“It’s a compelling machine. It rides so well. It’s incredibly versatile,” I say to the camera filming my first-ever drive in a Chevy Avalanche — a 20-year-old vehicle that I’d been admiring since I was just a young teenager. I was never really sure what to make of the truck, with its odd “sail pillar” buttressing the back of the cab to the bedsides; with its blankets of gray plastic cladding adorning much of the exterior; with its peculiar proportions. It always seemed a bit … weird; but now, after having driven an Avalanche that someone traded in to Galpin, I get it. In fact, I more than “get it.” I adore it.
Automakers these days are really leaning into “whiz-bang” storage features — I’m talking about fun things like the Rivian R1T’s pass-through storage bin below the bed, the Honda Ridgeline’s dual-mode tailgate and under-bed storage, the Rambox, the Hyundai Ioniq 5’s drawer-style glovebox, the Ford F-150 Lightning’s huge frunk, the Fisker Ocean’s under-seat gloveboxes, the Bollinger’s…everything, and on and on. People love it when their vehicle can offer utility in a fun way, and this is something that automakers have known for many decades – just look at the Powell’s fishing rod holders in its bedsides or Chrysler’s legendary Stow ‘n Go seating.
But in the pantheon of automobile history, a few vehicles stand out among the rest — vehicles with so much versatility, they could almost act as multiple vehicles in one. And, without a doubt, one of the automobiles in that pantheon is the Chevy Avalanche.
It was an outside-the-box idea during a time when GM was throwing the kitchen sink at the car market. And I do mean kitchen sink; there was the Pontiac Aztek, a spacious little adventure SUV that many consider the ugliest car of all time; there was the Cadillac CTS-V, which made more power than that held by all the car-gods combined; there was the Chevy HHR, a Chrysler PT-Cruiser competitor; there was the Chevy SSR, a weird convertible pickup-car; there was the GMC Envoy XUV, an SUV whose roof could slide in such a way to turn the vehicle into a pickup truck; there was the Hummer H2, a real-life Tonka truck. I can go on and on, but the point is this: The 2000s was an unbelievably creative era for GM, and I’d argue that the Avalanche was the most creative vehicle that came out of it.
This brings me to the 2004 model that I had the pleasure of piloting a few weeks ago. Someone had traded it in to Galpin Premier, which sells Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and other luxury cars. I like to think that someone had the ultimate midlife crisis and brought in this old 150,000 mile Avalanche and traded it for a 700+ horsepower Aston Martin DBS, though I’ll never know. What I do know is that this “someone” took excellent care of their Avalanche, because the thing looked great!
This Trade-In Was Gorgeous
The paint looked good, the dashboard was only slightly cracked (a miracle in California, especially for a GM product), and aside from the driver’s seat having a little tear, the interior looked borderline mint!
It’s still a 2000s GM interior, though, so it’s all hard plastics and really chunky, almost Tonka Truck-ish styling, but it all seemed to work, and I can appreciate all the physical switches now that we’ve entered an era where screens have replaced glovebox latches and headlight dials.
The Sail Pillars
Anyway, let’s get into what makes an Avalanche special. First, there’s the body design, which blends the bed/box with the cab. Typically, a pickup truck has a separate box/bed, with a gap between it and the cab; the Avalanche has no such gap, as it’s all integrated into a single piece. This necessitates some kind of buttress to prevent the bed from wanting to twist or bend as loads enter the truck via the rear wheels (or the rear hitch, when towing); those buttresses are called Sail Pillars or Sail Panels. That’s these triangular-looking, plastic-covered bits connecting the back of the cab to the bedsides:
Yes, that plastic isn’t just there for looks, it’s actually covering metal, which is there to stiffen up the single-piece body (which it’s worth noting, sits on a separate ladder frame).
The Bedside Storage Bins
Just aft of each sail pillar is a storage bin, which is exactly the same concept as the “Ram Box” that the Ram brand has been advertising since the 2009 model year. The Avalanche beat Ram to the punch by seven years.
Speaking of “punch,” there was a punch (of sorts) in this traded-in Avalanche’s right rear storage box. Have a look:
Fireball!
The driver’s side bin had more … useful stuff inside, such as a trailer hitch and trailer tow wiring. The screenshot above shows me digging through that bin, and also shows an interesting-looking triangular piece. It turns out that’s a “tie-down triangle,” and it seemed to me to be made out of some beefy, heavy metal:
The Midgate: An Invention From The Heavens
But as cool as the sail pillar and those bedside bins are, the Avalanche’s main party trick is the…
Midgate! You’ll see in our video at the top of this post that every time I say “midgate” the word pops up, and is joined by an angelic sound. Because, you see, the midgate is an almost divine invention, created not by General Motors engineers but by the car-gods themselves. It is a device meant to turn an “SUV” into a pickup truck:
At least, that’s how Chevy marketed it. I think that’s a bit much; yes, the Avalanche shared its chassis (including the nice-riding coil-sprung suspension) with the Chevy Suburban, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s an SUV and truck all-in-one; I might say it’s a crew cab and a regular cab all-in-one.
