2022 Tahoe RST: Impressions

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Pilgrim86314

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Thanks (well, no thanks, really) to a dealer's service department seriously screwing up my 2019 Tahoe LT Z71 last year, I now have a Red 2022 Tahoe RST as a replacement - it was the only Tahoe he had. Do I like it? Yeah, pretty much, but really, I wish I still had the 2019 version; it was more in line with what I wanted it for. But never mind; done is done.

The Good: killer good looks. I've been driving for sixty years and I've lost track of the number of vehicles I've owned, from Falcons to Corvettes to F250s to Tahoes, and I have never had one that draws the attention that the RST with Cherry Red Tintcoat paint does. I've had it a year now and it is no exaggeration to say that at least twice a week someone comments on the color and what a great-looking rig it is. I have to agree with them' the stylists did a good job.

The increased overall length and wheelbase are good things. The versions pre-2022 (I had two) never felt cramped, but the extra size in 2022 improves the overall sense of spaciousness and 3rd row utility. That extra size plus 22 X 9 inch wheels noticeably improve ride quality and handling, especially on the torn-up pavement that has become so common.

The handling and driveability are much better than my 2019 LT. I enoy the road feel tremendously; it's really been improved. The new independent rear suspension is the primary contributor to that; the rear wheels feel more firmly planted than before. The select-a-ride choices are decent, certainly better no adjustments at all.

The Bad: I haven't found anything outright bad, but the interior is full of nuisances and annoyances compared to the 2019. Overall, some good things from my 2019 were changed but not improved. Other things are gone. Driver controls and instrumentation were apparently designed by a 14-year old with good eyes who's in love with video games. For instance, while I like the idea that the instrument panel is configurable in several ways, none of them are as good as a plain dial and needle setup.
Some information (oil pressure, etc) is presented in a skinny horizontal bar with a tiny dot at the bottom of the panel: terrible presentation for those who care about seeing engine data at a glance.
Or bring up the speedo/tach display and you see something from Star Trek. Sure, there are numbers around the edge of the dials, but only a small marker to reflect where the tip of a needle should be. Again, it should be readable at a quick glance, but it's not.
I dim my dash lights after dark. In the 2019 there was a vertical knurled dimmer wheel at the far left side of the panel, easily located and operated in the dark; just reach, touch, and roll one way or the other. Now there are two buttons cunningly concealed behind the steering wheel rim, difficult to find in the dark. Press and hold one to dim or the other to brighten.
Other buttons are also poorly placed and marked. The device for drive selection (2WD/4WD/4WD Auto/4WD Low) is a set of small buttons clustered together in a tic/tac/toe format. Difficult to find and select in the dark and even not as easy as should be in daylight.
The same holds true for audio and climate control buttons; they are not only marked in small type, but they are not illuminated. Unless you've been trained as an airline pilot to locate any switch or button in the dark, you're going to wind up trying to read the labels on those buttons to select the one you want. Good luck with that at my age. It's just plain dangerously stupid not to make controls clearly legible and intuitive to operate.
And for cryin' out loud, who in the hell thought a stack of push/pull buttons is a good idea for gear selection? Chrysler tried it and gave it up back in the 1960s!
The interior design team was clearly in love with micro-USB ports, for they are conveniently scattered around the rig, but they are no substitute for 12V outlets. Those are missing where they used to be, like two (not just one) for the front seat occupants, one in the rear end of the console for 2nd row use, and another at the rear hatch.
I do like having 120V outlets in three locations, though. I haven't used them yet, and may never, but boy, are they handy.
I miss having the compartment behind the computer screen. I wonder where it went.
The console box somehow got shrunk, as did the hold in the back end; it's not as deep as it was previously.

Overall, and mentioned nuisances aside, I like driving this rig very well. I'm not sorry I have it. Unfortunately, though, it's too pretty to use as I had the Z71 2019, not hard-core offroading, but gravel and rocky dirt tracks back into the mountains of the desert Southwest. Gotta take care of the paint and $3000 set of wheels.

Pilgrim
 

WalleyeMikeIII

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My climate control buttons are all backlit, and the dials for temp are too. If yours are not, you have a warranty issue. Plus, you can always hit the “climate” button and get them all on the video screen.

I agree w/you on many of the other buttons, esp the 4x4 select. But I’ve never had issues w/ finding the HVAC buttons…
 
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Pilgrim86314

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My climate control buttons are all backlit, and the dials for temp are too. If yours are not, you have a warranty issue. Plus, you can always hit the “climate” button and get them all on the video screen.

I agree w/you on many of the other buttons, esp the 4x4 select. But I’ve never had issues w/ finding the HVAC buttons…
Hmmm . . . Thanks for the response. I didn't know about' "Hit the climate button."

