Review of the Chevrolet Avalanche

From the moment we saw the new 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche, we loved it and wanted to get one. Of course, they were a little out of our reach, priced at almost $40,000 for the Z71. So, we waited for a couple of years. In 2004, we started looking at them again. We searched around, and they were still coming out at around $21,500-$23,000, still a little high for us. We wanted to be UNDER $20,000 after taxes.

After looking for a couple weeks, we found it! About and hour and 30 minutes away in the little town of Sullivan, MO there was a blue 2002 Chevy Avalanche for sale. I honestly forget how much they were asking for it, but we ended up getting it for $18,500. I suspect that was because it had a few more miles on it, 88,000 when we bought it. There were also severals swirls and scratches on it. Someone had probably used it for construction work. Anyway, we had it simonized, which took most all the swirls and scratches off of it, and now it STILL looks great!

We love the sporty, off-road look of the truck, especially the plastic cladding around the bottom and the platic "rails" (for lack of a better word) above the bed of the truck. My husband also added some big beefy off-road tires, which completes its rugged look. The plastic cladding is also great if you happen to "scratch" anyone else's car. While parking one day, I "scratched" the front, right bumper of a woman's car to the tune of $400-BUT- the avalanche didn't have a scratch on it! Altough it's rugged, it's very comfortable, and I LOVE driving it.

We love the truck and have never had any major problems with it, unless you count when my husband backed out of the garage with the back door open and caused $1200 in damage! LOL. Anyway, it's been great for our family of four! There's plenty of room in the front and back and it is very comfortable. The back truck bed is very versatile. You can keep the top panels (there are three sections) on for a waterproof trunk area, or when you have bigger items to transport, they come off in a snap. They are lightweight and easy for anyone to take on or off.