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I just saw an '06/'07 Avalanche!

Get a touch screen console- nav system and lose the look and feeling of the traditional AV-
I'll stay old style ANY DAY!
 
I have an 02, and I think the look of the front of the truck is the best, If they mess with it then they will lose that mean look, >:D and my bussiness, at least until I can aford to have a new vette. I don't want my next Avalanche to look like a f**d that is for sure. :mad:
 
I am very disapointed at the look of this AV like you all have said it looks like a ford....and I have a feeling there will not be a cladding version but all well I think I will still own an AV I have not yet found a vehicle that I like better then the AV I would even chose a AV over the Hummer....Call me wired but that is just what I like
 
Hummer has a concept truck that has a mid-gate just like the Avalanche, If that were a production truck, that would be a much better option for 07 than that forlanche! :D
 
av9.JPG


[me=nolt (aka avatar)]braces for thrown rotten fruit...[/me]

i kinda like it.

its not so fordish, i mean, if the wheel wells were rounder like the new fords i wouldnt dig it too much.

dont get me wrong i like my av better, but this thing aint so bad to me. its something i could see growing on me and getting when its time to trade my 04 in.

could just be my imagination... but the rear door looks smaller. more like other companies 'crew cab' or whatever. seems like the av has larger back doors than most other trucks. i hope they dont reduce that.
 
av9.JPG


You can't see many of the changes for the new AV from this point of view, but here's what I can recall and tell from this picture and from my in-person view as far as similarities and differences.

SIMILARITIES:
- The rear doors look smaller in the picture above, but they look that way on a current Avalanche too. (Compare to the picture on the top of This WBH AV Web Page.) I didn't recall a difference when I saw it in person sitting beside the current WBH either so I think there is likely no change here.
- If you look closely you can see that there is a lock where the locking top storage boxes are so they should remain the same as well.
- The wheel wells are not noticably rounder than the WBH wheelwells already are today, no change there either.

DIFFERENCES:
- The rearview mirror is smaller and oval instead of the larger/rectangur shape that it is today. What you can't tell from the picture above unless you look REALLY close is that the front of the mirror is split almost exactly in half with the bottom being cladding, and the top being body colored. It looks pretty bad in person, especially with so much of the rest of the cladding (wheel flares, door handles, body side moulding) already removed. So for those of you who who have WBH today and looked for body colored or chrome inserts to replace your black mirror backs, you'll likely have an even harder chore replacing the backs on these as it's unlikely the body colored half-mirror part will exist on another truck to draw from.
- Bowtie in the center of the tailgate. Some like it, some think it looks F--d.
- Backup lights are in the center of the tail light housings. I don't like it personally but it's not something that would make or break my opinion of a vehicle's appearance.
- Wheels are different (and look like the current D@dge wheels), but it's highly unlikely that these will be the same wheels on the vehicle when it rolls out of the factory. Look at the wheels on the demo AV for instance.
- The biggest appearance difference in my opinion is to the front of the truck though. The grill and front bumper are COMPLETELY different. Draw a straight horizontal line across the top of the grill and that's the line of the hood. No angular notches, no aggressive "eyelid" lights, no style in my opinion. The power bar across the center of the grill is no longer chrome. Instead a flat body-colored band has replaced it. It looks like someone took bondo and smoothed a straight line from one fender to the other and then painted it. I'm sure there will probably be a bowtie in the center of it, even though there wasn't on the demo truck. The headlights were plain rectangles with round lights in the center of the light covers. The bumper has no chrome OR plastic on it at all, it's 100% body colored and smoothed right into the fenders on either side. If you look close at the picture above you can see what I'm taling about on the bumper color. I can't imagine how they're going to keep from getting thousands of stone chips all across the front of this thing. Everything that isn't headlight or grill is body paint, smooth, and has no design details.

To give you an idea, take this 1988 pickup and paint the power-bar and bumper body-colored (black in this case), then remove the amber in the lights and make them look like one large light with round inserts and that's about exactly what the front of the new demo AV looked like.

AQCMB03A00002.jpg


I think the front of the vehicle is jumping backwards a decade compared to the current look. You be the judge.
 
I scanned a pic that was in the latest MT magazine showing a 2006 Tahoe. It clearly shows the new front end.....wow, it couldn't get any uglier. I never really liked the new Silverado front end, but this is just terrible. Reminds me of the 2005 Inifiniti QX56 SUV too much, but is even worse.

Here's the link to my pics. The pics are under the C6 and Ford pics:
http://community.webshots.com/album/106016140hpPGSI
 
Beach said:
I scanned a pic that was in the latest MT magazine showing a 2006 Tahoe. It clearly shows the new front end.....wow, it couldn't get any uglier. I never really liked the new Silverado front end, but this is just terrible. Reminds me of the 2005 Inifiniti QX56 SUV too much, but is even worse.

Here's the link to my pics. The pics are under the C6 and Ford pics:
http://community.webshots.com/album/106016140hpPGSI
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what the new AV looked like alright. Except take those two raised sections off of either side of the hood and make them flat. Then chop the front of the mirror in half and make the bottom plastic instead of silver, though you wouldn't see it much in the overhead angle in your shot.

115093712ClicrE_ph.jpg
 
If you ask me..In the tahoe pic. it looks alot like a 02 HD model crossed with a GMC. It sure is growing on me.
 
