2025 Chevrolet Suburban First Drive: The Biggest Boy Gets New Diesel Engine, Screens

The humongous Chevrolet Suburban’s continued existence might seem like a head-scratcher to many—who actually needs, you know, all of this? Can’t a minivan haul people and their stuff better than most SUVs, while consuming far less fuel and taking up way less space? That’s true for most buyers, but the Suburban is for a more specific buyer. Have a huge brood, plus a boat or a camper, and regularly pack up the whole gang for trips? The list of noncommercial vehicles capable of moving this fun-sounding family around narrows considerably to, well, the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban, which can fit up to nine people(!) with its available first-row center seat, 42 cubic feet of stuff in the space left over, and tow up to 8,200 pounds. And it’s been revised for 2025.

Look, we’re not cherry-picking numbers—those specs apply to the entry-level Suburban LS model. As you move up the trim levels to the LT, RST, Premier, Z71, and High Country models and opt for other engines, some of the towing capacity drops off (because there’s more stuff inside, and more weight onboard takes away from payload and towing capacities), and there are a mere eight or, in the most luxurious combinations, seven seats, but these versions all serve essentially the same customers: Those who move lots of people and lots of stuff at the same time while dragging something behind.

Yes, the shorter-wheelbase 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe actually edges the Suburban in towing and payload capacities, but its rear seats have notably less space, and if you fill those seats, there’s markedly less room remaining behind them for cargo. The Tahoe, therefore, is for families that are probably one to three kids away from buying a Suburban.

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What’s New for 2025?

Like its shorter-wheelbase sibling, the Tahoe, the 2025 Chevy Suburban sees a number of changes for this model year after last seeing a full redesign for 2021. The optional diesel engine is now a second-generation design; the turbodiesel inline-six now makes 305 hp and 495 lb-ft of torque, up from 277 hp and 460 lb-ft. It’s now the most torque-rich engine available in the Suburban, even beyond the uplevel 6.2-liter gas V-8 (420 hp, 460 lb-ft) and now closer to matching the horsepower of the entry-level 5.3-liter gas V-8 (355 hp, 383 lb-ft). Chevy also for the first time offers the diesel engine on the off-road-oriented Z71 trim level; it’s available on every trim save for the base LS, which gets only the 5.3-liter V-8. As before, the 6.2-liter V-8 is optional on the RST, Z71, and Premier, and standard on the range-topping Suburban High Country.

After having adopted a fully independent suspension and gaining an available four-corner air-spring setup for the first time in 2021, the 2025 Suburban receives improvements to both, thanks largely to the introduction of a 24-inch wheel option on the RST and High Country models. The big wheels require the Suburban’s available magnetorheological adaptive dampers and air suspension, and Chevy retuned both to cope with the rims’ unsprung mass and shorter-sidewall tires. Some of the learnings from that development phase, along with feedback from current owners with the air springs and adaptive shocks, trickle down to every Suburban so equipped, even those without the 24s. There are no changes, however, to the suspensions with passive shocks and conventional springs, though Chevy says it also messed with the steering calibration to deliver more satisfying feedback.

Finally, the newest Suburban’s nose and tail receive subtle revisions, including dynamic LED lighting capable of sweeping turn-signal actions and approach-animation lighting. Inside, the large-format touchscreen and digital gauge cluster design seen in recent Chevys such as the Traverse SUV and the Blazer EV replace last year’s clutter of buttons, smaller screen, and analog gauges. The touchscreen measures a massive 17.7 inches across and features Google Built In tech (with eight years of use included until a subscription is needed) with native Google Maps, Play store access for apps, and Google’s voice assistant (activated by saying, “Hey, Google!”). It’s also standard, along with the digital gauge pod, across the entire Suburban lineup. Fitting those screens meant reconfiguring the dashboard, which wears new air vents and central vents that are lowered below the screen and above a shelf of physical climate controls.

So, Is It a Better Suburban?

Yes and no. The answer partly depends on whether or not you spring for those exciting new 24-inch wheels and, to a lesser degree, whether or not your 2025 Chevrolet Suburban is equipped with the adaptive shocks or those shocks and the air suspension. We’ll start at the bottom, though, with the Suburban LS, which represents the baseline setup with passive shocks and conventional springs. This is the cloth-seat, nine-passenger version, and it’s a phenomenal people hauler. With only 18-inch wheels and on-road tires, it’s relatively quiet, rides comfortably, and yet still delivers satisfyingly taut body control with decent resistance to lean, dive, and squat. As before, it’s set up almost too firmly, but it gets help the smaller Tahoe doesn’t from its 14-inch-longer wheelbase, which does a lot to smooth out the ride.

