Tahoe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
SUV

Those old school ladder frames with truck and full-size SUV bodies mounted on top are some of the most profitable vehicles in the industry, and given how well trucks and SUVs are selling right now, you'd expect America's Big Three-pretty much the only automakers that sell this class of vehicle-to be making big money. That's true for the most part, but Chevrolet wants to make the Tahoe more competitive than the newer and recently modernized aluminum-bodied and EcoBoost-powered Ford Expedition.

By taking a move out of the same playbook that the General is using when considering a cheaper Camaro, Chevy has revealed a new Tahoe trim it dubs the "Tahoe Custom" that drops the full-size SUV's cost to just $44,995. For those keeping track, that's $3,500 less than the next cheapest Tahoe, the $48,510 LS trim. The Tahoe Custom is geared for those who need the full-size SUV utility and are willing to part with some luxury amenities in order to afford it. To cut costs, Chevy struck a few items off the features list including the third row seat and polished alloy wheels (it gets a set of 18-inch painted alloy wheels in place of that).

Aside from that, the rest of the package is all there. Still included on the Tahoe Custom is a 5.3-liter V8 churning out 355 horsepower that can tow 6,600 pounds and get an average EPA rating of 23 mpg on the highway, an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 4G LTE-enabled WiFi hotspot, a rear-vision camera, remote start, and a teen driver mode. For the safety conscious, Chevy makes the Enhanced Driver Alert Package an option, which includes Forward Collision Alert, Safety Alert Driver Seat, IntelliBeam headlamps with automatic high-beam control, Lane Keep Assist, and Low Speed Forward Automatic Braking.

Even though seating space has been cut back, the Tahoe Custom still offers up to five USB charging ports so no device is left without juice. If this sounds like the truck for you, wait around until the 2018 model-year Tahoe trickles into dealerships.

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