Utter the words ‘Chevrolet Suburban’ and most people, even those who don’t know very much about cars, will likely be able to conjure an image in their head of the hulking SUV. Large, and very much in charge, the mighty Suburban was recently refreshed with new clothes and a dandy interior, assuring the gargantuan model will be around for many more years.
Powered these days by a choice of V8 engines or a diesel-fueled inline-six, the Chevrolet Suburban is a pick of the pack for customers so diverse as large families, livery services, and shadowy government agencies. In fact, it is one of the only choices for crews who need to haul several thousand pounds and transport up to nine people at one time since a bench seat remains on the option list for 2025 - at least in the base model,
1 - Original Origins
General Motors launched its first model using the Suburban name back in 1935, affixing it to a machine that wore a station wagon body atop the frame of a pickup truck. Technically called the Carryall Suburban, it was intended for outfits like the National Guard and could hold up to eight passengers in its functional cabin. Sound familiar?
2 - Long May You Run
Anyone blessed with the gift of numeracy has now deduced that General Motors has been producing machines under the Suburban name for the better part of 90 years. That’s longer than some companies - heck, some countries - have been around. This longevity means Suburban is the longest continually produced automobile nameplate in the world. As a bonus, there is no chicanery with the type of vehicle to which it has been applied: the Suburban has been an enormous carryall right from the start.
3 - Power to All Corners
While the presence of four-wheel drive is almost expected in a Suburban these days, the model didn’t earn that sort of powertrain until 1957, some twenty years and numerous generations after its introduction. In fact, 4x4 was decidedly not the norm for consumer-grade vehicles in the mid- to late-1950s, meaning the Suburban was something of a trailblazer (pun intended) in this regard as well.
4 - Post-War Trio
During World War II, Chevrolet produced yaffles of eight-passenger Suburbans as military transport vehicles. After the conflict, it wasn’t just a taste for Spam and cigarettes that service personnel brought back from the front lines; they returned with new vehicle preferences, as well. The resulting baby boom also ensured these three-row rigs were filled with youngsters, too.
5 - Better Late than Never
For reasons known only to employees in a stuffy General Motors conference room, the company didn’t trademark the ‘Suburban’ name when it first introduced the rig almost 90 years ago. This led to other companies usurping the name on their own vehicles, most notably the Plymouth Fury Suburban wagon, which used the title for nearly two decades. Brands like DeSoto and Studebaker also used this name back in the day. GM finally got its trademark to the name in 1988, some 53 years after introduction.
6 - Triple Play
Distinctive to this, the sixth-generation Suburban produced between the 1967 and 1972 model years, was a unique configuration that specified one door on the driver side and two doors on the passenger side. This helped promote the model as a rig for carrying people, since the extra portal eased cabin access on a side of the truck, which was not facing traffic.
7 - Old Enough to Serve
The Suburban, and its two-door Blazer cousin, earned a complete restyle in 1973, the same year the C/K series of pickup trucks on which it was based were also overhauled. However, the ‘Burb would have to wait all the way until 1992 for its next comprehensive makeover, some five full model years after the C/K got its new style in ‘88. This means the seventh-generation Suburban was old enough to serve in the military by the time it was put out to pasture.
8 - Aftermarket Brutes
Speed shops are no strangers to plugging enormous engines where they don’t belong, but Lingenfelter may have taken the cake in 1994 when it stuffed a 9.9L V8 up the nose of a Suburban. Reportedly good for 550 horsepower, the beast could apparently scarper to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. That’s fast now; for a massive SUV thirty years ago, it was terrifying.
9 - Bringing the Heavy (Duty)
As the world swung into a new millennium, Chevy decided to add a gargantuan 8.1L V8 engine to the Suburban’s option sheet. Available on the 2500 series, referred to by truck types as the ‘three-quarter ton’ variant, this iron big-block engine was rated up to 340 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque depending on the model year. The mighty 8.1L V8 was offered for five model years until the range was redesigned for a tenth-generation model.
10 - Fleet Favorite
Thanks to stout construction and a chassis that can be loaded down by security gear without complaint, the Suburban is a darling of government and military fleets around the globe. It isn’t unusual to see world leaders ferried about in this model - some of which have been fortified with plenty of bullet-resistant material (the ‘Burb, not the leader). Hollywood leans into this by deploying the model extensively for scenes involving the FBI or number of stern law enforcement agencies.
