Big Chevy Tahoe is like a home on wheels

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – www.sacbee.com/news/business/article4005306.html

Sacramento, California ­– Standing 6-4, I still felt small walking up to the 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe 4WD LTZ sport-utility vehicle.

Everything about it was big.

Huge frame, massive 22-inch aluminum wheels, a cargo area the approximate size of a hotel lobby.  And a glimpse at the sticker smacked me down to the pavement.  It read $70,435.

Welcome to the world of big SUVs in America.  My tester wasn’t even dressed up that much.  The starting price was a still-hefty $64,610.

Needless to say, if you’re going to put down that kind of coin for a large SUV to do some serious chores over the long-term, you’d better be sure you’re getting the one you want.

On the tested Tahoe, that means a 5.3-liter V-8 engine with 355 horsepower.  This is worth the money, a brute motor that makes the big-shouldered Tahoe do just about anything a large sedan can do.

For all its bigness, the Tahoe actually handled smoothly on the highway and with surprising nimbleness on city streets.  When the engine is asked for a lot, a fair amount of noise makes its way into the cabin … but not as much as you might think.

Interior space is enormous, like looking out over Monument Valley in Arizona.  You’ll have no trouble transporting a big family and hundreds of pounds of their belongings.

The tester was filled with downright luxurious, passenger-spoiling perks.  A short list included perforated leather seats and with heating/cooling options, a heated steering wheel, a power tilt/telescoping steering column, a 10-speaker Bose surround-sound audio system and second-row power release bucket seats.

My impression of the Tahoe enthusiast is one who loves the comforts of home so much that he/she really wants to transfer those comforts into their primary motor vehicle.  If that’s what you want, the Tahoe delivers big-time.

I had a couple of gripes.

The front collision-warning system was quick on the draw, buzzing my seat during simple parking maneuvers.  Naturally, the first time this happened, I darn near launched myself out the top of the vehicle.

The power liftgate at the back surprised me the first couple of times I opened it by not yawning wide open to let my 6-4 frame comfortably fold underneath it.  A couple bumps on the head programmed me to be more careful.

Otherwise, as big SUVs go, this one is a solid B-plus, or maybe even an A-minus if you can easily adjust to some of its characteristics, big and small.

If you want to go big when you go home from the dealership, this Tahoe just might be your cup of tea.