It’s a legend within its own wheelbase – the descendant of the first SUV, many say, with the apt name of Suburban.
Beginning production in 1934 as an all-steel “carryall-suburban,” it had bench seats for many inside, and became a go-anywhere alternative to the wood-clad station wagons of the day.
Suburban EV Competitors to check out: Cadillac Escalade | Rivian R1S
Now in its 12th generation, the Chevrolet Suburban – introduced in 2020 with a blunt, squint-eyed nose – has been refreshed for 2025.
One friend took one look at our Lakeshore Blue ‘Burb and said, “It just goes on and on and on.” And at about 210 inches, the plushest of all – our High Country does look very long in its resplendent deep light blue metallic paint.
There’s lots of versions, from the Z71 and Texas Edition to the Midnight, Premier Plus and RST Edition in recent years. And they do seem to be everywhere – federal agents like theirs in basic black – with 83,673 sold in 2007, it’s all-time recent high. About 51,000 ‘Burbs were sold in 2022, dropping a tad to 44,400 in 2024.
This generation was born in 2021, so it was time for its facelift. Chevy began by tweaking the grill design with a body-color cross bar and thinner bars dividing new upper LED DRL bars that also become amber animated turn signals, and moving headlights below. C-shaped DRLs divide the grille from lights, the latter neatly integrated into side intake slits. The bumper is higher and trimmer, with brush guard accenting its lower intake.
The flanks remain the same – a high design line spearing off the upper DRL’s, under High Country fender badges, then into tail taillights with glowing LED elements. The lower rear fascia gets tweaked under the step bumper. And we like the quad, square steel exhaust tips..
The roofline is shared by other GM SUVs, even Cadillac’s Escalade, and the doors look alike. Down low, what looks like black sills are power running boards in between huge 24-inch Bridgestone Alenza rubber on 14-spoke silver and black alloy wheels. Side windows get gloss black trim. The power hatch opens high, while puddle lights glow from under the running boards on unlock.
This is a massive SUV. The hood is chest-high for me, with the steel roof and its slim racks high above. For weight savings, the hood, doors and hatchback are aluminum. The rear hatch has a window that can be opened separately.
You use the power steps to ascend into the cockpit, although I still wish there were pillar grab handles vs. grabbing the steering wheel for leverage. That’s where you see that screens are the things – two of them to handle information, entertainment and education. And it’s surrounded by a mocha leather interior with some nice warm wood, stitching, brown seat piping, and some subtle patterned/perforated stripes.
Chevrolet Updates The Suburban’s Interior
In its mid-generation restyle, Chevrolet replaces the inset gauges with a full 11-inch digital screen that gains multiple versions at a tap of a steering wheel button, from a simple digital speed readout to a classic 140-mph speedometer and 7,000-rpm digital tach with configurable info screen in between, or even a full-screen navigation map with inset speedo. Then there’s a new 17.7-inch center screen angled toward the driver with a nice big volume button on top of the display. Main menu icons along the top access what you need, including a smaller map and choice of audio or other info screens. At the screen’s base, climate controls including seat heat and cooling, plus dual-zone temperature adjustment. Below that, some of that woodgrain, then air vents and a simplified climate control – with big dual-zone temperature knobs.
The leather front seats were firm, comfortable and very supportive. They are heated and cooled with “High Country” embroidered on head restraints. The driver also had two seat memory presets. The thick leather-clad wheel has a tiny paddle shifter paired with audio controls in back, and controls for smart cruise, digital dash info screen/layout and more up front.
The steering wheel is power adjustable. Controls for trailer brake bias, 4-wheel-drive, drive mode, surround-view camera and more are a bit hidden on the left of the wheel.
The wide center console gets padded sides with a deep inductive phone charger at the front, joined by dual USBs and a 12-volt port and twin cup holders. Under the wide center armrest, lots of storage underneath. The 10-speaker Bose sound system is good, with Google built-in with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Climb through the back doors – there’s glowing puddle lights under the power steps at night – and you’ll find dual captain’s chairs with video screens on the back of the front seat head restraints. The front center console has dual rear cup holders and climate controls for overhead vents, and seat heat controls. There’s plenty of head and leg room.
The center row seats slide fore and aft a bit, making it easy to get into the third row, where a 3-spot bench seat can actually hold two adults for trips. The last row splits and power folds flat via cargo area buttons — the second row can be remotely dropped from there as well.
There’s a deep and usable cargo spot aft of the third row, with 25.5-cu.ft. – 72.6 cu.ft with the back row dropped, and 122.9-cu.ft. with second and third row dropped. The rear hatch powers open, with headroom under it.
Other goodies include a big head-up display, and nice “High Country” door sill plates. Simple black GM plastic marks the dashboard, center console and some other areas below the real woodgrain and leather.
