Avalanche owners, what do u like/dislike?

tealboy · March 3, 2006

For some reason, my new vehicle search keeps bringing me back to the avalanche. I have a sport ute that offers security and waterproofing for my outdoor gear and lifestyle, but i miss not having the ability to load my atv and certain other things. The avalanche seems to offer both.

How secure is the rear of the avalanche and is it really completely waterproof? does it begin to leak after a few years of use?

how is the ride (z71 4x4)? what else do you like or dislike about this vehicle?

i apprec your comments. the ford supercrew is a temping vehicle but going that route is pure truck w/o the sport ute flex

Tree_Hugger · March 3, 2006

For some reason, my new vehicle search keeps bringing me back to the avalanche. I have a sport ute that offers security and waterproofing for my outdoor gear and lifestyle, but i miss not having the ability to load my atv and certain other things. The avalanche seems to offer both.

How secure is the rear of the avalanche and is it really completely waterproof? does it begin to leak after a few years of use?

how is the ride (z71 4x4)? what else do you like or dislike about this vehicle?

i apprec your comments. the ford supercrew is a temping vehicle but going that route is pure truck w/o the sport ute flex

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Ride is excellent. Back is secure. Waterproof as to water coming into cab area. Waterproof as to bed covers leaking. Not strictly waterproof. Air and some water pass through the bed. After heavy rain you might find wetness under the rubber mat. You won't find it anywhere else. Stuff in the bed stays dry. Does not leak after 4 years.

You may find your ATV tires interfere with the bed rails. Some ATV's won't fit.

Lousy headlights is the only real complaint.

JCedar · March 3, 2006

My dad has an 03' Avalanche and he loves it,, it feels like you're floating when riding in it. I don't think I have ever ridden in a smoother truck.

I on the other hand cannot stand it. If I had to pick between my 99 Sierra and his 03 Avalanche I'd pick my truck any day for any job!! The things I DON'T like about it is that you can't see a d**n thing backing up, can you say blind spots?!?! It also doesn't have the same get up and go that my truck does. I'm assuming this is because of the weight factor of the Avalanche and the fact that he has a lot more Torque Management than I do but anyhow. The rest of the truck I love, he has an 04 Sportsman 600 twin that I DON'T believe would fit in the back, you'd have to check into what wheelers would fit. He always tows it with a trailer.

The one thing that happened to the Avalanche is that the parking pawl would stick if you put it on the SLIGHTEST of inclines, with it sticking it would not come out of park. I'm a firm believer in using a parking brake but this was rediculous. It wouldn't budge if you had it on the smallest of inclines. He brought it in and took the service rep for a ride to the local boat launch. The Rep actually ripped the shift handle right out of the steering column. They obviously replaced it, and just said to my dad that it would go away once the paw wore down a little bit. WOWWWWWWWW..... Then he was going to make them buy the truck back because of this and they said that they would give him a 150,000 mile warranty on the entire drivetrain, so he took that instead because he didn't want to deal with the hassel. The tranny shifts out of park fine now but I don't like the idea of the pawl WEARING down to work, that just means there was that much more metal shavings floating around.

Other than that, I like it but take one for a ride and pretend you were trying to back up to a jetski or something, it's d**n near impossible with out getting out and looking every six inches or having someone help you!

To this date there has been no water leaking anywhere in the truck I know of.

Any more questions feel free to ask. And these are just my opinions of the Avalanche other than my dad's issues I think they're great looking trucks. They're just not for me!

have a great night!

pm26 · March 4, 2006

The one thing that happened to the Avalanche is that the parking paw would stick if you put it on the SLIGHTEST of inclines, with it sticking it would not come out of park.
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What the heck is "parking paw"? Do you mean the pawl that engages when you place the shifter in park?