IMHO, the new front end is :D:!
I think it resmbles the front of the Escalade, because of the big one piece headlamps. Is this change going to be on the 06' Cladded AV as well? Because the WBH is different in styling than the Cladded AV, so I would think that there is a possibility the cladded AV would be somewhat unaffected by these radical changes, especially the new front end. I know for one that if I decide to trade in my AV for an 06' I'll most likely go to Dodge of Ford :6:, if the new front end is on the cladded AV, because it just wouldn't stand out any longer.
I do believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to like the new look of the front end and to hope that it is used on the 06' AVs (both cladded and WBH), makes me sick and makes me think that you are not a true AV fan :mad:.

-James. :cool:
 
What cladded AV? From what I read in a car mag a few months ago (don't remember which one it was) they said GM is stopping production of the cladded AV in 2006 due it costing more to produce then the WBH. Doesn't affect me any though, my 2003 Cladded baby is never leaving me... :love:

Now, as for what I think of these pics of the 06 AV... :D:
the side profile looks JUST like the new F**D Super Crew F-150. Tis a sad day. :C:
 
In comparing the two pics, New Av, New Tahoe, I think the front clip(grill, bumper, headlights) are different than on the Tahoe. The Tahoe definately has a family resemblance to the Trailblazer in front. I'm sure I'm gonna get grief from this, but I doubt there will be a cladded Av in the next redesign simply because Lutz doesn't like cladding and doesn't think the market does either. That's why we have a WBH version now. Also, to make tooling for both and the extra parts would be more expensive. Let me restate, I bought my WBH ONLY because I couldn't find a cladded one, I've had both now and do like the clean lines on my WBH, but I still love the cladded AV as well so don't lump me in the anti cladded AV camp. I think with all the upgrades the new model will have I've been reading about, DOD, upgraded interior, likely more powerful engine, etc. This AV will find success just like all other AV's have. Just my $.02 :B:
 
Aries, I agree with you totally, about it resembling the styling cues of the F-150 :D:.

Now what are you talking about, that the General is stopping the production of the Cladded AV :C: :8:, In my views that is the AV, the WBH is nothing more than a silverado with the sail on the back.

I am not planning on getting rid of my AV either, I just love it too much :love:, I want to keep it as long as possible, especially since it is a limited edition(NFE), so it is somewhat of a collectors item to me. But still no one could pay me enough to drive around in that new FORD wannabe :8:.
 
One thing that people are over looking is the step built into the rear bumper. It has gone away on those with the chrome bumpers. Those steps are very useful. My wife really loves them. She can climb in and out of the back with ease. Not so on those without.

Another thing that I definately want to see is a serisou attempt to market the friggin thing. There were only a couple commercials when it first came out and now..... (insert cricket noise here).... nothing. They don't even mention them!

I would like to see the clasps for the rear covers be more streamlined so they stack in a thinner pile and take up less room when not used. OR!!! better yet. Make them so they can be linked into a sort of 'U' shape to protect the inside of the door and rear seat when themidgate is down. It would be nice to be able to have the midgate down and fill the back with dirt or rock and not trash the interior! That would really be nice.
 
Suprised I haven't seen this thread yet, as I have actually driven one of the 2006 Av's. ;D My company was bidding for the fuel system for the 06 Av, and as part of the bidding process, we were out at the GM Desert Proving Grounds, strapping our equipment in, and taking it for a ride.

The unfortunate thing is that when you're in an early proto vehicle, it has all the camoflague still on it. In Camo, they put padding on it, ridiculous looking bra's on it, and try to make it look nothing like the actual lines you'll see in the production vehicle. So unfortunately, I didn't get to see the exterior look. And the interior on a vehicle at that point is nothing to write home about either - mostly proto parts, and many don't fit. Fairly common for prototype vehicles.

What I can offer is this - rarely do you see a vehicle out 18 months before launch that actually still looks the same come launch time. There are so many focus groups, studies, manufacturing concessions, etc. that the end product is almost always different in some fashion.

Oh well, we got some of the business - for the Flexible Fuel Vehicle option. I'll probably get a chance to drive one again this summer (vehicle test trip for the fuel system), and the vehicle should be a lot closer to production readiness at that point.
 
TXAVy said:
GM "had" a runner in the Lightning field, but it was several years ago. Anyone care to run the numbers on the GMC Cyclone versus the Lightning for me? I'm not into "street rod trucks" so I don't have all the numbers, but from what I recall one of the bigger reasons the Cyclone went away was because it was treading too heavily on the Corvette's stomping grounds. For the same reason Ford pulled the Escort GT Turbo off the line before it was even built because it embarassed their Mustang in the 1/4 mile.
Click to expand...

Same reason why the Fiero went from a mid-engine 2 seater affordable sports car to a 4-cylinder POS. My father was an automotive engineer at the time and was exctied about the Fiero in it's early stages - but when it ran ciricles around the Corvette on a handling course GM would have nothing doing with it - and took away the big six they were going to squeeze in it, killed ideas for an eight and chopped up the suspension into junk...
 
What I can offer is this - rarely do you see a vehicle out 18 months before launch that actually still looks the same come launch time. There are so many focus groups, studies, manufacturing concessions, etc. that the end product is almost always different in some fashion.
Click to expand...

This is very true - only a handful of vehicles made it from the car show to production with few changes. The Avalanche was one of those vehicles. If memory serves me correctly, the Ford Probe was one of the very first vehicles that maintained the body shape and most of the interior from the car show circuit (I want to say it was based off of the Probe V or Probe VI concept vehicle)
 
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