• Auto123 gets in a first drive of the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban.
Dallas, TX – In case you didn’t know, the Chevrolet Suburban is the longest-running nameplate in the car/light truck world. And it’s being given a shot of freshness for 2025, gaining new styling touches and tech and improved engine choices.
Our first taste of the updated new Suburban took place in Texas’ largest city, which is about 30 km from where every Suburban and Tahoe is built in Arlington, Texas.
See also: 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe First Drive: More Diesel, More Tech
2025 Chevrolet Suburban – What’s new?
Styling-wise, the Suburban has been given a selection of new grilles, new wheels available for every trim (including 24-inch options, the largest wheels ever available on a Suburban) and on certain trims a signature lighting “greeting” as you approach. Also new is a completely hands-free tailgate that will open as long as you’re in its vicinity with the keyfob.
The big add for 2025, however, is for the Z71 off-road version. In can now be had with the 3.0-litre Duramax diesel, previously available in other trims such as the RST and High Country.
Another nice addition is the extended availability of Super Cruise autonomous driving tech, and a standard 17.7-inch infotainment display, the largest in the segment.
Design of the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban – 8.0/10
Ask any designer which vehicle segment is the toughest to design, and they’ll likely tell you pickups and full-size SUVs. It’s OK for crossovers and cars to have rounded edges unique headlight lenses and so on but trucks, with their big, wide front fascias and body panels shaped to achieve maximum interior space and practicality have their limitations.
The new Suburban’s design team sought to bring the model in line with the rest of the lineup. The headlights sit below the high-mount DRLs, the vertical LED DRLs are futuristic (as is that greeting animation seen on the High Country and Premier models) and the rear LEDs are flipped for a lower, wider look.
The 24-inch wheel options are big, but so are the panels that surround them so it’s all good. You can opt for the RST model and its low-profile performance tires if you want something more.
Interior
The base LS/LT trucks come equipped with seating for up to 9 (you can get a front-row bench seat as an option), but the seats on those trucks are in cloth. Good for moving large families, but likely that configuration will be more about moving work crews.
Regardless, all passengers will appreciate the big pockets on all four doors, tilt-and-slide second row (the Suburban is possible only with three rows of seating) and second-row climate controls. The middle seat of the front middle seatback flips down to become a big centre console with cupholders and mini storage cubbies.
The base model gets a manual liftgate, but the rear glass on every model can open independently of the main gate, allowing for easier loading of tall loads.
With the High Country version, you get high-quality leather covering the seats, parts of the doors and dash. Buyers can choose from a selection of luxurious colours like the gingerbread-like brown with white stitching seen here, and options include a power sliding centre console. When in its most rearward position, the two cupholders mounted on its rear edge become usable for second-row passengers and an additional storage bin with security drawer is revealed up front.
The seats are comfortable and interior space is paramount even in the third row, where there’s enough headroom for taller passengers, as well as USB-C ports and cupholders. Getting back there is easy as well with the tilt-and-tumble second row, but since the seats there slide but don’t tilt, having child’s seats does limit rear seat access.
As its sheer size suggests, it’s supremely roomy inside, but know that the Suburban costs an additional $3,500 over the smaller Tahoe at any given trim level and doesn’t add any more passenger space. What you do get is more cargo space - you can pack up to 4,092 litres back there if you lay the second and third rows flat.
Technology in the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban – 9.0/10
For 2025, all Suburban trims get a 17.7-inch touchscreen display matched with an 11-inch digital gauge cluster. It comes with Google Built-In, meaning Google Maps is your native infotainment system, and there’s also Google Assistant and the ability to login to your Google account. The icons onscreen can be moved around to your heart’s content and even dragged to the top bar for a customized list of shortcuts. It works as advertised.
The backup camera offers a number of views – top-down, over the wheels, front, back and so on – and if you like, you can activate wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well.
It does lose a point on the audio front. A 10-speaker Bose sound system as upscale as you can get (a six-speaker is standard). It’s not a lot of aural firepower for such a large vehicle.
There are plenty of displays, though. In addition to the standard stuff, there’s also an optional digital rear-view mirror and second-row entertainment system on which you can stream YouTube and Hulu and even surf the web.
