I’ve been reviewing gadgets for more than 20 years, and this is the most expensive one I’ve ever touched.
And this hulking 2021 Chevrolet Suburban 4WD High Country comes with an $84,045 sticker price.
The 2021 Suburban is also one of the few products I’ve reviewed that’s made here, at the sprawling General Motors plant in Arlington. I’ve never been to the plant, but I was proud to drive the Suburban and marvel at its quality and amazing technology.
I’m not a car reviewer, so you will probably want to read elsewhere for in-depth thoughts about engine size and horsepower and torque.
I’m driving the Suburban to experience the technology.
Wow, it’s big and heavy
I’ve driven my fair share of cars and trucks, but the 2021 Suburban is the biggest.
The Suburban is 18.8 feet long, 6.75 feet wide (without mirrors) and 6.3 feet tall.
The truck weighs 6,016 pounds, and while it has really good brakes, the first few stops scared me. I drive a comparatively tiny Honda Fit and the Suburban takes a lot more effort on the brake pedal to bring it to a stop. I had to get used to the pedal feel. Having to stop quickly reminded me how much effort it takes to bring three tons of truck to a halt.
High Country
The 2021 Suburban has a base sticker price of $51,700. The base sticker price of the truck I drove was $75,300.
The High Country Deluxe edition package costs $5,605 and adds a power panoramic sunroof, adaptive cruise control, enhanced automatic emergency braking, power retractable running boards with perimeter lighting, air ride adaptive suspension, trailer blind side zone alert, trailer brake controller and an advanced trailering system with hitch view.
My review vehicle also came equipped with a rear seat media system with dual rear-seat 12.6-inch color touchscreens.
While I didn’t watch any movies from the back seat, I did play with the rear-screen navigation, which lets you call up the navigation system and calculate driving directions from the back seat.
Finally, the Suburban was equipped with a power sliding center console.
I have to admit, my wife and I took the Suburban to Katy to visit my parents and we had no idea the center console moved.
The console is designed to slide back up to 10 inches to bring the rear cupholders closer to the back seats and reveal a small shelf where my wife would have loved to keep her purse during the ride.
When I showed her Chevrolet had thought of a place to store her purse, she said I needed to take her for another ride so she could try it for herself.
Safety tech
I was really impressed with the safety features in the Suburban.
It has automatic emergency braking with forward collision alert, which will first warn you of an impending collision and then stop the truck if it senses you have not reacted quickly enough.
It also has lane-keep assist with a lane departure warning. This is really helpful if you start to drift out of your lane. The system has a forward-facing camera behind the rearview mirror. It scans the road to see lane markings. If it can see the lane, an icon lights up green on the dash and the truck will nudge the wheel back toward the center of the lane if you are drifting over the line.
If you are like me and sometimes change lanes without using a turn signal, you’ll feel a buzz in your seat and the steering wheel will try to fight you a bit while you are changing lanes.
You can complete the lane change, but it really makes you want to use your signal next time.
There are blind spot warnings in the side mirrors. If you want to change lanes, a glance at the mirror will show you if the lane is clear. You’ll see a bright yellow light if you need to wait.
There are sensors in the rear bumper to warn you if there is cross traffic when you are backing up. You’ll get a buzz in your seat and a warning on the rear-view camera if the truck senses an approaching vehicle while you are in reverse.
There are also pedestrian alerts from the front or rear.
You can get the truck to show you how close you are following the vehicle ahead, and adaptive cruise control will not only keep your speed, it will also slow down if you are coming up on a slower vehicle in your lane.
Entertainment
I love driving, but the Suburban really makes me want to be a passenger on a road trip.
The 12.6-inch screens on the back of each front seat pair up with two sets of Bluetooth headphones so the rear seat passengers can separately watch videos or listen to music during the ride.
You can plug in any video source with an HDMI plug or play your videos or songs from a thumb drive (USB-C). There is also a 110v AC plug on the back of the console.
The console has climate controls for the rear passengers.
We never had it this good when I was a kid. Then again, I don’t think I ever wore a seat belt in all my years riding in the back of my parents' station wagon.
Up front, the main infotainment screen is a 10.2-inch color touchscreen.
It has the usual AM/FM/SiriusXM/HD radio along with Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay, which I loved.
When you pair your iPhone, you can get Siri to notify you of incoming messages and read them to you and even dictate and send responses.
You can stream audio via Bluetooth to the 10-speaker Bose sound system. The Suburban has a wireless charging spot for your phone, and it’s a 4G LTE hotspot for your connected gadgets (with an optional internet subscription). Like most GM vehicles, the Suburban comes with OnStar.
Like several other GM vehicles I’ve driven, the Suburban’s rearview mirror is also a video screen that can show you the view out the back camera, which is great because the back window is really far away from the mirror and you can’t always see out the window if you are loaded with passengers and cargo.
Comfort
The Suburban has two rows of bucket seats. All the seats have leather surfaces, and the front seats are heated and cooled, while the second row is only heated. Those poor third-row passengers don’t get any heated or cooled seats, but I can tell you the third row is not a bad place to sit.
The third-row seats raise and lower with the push of a button, either from the front or back of the truck.
Conclusion
The 2021 Suburban High Country is a beautiful truck that’s perfect for a big family, especially if they love the outdoors and need to tow a boat. The max tow rating is 8,200 lbs.
I was very aware I was driving a huge truck, but I never found it hard to maneuver in traffic. Parking is something I had to think about. My tiny Honda can slip into almost any spot, while I found myself looking for a wide berth with the Suburban. On more than one occasion, I picked a parking spot far away from the doors of the grocery store to make things a bit easier.
The GM workers in Arlington should be proud of their Suburban.
Pros
Huge size, easy to drive, insanely comfortable, top-tier technology
Cons
Expensive
Bottom Line
Carries seven passengers and everyone will ride in comfort.
