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Saying Goodbye: My Letter Of Affection to The Avalanche

6K views 28 replies 27 participants last post by  bmwboy2007 
#1 · (Edited)
RIP Chevrolet Avalanche 2001-2013
April 13th, 2012
www.gminsidenews.com
by: Alex Villani


I will never forget the day that my younger brother picked up his brand new 2004 Avalanche, the last light of the day shimmering off the beautiful maroon metallic paint. It was standing there in the driveway next to my also-new Malibu Maxx, optioned without that tacky body cladding. It was truly the most innovative product that GM has produced in the last 30 years; a vehicle that was part truck, part SUV, and set a trend for the industry that change how trucks were optioned and made from that point forward. It also opened the doors for a lot of copy-cat vehicles to show up on the scene, but none of them ever amounted to anything more than a punch line.

The Avalanche was unique in engineering and design, starting the aggressive slant-eyed look that the Chevy truck line up started to adapt around 2004. Complete with the addition of a body-width chrome bar, this would be the new face of Chevy cars and trucks. Unlike trucks that had a seperation between the cab and bed, the Avalanche was a clean one-piece body with structural buttresses that kept the truck from flopping around over bumps. Avalanche was also one of the first vehicles with lockable storage bins within the sides of the bed, another genius play on using wasted space and making the truck more functional. But that was only the side dish to the main mind-blowing idea.

Avalanche gave SUV owners an option of a bed, an enclosed bed for that matter, so that you could keep things dry while hauling them. If you needed more space to haul longer things, you could fold down the bulkhead between the cab and bed to make it a true pick up. It was the best of both worlds, and it took the truck world by storm making the desire for extended and crew cabs skyrocket as people wanted the flexibility that Avalanche offered. Let us not forget the three-quarter ton Avalanche 2500 that could have been had with one of the last production big-block engines.

When the second generation launched, it did so with a totally different look that kept it in line with Chevrolet's full-sized SUVs, keeping the same innovative features in a much nice wrapper. Remembering when these were first launched, complete with the large 20 inch wheels, the truck had such a presence on the road, and still there was no competition from any automaker out there. Sure, the interior materials were a little shady and the faux-wood grain inlays were a bit ugly, but this was still one of the most innovative trucks out there on the market. If you lived in Canada and had a whole wad of cash, you could even pick up one with the 6.2 liter V8 mated to a six-speed automatic.

You will be missed old friend, missed greatly. It is a shame that Chevrolet decided to shuffle you off this automotive coil, and I am sure that there is some business plan or mathematical matrix that shows that this vehicle was no longer going to be able to pay the bills. I am sure that the excuse machine will be in warp drive to spin what the reasoning was behind it and why, but there was only one truck that ever really caught my attention and it was the Avalanche. I am sure that there are hundreds of thousands of owners out there that will join me in remembering the good times they had with their own. We can hope that the engineers and designers think about implementing some of the Avalanche's engineering developments into the next generation trucks. Here is to a great truck that left us long before its time was up.


An American Revolution, out of focus

The Official Press Release from General Motors
 
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#3 ·
Remember, too, that when Avalanche debuted c. 2002, there was no Half-Ton Crew Cab Silverado. Ford debuted the F-150 SuperCrew to much success and Chevy's answer was the Avalanche. Now fast-forward to 2012 and my dealership sells ~ 80 Silverado Crew Cab 1500s/year and maybe 6 Avalanches. As a car-guy I always thought they were cool but as a salesman, they won't be missed.
 
#5 ·
My excuse machine: Talk is cheap. You never bought one.
 
#7 · (Edited)
My next door neighbor has had a black one since they started making them. The wife and I call it "Big Foot". He loves it. I see him driving it and smiling. I see him working on the garden with the supplies in the back of the truck. I see him bring home mulch, etc. He has kept it through gas price spikes and dips, job changes and layoffs, recessions, etc. Surely, I would think, he has got to get rid of it now, with the gas prices and all. But, no. I think he would rather be in his Avalanche than his house.
 
#8 ·
My excuse machine: I put my money where my mouth is, I have owned 4! Hence my screen name, AMBALANCHE! My favorite was my '02 Indigo blue Z66! What an innovative vehicle! I agree Al, will all you said, I know it will be missed as there are many around my area. I think over the years Chevy went crazy with the prices of it and that, along with gas prices, and now Cafe have all contributed to it's demise. I hope, like you, that GM uses some of the attributes of the Avalanche, on the next full size trucks!
 
#9 ·
I'll miss them when they're gone. As an owner, I guess I'll keep my 2007 and patch it as long as I can, then pick up a used one and patch that. :( For those out there who say: "just by a Silverado", I'm afraid that answer never really worked for me. Unless they're planning to offer:
1.) Standard Tonneau Cover.
2.) Standard Bedside storage.
3.) Unibody instead of separate bed and cab with the ability to extend the bed with the tailgate shut...

The Silverado just doesn't do it for me.

Sure I could "add" a bunch of stuff to a Silverado to get (some of) those features, but I would be doing just that: tacking on something that the Avalanche came from the factory with, and the result wouldn't be as well integrated anyway. Oh, well. I guess the majority have spoken. Life goes on.