I'll have to check out my Climate buttons after dark. They for sure do have orange LEDs to indicate that button being ON, but I don't believe that mine light up to tell me what the button controls. I might be wrong (like that could happen ;). ) I hope so. It may be that I lose them when I dim the display.

Something I didn't mention in my write-up is the OnStar failures - I've had two modules fail in the year I've owned this thing, and each time has taken over a month to make right. In fact, the first one was three months.

It may be a related factor, but OnStar, the GPS and Audio unit do not play well together. I think perhaps the software was not fully baked when it went into the system. Far too often the map orients upside-down until I reboot the system, and other times the audio does not revert to audio control after having provided audio guidance from the GPS. Other times the audio just quits and then comes back on its own schedule. THAT problem I sometimes can resolve by pulling over, shutting the engine off and restarting it and everything else. (Yes, I know. There's chip shortage. If the USA would get its shit together and quit playing stink-finger with the Chinese, that wouldn't be an issue.) Anyway, the new OnStar was installed Friday; I'll see if it fixes audio and GPS issues, too.

Anyway, I like the vehicle but in truth, I wish that dealer had not screwed things up. I liked my 2019 a lot; I had none of these issues with it.

Pilgrim
 

WalleyeMikeIII

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Hmmm . . . Thanks for the response. I didn't know about' "Hit the climate button."

I'll have to check out my Climate buttons after dark. They for sure do have orange LEDs to indicate that button being ON, but I don't believe that mine light up to tell me what the button controls. I might be wrong (like that could happen ;). ) I hope so. It may be that I lose them when I dim the display.

Something I didn't mention in my write-up is the OnStar failures - I've had two modules fail in the year I've owned this thing, and each time has taken over a month to make right. In fact, the first one was three months.

It may be a related factor, but OnStar, the GPS and Audio unit do not play well together. I think perhaps the software was not fully baked when it went into the system. Far too often the map orients upside-down until I reboot the system, and other times the audio does not revert to audio control after having provided audio guidance from the GPS. Other times the audio just quits and then comes back on its own schedule. THAT problem I sometimes can resolve by pulling over, shutting the engine off and restarting it and everything else. (Yes, I know. There's chip shortage. If the USA would get its shit together and quit playing stink-finger with the Chinese, that wouldn't be an issue.) Anyway, the new OnStar was installed Friday; I'll see if it fixes audio and GPS issues, too.

Anyway, I like the vehicle but in truth, I wish that dealer had not screwed things up. I liked my 2019 a lot; I had none of these issues with it.

Pilgrim
The “Climate” button is on the infotainment screen…you can drag it in to one of the shortcut spots on the left. (As you can with any of the infotainment apps)
 

GMCnewbee

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Amen to your comments. I love the ride and feel of our 2022 Denali but yea, some of the display is microscopic to old eyes. And yes, with all that info available they sure could do a better job of showing it. Getting to know the controls and all the "New Stuff" on the vehicle is a challenge. It has much more than I can even deal with, so a lot of it I just ignore. It does things that do not make sense to me, but I still like it.
 

rswaug

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As far as the area under the rear cargo floor being deeper on the previous generation, it was at the expense of overall cargo volume and sat above the actual load floor. I’ll personally take the current configuration every time.
 

OBSSSD

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Glad to hear you like it, getting a 23' Suburban RST next month
 

jimstem

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I would love to see some photos of your Red RST! We actually traded our 2021 Denali top trim level for a 2018 Tahoe Premier RST (so we could get the same 6.2 + 8 speed). You're spot on with your assessment, but we've actually gotten used to the older vehicle and find that we like it.
 

CTown Duramax

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Pilgrim, What you point out about tech and ergonomics is absolutely true. There are too many controls and features. GM is doing a better job than anyone else, but less is more. I have had three GM's since digitization, a DeVille, an Impala and this one. Just try renting an Audi or a BMW abnd compare. The German controls and instrument panel are unusable, like you'd need a week-long classroom course on how to drive your car. (We just rented a 530d for two weeks and we decided that we'll never buy a BMW despite the good engine and chassis.) In this respect, almost everything you need to drive the Tahoe is in the buttons and switches. I have had to resort to the manual only once to find a feature of the back hatch controls, but otherwise the set up is understandable. (Nothing like the A6 diesel that took me half an hour stranded at the pumps, manual in my lap, to figure out how to reset the ignition by putting the key on top of a weird little hieroglyph.) But like you, I think this is all too much. I don't need or want all this complicated stuff. It detracts from the driving experience and prevents one from enjoying the ride.
 

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