For 2021, Suburban adds longer platform, features
Still huge – or huger – the 2021 Suburban is the best one yet. Photos by John Gilbert. How many times over the past few months have you clicked on your TV set for the evening news and seen a caravan of huge, black Chevrolet Suburbans in a convoy to deliver President Trump and his entourage to some campaign rally under the guise of official business? As an auto writer, I always look for cars in my television viewing, whether a Formula 1 race, or a string of creative commercials for the newest creations coming to showrooms near you. But this year, I would estimate that there have been more on-screen minutes devoted to big, black Suburbans than all other cars combined. It’s pretty hard to think of anything
that has happened this year as normal. Our normal lifestyle has been totally disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic which is in the process of killing over a quarter of a million people in the U.S. and sending most of the rest of us scurrying for the cover of self-quarantining ourselves and our families. Restaurants, bars, theaters and businesses have been shutting down, some for good, and we can’t even use sports as a normal escape because the teams are either cancelling games, or seasons, or playing without fans. And as if to add another odd departure, we just had a presidential election that had so many twists and turns that if it was only a movie, you would quit watching it as being too
GILBERT’S GARAGE JOHN GILBERT
DuluthReader.com
preposterous. Reality has been so far-out that nothing should remain unexpected. Next thing you know, I’ll start really liking Suburbans! For most of my vehicle-testing career I’ve stressed that normal folks should consider what they need in a car or SUV and then buy something using the guide that “anything bigger than big enough is too big.” With that philosophy, I have never had a love affair with a Suburban, or other huge vehicle, with each passing decade. Then I run into people who say they need something huge to haul a housetrailer, or farm equipment, or that they have four (or more) kids and need all the seats. And if you’re getting something huge, you need a huge engine to make it work. But I must be softening. I just had a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban for a week’s
test-drive and evaluation, and, true to the cliche, it came in “black.” With an interior in “jet black.” With Trump, his opponent Joe Biden, and vice president Pence all visiting the Duluth area in this odd campaign season, the presence of Suburbans everywhere has become common. And while I can certainly appreciate the interior room — enough to house or haul a family of six or more — I kept anticipating that the OnStar system might click on at any time and summon me to head for the airport to pick up a roaming politician. That didn’t happen, which suited us just fine. But in analyzing the Suburban, you have to start with the glossy black exterior and realize that there is something new and more stylish about the 2021 model.
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