Chevy Avalanche Club

Vehicle Overview
When it debuted for 2002, the Avalanche upset the trend of making more-SUV-like pickups. Chevy simply made its popular Suburban into a pickup; it gave the Avalanche more versatility, but didn't lose any of the SUV's inherent creature comforts. The Avalanche features a midgate that expands the cargo area into the passenger cab. By removing the midgate and folding down the second-row seat, the cargo floor extends from 5 feet, 3 inches to more than 8 feet. The cargo bed also features lockable, side-mounted storage. A locking tailgate and cargo cover increase the secured-storage options even more. The Avalanche is available in LS, LT and LTZ trim levels and in two- and four-wheel drive.

Accenting the sides of the truck are fiberglass reproduction Stepside fenders vertically sliced to make them about 4 inches wide. Out back, Ed smoothed the tailgate and added the Avalanche logo to it, which is welded out of flat, stock steel. A flipped rear bumper with large exhaust pipes cleans up the rear even further, while 22-inch front and 24-inch rear Boyd Magneatos enhance the slammed stance. For paint, a silver basecoat was used with a green stripe breaking up a blue stripe that is shaped similar to the original side trim.

All agree the Chevrolet Silverado is a pickup truck. But when you take the Silverado, cut out the rear bulkhead, weld on a roof over the bed, and bolt in two more rows of seats, then the Suburban, is a sport/utility vehicle.  But what if you then lop off part of the Suburban's roof, remove the third-row seats, install an openable rear bulkhead, and fashion something that's a cross between car trunk and pickup bed? Is it a pickup? An SUV? An entirely new species? By early next year, you'll have to decide.

That's when the 2002 Chevy Avalanche reaches showrooms.  Chevrolet wants you to call the Avalanche an Ultimate Utility Vehicle. When forced to choose between SUV and pickup, it chooses the latter, despite the fact that the Avalanche will be about 90 percent Suburban and the Suburban is less than 60 percent Silverado.  Chevy allowed us to inspect and drive-albeit slowly-this Avalanche concept. For a show vehicle, it's extremely close to the final production version. Tow hooks, fuel filler, suede seats, and "not for highway use" 18-inch Goodyears won't make the cut. The roof rack will be available as a dealer-installed option.

 2008 Chevrolet Avalanche LT Crew Cab Shown

The Chevrolet Avalanche is one of the more versatile vehicles on the road today. It successfully blends the comfort and passenger capacity of an SUV with the cargo flexibility of a pickup truck. While these two main attributes are also associated with full-size crew cab pickups, the Avalanche goes one step further with its distinctive fold-down midgate.

The term "midgate" refers to the removable wall that separates the cabin from the bed. On the Avalanche, the rear window and the wall separating the cabin from the bed can be opened up, either in part (by flipping down the midgate wall so a pass-through is created) or in whole (by also removing the rear window). Changing this rig from a six-passenger crew cab pickup with a 5-foot, 3-inch cargo box to a three-passenger pickup with an approximate 8-foot cargo box is straightforward and requires only a minute or two. Bonus features include removable cargo covers and storage compartments placed along the outside of the cargo box.