Jomo
 
#10 ·
I love my Avalanche so much I bought it twice... I traded it for my GTO then we relized how much we loved the truck and we were going to just buy another one when my wife found one on Autotrader and she looked up the VIN from and old insurence policy and we were shocked that it was ours and drove 300 miles to buy it back... it went to auction and then a dealer it only had 1000 more miles on it
 
#11 ·
I had two Avalanches. They were fine trucks, but I can't remember ever needing to remove the midgate for cargo. I did remove it a few times to illustrate the capability to friends and neighbors. It felt a bit over-engineered for my needs, as I really didn't like having to remove the rigid cargo covers for taller cargo. I'd have preferred a midgate in a standard open-bed pickup.

Kudos to GM for trying something different.
 
#18 ·
The price premium was just too high, sure it may have some capabilities that can't be had in an Ext-Cab/Crew-Cab, but you can buy a lot of flexibility with the money saved..... (Pay for delivery, buy a trailer, etc.) and just like the Envoy XUV, how often has one of us needed to move a grandfather clock?


I'd like to see a poll, how many people hauled something with their Avalanche that they couldn't have done with said replacements?




I suspect you are the norm and not the exception. I've hauled long things in my truck that may not have even fit in the Avalanche, trim boards through the Sliding Rear Window, or in the bed, along the side and taped to the side mirror.

Kind of an ironic story, given the end of the Avalanche, last weekend when I was at Home Depot, I pulled into the lot near an Avalanche, that had all the doors open, stuff in the bed, stuff on the ground, mid-gate opened up, appeared they were preparing to make more room, when I came out, a big pile of their stuff was in the lot, with one of the vehicle owners guarding it (the truck was gone)............ They needed to make two trip, not sure why they chose that method, maybe they went home to borrow their neighbors truck.... :fall:
 
#12 ·
Another case where GM has decided to kill off a great vehicle just so we can be compelled to buy a fwd four banger with a bunch of cupholders. Just call it the "chickification of GM."
I'm glad I still have my 2008 Avalanche. Looks like it will be my last GM vehicle. Dodge seems to be more interested in guys vehicles.
 
#15 ·
Avalanche, can I say another collosal screw up as in "F Body Camaro/Trans AM cancellation", all I can hope is that us GM die hards will pester them like we did with the Camaro and get the Avalanche brought back in the future. GM makes a lot of mistakes, this is just the latest one, I'm still a GM guy though.
 
#21 ·
I have an '04, its a good idea but to be honest I'd rather the crew cab with a 6.5 bed. I have 3 kids, and a couple weeks ago I picked up a Queen sized head board for my MIL, I couldn't close the rear gate and with the kids in the back I couldn't open the mid gate so I had to strap it down. Things like that irritate me about it, the bed needs to be another foot or so longer. Also the lack of storage for the covers is a pain in the ass. And it needs bigger brakes. And the visibility out the back is horrible, the sail panels look nice but they make a huge blind spot.

Cool looking trucks, and a great idea in theory. I'm surprised there will be no 3 rd gen but I won't lose any sleep over it. A Silverado will be fine for me, just make it look killer. The current Avalanche is much better looking than the current Silverado, IMO.
 
#23 ·
My Avalanche is a Silver Birch metallic 2005 Z71 and I can PROUDLY say that it has the "tacky" body cladding, and I love it my wife and I have used it for tailgating (filled up the bedside storage with ice and drinks, for those that didn't know Chevy built in drain holes in for that purpose), hauled away our old washer and dryer to Goodwill, brought home all sorts of patio furniture, and took countless road-trips and full vacations with it, sadly last year it started showing its age mechanically and we had to trade it in (for a Buick Enclave), but I miss my Avalanche so much that I still dream about it 8 months after it was gone.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I still own this amazing vehicle; No Silverado offers what the Avy offers, and with the full coil suspension, it rides like (better actually) than an old Fleetwood.

Since it's based off the Suburban, and the Suburban isn't cancelled, I really do not understand the rationale for this move.

I think they could have done better with the interior, the absence of a console transmission sifter is puzzling as well, especially considering there's no bench seat anyway.

I suppose I'll hold on to the one I have (fully loaded 4WD with every available option) until there's something similar with which to replace it, and no, the Honda Ridgeline is no Avy replacement.
 
#27 ·
I am really depressed about this. I had a beautiful 2003 Avalanche Z71 fully-loaded without cladding, black on black. Probably now my favorite truck I've ever had. But the reason I got rid of it was because everyone kept telling me it wasn't really a truck and I missed having a "real" pickup, as I had four Silverados before it. So I was dumb and traded it for a Silverado which I still have. Really wish I would have kept it, especially now. The GMT900s really do suck in my opinion but I still had a soft spot for the Avalanche. I hope that there weren't too many people like me that deflected to the Silverado and that's why the Avalanche hasn't been selling well. It really was all the truck I needed and drove much better than a Silverado. I'm guessing the real culprit is the fact that GM raised the price so astronomically in the last few years that a fully loaded Avalanche LTZ was at least 10 grand more than a similarly equipped Silverado. If only GM would change their mind. This is kind of making me want to get a 13 Avalanche instead of the 13 F150 EcoBoost I was planning on.
 
#28 ·
But the reason I got rid of it was because everyone kept telling me it wasn't really a truck and I missed having a "real" pickup, as I had four Silverados before it.
Never listen to other people's perceptions when you're spending your own money. If you like the truck, "real truck" or not (AFAIK, it's BOF and therefore as real as anything else), then have at it. If you wanted the usability of a traditional pickup, then great, but don't give in to what others say. ;)
 
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