CHEVROLET TAHOE test drive since 2008 SUV
Duel in old -fashioned style: Chevrolet Tahoe and Nissan Patrol
Two healthy SUVs with huge V8 Chevrolet Tahoe and Nissan Patrol. Both victims of design and marketing. The victory for the more expensive, but the main prize to the one who like hipsters ... Japanese scientists conducted a bold experiment. They gave the French a tractor and watched what would happen in the end. The result was always the same. Each time, the French turned agricultural transport into a massage salon. This clearly explains the metamorphosis unexpected from the point of view of the layman that happened to Nissan Patrol. As far as we all remember, the old Patrol was something like a grader. The true off -road spirit walked along its frame structure and unreasonable bridges. Then the specialists from Renault came, made a boudoir out of it and put up such a price as if he were from the Louvre. Such is the background of the fighter from the right angle of the ring. In the left Chevrolet Tahoe. The old Tahoe was born when the Americans guessed to fit the exhaust pipe to the sea container. In this form, he lasted a long time, successfully amused the black and white audience, transporting its belongings from Lake to the house. Then, suddenly, a designer from the school of Lawraiders, a front of this SUV hesitated with plastic almost flush with asphalt. Now he resembles a rod on the studs, and his Japanese opponent of a bodybuilder with a hare tail. A serious couple.
My Deltplan carries me at the beginning of the day
We started with the fact that they arranged fun starts to them at one of the Moscow training grounds, and then moved on an off -road to an abandoned quarry. But before there was an acquaintance with the interiors. Chevrolet Tahoe from the inside looks like a mour of a mound. Everything in him is somehow joyless. It seems that the authors of the Tahoe finish in chorus sing some old tasteless hlying type: and you are as cold as an iceberg in the ocean or my deltaplane carries me at the beginning of the day. Getting into the Nissan Patrol salon, you find yourself like a sea beach at the height of the season, so nice, festive and free. Color, texture, shape plays everything. The price for resort advantages is about a million rubles. This is the difference in the cost of our rivals.
Elephants on the snake.
Here Tahoe is better in every way. Patrol is heavy and the roll
On the go, these are completely different cars. Patrol is much faster (almost 3.5 seconds in the race up to a hundred) and more comfortable, so it is more difficult to ride it. Tahoee is easier and more understandable whether you press the gas pedal, whether you turn the steering wheel, whether you slow down. The steering is heavy, the brakes are tight, the accelerator is stupid, but hence the uniqueness in the reactions. It is much easier to speak with a predictable person, even if he is not far away. In Nissan Patrol, comfort and abuse mixed like strips on a zebra. As a result, he, being objectively faster than the American, does not seem like that. Its acceleration seems to sink in the cotton wool of the suspension settings. In Kick Dawn mode, he seems to try to jump out of the swamp, covered with heavy mud. Chevrolet rushes forward with the whole body, like a bulldog, and when braking rises like a dug. Patrol apologizes before each maneuver: sorry for the anxiety, now there will be 6.6 seconds to hundreds. Once again, sorry, braking began, does it bother you much? Sorry, a steep turn, take the tablets from motion sickness. Patrol is heavier and longer. While you are going through the yards in it, the thought worries: will it have time to fit in front and the ass? Tahoe is easier and shorter, perceived by one whole organism, and there are no such issues. On the snake in the conditions of the landfill, the picture is similar. The American spectacular passes between cones. Fast and clearly. The Japanese floods on different sides, so that the pilot loses the concept of adequate steering and flies out of the corridor.
While the Japanese thought, the American was playing
On the off -road Tahoe flashed again. We did not look for extreme ice mountains and deep ford. But the usual snowy hills were in abundance. Wherever Nissan drove with difficulty, Tahoe flew a rocket. While the Japanese thought intensely which of the two wheels of the front right or rear left is better to slow down, an American without unnecessary torment, using a more effective all -wheel drive, twisted it with all four. When we started driving on three wheels, that is, we tried to go with the hopped back, everything was repeated. The advantages of Chevrolet were completely manifested again.