Grab the adaptive dampers—which we sampled on a Suburban RST—and the ride smooths out more, with even better absorption of initial impacts. Again, revisions gleaned from the management of the optional 24-inch wheels help here; smaller wheels also help. Stick with the 22-inch rims or smaller, and the Suburban is gravy. Add in the air suspension, and it’s even cushier while also adding height adjustment (a low setting for loading, a normal setting, and two raised levels for off-roading). But add all those suspensions together with the new 24-inch wheels? This moves you backward in the ride-quality department. General ride motions—like, say, over speed bumps or medium-amplitude imperfections—stay mostly the same, and most impacts are rounded off surprisingly well, but the big rims simply transmit sharper impacts more readily to the cabin before the suspension (improved and all) can catch up. It’s not horrendous, by any means, and GM’s engineers did an admirable job tuning the Suburban’s air springs and electronic shocks to cope with the 24s, but that’s about what they accomplish—coping. Live someplace with smooth roads? Go for ’em. Otherwise, you’ll live with chatter over smaller bumps and expansion joints, along with slightly elevated tire noise from the lower-profile Bridgestone rubber.

But Oh Boy, That Diesel

While we’re playing with the Suburban’s option chess board, selecting the available diesel engine—in addition to, say, the full-boat air suspension—is another step toward a better SUV. We already liked the last-generation version of this engine offered last year, and the newer version is even better. Response to accelerator inputs is snappier, so the diesel moves off the line without a hint of lethargy; the 10-speed automatic transmission does the rest, quickly and sharply shifting through gears and riding the diesel’s substantial low-end torque. Relatively small pedal inputs are needed to smoothly and swiftly accelerate the Suburban up to speed. A true king of the road, the diesel-fed Suburban can achieve over 700 miles of range, according to Chevy.

People looking for the smoothest overall 2025 Chevrolet Suburban experience will revel in the newest available combination, the Suburban Z71 off-roader with the diesel engine. Between this version’s 20-inch wheels, big-sidewall all-terrain tires, and unique chassis tuning, it delivers the softest ride of any Suburban, on road or off. Previously, the Z71 was gas-only, available only with the dutiful but unexciting entry-level 5.3-liter V-8 or the burlier 420-hp 6.2-liter. The diesel is a better match for the Z71 than either. Its effortless torque matches the Z71’s available air suspension buttery move for buttery move and should make clambering up rocks or steep hills a snap. Final EPA estimates are forthcoming, but the outgoing diesel could eke out up to 27 mpg highway, and the new version might improve on that performance.

Speaking of performance, one thing you won’t find on the new Suburban RST is the Performance Edition Chevy offers on the Tahoe RST. This is a combination of the 6.2-liter V-8 engine, a sport intake and exhaust, Brembo front brakes, and the Tahoe PPV police SUV’s suspension and tires. So if you’re looking for maximum on-road athleticism from your large Chevrolet SUV, the Tahoe is it. Unfortunately, that also means there isn’t a version of the Suburban with the better brake-pedal feel that comes in that Tahoe Performance Edition. Every Suburban has a stiff brake pedal that returns wooden responses and requires decent leg effort just to hold the SUV stationary when stopped. This is true across Chevy’s truck lineup and the Suburban’s luxurious Cadillac Escalade cousins.

More Standard Safety, More Standard Screens

We have few complaints about the new 17.7-inch touchscreen. It looks gorgeous and can display song information and menus in large fonts—meaning it actually takes some advantage of its size, not something you can say of every huge display. It also still includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (GM has said it’s moving away from both systems, but they’re included here and on the Tahoe). The only size-related drawback, really, is that the far reaches of the screen can be a stretch for the driver; even the volume knob can require a lean forward to operate, though there are buttons on the back of the steering wheel you can use instead.

Among the aspects of the infotainment system that could take some getting used to is the way you must work through the touchscreen to change what secondary information is displayed in the gauge cluster, namely trip data. You need to dive into a menu, find the data you want to change or show in the cluster, then “send” it to the gauge pod. This makes resetting the trip computer or checking tire pressures a multistep process that, in other vehicles, is a more straightforward task handled by steering wheel controls.

Chevrolet has increased the standard safety gear on every 2025 Suburban, as well, and every trim level gets adaptive cruise control, “enhanced lane keep assist,” blind-zone monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, automated emergency braking (forward and reverse), auto high-beams, and improved pedestrian and bicyclist detection. GM’s excellent hands-free Super Cruise driver assist system is optional, and its seamless operation and automated lane changes (on mapped highways, of course) are a perfect match for the Suburban’s road-tripping pathos. It also is operable while towing a trailer.

Pricing

If you’ve had enough time away from your seven children and boat repairs to get this far in the review, you’ll be happy to know the 2025 Chevrolet Suburban and its improvements don’t come at much extra cost. The new models start at $66,495 for the charmingly basic yet good LS version and stretch up to $83,195 for the range-topping High Country, before options (Suburbans are $3,000 more than equivalent Tahoes, and four-wheel drive adds another $3,000 on top of that). We suggest opting for the magnetic ride shocks and air suspension but skipping the 24s—the 20- and 22-inch wheels ride much better. And just remember, if the new Suburban fits your needs, it’s either this or an actual bus, and goes on sale now, with diesels and the Z71 arriving early next year.