I drove this in Montreal this week as a rental. This one was a full load with leather and all the toys.

I was suprised by the lack of power! I thought these things would rock...but the seemed rather lethargic!

Seats are nice, rides nice, blasts through the snow well, but needs some punch!

Anyone else driven one? What do you think?

Funny you should say they have lack of power... My avalanche 3/4ton(''crew cab'' is all it says in sig) with the 496CI engine has no lack of power. The only reason why the 5.3L you drove lacked some power was the torque managment, and thats easy to get rid of.

A little to plastic fantastic for me...but I am sure there are ways to unleash the fury in those trucks

You have the sweet 8L...that would be nice, but they wouldnt dare put that in a rental!

I love the techno tricks...the power folding mirrors, the seperate trip meters for business and personal (even though I couldnt get them to start counting!).

oh yea, you have to set the driver... 02s didnt have a DIC/steering wheel controls, and all 3/4ton 03 do, That was what made me get the 03.

I don't like all the gray plastic either. They should get rid of some of that, or at least paint it to match.

Maybe The OWNERS like our dark grey cladding :? I wouldnt get the With Out Body Hardwear version even if it was avalible in the 3/4ton. I also think its fun at stop lights... As far as the margority is concerned theres only one kind of avalanche, the gutless 1/2ton kind. Not to many are expecting the 8.1L(345hp/455torque), and a company makes a Whipple puffer for it The 455lbs of torque Doesnt let me do burnouts, but man can I grab traction, and easly tow 12,000lbs.

Whipple supercharger adds close to 135 horsepower and 150+ ft/lb torque! The intercooler will add another 30hp and 40 ft-lb torque to the 8.1L.

Dont get me wrong, with some mods burnouts can happen.... Whipple /intercooler/ exhaust/ chip/ pcm reburn
8.1L suburban Burn out--Small sized video

I dont like to talk about my newly founded friend on non-truck boards, but you made the TOPIC.

Our yukon'* pretty fast with 5.7, my roomates parents have a 5.2 avalanche WBO option group...


The body hardware front end is nicer, but the plastic only looks good with about half the colors.

5.3*

Its either
WBH= Without body hardware
BX2=With body hardware

When I first saw the Avalanche, I fell in love with them. Seating for 4 AND the option of a full sized be, without having to take up two parking spots at the store? AWESOME!!

Scared the hell out of the missus, and damn near wrecked my car, when I first saw one on the road.

But then I saw the sticker. Sorry, but 40K for that truck, even with all the cool features, just didn't seem right to me.