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Powered these days by a choice of V8 engines or a diesel-fueled inline-six, the Chevrolet Suburban is a pick of the pack for customers so diverse as large families, livery services, and shadowy government agencies. In fact, it is one of the only choices for crews who need to haul several thousand pounds and transport up to nine people at one time since a bench seat remains on the option list for 2025 - at least in the base model,
1 - Original Origins
General Motors launched its first model using the Suburban name back in 1935, affixing it to a machine that wore a station wagon body atop the frame of a pickup truck. Technically called the Carryall Suburban, it was intended for outfits like the National Guard and could hold up to eight passengers in its functional cabin. Sound familiar?
2 - Long May You Run
Anyone blessed with the gift of numeracy has now deduced that General Motors has been producing machines under the Suburban name for the better part of 90 years. That’s longer than some companies - heck, some countries - have been around. This longevity means Suburban is the longest continually produced automobile nameplate in the world. As a bonus, there is no chicanery with the type of vehicle to which it has been applied: the Suburban has been an enormous carryall right from the start.
3 - Power to All Corners
While the presence of four-wheel drive is almost expected in a Suburban these days, the model didn’t earn that sort of powertrain until 1957, some twenty years and numerous generations after its introduction. In fact, 4x4 was decidedly not the norm for consumer-grade vehicles in the mid- to late-1950s, meaning the Suburban was something of a trailblazer (pun intended) in this regard as well.
4 - Post-War Trio
During World War II, Chevrolet produced yaffles of eight-passenger Suburbans as military transport vehicles. After the conflict, it wasn’t just a taste for Spam and cigarettes that service personnel brought back from the front lines; they returned with new vehicle preferences, as well. The resulting baby boom also ensured these three-row rigs were filled with youngsters, too.
5 - Better Late than Never
For reasons known only to employees in a stuffy General Motors conference room, the company didn’t trademark the ‘Suburban’ name when it first introduced the rig almost 90 years ago. This led to other companies usurping the name on their own vehicles, most notably the Plymouth Fury Suburban wagon, which used the title for nearly two decades. Brands like DeSoto and Studebaker also used this name back in the day. GM finally got its trademark to the name in 1988, some 53 years after introduction.
6 - Triple Play
Distinctive to this, the sixth-generation Suburban produced between the 1967 and 1972 model years, was a unique configuration that specified one door on the driver side and two doors on the passenger side. This helped promote the model as a rig for carrying people, since the extra portal eased cabin access on a side of the truck, which was not facing traffic.
7 - Old Enough to Serve
The Suburban, and its two-door Blazer cousin, earned a complete restyle in 1973, the same year the C/K series of pickup trucks on which it was based were also overhauled. However, the ‘Burb would have to wait all the way until 1992 for its next comprehensive makeover, some five full model years after the C/K got its new style in ‘88. This means the seventh-generation Suburban was old enough to serve in the military by the time it was put out to pasture.
8 - Aftermarket Brutes
Speed shops are no strangers to plugging enormous engines where they don’t belong, but Lingenfelter may have taken the cake in 1994 when it stuffed a 9.9L V8 up the nose of a Suburban. Reportedly good for 550 horsepower, the beast could apparently scarper to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. That’s fast now; for a massive SUV thirty years ago, it was terrifying.
9 - Bringing the Heavy (Duty)
As the world swung into a new millennium, Chevy decided to add a gargantuan 8.1L V8 engine to the Suburban’s option sheet. Available on the 2500 series, referred to by truck types as the ‘three-quarter ton’ variant, this iron big-block engine was rated up to 340 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque depending on the model year. The mighty 8.1L V8 was offered for five model years until the range was redesigned for a tenth-generation model.
10 - Fleet Favorite
Thanks to stout construction and a chassis that can be loaded down by security gear without complaint, the Suburban is a darling of government and military fleets around the globe. It isn’t unusual to see world leaders ferried about in this model - some of which have been fortified with plenty of bullet-resistant material (the ‘Burb, not the leader). Hollywood leans into this by deploying the model extensively for scenes involving the FBI or number of stern law enforcement agencies.
