The owners of the former Cruzaks, representatives of the southern regions, employees of the state apparatus… You should have seen their faces! Children don’t look at sweets the way they do on a Land Cruiser 300. The audience is loyal — they reacted with understanding to the lack of external brutality and the retirement of V8 engines. No one asked questions about how the new Land Cruiser rides at all. But in vain. Having retained all its off-road abilities, Kruzak now moves better on hard surfaces. As well as the main witness in the framework of our asphalt case — the new Chevrolet Tahoe. It is also framed, but the suspension is already completely independent.
The Land Cruiser smiles with an air intake that wraps around a funny patch of radiator grille from below. It is better for harsh customers to order a car in black. Most of the exterior body panels are aluminum, with a stronger steel frame and GA—F chassis with a reduced center of gravity under them.
The favorite of the Russians dropped 200 kg, almost retaining the same dimensions. The length has increased by one and a half centimeters, the width and wheelbase are the same. Only the height was reduced by 30 mm, but this did not affect the landing process. I grab the handrail on the front stand, carefully stand on the running board so as not to get dirty — and sit down more comfortably than in the “two hundred”.
The steering wheel is installed less sloping and is not adjusted on such a short shoulder as before. The seat is lower, the knees are bent less. You squeeze the pedals rather than step on them. However, the landing is still high: even if the chair is lowered as much as possible, the wide hood with a characteristic hollow in the middle is perfectly visible. The driver’s seat itself does not cause any questions even on long trips. Although clear lateral support, an extension of the pillow and an adjustment of the lumbar support vertically would not hurt.
The steering wheel is not heated all over the rim, and it seems impossible to find an imitation of a wooden finish worse than that of Toyota. Multimedia stands apart. The new one with a widescreen display is only for the 70th Anniversary and GR Sport versions, and our average Comfort+ configuration costs an outdated system. She thinks quite slowly, the low-resolution screen is small, the graphics are like from the last century. Pros — convenient location of the touchscreen, large font, and fast communication with smartphones via Bluetooth protocol.
If the Land Cruiser is impressive from the outside, then the Chevrolet Tahoe is also spectacular. Especially in the contested version of the RST with 22-inch wheels (the Cruiser has 18-inch wheels) and in stunning cherry color, available from October. The first two batches for Russia consisted exclusively of black cars — due to the peculiarities of production in the USA. By the way, in principle, some of the overseas options are not available to us: for example, a full-fledged Z71 off-road package with All-Terrain tires, bottom protection, improved geometric patency and flaunted front towing lugs.
The driver is more comfortable in a Chevy than in a Toyota. A chair with a less pliable filler is installed lower and fits the body better. The adjustment ranges of the seat are larger, its cushion is longer, although it also lacks an extender. The steering wheel stands more vertically, in the absence of pseudo-wooden inserts, it is more pleasant to hold on to it, and the wide central armrest is located more successfully. In general, a more relaxed fit than in Toyota is hindered by one moment — the feet are bent more strongly relative to the lower leg. An adjustable pedal assembly could solve the problem, but it is not here.
There are other ergonomic flaws in the cheap Tahoe interior. The display between the speedometer and the tachometer shows four virtual dials, from which it is difficult to read information due to the small size and grainy image. The gearbox control unit is located near the steering wheel, right under the right hand, which is convenient, but why do you need to press some buttons on it, and pull others on yourself? Habits require a scattering of buttons on the center console and a single steering lever, which controls the turn signals and windscreen wipers.
Multimedia in Tahoe is better than Toyota. A ten-inch touchscreen with a higher resolution is larger, responds faster to touch, works without critical jerks even during manipulations with the navigation map. The system finds smartphones using Bluetooth protocol slower, but wired Android Auto works more stably. And for an additional fee in Chevrolet, you can order an entertainment system for second-row passengers. The presentation “three hundred” sported the same, but there is no such option on commercial vehicles for Russia.
Even without a couple of screens, the Tahoe is more interesting for second-row passengers. It is easier for them to be in the cabin — the openings of the rear doors are larger, the floor is lower, and the body crouches to the ground on pneumatic cylinders, if necessary. Separate chairs with a soft cushion move longitudinally, and their stiff backs can be tilted at a fairly large angle. And the geometry is better in Chevy, and there is more space. In front of my knees, with a height of 181 cm, I have a margin twice as large as in Toyota — up to 13 cm. There is less freedom overhead in Tahoe, but there is also plenty (eight centimeters versus 11).
