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
Aw geez, letting the rest of the world know that NYC is relatively easy to drive in and is full of polite and friendly people who do not insist on telling you to have a nice day like it is any of their damn business, you’re going to spoil it for everyone.
Nice try mentioning a hideous Zaro’s bagel.
As a news photographer, who inherited the previous chief news photographer’s Tahoe, instead of an older Nissan Pathfinder, in Seattle, I’d counter your point of view.
Parking that thing on the streets was almost an exercise in futility, trying to find a space big enough. And this was in the late 90s. It’s only gotten worse.
But then I lateralled over into TV IT. I did a lot of work at 30 Rock and across the street at Fox. I even had a girlfriend for a while who lived three blocks from the UN Building. Such a walkable area. I loved it. She still lives in a rent-controlled apartment for less than I pay for a mortgage on my condo in Tacoma. Congrats Penelope!
I became fluent in the trains from Newark to Penn Station and the subways around NYC. Never rented a car there.
New York is a magical place, if you can get someone else to pay for visiting.
And to get back to your point, because Tahoes didn’t have sporting aspirations, they were more comfortable to ride in than Escalades. Once in a while NBC or Fox would pay for a ride to the airport. And the black Tahoes were nicer to ride in than the Black Escalades. I got a couple of rides in tired Lincoln Towncars and they were nice, but you could hear that they were tired.
Pop quiz: what does the mayor of New York ride in?
That’s right, a 2009 Chevy Tahoe or GMC Yukon. (The Hybrid, which is why they don’t have anything newer).
Excellent take Matt, I feel you’re right. It’s a blocky shape but not really that big overall. Great turning radius and overall maneuverability for a BOF V8 beast. And this generation fixed the behind the 3rd row space issue so you don’t ‘need’ the LWB model.
My 04 Escalade was my favorite road trip and family vehicle overall. Good power, comfort galore, room for everyone (7 seater) reliable as a hammer. Had it 14-22 till I bought a RAM cause I needed a truck bed.
Wife’s Mazda CX-5 will be my daughter’s car in a few years. She wants a Yukon or a Bronco. I’m rooting for the Yukon. Maybe cause I want an old K5 for top off fun.
LOL. And 100% agree on all points. A few escape and go to find the “Friends fountain” or “that stoop from Sex And The City.”
Best right up until you can’ fit past the the guy who’s double-parked on a side street while he takes his grandmother up to her 6th floor walk-up apartment or you have to find a parking space after 9 pm.
“It sucks. And, to some degree, it should suck.” is truth, and yet NYC isn’t as hard to drive in as the reputation would suggest.
I drove in Manhattan and it was no worse than driving in downtown Toronto.
Of course the driving I did was to go straight to a parking garage near the hotel I had booked and my car stayed in the garage for the whole week I was there because getting around on foot or by subway is the better way in NYC.
Bonus point: speed cameras in NYC have a, as of now, 10mph “buffer.”
Reputedly Toronto speed cams really mean it when they say speed “limit.”
I’m in Toronto and drove past speed cameras at maybe slightly over the limit. You have to do at least 10 over before getting nailed.
I never got nailed because I would just set my cruise control in those zones.
Plus they would always put ‘speed camera ahead’ warning signs.
So anyone who got nailed was truly not paying attention and deserved to get nailed.
I love small cars. I had a Suburban as a rental on a family trip to Colorado last year (very different environment to NYC). I hate how good it was at everything.
“How good big cars are at everything” is simply a testament to how woefully car dependent American infrastructure is.
MH: Take a picture of me driving.
BIL: Right now? Just you driving?
MH: Yeah, nothing special.
BIL: Okay, got it.
MH: Did you get Run DMC on the stereo?
BIL: No, it’s just–
MH: Take it again.
I mean, driving into Manhattan on a day where like 70 percent of NY has left for the holiday might be too small a sample size to make this sort of conclusion. Though yes, it’s not horrible driving into midtown in a large vehicle.
