This week I have a beauty for you. Check out the 2023 Chevy Tahoe RST, which stands for Rally Sport Truck. This is the elite of the Chevy lineup of trucks and SUVs.
Starting with the exterior, the 2023 Tahoe sports a huge grill, black 20” wheels, fixed running boards, a rear spoiler with the wiper tucked up under it, blacked-out name plates, and massive Brembo red brake calipers.
While the RST package is terrific, my review vehicle kicks it up a notch with the RST Performance Edition package, most of which you can’t see, but you know it’s there when you drive it.
The Performance Edition takes the 6.2-liter V8 horsepower up to 433-horses thanks to the Chevy Performance air intake system and cat-back exhaust, which sounds amazing by the way.
The final stats are impressive: 467-pound feet of torque, 0-to-60 time of 5.7-seconds, and top speed of 124-miles per hour, but the Performance Edition doesn’t stop there.
You get Police-spec springs, re-tuned dampers and police-spec chassis calibrations. The Tahoe is lowered in the front and rear to Police-specs and sports Firestone Firehawk 20” tires. This Tahoe is 4-wheel drive and has a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Interior
While there are so many things to love about this Tahoe’s performance, the interior is spectacular. The seats are comfortable and inviting with stitching from the door panels to the dash, and surrounding the seats and steering wheel.
High on the dash is a 10.2-inch touchscreen that operates the sound system, climate control, Bluetooth, navigation, Wi-Fi, settings, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and built-in Google.
Under that are A/C controls, a couple of USB ports, a wireless phone charger, and cup holders.
To the left of the touchscreen are your gear shift buttons which I think are really cool. Simply push for park, and pull the buttons for reverse and drive.
Let’s talk about the center console, arguably the coolest feature of the Tahoe. From near the top of the windshield is a button to electronically slide the console back to get cup holders closer to the 2nd row occupants. For the front occupants, there is a slide-out drawer for valuables that cannot be accessed when the console is positioned forward. This would be a must-have for me.
Moving to the second row of seating, this one has heated captain’s chairs with armrests that are super comfortable and they slide and recline. Rear passengers can control their own temperature, USB ports, and a 110-volt power outlet.
Rear occupants can enjoy the ride with the rear seat media system with two vibrant 12.6” screens that will display their own content. You can share the navigation screen from the front, use your wireless device, or watch a movie from a Firestick. It is an amazing system.
Entry to the third-row seat is a breeze with a power button just inside both rear doors that double flip out of the way.
The third-row seat is where Tahoe really shows a benefit. Two full-sized adults will be very comfortable and their knees will not be under their chins like in many of today’s SUVs. You can actually enjoy the ride back there.
Cargo area is terrific, even with the 3rd row seats up. Power buttons will allow you to fold the 3rd and 2nd row seats down to a completely flat load floor and have an amazing 123 cubic-feet of cargo. It is nice that you can pop the rear glass open OR open the entire power lift gate.
The Tahoe RST comes fully loaded with all the popular comfort and safety features you want including power tilt wheel, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, remote start, rear seat reminder, a terrific Bose stereo, adaptive cruise control, and the list goes on forever.
Fuel Economy and MSRP
Fuel economy is 14 in town 18 on the highway, and 16 overall. MSRP on this one is $81,305 with everything except a panoramic moon roof, and for me, that’s a very good price on today’s market.
Verdict
If you are looking for a large, luxurious SUV, but you also want some amazing performance features, there is nothing else out there like this one.
2023 Tahoe RST in a few words: A joy to drive with head-turning good looks, and amazing performance.
Warranty: 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper, 5-year/60,000 mile power train warranty with roadside assistance, courtesy transportation, and free first maintenance visit.