If there was a triple sofa in Tahoe, its parts would have to be shifted to access the third row. Our case does not require this: we walk on a flat floor between free-standing seats. The comfortable gallery is equipped with three seat belts, but two head restraints. The geometry of the landing does not spoil the pleasant impression, the middle row seats can be adjusted so that there is enough free space in front of the knees for everyone. “By myself” in the last row, I sit down with a gap of up to 11 cm, there is a gap of four above my head. For riders, there are a pair of cup holders and the same number of USB-C connectors.
In Russia, the third row is still unavailable on Land Cruiser. The second one offers a lot of air and dual-zone climate control instead of a single-zone Tahoe. I would like to add comfort to the sofa: the padding under the skin is too dense, the pillow, which does not move longitudinally, is closer to the floor than I would like, and the back is flat, although it is adjustable in the angle of inclination. There is also no sofa heating in the car for seven million rubles, although Chevrolet has it by default. What can I say — the basic Cruzac for six million front seats are not heated.
How many millions in the initial price of Toyota — so many cylinders under the hood. Two less than it was before. But if tears of regret appear, they will quickly be smeared on the cheeks. When starting from two pedals, the carcass weighing 2.5 tons lifts its nose, jumps forward sharply — and, according to the Reislogic, after 6.5 seconds it reaches a hundred. The stated value is three-tenths of a second worse, and the indicator of the predecessor with the V8 4.6 engine is almost two seconds (8.6). And all because the Japanese compensated for the loss of cylinders with two turbochargers, which blew 415 hp and 650 NM out of the “six”.
There are four-wheel drives in the class more powerful and faster, but for the convenience of traction control, the “three hundred” is among the best. In the city crowd, even the Comfort mode is enough for the eyes. Reactions to gas are mild, but you keep up everywhere. In the Normal setting, the accelerator responds even faster, and the Sport S setup could be limited — in it, the SUV follows the gas pedal, as if on a rigid coupling. But there is also the most acute Sport S+ mode, in which you can drive only for the sake of experiment.
The feeling of ease of movement was not spoiled even by a ten-stage “automatic”. Although there were attempts. With alternating loads, the box often gets confused in the gears, tucking them out of place. Transitions down are accompanied by noticeable pauses, especially when you need to skip several ranges. The situation is uncritical for only one reason — the mighty motor pulls everything out. At the same time, switching is not comfortable — they are always noticeable, and when switching from the first to the second, even too much.
Tahoe has kept all its cylinders. However, in the Russian market, the model will no longer have a V8 6.2 engine (409 hp, 610 Nm•. Thanks to him, Chevrolet selected customers from the more expensive flagship Cadillac Escalade. The current Tahoe is delivered to us with an atmospheric “eight” 5.3. Not only is it much inferior to the previous one, it is also deformed relative to the American version from 360 hp to 343 and from 519 NM to 512.
I once had an eight-cylinder Ford Thunderbird. Therefore, starting the Tahoe engine, I break into a smile — what a sound! Deep, bubbling at 2000-3000 rpm and brutally roaring closer to the red zone of the tachometer. Still pulled to match the roar … After accelerating “to the floor” Racelogic fixes 8.6 seconds to a hundred. This is six-tenths slower than the passport value, and the difference with Toyota is colossal at all. The Land Cruiser takes off like a feather, and the Chevrolet accelerates as if from under a stick.
The multi-liter American engine needs to be turned — at low and medium speeds, traction is limited. But when the crankshaft accelerates to 5000 rpm and above, at least some life begins. Tahoe becomes more responsive, faster, opening up more opportunities for dynamic overtaking on suburban highways. Although already at a speed of 120 km / h and above, Chevrolet has shortness of breath. The Land Cruiser breathes freely even after 150 km/h.
The feeling of heaviness in the Tahoe is enhanced by the damped accelerator, which is very sluggish in the first third of the stroke. You can spur reactions with sports mode and higher engine speeds, but even then responsiveness does not reach the level of a Land Cruiser. The gearbox is impressive. It has the same problems as the Toyota transmission, but everything happens even slower. It can easily get lost in its ten steps, sluggishly switches to a lower one. The transmission also changes roughly, although smoother than the box of the Cruiser.
But Chevrolet’s chassis is more refined. There are fewer vibrations of unsprung masses, there are no characteristic kicks from the continuous bridge, the energy intensity has increased. Tahoe perfectly smoothes the canvas with small irregularities, rides comfortably on average. The course is tolerable on large pits, even if they are deep and with a sharp edge. I wanted the American express to be more courteous with passengers at the junctions, and its body was not so sharply thrown from side to side on bad sections.
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