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What Was Your First Impression Of The Avalanche ?

J

jdw174

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
128
Location
Paris, TN
Before they were in the dealers, I saw a photo in one of my fishing magazines in the towing section. At first I thought it was a great idea, then I saw one, and frankly I thought it was the UGLIEST thing I'd ever laid eyes on! :eek: I couldn't get over all the cladding and drove off thinking NO WAY would I ever own one of those.

BUT....over the months I began looking at them again, and it honestly grew on me. There are times when I could use a truck, but trucks (I've owned a few) are short on room and no matter how many amenities you add, they're still...TRUCKS. Then I really began to look closer at the AV's, and loved the interior setup, and standard equipment. In short...I just had to have one. Bottom line is that my dealer will be calling me today or tomorrow with the delivery date of my new 03 in Arrival Blue. :D

 
The first time we ever saw one was at the 2001 NASCAR Brickyard 400 at Indy. They paraded over 100 of them around the track and used them to parade the drivers as well. From that moment on, we knew we wanted one... badly. So as soon as the lease was up on my Expedition, in fact before the lease was up, I had a new Av in the garage with an Expedition sitting in the driveway, alone by itself, for 2.5 months waiting for turn-in :B:

Jamie
 
I had the same initial reaction. I thought it was butt-ugly. However, the more I saw of the Av, the more it started to grow on me. I still had no intention of ever owning one until I took one for a test drive just out of curiosity. That rest is history. I have almost 25k miles on my Av, and it still impresses me.
 
Love at first sight. I saw the commercials and my wife was all hyped up. I was not that impressed. When we went to the dealer and found we could afford one and the brought ours out for a road test-
I will NEVER forget standing there as this monster SUV was backed into a parking spot with me looking thru the plate glass windows.
New, z66, huge shiny machine-
my wife told them "sold" before we even pulled out of the dealers lot
 
For me it was :love: at first site.

I used to have a Silverado and I hung out on the Edmunds boards. When the Av was announced people over there started talking about them. From the time I saw my first picture I knew I wanted one and now I have one :love: :love: :love:

-Mark
 
I forget what magazine I saw the Av in a few years back. At the time it was still a concept, and I figured they would never put something that radical into production. When the word came out that it would be on dealer lots for the 2002 model year, I got real excited. I had some minor reservations about some of the styling, but a majority of the truck was just incredibly muscular and tough looking - and just plain different.

I thought the functionality and versatility of the Av was awesome (what do you expect - I'm an engineer). I really wanted a pickup truck for the purpose of towing and bringing lots of camping stuff along. Our minivan was just not cutting it anymore. But pickups were bland and uncomfortable for a family, especially after having a minivan. Chevy solved that problem when they built the Av. I saw one at a local fair, and we checked it out for a good half hour. It was like falling in love all over again. :love:

However, I looked at the $35K sticker and never really thought I'd be able to afford one. Well, Chevy solved that problem with their great financing deal, and now I've had the Av for 10 months and absolutely NO regrets! :B:
 
I saw the concept vehicle at a Car Show in Dallas or Ft. Worth. I thought it made the AMC Pacer look really really nice! Eventually (after spending a lot of time here) I came to see all the good things about it and learn to live with the cladding (and those UGLY flat-top wheel wells!).
 
I saw the truck in a TV add and thought it was exactly what I needed. Comfort for passengers, lots of luxury gadgets, and hauling functionality all in one.

So I was at the dealer signing paperwork to buy my AV....I told the salesman that I needed to go outside and take one more look at this ugly beast before I could sign the last document. I was standing there looking at every angle when this innocent customer walked over and said to me "That must be the ugliest piece of crap Chevy has ever built!". My response was "Thank you, I just bought it!" He looked at me as if I had three heads and walked off.

I love the AV and I have enjoyed all 40K miles in the past 14 months, but I must admit I have a WBH ordered that I should have in a couple more weeks.
 
