Posts Tagged ‘large SUV’

Jill Ciminillo

To be fair, I should start by saying that I swapped into the all-new 2010 Toyota 4Runner after being in the Mazda MX-5. But even so, this all-new large SUV seemed a bit super-sized to me.

The knobs and dials. The seats. The center stack. The center console. The door handles The step-in height. Everything was, well, a bit much.

Except the price. That was a pleasant surprise. The test vehicle was a four-wheel drive (4WD) model with a V-6 engine, and the base price rang in at $30,915. Which I thought was very reasonable considering the shear size of this gigantic SUV.

2010 Toyota 4Runner

I would, however, like to see a standard third-row seat in a vehicle of this magnitude, and my test vehicle didn’t have one. It is an option on the Limited and SR5 4WD models ($1,390), but not available on the two-wheel drive or the Trail models at all.

The 4Runner also comes as a base two-wheel drive model with a starting price of $27,500. Even better.

The test vehicle added a bevy of options that hiked the as-tested price to $36,634. And while I liked the vehicle as equipped, I could probably have done without most of the options, including the Premium Package ($2,205) and the Convenience Package ($1,050). These packages included premium features like leather seats, moonroof and power adjustable driver’s seat.

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Jill Ciminillo

The 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid goes beyond big. It is well into gargantuan territory. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Especially if you live in an urban environment like I do. This tank of a vehicle was kind of like a bull in a China shop with nothing nimble about it.

Petite drivers need not apply.

While I was able to get a great driving position with excellent visibility with the 6-way power adjustable seat combined with the tilt/telescoping steering wheel and power adjustable pedals, everything else about this vehicle was cumbersome for this 5-foot-tall driver.

Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid

Entry and exit was doable with the running boards, but it wasn’t pretty. Especially in a pencil skirt and high heels. The third-row seat is an often necessary feature in growing families who carpool.

But if you need the cargo room over the passenger space, forget about it. The rear seats fold down, but they don’t fold flat. If you need the space, you have to remove these 100-pound suckers from the vehicle. Which is kind of easy as they slide down a track. But lifting them in and out, not so much. Read the rest of this entry »