Because the bigger display takes up so much more room on the dash, there’s no longer any space for the previous model’s button-operated transmission. Instead, Chevrolet has reverted back to a more traditional column-mounted shifter, though it remains an electronic shifter. Which is fine, though the way you have to pull the shifter back and then bump it up or down to select reverse or drive is a little finicky.
Super Cruise
The cherry on top of the tech has to be the Super Cruise autonomous feature. It’s optional on every trim except the Z71 and base LS, though surprisingly not even the top-spec High Country model gets it as standard.
The Suburban gets the latest version of the tech, meaning that when activated, it will keep speed, keep distance and change lanes automatically. If it senses the traffic ahead is moving too slowly, it will automatically pull out to pass and will even get out of the way if a vehicle is coming up quickly from the rear.
It also works all the way down to creep speeds and makes long drives that much less tedious. Arguably, Super Cruise is the best autonomous system available today, even if it did get a little confused in stop-and-go traffic as we entered Dallas at rush hour, when it decided we were no longer on an appropriate road to function, even though we hadn’t changed anything.
Powertrains of the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban – 8.5/10
There are three to choose from, and all are available on almost every trim:
1) The standard 5.3L V8 (355 hp, 383 lb-ft)
2) A 6.2L V8 (420 hp, 460 lb-ft)
3) A 3.0L turbodiesel (305 hp, 495 lb-ft)
New for 2025 is that the Z71 off-road version now gets the diesel engine option, and every model except the base LS can be equipped with any of the three engines. Each also makes more power and torque this year, with increases of about 30 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque. Note that the LS is available only with the 5.3L.
While the V8s don’t have the torque the diesel does, they do have the power, which they deliver smoothly. GM has perfected these engines over the years and they do hum along nicely, paired as they are with quick-shifting 10-speed transmissions.
As torquey as the diesel is, there’s just something about smoothly wafting along the highway at about 2,000 RPM and knowing that big as the Suburban is, there’s always enough power in reserve to handle anything you can throw at it.
Driving the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban – 7.5/10
If a smooth ride is what you’re after, then a truck equipped with the smaller – the smallest – wheels is the way to go. In that scenario, the tire sidewalls act as an integral part of the suspension system as they handily absorb harsh bumps such as railroad tracks. The 24-inch wheels look fantastic, but even when equipped with the available air suspension and adaptive dampers, physics are physics and you are going to feel the bumps.
Now, those fat sidewalls do take away from both steering feel and response. We drove a model equipped with the 24s followed by one equipped with the 18s and the difference in handling between the two was noticeable.
Of course, the Suburban remains a large, body-on-frame truck and not once during my drive could I really say “well, this is almost a car-like ride, isn’t it?” because it just isn’t. You will feel bumps through the chassis and body, there are reverberations as you go over repeated bumps and so on. It’s not a performance truck.
2025 Chevrolet Suburban pricing in Canada
- - 2025 Suburban LS - $78,499
- - 2025 Suburban LT - $85,999
- - 2025 Suburban Z71 - $90,999
- - 2025 Suburban RST - $91,999
- - 2025 Suburban Premier - $99,999
- - 2025 Suburban High Country - $106,499
Some of your questions about the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban
What is the towing capacity for the Suburban?
If you want to tow as much as possible, the 2WD model with the 6.2L V8 is your truck, as that can tow up to 3,674 kg (8,100 lb). If you need AWD, trucks with the 6.2L V8 and 4WD will tow up to 3,357 kg (7,400 lb). By the way, the Super Cruise feature also works with a trailer attached, and can “see” the trailer’s blind spots just as it can the truck’s blind spots normally.
Will the Suburban be produced in all-electric version, like its cousin the Cadillac Escalade?
Right now, no. We did speak with Chevrolet about it, and it sounds like it is a real possibility, likely when the Suburban gets a full redesign in a couple of years.
The final word
The 2025 Chevrolet Suburban does justice to its famous nameplate in all the ways the Suburban has always done: there’s tons of interior space, the ride is for the most part very good, the fit and finish inside are right on and power from each of the three engines suits this rig just fine. Add the great new tech on offer, a nice touch of the modern to compliment the classic nameplate.
Competitors of the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban
- - Ford Expedition MAX
- - GMC Yukon XL
- - Jeep Grand Wagoneer
- - Nissan Armada
- - Toyota Sequoia
