Everything about the Chevy Suburban and Tahoe is outsized, from their grilles to their place in the American imagination. They’re found towing trailers and boats across every state. They escort the president everywhere he goes. The army and police departments, presumably, buy them in shrink-wrapped multipacks.
And they drive a lot of profit for General Motors. So much so that they were the final escalation of the recent auto workers’ strike. When unionized workers shut down a plant building Suburbans and Tahoes, Chevrolet made the contract offer that ended the walkout.
So, a new set of big Chevy SUVs has outsized importance.
For 2025, Chevrolet’s giant pair of heavy haulers won’t be entirely new. But they’ll be noticeably different. Their current design is getting an extensive makeover at the midpoint of their production run.
Each Trim Will Look Slightly Different
Deciding between the two has never been easy. They share most of their parts, but the Suburban is the larger of the two, with more space in the third row and cargo area. We’ll treat them as if they’re one vehicle to discuss the changes because Chevrolet seems to have done the same things to both.
For 2025, each gets a new grille with thinner headlights above the bracket-style daytime running lights. Each trim level – there are six to choose from — has its own separate grille design. The Z71 off-road model gets a grille that integrates into the front skid plate and arcs slightly for a better approach angle. The High Country, Chevy says, “leans in on a sport-luxury theme, with a sophisticated balance of black and Galvano chrome trim.”
The other big change is the wheels. Both are now offered with huge 24-inch wheels. No one was complaining about the size of anything on the old models, but the new wheels make the SUVs look a little less stretched, emphasizing the vertical plane slightly on two vehicles always at risk of looking bus-like.
Big SUVs Get Big Screens
Inside, both get new dashboards with a wider feel, and some controls are moved lower on the instrument panel. The central touchscreen is now 17.7 inches, dwarfing most tablets and one of the largest yet installed in a vehicle. It sits next to an 11-inch driver’s screen.
But GM has wisely kept many old-fashioned buttons, so you won’t be paging through menus on that screen just to change a mirror angle. The screen makes space for a physical volume knob, and most climate controls sit low under the center vents.
Though GM has said it will move away from Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, they’re still standard on another generation of Tahoes and Suburbans.
Tech-Heavy Updates Elsewhere
GM’s Super Cruise won’t be available at launch but “will be available in 2025.” Other tech features include a security function that lets you remotely view and record from both exterior and interior cameras. It’s optional but worth it for the security-minded. Always-on cameras can record the moments before and after a crash or theft.
“Some features require an appropriate OnStar plan,” Chevy notes. So you might have to pay monthly for that one.
A new Interior Motion Detection system detects even tiny movements in the cabin – a step up from the rear-seat reminder systems common to many current SUVs and closer to something you’d expect in a Volvo.
A new Auto Sense Power Liftgate, GM says, “makes loading a Tahoe or Suburban easier when the user’s arms are full by automatically opening the liftgate when it senses the key fob behind the vehicle.”
Few Mechanical Changes
The same three engines appear, but one has improved. The 5.3-liter V8 and 6.2-liter V8 don’t change. But the Duramax 3.0-liter inline 6-cylinder turbodiesel now makes 305 horsepower and 495 pound-feet of torque.
GM says it has updated the rear suspension and recalibrated the steering, seeking “more refined ride-and-handling dynamics.”
A mid-cycle refresh is normal at this point, but this one is more extensive than most, and should keep the Suburban and Tahoe competitive in the short list of the best full-size SUVs as the longer of the two passes 90.
Yes, the Suburban is the longest-running car nameplate in the world. Chevrolet has sold a Suburban continuously since 1935. It will likely get a major update before crossing the 100-year mark.