Because that’s essentially what the Midgate does: It turns a five-passenger, 5-foot-bed pickup into a two-passenger eight-foot-bed pickup. This all happens via a few simple steps. First, you fold the rear seat bottoms forward so they stand upright against the two front seats, and then you fold the seatbacks flat. From there, you turn a rotary lock/knob on each side of the truck. You can see that knob on the left side of this screenshot:
After that, you twist the latch at the center of the crossbar that spans the cab between the C-pillars:
This unlatches the front section of the bed, which folds flat:
Removing the glass is as simple as undoing two latches in the headliner, and pushing against a spring-loaded stopper that prevents the glass from quickly falling forward as soon as those latches have been undone:
That center crossbar also unlatches when you twist the center handle, and if you remove the three tonneau-cover panels (which are numbered, and unbelievably satisfying to unlatch; I strongly recommend that everyone try to unlatch an Avalanche’s tonneau cover panels because the latches are that good), you end up with a humongous opening. And driving around with the whole rear part of your cab open is badass:
Of course, the Midgate isn’t there for badassery, it’s there for utility. I decided to put that utility to the test via a junkyard run. I wrote about this junkyard-run a few weeks ago, and while the main takeaway was that it’s unbelievable how much easier it is to wrench on California cars than Michigan cars, the secondary takeaway was how useful the Avalanche is.
The axle isn’t that long, but I had the tonneau cover panels in the truck, so I couldn’t turn the Dana 30 diagonally, meaning it did have to jut a bit into the cab.
Lifting the 200-ish pound axle from my junkyard wheelbarrow into the bed of the truck was horrible, and my back hurt for hours afterward. The process was not aided by the Avalanche’s rubber floor liner, which Chevy marketed as a nice bit of bed protection, but which in reality is an annoying feature that prevents things from sliding, forcing you to have to lift.
Here I am on the highway, realizing that if I hit the brakes hard enough – or heaven forbid, get into a crash – that 200-pound axle will be careening directly for the back of my seat, probably killing me. This is a downside of the Midgate. Tying down your load is always a good idea, but it becomes even more important when there’s no front section of bed and back section of cab between you and that load.
I Regret Not Buying The Truck
I’m fairly sure I could have scored this Avalanche for a song, but I reasoned that I don’t need another vehicle. My fleet is already out of hand. Plus, the truck wasn’t perfect; the right rear window regular was clearly failing if the cardboard shoved between the glass and the seal is any indication:
The air conditioning compressor’s belt wasn’t even connected; it just dangled down against the truck’s front sway bar:
And that 4L60-E four-speed automatic transmission made a bit of a clunk every now and then, and given that transmission’s reputation, I’m sure I’d be rebuilding (or, more likely replacing) it very soon.
Still, those are minor quibbles. I can get a rebuilt 4L60E for nothing, I can swap a belt in my sleep, I can fix a window regulator with a junkyard one for pennies, and sure, the front suspension was a bit sloppy, but swapping out ball joints and tie rod ends isn’t rocket science.
I should have bought this truck. That 5.3-liter V8 under hood was perfection. It was smooth, and powerful, and parts availability is among the best on earth:
The ride quality from that Chevy Suburban-derived coil-sprung five-link rear axle was excellent, and above all, the truck just had soul. It’s just a weird and wacky machine that’s legitimately comfortable, useful, and dirt cheap. A good one can be had for under $5,000. I could have had an excellent tow vehicle (it can tug over 7500 pounds) for probably half of that.
Anyway, after my little junkyard expedition, I headed to a gas station, added back the two gallons I’d burned driving 30 or so miles, and then had to quickly run to a Super Bowl party at my girlfriend’s parents house. Unfortunately, my hands were covered in axle oil, and I had no place to wash my hands other than a spigot. I also had no soap, so…
It didn’t work.
After unsuccessfully trying to avoid getting grease on my girlfriend’s Lexus RX’s interior, I greeted my her parents with absolutely filthy hands and tried my best to keep my focus on the Super Bowl … and avoid allowing my mind to daydream about the incredible truck I’d just driven.
The Avalanche is that special of a truck.
All I can say is, with your hands being so grease stained, that you did not Double Dip when eating eating chips and dip at the Oscar party! 😉
Seems like a lot of folks can’t be arsed to sell their own cars these days. If the PO stuck this on FBM for $5k, it would have sold before the day was done. I bet the dealer gave him $2k or less.
I mean the guy who traded in an 8-Series in decent shape was really a head scratcher.
