2025 Chevrolet Suburban Review: Expect A Big Price And Big Thirst For This Big Cabin

A few months back, I flew to Texas to drive the newest Chevy Suburban and Chevy Tahoe. I spent time in several configurations of both SUVs, and left with a good sense of all the new tech, the engine upgrades, and the refreshed styling. Still, that abbreviated experience left me figuring there was more to learn about Chevrolet's biggest gas-powered SUVs. So, when a 2025 Suburban High Country showed up for testing, right here at home in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance.

Being able to drive a vehicle in my home environment lets me live with it, test it out on roads I'm familiar with, and learn more about its idiosyncrasies. But as luck would have it, that wasn't the only driving experience I was able to have in the Suburban. The week I had scheduled with the Suburban was the same week I had a road trip planned to visit family. The road trip would take me over 400 miles away from home and there would be six of us total. Certainly enough adults to fill up the Suburban's three rows of seating and explore a bit.

Extra large SUVs like the Suburban are built with maximum space in mind, and the sheer dimensions bear that out. From nose to tail, the Suburban is 226.3 inches long: nearly 18 inches longer than a Toyota Sequoia, and about five inches longer than the Ford Expedition MAX, which checks in at 221.7 inches. The Suburban takes full advantage of that space, with 144.5 cubic feet of storage behind the first row, 93.8 cubic feet behind the second row, and 41.4 cubic feet behind the third row. 

By comparison, the Ford Expedition MAX offers 123.1 cubic feet of storage behind the third row, with 84.5 cubic feet behind the second row, and 37.4 cubes behind the third row.

With the Suburban, you can sense that extra space everywhere. I could have easily fit several more suitcases in the trunk than I brought along with me, and there was room for a few bags between the seats in the second and third rows. Nothing felt cramped, even with six adults along for the ride. The second and third rows both fold down easily and the third row does so with the touch of a button. Want it back up? Easy peasy: just press the same button. Loading in long items and preparing the cabin for passengers are tasks you'll probably do a lot if you buy a Suburban, so these power folding features will come in handy.

The Suburban High Country comes with a 6.2-liter V8 as standard. It's a carry-over engine with no changes from the previous model year, but it's still plenty powerful for just about any task you can dream up. It produces 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, a significant jump over the standard 5.3-liter V8 at 355 hp and 383 lb-ft. When you bury your foot in the loud pedal, the Suburban moves with purpose and shifts from the 10-speed automatic are smooth and relatively quick. 

The Suburban isn't what I'd call fast, but few things in this size category are. Thankfully, it's quick enough for just about any freeway on-ramp and the number of passengers or the amount of cargo you've got loaded up doesn't seem to change the acceleration much. All-electric three-row SUVs like the Rivian R1S offer quicker acceleration, but they need big horsepower numbers to do it.

The V8 has plenty of thrust, and it feels up to the task of moving around the Suburban's three-ton curb weight (the 6.2-liter with 4WD checks in at 6,051 lbs). It would be nice, however, if Chevy added something a bit more refined to the lineup. You can get a Suburban with the 5.3-liter V8 or the 6.2-liter V8, but there's no twin-turbo V6 in sight – something several competitors now offer. The optional turbo-diesel offers big torque numbers (495 lb-ft), but it's not available yet.

Going 1,000 miles in a Suburban was easy, especially one as nice as the top-trim High Country. Chevrolet's Magnetic Ride Control (standard on upper trims) and the available Adaptive Air Ride suspension certainly contributed, there. Magnetic Ride Control adapts to various road surfaces and changes the damping rates of the Suburban's shocks. The Air Ride Adaptive Suspension system goes a step further and offers selectable ride heights for various driving scenarios, along with pre-set heights for reducing drag on the highway, and for making entry/egress easier when the big SUV is parked.

Riding in the city, on the highway, and over lots of broken asphalt, the Suburban's ride quality was much better than I expected. Even with massive 24-inch wheels and small tire sidewalls, the combination of the Magnetic Ride Control and the Air Ride Adaptive Suspension soaked up most bumps and roadway imperfections with ease. 

My father, a life-long car guy and stern judge of vehicle quality, remarked that he couldn't believe just how comfortable the Suburban was considering how large the wheels were, and I was inclined to agree with him. There are still some sharp impacts that make their way into the cabin, but it's hard to ask for a better ride quality in something as large and capable as this.

It's not uncommon to see screen sizes on dashboards these days that would easily dwarf the TV-VCR combo I had in my college dorm room. (For the record, it was a 13-inch TV. Pretty rad if you ask me.) That's certainly the case with the Suburban: the 17.7 inch center touchscreen display and the 15-inch head-up display for the driver both meet that criteria. The 11-inch driver display screen doesn't quite outclass the screen I used to play Nintendo 64 on, but the image quality is much, much better. In fact, all three main front-row displays in the Suburban have excellent image quality. 

