Enjoy the Holidays and we'll see you next year! Thanks for making our Retro Reviews a huge success! We'll get to all the requests eventually... There's a 2 year list, but yours is next!
It was extremely effective, but was also an uncommon option. And with the whole units generic nature it is easy to add to a Suburban that was not equipped with rear heat.
The weak point was the coolant pipes to feed it. If you needed rear heat you also dealt with road salt that ate them away in short notice. Luckily I was near a hardware store when mine let loose. Two long nosed vise grips to pinch off the hose sections got me home. Replacement pipes were atrociously expensive so I replaced them with hoses. Overall they weren't that great mechanically.
you ain't kidding, this Suburban will bake you in the back if you turn that heater up lol. on the flipside, it takes forever to cool this thing down in the summertime. but in the winter months, that heater is overpowered lol.
bought one new in 1984--2wd Scottsdale 6.2 diesel. Now, after 34 yrs. and 426000 miles it still runs great and a recent trip from our home n. of eugene, or. to klamath falls, or. we averaged 24mpg running air on part of the trip. Uses almost a quart of oil in 2500 miles which is when I change it. Delo 15-40 oil and Wix filters--regular maintenence and have only had to replace 2 alternators, 1 waterpump, 1 set of glow plugs and 2 starters. Burn Chevron diesel only ( it has a 41 gal. tank so I can always get to a Chevron station. Cost me $17000 or about $500 a year or $41 a month. The new subs at $60000 and up are nice but all electronic--Mine has NO electronics on it and I can work on it easily. Great, reliable, comfortable vehicle that has REAL bumpers/ no plastic. going for 1/2 million miles without overhaul--should do it without problems.
"What can you say about the Chevrolet Suburban? It has no competitor..." I remember when that was true. The term "SUV" wouldn't be coined for at least another 6 years. I remember in middle school and high school, this was the hauler you would see at games, hunting trips, and class field trips. Wow, times have changed. This generation of Suburban has always been my favorite, probably because it tells a story about what much of upper-middle class suburbia was like in those days. By the late 1980's it was nothing flashy, but it was luxurious, and quite the status symbol. Except Suburban owners back then weren't trying so hard to make themselves look upper-class. Some were upper-class, and others were middle-class, but they never seemed to make a big deal about it. The people driving the Suburbans and Escalades of today make themselves look like formal, flashy, stereotypical new-money bourgeoisie who are so far in debt (so they can look the part), there is actually nothing to admire. Actually, today's bourgeoisie look like they're are trying so hard, you kind of feel sorry for them. I miss the old money people. I miss the mid-to-late 1980s, and I really miss this generation of Chevy Suburban.
Like it or not, Detroit did in fact design the 6.2 Diesel. And for Christ’s sake they’re not a bad engine. They’re definitely not hot rods, but they’re good on fuel, and reliable. I’ve got on in a 1 ton 4x4 dually and it pulls it around just fine.
@Mr Sunshines it was designed by Detroit diesel. GM had them convert a gasoline engine to a diesel in 1982 they had their answer to the up coming ford 6.9L International harvest engine in the ford until 1985 when dodge had entered the diesel market with the 5.9L bt Cummins. By the late 80s the diesel wars were In full swing. GM had grew from the Detroit diesel design in 1993 from a 6.2L to a turbocharged 6.5L but was still plagued with reliability problems. Ford had went to 7.3L idi in 1988 and a Direct injection in 1994 thus became the powerstroke. The 1st generation diesels didnt produce alot of horsepower but had good torque numbers and very high fuel mileage.
Omg! Thats my dream suburban right there. Absolutely beautiful. Been trying for years to find an 80's burb that isn't rotting or in shambles. No luck yet :(
I drove one of these as a kid in high school. Well, 5.7l v8 version. I spent $80 a month on gas. I drove it like a maniac! It still amazes me that I survived my teen years. Even more amazing I never wrecked the thing! My parents were actually able to sell it before that happened.
Relatively unchanged from 1973 all the way to 1991, I owned a 1973 1/2 ton 9 passenger Suburban with a 454 and a turbo400 trans, it was loaded with all options including front and rear air, and a factory installed tachometer in the dash. It was one of the very few vehicles I’ve ever driven that you could actually see the gas gauge move as you drove. Even in a perfect state of tune 8-10 MPG was normal.
We purchased ours in 1994, was 5 years old, and almost new, for 16,5 we still own it. We had 5 kids, and needed the room, it’s very dependable and still runs.
Right I still have my 88suburban c20 right now in 2019.I just love it I love pulling up on people in these new suburban that cost 60,000 buck and laugh and say it must be nice Plus I'm sitting High just like they are and they look back like get that old ass suburban off the road
@blackandgold51 u right cause I have a heavy foot and have no problem passing up people in these new suburban that drive them like they have no power and get up and go.I would love to have the engine out of the new suburban and tahoe Yukon and Escalade but that's it the rest of the SUV is junk and to hi tec for me
I love the guerilla-style road test review in this throwback - they didn't have it on the normal track so they did all their normal tests on the road and filmed it from across the way.
