kyle the only thing ill disagree on (and it may be just a misunderstanding on my part) is the navi. unit. on both the lexus and the chevy, they are square boxes shoved into an unsquare hole. even the lexus has filler around the outsides of the navi unit because it doesnt fit it exactly.

i will agree about the radio though. the lexus has a much more "custom" look to it than the chevy does.

nice truck all around though. cant wait to drive one.

 

Where's the flat folding 3rd row? You'd expect that convenience these days. Sucks having to remove and store seats.

http://www.gm-trucks.com/gallery/alb...review/t10.jpg

 

Well granted you wouldn't expect a trapezoidal shaped LCD screen, I've never seen such a thing. But the RX IMO seems to do a much better job of integrating it into the dash (it's recessed with the edges hiding the 'filler'), and the buttons to control it are on a completely seperate component of the dash. The unit in the GM looks like 3/4 of the aftermarket nav units out there - like somebody at circuit city pulled your OEM radio out and put a nav unit in aftermarket. Go look at the nav unit in the 2006 Honda Civic... it looks just as bad to me and a critisized them heavily for that... then again the Civic is a low priced econobox so I guess I would at least be more willing to accept it there than on a ground up redesigned 35-45k dollar half ton SUV. On the flip side compare the 2006 Civic's nav unit to the more expensive Honda Accord (2003+) and see what integrated vs non integrated nav units look like. Or compare the 2003 and below Acura TL to the 2004 and above. HUGE difference. That's what I'm talking about.

Bad: http://slakaz.org/~sherlock/gallery/...S/Dsc00458.jpg
Better: http://acura.rizzacars.com/images/ed...2/024656-E.jpg

BTW you wanna know one of the absolute WORST performing and looking nav systems on the market?
http://www.audiworld.com/news/99/nav...nav_sclass.jpg
And it costs a whole shatload of money too.

 

It looks nice and clean on the outside, but the interior is still not up to '05 Ford F150 standards. Its a HUGE improvement over the current interior, but then pretty much anything new would have been.

Bottom line, they can and SHOULD do better.

As far as "this is a Chevy not a Lexus" comments, if the Caddy version of this truck has a different, more "lexus-like" interior, then fine. But my bet is on GM just "dressing up" the Chevy interior with pieces and trim that "looks" richer but just ends up being a different type of filler on the same interior like Threxx was saying.

 

A full-frame SUV is not a unibody minivan. The biggest problem is that the frame rails are just underneath the body and preclude the creation of the pockets necessary to store the seats. Designers also have spare tires, gas tanks, and the rear suspension to worry about packaging. There's just no room.

 

What he said.

 

Ford and Dodge did it just fine with their fullsizes.
Durango
Expedition

The Tahoe will probably be the most comfortable in the back and provide the most cargo volume when they are removed though.

 

The RX330's center stack is a little more stylish. The Tahoe's isn't as stylish because it is designed to be a regular everyday truck, but it looks perfectly fine and well put together.

Anyone who is so nuts that they'd pick apart a little thing like that probably needs something that costs a lot more money.

 

The plain steering wheel ruins the interior for me. The rest of the interior is beautiful. If I cover up the steering wheel, the interior looks like a luxury car.

Dan

 

Y'all might have noticed I wasn't the one who brought up a comparison to any Lexus models anyhow. There are plenty of models outside of Lexus that don't have the piece-mill look either, and many in a much lower price range.

 

The Dash looks like it came from a Cobalt mixed with an Impala. It's nice but I think it looks like it belongs to a car rather than a truck.

The pictures I printed and took to work got this reaction:"What the hell, it looks almost exactly the same!!!??"

 

Just an opinion, but GM has lost touch with styling cues. All the new vehicles are coming out without body lines which give the vehicle some character. The side panels are all smooth and bland. I even noticed that the new Monte Carlos don't come with a body moulding to break up the flat side panels. The Malibu's body lines over the wheel wells are hideous and don't flow well for the car. Same for the Impala. The Pontiac and Caddy are also lacking body lines.

The fenders and 1/4s on the new truck lack style. The 06 defined the wheel area with body lines, the lower 3rd of the truck is indented with mouldings and there was a small line that ran the length of the vehicle under the windows. The new truck is just plain BLAND! Using a plastic monochromatic bumper scheme is also boring. The chrome bumpers gave it the truck look. I also noticed that the interior doors have lost the fabric at the arm rest and the carpet along the bottom. What happened to adding the nice touch and hiding all the plastic? I really don't care for the fact that my 03 Monte SS is plastic throughout the entire interior. No carpet on the door panels, no leather or fabric on the door panels or side of the console, etc. Too much plastic looks cheap and boring.

 

I'm not getting this at all. How in the world does it look like a Ford?
I disagree. The new Tahoe has a lot of cues, and the family similarity with the TrailBlazer has in fact already been noted by other posters. There's plenty of unique individuality in this design. The front end is unmistakedly Chevy. The wheelhouse arches harken back to recent Chevy trucks. Again I'm confused
And as for the distinctiveness of other GM vehicles... gosh the H2, CTS, GTO, C6, Solstice, Rendezvous... yep those all SO anonymous

 

you're confusing "character" with tackyness. I'm glad all this gawdy crap is gone off GM vehicles. They look clean, flowing, CLASSY. Finally. And it only took them 15 years to get the hint.

now, if anyone wants to start the campaign to rid GM vehicles of the latest evil the GM sticker, I'm THERE.

 

Threxx,

That Nav screen will probably be used in other vehicles, but the HVAC unit is (at least currently) unique to the GMT900s. I have never seen it used in another GM interior.

You didn't really answer my previous post, though you kind of did by accident in responding to the RX330 and Tahoe interior pics. After looking at the RX interior again, why is it any worse to use fake wood trim ("woodgrain trim") than to use fake brushed aluminum trim? I mean, the fake aluminum (which again will also be an option on at least some of the 900s, I believe) might be more contemporary. But that comes down to a question of personal preference/style. Both are using plastics to similate something else in order to create a certain ambience in the interior.

Morb|d, having sat in a few GMT900s and a few F150s, I can tell you that it is MORE than up to the standards of the Ford. I think the Ford's interior was a little overrated to begin with (but so are some Toyota and even Lexus vehicles, for that matter). It has a decent, clean style to it, with good fit overall. But many of the materials felt pretty hard to me. [Aside: Of course, that is not much of a problem for me personally, as long as the interior is quiet, and the surfaces that you TOUCH feel good. But for some reason these days it is assumed that you have to have squishy dash panels to have a good interior, even if the same gloss and shape and fit/finish can be achieved by a slightly less squishy material] Of course, you could legitimately like the style of the F150 dash better (I certainly don't; I don't dig the look, especially their new "parts bin" stereo that has shown up in the F150, the Five Hundred, the Fusion, etc.). But wait until you sit in both before judging the "standards" achieved by the GMT900 dash. Based on my time in F150s and early build 900s, I give the advantage to the 900s easily. JMHO.