BlackHC2025
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2025
- Posts
- 7
- Reaction score
- 5
I purchased a 2025 4WD HC diesel, new with 5 miles and still with the interior plastic from Arlington , in May of this year. It has about 8,600 miles now, roughly 6,400 highway and the balance in town and was properly broken in. It has the Dark Essentials and High Country Deluxe options. BTW, I had a 4WD 2013 Tahoe Z71 I also purchased new.
TLDR - Great mechanicals, Electronics not so much.
The good:
1) Diesel engine - I've had SRT Dodges, an EVO 8, Mazdaspeed 3, multiple other ICE turbo gas cars, the diesel in this Tahoe is quite impressive, 24.6 mpg over the life of the vehicle and the sound makes it hard to tell it's a diesel, combined with impressive range
2) Air ride and magnetic shocks - smoothest ride of any vehicle I've ever been in, including Lincoln Marks/Town Cars and full sized Cadillacs,
height adjustment is very convenient for old people (me) and parking garages
3) Transmission - smooth, unobtrusive and seemingly always in the right gear
4) Body and Frame - Hard to tell it's body on frame, not much shudder or wild mouse feeling
5) Lots of interior room
6) Steering - reasonably weighted, direct , with a thick steering wheel rim, really thick
7) Quiet - acoustic windshield and effective weather stripping makes for quiet interior
8) Brakes - I have the standard brakes - low dust and though the pedal takes some pressure to apply, for me I prefer that to the too soft power brakes of the 70's
9) Lights - Very effective to my old eyes
10) Power steps/running boards - Folded looks good, wife likes them for entry and exit, and the extra lighting is much appreciated
11) HUD - awesome
12) Seats - they fit me, guess I'm lucky, ventilation is a useful feature for both of us
13) Rear camera mirror - one trip had banker boxes blocking the rear window, this was greatly appreciate
14) Oil change - easy to do
15) Paint job - in comparison to the corduroy paint job on my Durango SRT doors, the Tahoe has a high end European paint job
, seriously not bad at all
16) Reliability - only had to align 2 doors and the hood, nothing else has failed yet, knock on wood
The bad:
1) The EPB, I park in the same place each night, sometimes in actuates, sometimes it doesn't - no rhyme or reason, wish I could turn it off and go fully manual
2) The sound system, sounds like the FM radio 6x9 single speaker in a dashboard multiplied by 10. The 6 speaker system in my Charger was worlds better
3) Using USB as a music source is a disaster, it goes random with each ignition cycle, requiring finding what you were listening to all over again. A poster on another GM based forum indicated that they thought this was poorly done intentionally so that users would be driven to sources/partners which GM benefits financially from, I'm inclined to agree
4) Auto stop start, 'nuff said
5) Instrument panel driver cluster - lacks true customization, just adequate
6) Auto rain wipers - leave it on and it will drag the wipers across a dry windshield on startup
7) Overhead console tailgate activation button - hold it, longer, longer, whew it started to open finally
8) Vehicle settings/configuration through infotainment system, GM must have conducted focus groups to determine the absolute minimum of settings that would be accepted by purchasers, in comparison to what can be set with Uconnect, I'd be embarrassed to admit any responsibility for the GM version in the Tahoe
9) Oil change - DEXOS D - yea, there are 2 approved 0W-20's, woo hoo, used diesel oil will stain anything black
10) It's a big girl - the 2013 measures similarly in width and height, but the 2025 just drives big, the prior generation Suburban I rented and drove over 1,000 miles felt smaller, guess I'm just getting old
11) Panoramic roof - "me too!!", says GM :facepalm
I've used Archoil at the minimum recommended level, I know many consider it snake oil, so far nothing detrimental. DEF; I've used about 4.5 gallons from GM and Walmart, no towing.
Overall, my wife loves it, just rides in it, it isn't my favorite but it has a use case for me with road trips leveraging the ride and the range.
TLDR - Great mechanicals, Electronics not so much.
The good:
1) Diesel engine - I've had SRT Dodges, an EVO 8, Mazdaspeed 3, multiple other ICE turbo gas cars, the diesel in this Tahoe is quite impressive, 24.6 mpg over the life of the vehicle and the sound makes it hard to tell it's a diesel, combined with impressive range
2) Air ride and magnetic shocks - smoothest ride of any vehicle I've ever been in, including Lincoln Marks/Town Cars and full sized Cadillacs,
height adjustment is very convenient for old people (me) and parking garages
3) Transmission - smooth, unobtrusive and seemingly always in the right gear
4) Body and Frame - Hard to tell it's body on frame, not much shudder or wild mouse feeling
5) Lots of interior room
6) Steering - reasonably weighted, direct , with a thick steering wheel rim, really thick
7) Quiet - acoustic windshield and effective weather stripping makes for quiet interior
8) Brakes - I have the standard brakes - low dust and though the pedal takes some pressure to apply, for me I prefer that to the too soft power brakes of the 70's
9) Lights - Very effective to my old eyes
10) Power steps/running boards - Folded looks good, wife likes them for entry and exit, and the extra lighting is much appreciated
11) HUD - awesome
12) Seats - they fit me, guess I'm lucky, ventilation is a useful feature for both of us
13) Rear camera mirror - one trip had banker boxes blocking the rear window, this was greatly appreciate
14) Oil change - easy to do
15) Paint job - in comparison to the corduroy paint job on my Durango SRT doors, the Tahoe has a high end European paint job
, seriously not bad at all16) Reliability - only had to align 2 doors and the hood, nothing else has failed yet, knock on wood
The bad:
1) The EPB, I park in the same place each night, sometimes in actuates, sometimes it doesn't - no rhyme or reason, wish I could turn it off and go fully manual
2) The sound system, sounds like the FM radio 6x9 single speaker in a dashboard multiplied by 10. The 6 speaker system in my Charger was worlds better
3) Using USB as a music source is a disaster, it goes random with each ignition cycle, requiring finding what you were listening to all over again. A poster on another GM based forum indicated that they thought this was poorly done intentionally so that users would be driven to sources/partners which GM benefits financially from, I'm inclined to agree
4) Auto stop start, 'nuff said
5) Instrument panel driver cluster - lacks true customization, just adequate
6) Auto rain wipers - leave it on and it will drag the wipers across a dry windshield on startup
7) Overhead console tailgate activation button - hold it, longer, longer, whew it started to open finally
8) Vehicle settings/configuration through infotainment system, GM must have conducted focus groups to determine the absolute minimum of settings that would be accepted by purchasers, in comparison to what can be set with Uconnect, I'd be embarrassed to admit any responsibility for the GM version in the Tahoe
9) Oil change - DEXOS D - yea, there are 2 approved 0W-20's, woo hoo, used diesel oil will stain anything black
10) It's a big girl - the 2013 measures similarly in width and height, but the 2025 just drives big, the prior generation Suburban I rented and drove over 1,000 miles felt smaller, guess I'm just getting old
11) Panoramic roof - "me too!!", says GM :facepalm
I've used Archoil at the minimum recommended level, I know many consider it snake oil, so far nothing detrimental. DEF; I've used about 4.5 gallons from GM and Walmart, no towing.
Overall, my wife loves it, just rides in it, it isn't my favorite but it has a use case for me with road trips leveraging the ride and the range.
