Anyone have real world, everyday experience with owning a 2007+ Chevy Tahoe? How is it to live with? We're starting to outgrow our midsize SUV, and thinking of replacing it, without going the minivan route (wife is firm on no minivan). Our SUV is getting a little long in the tooth, and I'm a bit concerned about turning the family loose to do the drive back/forth to NC in it now. Plus, with rates so low, it's hard for me to accept the $1,500 in scheduled maintenance required now at it's mileage without thinking first of replacing it.

Anyone?

Thanks!

Flash the man card and tell the wife to re-think the mini van. Just turned 150K on an 05 Odyssey and it will easily get to 200K. Besides oil, brakes and tires I've only replaced the power steering pump. Drives like a sedan. Owned an 02 Tahoe, and while it was nice, it drove like a truck and wasn't nearly as user friendly. I also once uttered "shoot me if I ever drive a mini van." This is my second one.

I hear ya' fish, but the minivan thing just isn't going to happen. I've put my wife through the paces over the past two years here, I'm not going to make her drive something she just isn't there to appreciate yet. She's not ready for one, and would be miserable with one. We like the truck feeling of driving, sitting up higher, etc. Plus, one of our vehicles must have 4x4 capability, a rule we both agree with in our house. You never know when you might need it...say, 12 inches of snow and an emergency at the house. No minivan for us.

Minivans are funny! Guys who drive minivans are even funnier! It's just as funny as a guy on the swim team who swims breast stroke instead of Fly!

NC! don't get a minivan!!!! I will point and laugh at you if you do!!!!!!

Checkout the Chevy Traverse.

Or another option is that we just rent one when we need a bigger vehicle. I can one usually with unlimited mileage for about 200-250 a week.

We just bought the Equinox and I love it.

Southge, funny you mention the Traverse. We were out last weekend in Naperville. Hit the dealer-row while on our way back from a furniture store. Hit all the usual suspects / BMW, MB, Lexus, ect. Wife wasn't excited by any of them, although did register the MDX as a "like". I had no idea though, she would jump out of her seat when she saw the Buick Enclave, which is the Traverse in Buick clothing. I tried to sell her on the Traverse, but she like the Buick.

Haggerty has one, they let me bring it to the house last Saturday for her to look at and test drive around the neighborhood. She likes it, a lot. Too bad I don't like Haggerty. Those guys must think we're all rich idiots in GE. "Certified", on a vehicle that has a set of tires that wouldn't pass IL inspection? Full "Excellent" retail price + $1k additional, for a car with numerous scratches? No thanks. No dealing with them. Plus, what they offered me for my trade was $4k below "good" condition trade-in value on KBB.

Do you have a Traverse? Do you like it? We like the "minivan" seating arrangement alot, without having the minivan stigma, which I don't get, but my wife does. A happy wife = a happy husband.

We ended up with the Equinox because we no longer have small kids. they now have their own cars. A lot of my neighbors have the Traverse.

We bought it from Bill Kay. One thing I did learn you can go online to the GM web site and it will show you every car/SUV in stock in your area with options, sticker price, etc.

We do have the back-up camera (a must have) which we were able to get without having the nav system. I love onstar. Its my first american car and so far so good.

Well, there's the dumb question of the week "do you have a Traverse" - when you said Equinox in the previous post... I was up late last night, and littlest one did't sleep very well...forgive me!

NC,

I've got the Acadia, which is the GMC offering on the Lambda platform. My opinion of the platform was that the Traverse looks most like a minivan, the Enclave looks most like a sedan, and the Acadia looks most like an SUV.

We've had it for just over a year and I give it a big thumbs up on just about everything. Gets minivan mpg (or better) but has a much better towing capacity, if that is a concern for you (it was for me). Not as much towing as a Tahoe, of course, but much better than any minivan.

It's definitely a cooler look than the minivan, although that wasn't a big hangup for me anyway. The only loss (we used to have a minivan) is that the minivans have more versatile space and easier access to kids with the sliding doors. But if you're coming from a Tahoe, you won't have those things to miss. You might miss the sheer size of the Tahoe, however.

As for comfort, I wouldn't want to sit in the rear seat for too long, but my 11 year old seems to like it (or perhaps she'll sit anywhere so long as it isn't next to her brothers). The front seats are great and the layout is nice.

Except for finish materials, all lambda interiors are exactly the same. If you were blindfolded and plopped into one with the badges removed, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

For us, by time we decked it out with what we wanted, the Acadia made the most sense of the three.

If you're buying used, the Acadia essentially took over the Saturn Outlook slot in the platform. So depending how many model years you go back, you might search for one of those. I've got a 2010.