After a couple of hours, we began to get used to the pampered and impulsive habits of Nissan Patrol, and he went much more fun, but Tahoe did not overtake. It is too hard for 200 kilograms more massive than the opponent. When the action came to an end, I examined the winner. A huge crack gaped in the front bumper. Yes, Chevrolet won, but he is like a boxer who filled up his opponent at the cost of losing his ear, eyes and jaws. Is it happy to win?
National signs.
The American car can be recognized blindly by a huge glove compartment and poker under the wheel
Like an apple pie. Without any complaints and eccentricities
Not without insidiousness. Auto mode can play a cruel joke in a bend
The third row. The only thing that is convenient is to fold it and take it out
Womb of the whale. To get out of here the seats of the third row, you must be a man
In fact, the potentially off -road capabilities of Patrol are great. Its geometric cross -country ability is amazing. The angle of fracture is as much as 24 degrees, 275 mm road clearance (Tahoe nervously smokes on the sidelines). The driver can only study all the subtleties of the work of Japanese electronic assistants. This is the main difficulty. Few people want to strain their heads, having paid so much money.
The step is unreasonable, but more understandable
It's time to appoint the winner of this duel. Who will become them? Tahoe is much cheaper, more adequately controlled in extreme conditions and has excellent cross -country ability if you are not embarrassed by the prospect of traveling with a split spoiler all the time. Patrol is expensive, with an unusually pleasant interior decoration, fast, roomy and infinitely comfortable, with a light wheel and a swaying body. Chevrolet is reliable, like a truck, with its frame and an uncertain rear bridge. Nissan is made according to a parquet scheme with a bearing body and independent suspension in front and behind. Both cars with the third number of seats, but the American version is purely childish, you can swear an adult, but it’s a pity. The Japanese gallery is quite tolerable for all ages. The Patrol salon is generally more spacious and more convenient than that of Tahoe. The only advantage of the American: the seats of the third row can be quickly removed from the mounts and left in the garage. Nissan does not offer this.
Salon-resort.
The atmosphere of relaxation, rest, enjoy life reigns here
Like saucers. Devices look more defiant than that of the opponent
Panorama. You can monitor the surroundings by 360
Gallery. The third row is quite comfortable in all respects
Transformation. Patrol salon, unlike an American, is more convenient to lay out
No, there is no truth. What have we forgotten about? Let's get back to the beginning. The Americans improved their container to such disgrace that it is just right to think about the health of their brain. The Japanese generally killed an honest crook and replaced it with the shadow of Infiniti QX56. The step is also unreasonable, but at least more understandable from the point of view of marketing. Wouldn't the main prize of Nissan? Before putting an end, I called Ivan, our technical expert. He said: Tahoe has more drive, more rose. Tahoe will even seem cool to the hipster, and Nissan is dull, he is for those who have come to terms with the inevitable. I trust in Ivan, so Tahoe wins, a car that I will not sit in of my own free will, since I like Nissan more.
Ballet star.
Tahoe confidently travels on three wheels almost the same as on four
Off -road acrobatics.
Patrol can maneuver with a posted wheel much worse
Patrol's potentially off -road capabilities are great. The angle of the fracture is 24 degrees, the road clearance is 275 mm. Tahoe nervously smokes on the sidelines
Caution, technical details
The new Patrol has independent suspensions and a hydraulic body limit system, designed to increase stability at high speeds. The car has become less off -road, but now it allows you to drive on gravel or dirt roads, like on rally. With the off -road, Patrol fights modernly: by pressing the button, you can choose one of the four modes of sand, asphalt, snow or stones that adjust the work of ESP and the anti -wings system and regulate gas response. There is both an assistant when touched to the slide and the Hill Decent Control system. The gearbox is 7-speed, there are automatic return systems to your lane and maintaining the distance.
Tahoe has an independent suspension only in front, but the shock absorbers are adaptive and dual -mode, providing high smoothness and reducing the rolls. The anti -wings system is simple, but quite effective. It is funny that the 6-speed automatic transmission of Tahoe has an updated version of the old, still army Th350 and a torque of 470 Nm for her is clearly not the limit.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [May /2012]