The center touchscreen responds quickly to input and it's easy to see, even in harsh light. The High Country's 10-speaker Bose stereo also performed well on my road trip, with enough audio quality and volume to drown out my sub-par singing voice.

The dual rear entertainment screens, which each measure 12.6 inches diagonally, are also quick to respond to inputs. I only used those screens when the Suburban was parked, but I can see how they'd be useful for families on long road trips. The rear screens are part of the Technology and Entertainment package, which added $2,495 to the price of the High Country trim, so you might want to consider a few tablets instead; the package also includes a panoramic sunroof, the power liftgate, and upgraded trailer cameras.

There's a lot going on when it comes to the Suburban's dashboard. Yes, the big touchscreen and the large driver display are pleasant and well integrated, but the number of buttons gives me pause, as does their location. The parking brake button, for example, is located to the left of the steering wheel where things like four-wheel drive, headlights, and dashboard brightness are all relegated as well. It seems like an illogical, if not abnormal place to put some of these controls. This seems especially true when you look closely at the steering wheel, which is missing a few buttons on its own.

Then, there's the overhead console above the driver and front passenger. There are buttons to fold the third row seats up and down, open the trunk, slide the sunroof back and forth, and slide the center console back and forth (a button that took me about 5 minutes to find: it should definitely be on the center console itself). 

Don't get me wrong: I understand the need for all these buttons, and I like the fact that the center console of the Suburban feels clean and uncluttered, but there's just so much going on here. After a week behind the wheel, I was generally acquainted with all the proper controls, so this complaint fell to the level of "you'll get used to it" but it was certainly a steep learning curve.

Few vehicles are as broadly capable as the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban. Loading in adults with the quick-folding seats is a breeze; securing your kids in the back seats should be relatively simple too. Legroom, hiproom, headroom, and shoulder room are all more than adequate for adults. Anything short of a full roster on a baseball team and the Suburban has you covered. The three rows of seating and big cargo space aren't the only measure of capability though.

The Suburban has a large towing capacity of 8,200 pounds on certain models; that's plenty for hauling an average-sized boat, or a trailer loaded up with your newest project car. Maximum towing capacity for the Suburban with the 6.2-liter V8 and four-wheel drive, like the one I was driving, is 7,900 pounds. The Suburban's main competition in this department, however, does better. The Ford Expedition MAX with four-wheel drive can tow up to 9,000 pounds, while the Jeep Wagoneer L can pull 10,000 pounds

According to the EPA, the Suburban with four-wheel drive and the 6.2-liter V8 will return 16 mpg combined (14 city/18 highway). A base-trim Suburban with rear-wheel drive and the 5.3-liter V8 does slightly better at 17 mpg combined, but that still lags behind competitors. The newest Ford Expedition MAX, for example, is rated as high as 16 mpg city/24 mpg highway. The Jeep Wagoneer L is rated at up to 20 mpg combined (17 city/24 highway). Both the Jeep and the Ford use six-cylinder engines with similar horsepower numbers, so there's no real drawback there.

Before filling up the Suburban for the first time, I did a bit of city driving, but mostly I cruised along Interstate 5 at an easy freeway pace. The traffic on the way out of town, combined with the city driving dragged my average down to 14.4 mpg. The next fill up was mostly clear freeway driving and the average creeped up to 15.1 mpg. Finally, on the last leg of the journey, I went 391 miles on a single tank of fuel (about 50 miles shy of the Suburban's max) and averaged 16.8 mpg. 

That last tank was almost all highway miles, with only a few short detours for food and breaks from a steady highway pace. With a lighter foot, I could probably crack 17 mpg, but getting to the EPA's 18 mpg highway rating would require a bit of hypermiling.

During my time with the big Chevy three-row SUV, the Suburban was a great family hauler, it had plenty of space for all my gear, and it was supremely comfortable. The quiet ride, impressive stereo, and well-built interior all contributed to a serene driving experience for a week of travel. The modern tech interface was easy to use and, despite my early misgivings with the placements of some controls, eventually figuring out the multitude of buttons and dials was pretty easy, too. 

Fuel economy was predictably poor, though, given the Suburban's sheer size and capability. I wasn't expecting Prius numbers at the pump, but even for a behemoth, it was still a bit below average.

The High Country trim is plush, but pricey one: this test vehicle had a sticker of $95,495 (including $1,995 destination fee) as equipped. Even considering the abundant equipment like Magnetic Ride Control, Air Adaptive Suspension, the big screens, the panoramic sunroof, and loads of other creature comforts, that's an intimidating price tag. I'd recommend taking a closer look at lower trim levels and at competitors like the Ford Expedition, Jeep Wagoneer, and Toyota Sequoia, before opting for the top-tier Chevy.