This is a very nice interior. As you can see, basically everything is black with red stitching. Got some leather going on here. This is the Chevy Google Powered Infotainment System. Chevy tends to lean heavy onto the Android side of things when it comes to the infotainment. I find this is pretty relatively easy to use. If you've driven a Tahoe or a General Motors product in the last 15 years, all of this will look very familiar to you. This is a little over 10 inches, as far as the screen.
They've done some nice things here with, like, the door trim, some of the leather, and the stitching over here. All the controls are basically where you may have left them. Let's put it that way. This is very standard, straight out of central casting General Motors interior. I like the seats. You get some red stitching. They're pretty comfy. I think that's good. You get a nice view of the road, which is great because you have this long, aircraft carrier kind of hood going on. Everything is push button as far as picking forward, reverse, et cetera, gears. Coming over here, this is something I love in the Tahoe, and other GM trucks, and SUVs is this huge center-like console thing, plenty of room for stuff in here. I left keys, sanitizer, whatever you might want.
Multiple cup holders. Let me put it that way. Cup holders here, here, some of the door ledges over here. We discovered this. This is kind of a random sort of, like, hidden door little thing. I honestly don't know what it's for. It sort of looks like a place you put your cigarettes in 1956. It's super-red. I don't know what that's for, actually. Down here, plenty of room to put your phone, whatever else you might need. Then obviously up here, this is where you can put the seats back using the buttons there. You've got the dome lights, and again, it's a pretty standard General Motors SUV interior.
It's very nice. With the RST of the performance additions, you're talking one of the higher spec Tahoes, so thus, you do get a lot of this leather, and the upgraded infotainment and safety things like that. So welcome inside the second row here at the Tahoe, very nice place to spend time. These are about 12 inch screens. The weight-- what I've done because I have a youngster with me, is I like to control these from the front, that way, you know, hey, make sure he's not watching something on YouTube or something. But they can also be controlled from the back. You can also hook them up with your USB device, however you want to do it that way. Down here the passengers in the back can control their own climate zones, which is great.
It's pretty comfortable. I like captain's chairs. Over time I've just decided I like captain's chairs better than I like the bench. It just seems to work better. We also opted for this one, again, the upgraded rear seat entertainment package. You get the nice Chevy logos on the headphones, so that's the second row of the Tahoe. Let's keep going back to the third, and the cargo hold. Welcome to the third row. We've put down the second row, so one, you can get a better shot of it. Two, it's just kind of a better look at what kind of space you're looking at. I'm about average height, 5'9", 5'10"-ish.
It's a little tight back here, as you would expect. One of the things about most third row vehicles is you're kind of making the choice, do you need to put some people back there, or do you need to put more stuff? So if you have the third row up. It's a little tight. It's really more like for kids, basically, kids who don't need large car seats. So it's like right in that middle spot, or you put these down, and you get a ton of cargo space, so that's your other option. With the seats up, you do get still a fair amount of cargo space. I've actually been driving around this week with the third row up, not really using it. But for things like groceries, and just runs to wherever, like Lowe's, Home Depot, et cetera, you still have a fair amount of space back there behind this third row.
Check out the cargo hold of the Chevy Tahoe here. This is with the third row seats up, you still get a fair amount of space. If you want to move the seats up or down, you can do it with a push of a button, which is pretty good. And some other controls over here, plus you get a plug if maybe you're camping, or something like that, and you need to plug some stuff in, so very functional rear cargo spot for the Tahoe, as you would expect. It's a Chevy SUV. You got to be able to do stuff with it.
So that's the 2023 Chevy Tahoe RST Performance Edition. It's the intersection of Motorsports and police spec equipment, which makes for a very cool vehicle for about $90,000. It's a lot of fun to drive. It's V8 power. It's 4-wheel drive. It's a lot of cool design aesthetics that you really can't get on any other Tahoe. It's a lot of fun, and I think these videos here for the "Autoblog Garage Series" are a lot of fun. If you do as well, please like, share, and subscribe. For "Autoblog," I'm Greg Migliore.
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