I saw the commercials and just thought of it as "something different." Then last January I was at a buddy's house for his kid's birthday when he tossed a brouchure at me and asked if I had taken a good look at one. The next day we stopped at a dealer and proceeded to find out on our own how the conversion happens (us both being engineers we had to start by tearing it apart...) A sales droid soon appeared and after a few minutes of droning conversation, asked "So how long have you two been looking?" We stopped and looked at each other, realizing that the droid assumed us to be a 'couple.' I told him that he just made a serious mistake as we were 1) both married, and 2) looking for not one but *two* trucks, neither of which he would have any chance of selling that day!

I got mine two months later, my buddy ended up with a Tahoe. :B:
 
I was originally on the market for the Trailblazer...at this point I hadn't seen the Av yet so I didn't get a chance to look and see all the innovations and especially the midgate system....

I went to a local Chevy dealership in the area to browse their inventory and see what was available....it just so happens that all of their Trailblazers were parked just a few feet from...at the time few Avalanches...naturally it caught my attention right away..and one of the salesman immediately came over and started to pitch his lines etc etc.....

Basically I was sold the minute I popped open the doors and further convinced when I had the chance to see what the Av could do in the way of storage and versatility.....but now comes the hard part...

My wife at the time was loving the Trailblazer and so as you can imagine..she wasn't trying to hear anything about a Avalanche....so I offer to bring her to the dealership that night and introduce her to the truck I was now drooling over....I swear I didn't even get a chance to park the car...she had spotted the indiglo blue Av in the showroom and quite loud said "OH it's ugly, I don't like it!".....so I responded "You haven't even seen it up close and what it can do...believe me it is more truck for the money than the Trailblazer!"......she wasn't hearing it....LOL

I can now look back and laugh on the entire thing but at the time it was no laughing matter....basically she voiced her disapproval further but wasn't too apposed to it....so to make a long story short, a few days later I was a proud owner....and she still wasn't too happy about the whole thing.....she told everyone who asked her that she hated it.....

Now after a little over 1 year since I picked up the Avy...she openly admits that she still isn't in love with it but admits that it has come in handy at times and was a wise purchase....so while you won't see her on the cover of the accessories guide...she has indeed learned to live with the Av happilly ever after....the end...

The moral of the story....persistence pays off.... :)

Dave
 
First impressions upon first seeing one: Ugly. What the heck is that? Too much plastic. Another bubblegum SUV. Looks stupid.

Matt's UAV in Fourwheeler (?) was the one that changed my mind. :)

First impressions upon driving one: What a boat! Torquey. Love the gearing and the sound of the V8 (my ownership of another V8 was LONG overdue). It's big. It's roomy.
 
I think I first saw a picture in a review in the Boston Globe sunday paper. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen in a while. It was the first vehicle I had seen that might allow me to own 1 car instead of 2. I had a pickup truck and a wagon before this.

It took me a while to get past my anti-GM bias (bad experience 20 years ago - another story) and go check one out. I went over to the dealer many times, walking the line, checking all the models out. Finally this past November I bought the last 2002 they had on the lot. I've put about 3,500 miles on and have been very pleased so far!
 
To be honest, I didn't care for the looks of the AV at first. However, after visiting the dealer a couple of times, driving a Tahoe and then an AV. Wow, fell it love with it immediately after that. Since then, never disappointed and I have received so many great comments on my AV.

CA-AV
 
I was pulling off the lot with my 2002 Step-side Silverado; the truck carrier was pulling in with the first AV. My first impression was yuck! About a week later, I was adding step bars to the Silverado when I had the opportunity to check the AV out for the first time up close. Let us just say 7 month later (?had to wait until the grace period from the GMS buy to pass) I was driving off the lot with a 2002 AV.

Useless information:

I made 1k off the Silverado (sticker 28k paid 20k trade 21k) picked up the AV for 28k, sticker 34k. Love GMS!!!
 
