Consumer Comparison Test: 2011 Chevy Suburban LTZ Vs. 2011 Toyota Sequoia Platinum

We noticed a lot of similarities between the Chevy Suburban and Toyota Sequoia during our road tests of these highly proven family vehicles that are perfect for hauling a boat, 8 people, the entire contents of your studio apartment or all the kids all at once. We saw that not only were these fully loaded gas guzzlers priced to within $1,000 of each other (both around $60,000 fully loaded) but they also are sized to within an inch of each other, so neither one is exactly easy to park.

Both the Suburban and the Sequoia also have what we would call in the real world serious drinking problems, as they both had V8 engines that never topped 14 miles per gallon during our time with them. But our Sequoia definitely could out-muscle the Suburban thanks to its larger displacement engine, additional power and more responsive feeling six-speed automatic.

The Suburban we tested came equipped with a 5.3 liter V8 with 320 horsepower that proved more than adequate when asked to motivate the Chevy but it just didn't have the insane oomph offered by the Toyota Sequoia's 5.7 liter 381 horsepower 5.7 liter V8 that is Lexus-like in its refinement. But in the end, does having this much brute accelerative force matter in an SUV that doesn't exactly corner like its riding on rails (we are talking about both the Toyota and Chevy here).

In fact, both the Chevy and Toyota had very soft suspension tuning directed towards passenger comfort that conspired with rather numb steering racks to create two of the least rewarding to drive vehicles on the market today. It's also just not fun having to worry about finding a big enough spot to park it unless you live somewhere with lots of open space. Like Texas.

To find out our final choice in this battle of the giant SUVs, click here for a link to Yahoo! Autos