Suburban Performs But Refueling Will Be Expensive
There’s 420-hp from this aluminum 6.2-liter V-8 and a handy 460 lb-ft of torque at 4,100 rpm, which is plenty to move this 6,051-lb. SUV through a 10-speed automatic transmission with Normal, Sport, Off-Road and Tow/Haul modes. Its Active Response 4WD system has electronic limited-slip differential and two-speed transfer case along with rear-wheel, 4-wheel-drive auto/high and low settings. Chevy says it can tow a decent 8,200 lbs.
Sport drive brings firmer steering with more feel along with all 420 horses out of the High Country, and firms up the Magnetic Ride suspension just enough to tighten body control.
Gas pedal floored, the Suburban jumped off the line quickly in rear wheel drive mode with a hint of wheelspin, hitting 60 mph in a satisfying 6 seconds with a nicely meaty exhaust snarl. Tap in all-wheel-drive with Sport, and all four tires grabbed and the nose rose a bit as we launched to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.
Set in Normal mode/RWD, and this truck is still quick – 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, delivering an average 12 mpg – sometimes as high as 16 mpg in highway driving.
The 10 speed transmission never seemed to be at a loss to find the right gear. Downshifts were quick and smooth with great passing power even in Normal mode. But the shifter stalk is a bit clunky to use.
Give me buttons if you want to keep the center console clear. The small paddle shifters don’t work until you engage low gear. That’s done with a steering wheel button, then you can manually shift. Auto-engine off is pretty seamless when it refires as you lift off the brake.
Suburban Handling Features Include Automatic Load-Leveling
Under its skin, independent coil-over-shocks live up front, with independent multi-link with coil-overs in back. It has stabilizer bars for the front and rear, with Air Ride Adaptive Suspension offering automatic load-leveling and ride-height adjustment.
During highway driving it automatically lowers the ride height to help reduce aerodynamic drag. You can raise the body for additional ground clearance when driving off-road, or have it drop lower for ease of entry/exit.
The Magnetic Ride Control and stiff body gave this truck a supple ride with good bump resistance, and pretty quiet bar some tire noise.
This rig also swallowed speed bumps in any drive mode, with no head toss after running over them a tad faster than the speed limit sign suggested.
Set in Sport and Auto 4-wheel-drive, it actually felt a bit smaller than it was, hanging on neutrally with little body roll on expressway ramps. Push harder and there’s some initial understeer, but again, quite drama-free as power shifted where needed. Power into a 90-degree corner and understeer is there again, scrubbed off by traction control with secure handling.
The rack-and-pinion steering in Sport mode had a direct and neatly weighted feel, and we liked the tight turning circle.
On our relatively young 1,600-mile-old Suburban, there’s great initial bite high on the brake pedal with decent stops with no fade after some repeated hard use.
We never got off road due to bad weather, but a GMC I tested a few months ago tackled some rutted muddy roads with a sure-footed, stride that was not mushy over bumps. And along with low range, there’s hill descent control and overhead 360-degree camera.
For safety, the Suburban includes adapative cruise control that starts and stops with traffic along with lane change with side blind zone alert. The lane keep assist gently keeps you between the lines fairly well. It also includes rear cross traffic alert and automatic emergency braking. Like many GM trucks, if get too close to anything the seat buzzers seriously alert you.
A base Suburban LS with rear wheel drive starts at $63,495; our loaded Suburban High Country 4WD started at $84,200. The $4,835 High Country package adds sunroof, retractable running boards, trailer package and more while a $2,495 tech package with rear TV system and advanced security brought the total to $95,000.
Bottom line – Its big, but fairly luxurious and tech-filled as well as able to hold six adults. It drives very well, feeling a bit smaller than it is. It’s quiet and comfortable.
2025 Chevrolet Suburban High Country Specifications
Vehicle type – full-size 7-passenger four-wheel-drive SUV
Base price $84,200 ($95,000 as tested)
Engine type – OHV 16-valve aluminum V-8Displacement – 6.2-liter
Horsepower (net) – 420 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) – 460 @ 4,100 rpm
Transmission – 10-speed automatic
Wheelbase – 120.9 inches
Overall length – 210 inches
Overall width – 81 inches
Height – 76.5 inches
Ground clearance: 8 inches/up to 10 in off-road mode
Front headroom – 40.4 inches w/moonroof
Front legroom – 44.5 inches
Second row headroom – 37.5 inches
Second row legroom – 42 inches
Rear headroom – 38.2 inches
Rear legroom – 34.9 inches
Cargo capacity – 25.5 cu. ft./72.6 w/3rd row folded/122.9 w/2nd and 3rd row folded
Towing capacity – up to 8,100 lbs.
Curb weight – 5,859 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 26 gallons
Mileage rating – 14-mpg city/18-mpg highway