To take my posting a little further, I had never even driven one until this past Monday morning...just kept walking the dealer's lot (on sundays when I could do it without being pestered) and looking. When I climbed into it I was SO impressed with the hi back cloth bucket seats and how comfortable they were, and the way it rode....more like a comfortable car than what it was. Two hours later at another dealership, I went ahead and ordered one. Nothing as fancy as what a lot of you have....hi-back cloth buckets (as comfortable as the leather in my Tahoe, and I just HAD to have the included Bose stereo..), Trailering package, assist steps, and the Premium Suspension Package. Anything else would have cost too much to add, and most of it I didn't really want/need. Of course, that satellite radio would have been nice...... ;)
 
We were in the market for something new and because I am a retired GM employe we were looking at chevy trucks and Tahoe's. My wife noticed the AV's on the lot and wanted to take a look. I said I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things! Well the ones that first day were the wrong color for me AND they were dirty! After we left without buying anything, our son said we really should look at the AV's and started telling us about some of the features. Well we went to a differant dealer and test drove one. I told the salesman that we have a little dog that travles with us and we would have the back seat and midgate down most of the time. The only two wheel drive that he had on the lot had just been unloaded from the carrier and was not cleaned up and had not been transfered into the dealers name yet, so the salesman said he would have to go with us on a test drive. I said well thats fine execpt I wanted to drive it with the midgate down to see how much road noise I would get. Well he was a little man, only about 5' tall, and said thats fine, I will crawl up there and ride! Well we took a nice long ride and just loved all of the features! We had him show us how to change it and he could barely do it with his small size! Well we traded BOTH of out cars in and drove away with a new Z66 and have loved it every since. Our plan was to go down to one vehicle but after about 2 months (and riding with my wife) I thought it was to much for her to handle. She couldn't see out the back well enough to get out of those Wal-Mart parking spaces! We bought her a 4 door tracker and now we are BOTH HAPPY!

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I first saw the Avalanche when it was still a prototype and loved everything about it, I had to have one as soon as they came out. Once they got to the dealers lots, I saw some changes to it: didn't like the way it sat, tire and wheel combo (looked to small for my taste). In short I didn't like them anymore and would never own one.

Well, I got to see a few over time that didn't look bad, GM was coming up with good financing, I could get the supplier discount and my dealer gave me a great trade on my 2001 Silverado- only lost $1500 and drove it for 1.5 years! I made the deal with somewhat of a heavy heart (loved the Silverado) for 1 of 2 loaded 1500 Z71 available on the lot (a black and a indigo blue). I ended up with the black one and now after a few mods, love it and wish I got it sooner!! My father liked mine so much, he traded in his 2001 Silverado on the indigo blue one a week after I picked up my AV!!
 
I first saw one in Maxim and thought that is was really cool, but that Chevy would never make it. A year later I saw a Victory Red one rolling through town, and made it my mission the next six months to get my butt planted in the driver's seat of my own.
 
I saw one when they first came out way back and didn't like it too much. Then i saw one parked in a mall....and didn't like it even more. I forgot about them...then middle of last year i saw one and thought they looked awsome. Continued to notice them more...and then i saw a lifted one and said that I HAD to own 1 one day. Now i do, but the lift has been negated due to building a house...DAMN...where are my priorities eh?!!!

MudbugZ71
:B:
 
I thought it looked like tupperware on wheels. I always hated plastic cladding. Then the more I looked at it the more I liked the functionality. Then I finally walked up to one on a showroom floor and proceeded to crawl all through it. After that I was hooked. I had to have one.

Oh the irony that the one I looked at on the showroom floor was Victory Red with dark graphite interior.
 
It was around '97, and I was browsing through one of the car magazines at the local drugstore. There was a sketch and brief description that a prototype Av was in the works.
I thought it was the best looking thing since sliced bread, and joking told myself that no matter what, "One day I will have that truck!" ;D
 
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