New York loves Thanksgiving, a fact that reflects both the city’s appreciation for a big party and its strange desire to involve Al Roker in everything. It’s why, on most Thanksgivings, my brother-in-law packs his family of four into a seven-passenger crossover and drives from Michigan to New York. In years past, he’s also driven my family of three into the city for post-Thanksgiving revery. He clearly does not love doing this.
If you asked him if he’d rather drive the 14 hours from Grand Rapids three times or the 14 miles from my place into Manhattan once, he’d probably take the former. I love my Brother-in-Law. I got a good one. As a surprise for him, I asked to borrow the car I secretly always suspected was the best vehicle for going into the city: A Chevrolet Tahoe.
While my BIL has lived in cities and is totally capable of driving anywhere, the weight that vanished from his shoulders when I handed him a beer and told him he wouldn’t need to drive us into Manhattan can only be measured in megatons.
I’ve been trapped enough in gridlock to not always love the prospect of driving in Manhattan, but at the same time, I’ve adopted that gruff nonchalance that most native New Yorkers naturally exude when faced with any obstacle. Plus, it would let me test my little theory.
NYC Is Hell On Cars
As Brian can tell you, actually owning a car in the city is one nonstop hassle after another. The roads have the durability of a three-day-old, pigeon-pecked Zaro’s bagel. The remaining yellow cabs are driven with a deep-seated anger that’s usually reserved for World Cup soccer fans. Tourists, unaware that the city’s terrible street design exists mostly to remove them from the population, dart into traffic with the reckless abandon of a wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans.
It sucks. And, to some degree, it should suck. There’s not enough space in the city for everyone to have a car. Making it expensive (via parking rules, tolls, or congestion charges) is fair. I once met a guy who lived on the west side of Central Park and would drive his Mercedes to visit his girlfriend on the opposite side of the park. That guy should have to pay out of his nose for the privilege; otherwise, the city would become unlivable.
Living in and around New York City for more than a decade, my preferred form of transit into and around Manhattan is a train. It’s mostly safe, cheap, convenient, and even fun. If you watch or read certain news outlets, you’d get the impression that Escape From New York is a documentary, but the reality is that this is just part of a vast and elaborate conspiracy to confine visitors from North Dakota to a narrow triangle bounded by the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, and the Times Square M&M Store.
If I had my druthers, we’d have headed into the city on the day after Thanksgiving via public transit. Having your druthers and having a family are often mutually exclusive concepts, so I drove.
A Tahoe (Or A Suburban/Escalade) Is Right At Home
GM is great at certain aspects of engineering. The company can design a heater that produces hot air at a rate that would make James Dolan look like a mime, a suspension that can absorb as much abuse as a J-Train conductor, and a V8 with a punch that would make Sugar Ray Robinson proud.
All of these are bare minimums when transporting your family into the city. The company’s SuperCruise hands-free driving system isn’t exactly a requirement, although it’s the ADAS I trust most to deal with Bronx drivers.
The particular Tahoe I borrowed was a 2026 4WD RST with a not-quite-Uber black Dark Ash Metallic exterior and Jet Black leather interior with Victory Red contrast stitching. It had all of the packages you’d want for city driving, including the one that brings SuperCruise, the one that brings magnetic ride control and the air ride adaptive suspension, and the one with the heated steering wheel.
They’re rugged vehicles with enough power and grit for a place that respects both, which is probably why I saw so many in the city on our trip.
But Matt, Isn’t It Hard To Drive Such A Big Vehicle In The City?
You might suspect that a truck that imbibes like Babe Ruth, stands taller than Aaron Judge, and weighs more than a bullpen full of CC Sabathias isn’t the right choice for a modern metropolis. You would be wrong. No worries, though, as New Yorkers regularly elect people who are inveterately wrong to be mayor.
The anti-car urbanists like to point to the elevated hood height as a reason why having these in the city should be outlawed, and, as this photo shows, your seating position is quite elevated. If Spike Lee had managed to sneak in front of the hood as I drove around Manhattan, I wouldn’t have seen him.
However, this vehicle also comes equipped with front pedestrian and bicyclist braking and alerts, as well as rear pedestrian alert, HD surround vision, and a whole suite of sensors that let me know the second anyone ventures too close to the vehicle. All of that’s standard.
The big truck is also incredibly maneuverable. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) to walk off all the turkey. And the ice cream cake that was shaped like a turkey. Weaving in and out of Midtown traffic was easy, and parking in the narrow underground Met parking garage was a piece of cake… shaped like a turkey.
We were supposed to meet up with a cousin who lives in an apartment near Columbus Circle, but we had an awkward amount of time to kill. The family walked to check out the Guggenheim while I darted off to retrieve the Tahoe.