But I also get not wanting to deal with people. Low ballers, some guy showing up at your door next week because the radio stops working all of a sudden – no matter how largely you wrote “AS-IS, NO WARRANTY” on the bill of sale.
Think the 840 was traded in to Porsche right? This one potentially on a Land Rover/Jag/Aston. These guys probably just want easy.
There’s a certain value in not having to deal with a private party sale. You don’t have to market the car, arrange times to show it to prospective buyers, deal with certified checks/large cash payments, no-shows, etc. Plus some states will let you use the value of the trade in to reduce the sale tax on the new purchase. My state will only charge sales tax on the difference between the trade and the new purchase up to $20k in trade-in value.
i would rather get $500 on a trade in than deal with Facebook shoppers for $5000.
This. Back when I used to sell my used vehicles in the late 90s/early 2000s, people were reasonable. They came to look when they said they would… brought cash, and I usually sold it within a day or two because I listed them at reasonable prices. Last time I tried to sell something on craigslist/FB, it was such a freaking hassle between no-shows, people showing up and offering 1/8 of what I was asking….. I will never do it again. I totally get just trading it in (or bringing it to one of those online quote places that basically give you trade-in value).
I horse trade motorcycles, cars occasionally. Maybe 1-2 a year. The people who show up to buy sub-5k used cars aren’t David Tracy fun engineer hobby types typically (ever). I don’t blame people who go to a dealer, drop the keys on the desk and take the 2k.
And this is why I’ll never get rid of my 2005 Suburban…LS3, babies…
Hey thats a nice swap there. 430HP LS3 in the GMT800 burban is kind of like you made a Suburban ‘SS’ or something. What trans did you go with for the swap?
Why Chevy hasn’t released a Maverick competitor with a mid-gate is beyond me. Seems like a perfect pairing. Give it an AWD Volt-style drivetrain.
Maybe some hand-cleaning wipes would be in order. Tracy could install a dispenser on the i3’s dash.
I was waiting for this installment and it did not disappoint! Looking forward to another list of trade-ins to pick from!
I’ll be that Fireball you found in the side-saddle area of that Chevy pickup was planted there by Dateline NBC.
You know who also drove an Avalanche?
The most famous New York architect in 2023. He was featured on the front page of the New York Times many times over.
I still want one, and wish Ford would put a mid-gate into the Maverick to increase its versatility.
I’d use it for “long stuff”, not necessarily heavy stuff that could crush me in an accident.
As I posted somewhere else the other day, these never seemed to ever get “cheap” unless they are just complete piles of rusty garbage. Maybe that doesn’t scare off the DT’s of the world, but I’d rather not be signing up for frame and body work.
Hmm. Could it be done with a unibody, I wonder?
Sure. It’s just a feature that requires a lot of engineering and opens the door to a lot of customer complaints regarding wind noise or leaks.
I bet the number of noise / leak complaints would be more than the number of customers who would ever actually use the feature.
Even this implementation seems very kit car. You have to remove and somehow safely stow a pickup truck’s rear window? Doesn’t really feel ready for the market.
The rear window stows against the inside of the midgate. In the screenshot where David’s showing the round midgate latches, you can see a “cutout” in the round latch that allows the window to be placed in the lighter-colored center of the midgate, then latched into place.
David should have removed and stowed the window first if he was opening the entire midgate.
Isn’t the new Silverado EV more of a unibody? And it has a midgate.
Even a smaller pass through would be helpful, and probably easier to integrate with the existing design. Think those backseat ski passthroughs, but a bit bigger. I remember watching someone load pipes into the back of a maverick and man, they stuck out far. A smallish pass through could accommodate things like pipe and lumber. Not a lot, of course, but if you’re hauling a lot of stuff you probably have something bigger than a Maverick anyway. But it would be very helpful for a homeowner like me. My home is small as is my yard, so even if I get lumber or other supplies I’m not getting a lot, likely just enough to build something like a raised vegetable garden for example.
As it is, I do all of that with my Sportwagen as I’ve learned you can fit eight foot long lumber in the car with the hatch closed. Just gotta remove the passenger side headrest and recline that seat, protect the upholstery with some sheets, and load it up. Not as easy as throwing it in a truck, of course, but the Sportwagen is (my) perfect one-car solution. I have had some interesting looks from folks at home depot as I load up long boards and a few hundred pounds of bagged dirt and mulch into a small station wagon.
Same here. Was thinking of a kei truck even, but saw a Honda Acty in the flesh the other day and man is that a pretty small bed. Doesn’t look so small in pictures because we’re programmed for American car scale.
I can get 8′ lumber in my Prius. I could use some 12′ lumber and some split rail fence parts though. Going to have to bite the bullet and rent a truck here soon. I’d have it stick out the Prius if I had any way to tie the load down.
it doesn’t surprise me that this thing was traded in at a high end dealership. I have seen them being very popular with the guys that own the construction company, drop off something at the job site at 11 then go out to lunch with the client at 12, then go back to another job site. If i were to get a truck this is what I would get.