Now, driving and parking that thing in certain tight neighborhoods in Brooklyn is another story.
For what? Convincing you to take public transit instead?
Ferrying around two families their stuff, and food all in one trip.
The Tahoe making it easy to ferry two families + food into Manhattan once per year does not really make it a good car FOR Manhattan.
It makes it a good car for a NYC suburbanite.
(But, to your point, because public transit ridership is charged per person, cars do start to make more financial sense than public transit once you start looking at families or larger groups)
Oh ownership, yes you are right that’s totally different. Matt getting a press car is like a rental and worked out well for him.
Well everyone is going to think you’re a cop or a fed.
why would you let what other people think, dictate your life? Especially people who are wrong in what they are thinking?
Well, in some places the way people behave can be problematic.
For example lots of people drive very slowly when they think a police vehicle is behind them. There are lots of of situations where people thinking you are a building inspector, or a marshal, or whatever is the government employee they don’t want to see just causes problems.
Of course in NYC, people may think you are the foreign console staff with diplomatic immunity or some rich person’s bodyguard.
If you like being the person who needs to be dealt with then it’s not a problem.
Isn’t a Tahoe just a tall Checker Marathon? For NYC purposes, it sure is.
Please tell me it was a Carvel “Tom the Turkey” cake. I miss Carvel, the best ice cream on the planet.
My go-to description of upstate vs downstate New York. Carvel is the ice cream of downstate, while upstate you go to Stewart’s Shops.
Upstate NY and the prevalence of ice cream is absolutely crazy. Nevermind the bazillion soft serve options and endless dairies that all run their own ice cream shops, but every town has a Stewart’s at every meaningful intersection, and every Stewart’s has an ice cream counter. It’s sort of wild.
but you can’t get cream and coffee fudge at the counter, which engenders great sadness
A solid flavor for sure.
CREAM AND COFFEE FUDGE FOR THE MF WIN
As a public service to Autopians, “Upstate New York” = all points north of Times Square.
It always cracks me up when someone refers to Westchester County as upstate.
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.
Though I wonder whether you’re more likely to get an angry smack on your sheet metal if you get stuck blocking a crosswalk, since the pedestrian knows it’s a livery driver who isn’t going to get out.
HEY! I’M WALKIN’ HEAH!
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.
This is all I needed to hear to keep my dreams alive.
Imagine being in a luxury mansion, it’s quiet and serene and wonderful and then suddenly a mustang comes to your front door and you have to race it. So you push the red v button on your steering wheel and suddenly your luxury mansion is making the noises of the heavens and somehow is going 60mph in about 4 seconds.
It’s the most insane thing, and it is amazing.
Yep, I need this.
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 …
But are those compact or mid size? I know older ones were smaller but still. Bring that Toyota baby fj over that’d be almost perfect
Do you also consider a Crown Vic to be a compact car? 🙂
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/ford-crown-victoria-1997-sedan-vs-toyota-tacoma-2023-pickup-double-cab/?&units=imperial
People have different standards for trucks, the tiny Ford Maverick is the same size as an LX Dodge Charger (and therefore bigger than a Chrysler 300)
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
I’m hoping for a 2 door hemi. If it’s ever gonna happen it’ll happen soon right?
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.
Seconded. Patience is key. There is a population of jerks like anywhere else, but generally fulfills the “presents as mean/tough, but is kind in action” stereotype.
Honestly, I go to Baltimore several times a month and have found that much more stressful to drive around in than New York
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.
Disagree. First auto reviewer to admit that an SUV makes more sense in a city than it does on the trails. Solid review.
Better at killing pedestrians that’s for sure.
Then what? You need to actually look at the data before you make such claims. SUVs only occupy 2/10 (places 7&9) in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. With trucks and passenger vehicles making the top 6 & 8.
https://data.bikeleague.org/new-nhtsa-data-vehicle-data-shows-popular-pickup-trucks-are-most-common-vehicles-in-pedestrian-and-bicyclist-deaths/