This past week a brand new shiny 2017 Chevrolet Suburban landed in my driveway. The good peep at Chevrolet asked if my family and I would be interested in taking the Chevrolet Suburban out and going to see the new LEGO Batman movie. Yes and yes.
If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time – you know that we have 4 kids. 4 kids is 2 more kids than fit in a normal vehicle. As soon as we hit 3 kids, we had to upgrade our vehicle to a SUV with a third row. We road trip often and put a good number of miles on vehicles. (We live in the country, while we do have a Starbucks close (praise Jesus) – everything else does take 5-10 miles to get to. A lot of time in a SUV, car or what have you and 4 kids – let’s just say you want to make sure you have plenty of room and that you and the kids are both comfortable.
Learning to Drive in a Suburban
The 2017 Suburban arrived and honestly blew all my expectations out of the water. A little back story. Growing up, my learn to drive car was a 1980 something Suburban. Her name was Bertha, she was a bright blue. I learned to drive in a Suburban. Everyone could see me coming. I could hit pot holes and any speed bump without having to worry about the suspension. Bertha could withstand dings and all the what-have-yous that come with learning to drive.
I had a disco ball on my rearview mirror that casted fun light reflections through-out the vehicle. The leather was worn, the ceiling kind of sagged. This was back in the mid-90’s so I am sure is smelled on CK One and surely Nirvana blared thru her speakers. All that said, Bertha was NOT a fancy vehicle by any means. I hadn’t driven a Suburban since Bertha, so you say the word Suburban, I immediately flash back to Bertha. What arrived in my driveway was NOT Bertha. This is NOT the Suburban I grew up knowing – and that’s a GOOD thing!
2017 Chevrolet Suburban Review
This 2017 Chevrolet Suburban review is going to be from different points of view. I review several vehicles a year, but this vehicle really made an impression on my kids so I wanted to make sure that their comments and opinions were included. Because us moms know, at the end of the day – the kids better like the vehicle (but if only they could PAY for the vehicle.)
SUV Review
The model I reviewed was the 2017 Suburban 4WD 1/2 Ton Premier in iridescent pearl tricoat with a cocoa/mahogany interior.
What You Need To Know About the 2017 Chevrolet Suburban
Keep reading for my personal review:
What A Mom Will LOVE About The Suburban
A Vehicle That Fits 4 Kids
All 4 of my kids piled into the Suburban with no fuss. There was plenty of room for both the kids and all of their stuff.
Suburban Technology
The connectivity features on the Chevrolet Suburban are top notch. The vehicle comes with On-Star that features automatic crash response, navigation and more.
4G LTE
With 4G LTE WI-FI Hotspot – the kids will never get bored! My husband had to finish up some work on the way to the LEGO Batman movie, so brought his laptop – connected to the Suburban’s hotspot and worked without issue. We had 2 iPads connected and 2 iPhones as well – and ZERO complaints. (We have our kids data turned off so they have to connect to WIFI for using the internet.)
Control Panel
The display is 8″ – so everything is front and center. It feels more like a control panel than your standard radio!
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Another bonus – the Suburban comes with both Apple CarPlay AND Android Auto. I’ll be reviewing both of those in an upcoming post, because those deserve their own review. But long story short – whether you are Apple or Android, the Chevy Suburban has you covered.
BONUS! All new 2017 Chevy Suburbans offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility for compatible phones as a standard feature.
Rear-Seat Entertainment System with Blu-ray
The particular vehicle we were loaned, had not one but TWO screens connected to the rear-seat entertainment system. On our way to see LEGO Batman, we watched (and cried) UP. Again, major road trip perk.
- A screen in both second and third rows
- HDMI connector to attach devices for projection on in-vehicle screens
- Digital headphones
- Two additional USB ports
USB Ports Galore
You and each of your passengers will have access to a USB. This family vehicle is loaded with them!
How many USB ports are included?
The 2017 Chevy Suburban provides 11 charging locations, including a 110-volt power outlet, 5 USB ports and 5 auxiliary 12-volt power outlets.
Heads Up Display
The heads up display (often referred to as HUD) offers you a view of how fast you are going in the windshield. It’s crazy. You don’t have to look down – your speed shows as if it’s a hologram in the front window. I had my husband take this photo while I was driving. It’s a really great feature, did take a day to get use to though! (Look between the lanes, that’s your speed displayed – appearing in the windshield.)
Collision Warning System
The Collision Warning System offers a red Collision Alert warning that will flash along with rapid, high-pitched beeping when the driver is approaching a vehicle ahead too quickly and may be seconds away from a potential crash. The driver’s seat also vibrates 5 times.
myChevrolet Mobile App
The myChevrolet mobile app lets your control certain functionalities from your smart phones. You can start and stop your engine and unlock and lock your doors. No more running back to your vehicle to lock the doors! You can You can even send destinations to your available navigation system, view diagnostic information and set parking reminders from virtually anywhere.
Luxury Ride
Again, from my days with my 1980 Chevrolet Suburban named Bertha – she was not luxury. The 2017 Chevrolet Suburban defined luxury. From the beautiful mahogany leather seats to the cocoa carpet, the immediate feel when I sat in the driver seat was luxury. Features such as the heated steering wheel to the cool and heated seats added to the overall luxurious ambiance.
In addition to the gorgeous interior – the actual drive/ride was smooth.
Room in the Rear for Luggage and Kids Stuff
While we didn’t take the Suburban on a road trip (we so need this Suburban for our next road trip!) – I always eye the back of vehicles to get an idea of how much room is there for luggage. Road trips are a staple for our family and the back of the Suburban featured plenty of room for storing luggage – as well as all the things that come with kids. Between Color Guard, soccer and what have you – this vehicle can haul all the things that come with kids (which us moms know, is A LOT.)
With the three rows in use, the suburban offers 39.3 cu. ft of cargo storage. Lay down the second and third row and there is 121.7 cu. ft. of maximum cargo space.
What Needs Improving
Rollover Risk
The 3 star rating for rollovers is an average rating. I get why there is a high rollover risk with these large vehicles, but still wish it could be improved.
The Track on the Captain Chairs
We had captain chairs before and this is one of those things only moms will understand. It is SO easy for kid crap to get stuck in these tracks. Surely there is some type of solution that can be created to keep the tracks clean. I can’t even with the things I found when cleaning them (pencils, lollipops, chicken nuggets, nope can’t even.)
Parking – Side Cameras Needed
This is going to be an issue with any large vehicle. Take it the cameras do help immensely – but uhm, I need side cameras. I will say, I did get in extra steps as any time I parked, I parked a ways out to make sure we had plenty of room. Perhaps a 360 camera could help with this.
Overall Review of the Suburban…
Overall the suburban – LOVED IT. I had an expectation and it was totally blown away. This family vehicle was classy. The ride was fabulous and the kids were totally occupied which is a MAJOR win. There was plenty of room for all the things and the tech is on point.
If you are in the market for a large family vehicle – definitely check out the 2017 Chevrolet Suburban.
Learn more about the new Chevrolet Suburban at chevrolet.com
2017 Chevrolet Suburban Cost – the starting MSRP for the 2017 Suburban is $49,915
Mom to 4 kids, Molly aka Digital Mom is the blogger-in-chief here at digitalmomblog.com. Talking technology and mom life, Molly shares the realities of parents digital kids.