Yeah—high-end car owners often have regular cars, too.
I’LL SAY IT AGAIN; THREATENING GMT800 GANG
These are slept on. Everyone I knew who had one of these loved it.
Fireball or pee bottle ?
Tales of the “4L-slippy” are part of why I’m slightly more leaning E-series than Express for my next conversion van.
Just buy a 3/4 ton Chevy van. Has the much stronger 4l80e or 6l90e designed for use in medium duty trucks. Those are great trannies
Besides GM hasnt made a 1/2 ton van since 2014 that has the crap light duty trans in it. GM discontinued the 1/2 ton Express because it fell under CAFE regulations, the 3/4 and 1 tons do not.
So any GM van 2014 or newer has the good trans, the 3/4 tonners from like 2003 to 2020 have the anvil durable 6.0 v8 which doesnt have displacement on demand.
I think the Econoline drives nicer, has a better dashboard, driving position and ergonmics. But there is a reason fleets love the Chevy vans, they DO NOT BREAK and are extremely durable. Might be a cheaply made tin can, but you cant argue that they are the cheapest to run and have the most uptime
It’s a perfectly fine transmission for a 1500 series trucks. 2nd and 3rd owners tow toy haulers with them and 4th owners do neutral drops and fill them with Lucas and then 5th owners who overpay $9000 for them complain when the transmissions blow up.
I’ve been looking at MGs lately, and every time MIDGATE flew on to the screen I was distracted for a split second.
nice review. Now I want one but my finance manager will say no.
David’s sheer joy in the video at the operation of the tonneau latches is actually pretty great.Nothing is satisfying in the same way as good engineering.
Avalanches are awesome. When I bought beloved my ’06 Sierra, I wanted an Avalanche, but couldn’t afford one. Oh well, my truck is still awesome. Yes David, you should have bought it. GMT-800’s are the best trucks ever made, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.
Wait and get a 2500.
I’d still have mine if rust wasn’t a thing.
The thought of you showing up at your girlfriend’s parents house covered in grease and reeking of Fireball sure is entertaining.
My neighbor had an Avalanche until it was recently totaled by a Medi-Cab that rear ended it at full-speed while it was parked in front of his house. He was extremely upset as he well knew he wasn’t going to be able to find a replacement in the sort of condition his was in (especially in the Northeast). Was a real bummer.
Another note: When I see a medi-cab on the street, I stay far, far away from it. I swear the worst driving behavior I ever see comes from those vehicles. Which is odd.
They are just looking for extra bodies to stuff in it. Is that so wrong?
What the heck is a medi-cab?
Is it like the jonny-cab from Total Recall?
Maybe they’re not prevalent everywhere, but they’re usually beat minivans that elderly/infirm people take to get to things like doctors appointments? They’re used for “non-emergency medical transport”.
Based on what I’ve seen around here, you’d be better off getting into a regular cab.
Was ready to post about how great of an idea the Midgate was, until the 200lb object launching through the cabin was mentioned.
A good idea…but I guess some common sense required with how you use it…
hence the non slip floor in the bed :). JK
Is that really any different than removing the rear seats out of a van or SUV? You should secure your load, to protect yourself and others.
I drove home with a giant cast iron woodstove in my Eurovan and was waiting for it to crush me the whole time
you could also strap it down in the bed instead of letting it roll around in the bed
When I was younger I thought these were pretty cool; wondered why they didn’t catch on. Now I understand; it’s less ‘fold the midgate down and have enough room for anything’ and more ‘disassemble the midgate and have enough room for all the parts of the disassembled midgate’. Not quite as compelling.
Those things in the picture are the 3 pieces of the tonneau cover; they don’t have to come off to use the midgate, or you could leave them at home entirely and not lose any function.
That’s fair, but it kind of reminds me of a friend that had a Jeep for the purpose of driving around with the top off. About 90% of the time he wanted the top off, he was already out and about; the reality of having to plan ahead and store all the bits ends up making it more like middle age sex than college age sex. You have to make plans, rearrange things, and be careful not to hurt yourself, rather than just being ready for when the opportunity arises, so it happens a whole lot less often than you would like.
I just stored the tonneau in my barn 95% of the time. Basically unless I was explicitly carrying something I wanted protected and that didn’t fit in the cab.
Great analogy though.
it is literally a 1 minute process
David meets her dad….
“Keep your both literally and figuratively greasy hands off my daughter!”
*takes notes on efficacy of Fireball as a [ redacted ]*
Heck, the sugary-syrupy flavor alone would’ve discouraged me from using it as a cleaner.
I’ve heard that Rustoleum Wipe New works well on Avalanche plastic trim specifically
Yeah. All that plastic could definitely use some love. That Wipe New or torch it.