Herbie Husker Yes they do at this place on the east coast, they sell fleet suburbans with factory grade duramax swaps all done and ready to drive. They are on RU-vid as well, I think it’s in Maryland or somewhere near
Best thing about motorweek is how they kept the same style of show and the same bad ass host......i could listen to him talk about cars and trucks all day long as he feeds me juicy sweet grapes....ahh what a life that would be.
23mpg and 25 on long trips. Slower speed than today but still fantastic. My 350 powered square body truck gets 16mpg at 55 mph and closer to 10 mpg loaded
@@briteidea08 If you look up some stuff on the Owings Mills Mall, the one they tore down somewhat recently, I think you will come across a little footage from when the mall opened to great fanfare in the '80's.
@@MaestroTJS Yeah I have seen that already. Grew up in Owings Mills. It was quite the show when they opened the mall. Owings Mills was quite the place in general.
I lived with roommates who shared a 1990 Suburban, 5.7 (2WD I think...) with the rear doors, as their all-purpose "utility" vehicle. It was 25 years old and had over 250k miles, but was generally bulletproof (and got a real world 16-18 MPG! Not bad, frankly!) It had a small radiator leak at one point that the roommates fixed in the garage one afternoon, and we spent a day at a friend's house doing some servicing on it...the biggest thing it needed was the steering "rag joint". I remember taking it camping on dirt roads around Mount Rainier, and skiing on snowy roads around Mount Baker. In both cases, the darn thing was stupidly confidence inspiring for such a giant old boat, with a gentle oversteer balance; I just wanted to rally it everywhere!
These square body suburbans are a legend had 2 of them a 79 2wd 350 and 89 with a 454 tbi 4x4 two tone blue and grey very similar to this unit used to really like motorweek
I remember these. My parents had a 1978 "baby blue" one (one of the two-tone colored ones, with baby blue and a slightly darker blue), and then we had a 1985 dark blue (navy blue) one (both the 78 and 85 were manual transmissions, and the 78 must have been a base model because it lacked the 3rd row seat and AC which I think was an option). Finally, after the 1985 was wrecked, my parents bought a used 1982 fully loaded black suburban with the red cloth interior (of course this one had everything-- power windows, AC, built-in CB radio, etc). Had that one for about 3 years (it was purchased used in 1990 and they had it until about 1993 when my dad started his company and purchased a new 1993 Suburban).
I have a friend who had a '88 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 350, six inch lift and 33x12.5 tires. Man we had fun with that Truck, and tough as nails when it needed to work. I. Found the braking system to be stronger on those than the 1/2 ton trucks even when overloaded. The 6.2 wasn't the best engine unfortunately. They had issues of breaking crankshafts and head bolts. Luckily the mechanical 6.5 was a better replacement.
Dad had a 89 4wd Suburban back in the mid 90's when I was a teenager. Made a great date vehicle with the middle seat folded down if you know what I mean lol. I would love to find one like he used to have in great shape.
Yes! I forgot about that. I rode one of these to school in the 80's (the bus version). After school when my friends asked which was my bus, I'd point to my "bus" and say "the station wagon at the end". After all these years your comment brought back that memory. Thanks.
That suspension absorbing the road around 2:20, guarantee the driver felt little to none of that. While they were very bouncy and had a lot of roll, they sure did ride a hell of a lot smoother than anything today.
I've DEFINITELY been waiting for this one!!!!!!!! 3:58.............MAN, would I have loved to see what cassette that tester had been listening to!!!!!!
I don't think anybody bought this behemoth vehicle except Americans and Saudis! Maybe Canadians too! But in the 80s and 90s the Saudi sure loved this car!
Man I'm addicted to these trucks love these trucks for years I was born in 95 though so I never got to actually live when these things were all over the roads but I love the heck out of these things I eat I dream and sleep thinking about these I have two of them I love the s*** out of them wouldn't change it for nothing
I miss my burbs. I had a 76 Silverado with a 454, and an 88 Silverado with a 350 EFI. The 454 had no cats from the factory, one of the last ones before the government mandated them. 14.5 mpg. The 350 got 14 mpg. Squarebodies are just too expensive now.
Interestingly enough, the VW TDI 2.0 four cylinder diesel in the 2010 to 2014 Golf/Jetta gets basically the same HP/TQ numbers, but those need turbocharging and electric fuel pumps to do it, the good ol’ 6.2 Chevy diesel was normally aspirated, and should have a far longer lifespan as it’s under less stress
Pretty sad that after 32 years it still gets better mileage than today’s diesels! Yes today they have more power, but more mileage needs to be a priority!
You also forgot that that 6.2 isn’t turbo’d, that’s why it gets the mileage it gets, my duramax get better than that at around the same weight. Them 6.2’s were legendary, but massively lacked in power.
I got an 87 Sub 6.2 diesel; its a tank, could probably run over one of those high polished, bling out little yuppie modern suv without noticing. An EMP is not gonna take it down, thats for sure.
Now here we are New Years Eve 2018, where a new loaded Suburban 4x2, no Diesel available will set ya back over $50,000! Ok they are a lot nicer and more comfortable and get better mileage!
Need the motorweek episode where they added the Banks hot air turbo and got a 15sec quarter mile out of it! It used to be on utube but cant find it anymore.