Though I like the Guggenheim, it’s honestly not my favorite museum, and I was happy to climb into the warm Tahoe and swing around and pick them up on the other corner of Central Park. This little sidequest didn’t quite eat up enough time, so I thought I’d take my family where you’re supposed to take family: Times Square.
I like the Guggenheim more than I like Times Square, and driving there is always a pain. Even walking there is a pain. It is Disney-fied New York at its most commercial and unappealing. The lights are cool, though.
A Tahoe might be the perfect way to experience Times Square, as none of us ever had to avoid being accosted by a mostly naked man with a guitar. No cops yelled at us. And we ran into exactly zero Al Rokers.
A Perfect Moment
I am not competitive with my BIL. I have nothing to prove to him, and he has nothing to prove to me, other than that we’re taking care of our respective wives and godchildren lest we hear from our shared MIL.
It doesn’t mean it’s not fun to impress him. After calmly driving through the Bronx around Manhattan for the day, we finally arrived at my cousin’s place. I assumed I’d have to fork over $40 to park the Tahoe in a nearby garage. As luck would have it, a Tahoe-sized spot appeared.
With the grace of Misty Copeland and the unearned confidence of Eric Adams, I executed a perfect parallel parking maneuver. Seeing as last Christmas I got a frisbee stuck in a tree outside his house while trying to remove a different frisbee, the impressed nod of approval felt pretty good.
As a final testament to the prowess of the Tahoe, I stuffed the thing with cousins, groceries, and turkey-shaped ice cream cakes, and it came out looking basically brand new.
If you can drive it here, you can drive it anywhere. And you can definitely drive it here.
Top photo: Matt Hardigree/DepositPhotos.com
Please tell me it was a Carvel “Tom the Turkey” cake. I miss Carvel, the best ice cream on the planet.
Also doesn’t hurt that most of the livery companies in town have switched to these so most people assume you’re another livery driver who will run them over if you have to.
I was impressed at how well the driver we had earlier this year moved a Suburban around some tight streets there.
Matt, yes but you did one thing wrong: Not the Tahoe, the Suburban! I recently bought an Escalade ESV V and initially I was looking at standard length Escalade Vs and I realized rather quickly that if you want to put people AND luggage you really can’t. I was coming from an E63s Wagon and just figured if I’m going to get a massive vehicle I don’t want to have to keep folding the 3rd row.
And as a Manhattanite, I can whole heartedly agree, it’s the best vehicle in the city
Good looking wheels on that thing.
When I see the word Tahoe it always reminds me of one Sunday at a Texans game. A good Samaritan reported a distressed vehicle in the parking lot. I asked him what is the type of vehicle he said it was a Tahoe or a Yukon. Knowing that Command Post was having a long day (OT), I thought I would give them a laugh. I radio in about a silver late model vehicle in the Red lot that won’t start and has its hood raised. Command Post asked for the model I replied “it’s either a La Hoe or a Yuck On”!
If I ever marry a soccer mom, she will be driving some form of Tahoe. In my dreams its the escalade V.
I’ve owned all the enthusiast wagons and cars and what not and nothing makes me happier than driving my V. It’s the most ridiculous vehicle ever in the best way.
No.
The best NYC car is an Uber.
an Uber Black, which is usually some sort of Tahoe or Suburban these days.
kei cars would be great for the city and the area in general
*dies laughing*
Hopefully his frisbee team doesn’t see this post!
While a Tahoe is pretty big, you are correct in the sense that body on frame vehicles are the ideal nyc transportation. You need something tough enough for the roads (poor infrastructure) and tough looking enough that drivers won’t try to step up to you. Now if only the automakers still made compact trucks/suvs…
They do? Tacoma, 4Runner, ranger, Colorado to start …
Jeep Wrangler- still body on frame, the 2-door is one of the shortest new 4 seaters you can buy, bumper to bumper, it also has a pretty tight turning circle and decent visibility
Of urban American cities, NYC was genuinely one of the least stressful I’ve ever driven in.
Provided you have patience.
NYC drivers will, for the most part, provide you with the space you need to do what you need. But it’s the bare minimum of space, so know your car. They’ve nearly always been very courteous drivers to me, at least.
I would, however, never want to do it in a large SUV unless I’m feeling entitled. The massive bulk of such a large vehicle ends up pushing other drivers where space is at a premium and tests everyone’s patience.
Yes, tell all city dwellers to buy SUVs. Depress the prices for Smart Fortwos, please!
Evil chuckle.
As someone who lives exclusively in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona with giant, free parking spots as far as the eye can see, I am not sure if this article makes me less or more terrified to drive in NYC.
Stopping by the comment section to express my opinion: I don’t think this one is up to par.