Avalanche led the way for Chevrolet's edgy new truck styling now seen on the Silverado and Colorado pickups. Still unique to the Avalanche, however, is its extensive lower body cladding, made of a dark charcoal-colored, practically bullet-proof composite designed to protect the rocker panels from years of flying gravel. The cladding has a practical benefit for drivers who spend a lot of time on gravel, but the Avalanche sometimes looks classier without it. We recently glanced at a black Avalanche without the cladding and for a moment mistook it for a Cadillac Escalade EXT, Avalanche's upscale sibling. In other colors, the Avalanche looks cleaner, if a bit plainer, without the cladding. Best of all, it can be deleted for a $600 credit. For 2005, Chevy has released an exterior trim package ($635) for the LS that adds bright accents to the door handles and mirrors, plus stainless steel assist steps, making the base truck look a little richer.
The Avalanche is essentially a modified Suburban; they share about 85 percent of their parts. Like the Suburban, the Avalanche is built on the same superb platform as the Silverado full-size pickup. GM's engineers created the Avalanche by lopping off the rear roof structure and quarter windows of a Suburban, and redesigning the back end. When the Avalanche's rear seats are in place, there's a 5-foot 3-inch bed behind them, which is long enough for most tasks. When that's not enough it converts into an 8-foot bed by taking over the rear seats. Quite an achievement.
The most interesting feature of the Avalanche is the Midgate, which allows this clever conversion. Avalanche has a folding rear seat like a wagon or SUV; the Midgate is essentially a folding bulkhead behind the seat. Flipping the seat bottoms forward and folding the seatbacks down, and then folding down the Midgate, provides flat cargo space and access to the cargo bay behind. Instead of carpet, however, the Midgate is backed with a tough composite material impervious to gravel or anything else you can throw at it.
In fact, the Midgate, tailgate and portions of the cargo box are made from a composite material called PRO-TEC. This material is exceptionally durable, and resists dings, scratches and dents.
But there's more: The rear window of the cab can be quickly removed and stored out of harm's way. The bed cover comes off in three pieces and slides into a nice fabric bag; these pieces attach to the side of the bed to minimize the space they take up. Now you have a fully functional pickup with an open eight-foot bed. You can park an ATV in back, with the front tires and fenders where the rear seat was moments before.
Of course, this results in an open-air driving experience; there's nothing separating you from the open pickup bed. But wind noise is minimal, with no buffeting. We hauled an ATV down dry dirt roads in the high desert of Southern California and minimal dust came into the cab. Only a slight breeze reminds you that your ATV is sitting on the back seat. GM engineers achieved this through extensive tuning in a wind tunnel, and with a pair of flying buttresses that also add structural rigidity to the chassis and can be used as tie-downs.
Alternatively, you can fold down the rear seats but leave the Midgate in place, which creates cargo space inside the cab. There's nearly 54 cubic feet of interior cargo volume with the rear seat folded and Midgate in place.
The bed is protected by a well-designed lockable cover rated to support 250 pounds. You can walk all over it, and the cover keeps your cargo dry, clean, and safe from thieves. Fold the Midgate down and you can fill the bed with drywall, close the tailgate and drive home in a downpour without any fear of seeing your drywall turn into wet wall. Two Top-Box storage compartments on either side of the cargo box provide a combined 3.5 cubic feet of lockable storage space. These compartments have drains, so they can be filled with ice and used as coolers. Everyone likes a truck that's serving ice-cold drinks.
