Medical tourism is the term applied to persons who travel to another country to obtain medical treatment, whether for the lower cost or wider range of treatment available elsewhere. Mexico, for example, has become a popular medical tourism destination as many travel there to receive cosmetic surgery. It’s not just people—cars sometimes travel to Mexico, too, for facelifts, like this 2004 Chevrolet Suburban.
It’s interesting how for the past few generations of GM’s full-size SUVs and pickups, GM has made sure to separate the two lines visually. So, it feels rather bizarre to see a pickup front end on an SUV body. Using the “angry appliance” fascia of the pickups’ 2003 facelift was a logical way to make the Suburban look fresher but it’s debatable whether the angular front end is a match with the curvier body.
What are your thoughts?
Related Reading:
GM’s Greatest Hit #14 : 2000 Chevrolet Suburban – The First Hit of the New Millennium.
Curbside Classic: 1997 Ford Expedition – My Introduction To Excess
Platform sharing provides all sorts of face-swap possiblities:
I like that one, especially since it was already done by the factory for Europe, i.e the Chrysler 300 wagon and I prefer it to the Dodge Magnum. Here’s one I spotted in Iceland…
For a long time I’ve wanted to do the 300 swap to my Magnum, because it was a factory option in Europe. I also think that (like in the picture you posted) an SRT8 Magnum sedan looks just damn wicked. Maybe one day I’ll pick up a 300C SRT8 and perform the swap!
The Chrysler 300C wagon was the only option in Europe as Dodge had no real presents in the market. Assemble in Austria with the 2.7CRD diesel engine as standard it produced the same HP as the 2.7V6 gas American market engine anyway but with better mileage. A few SRT*were sold with the Hemi. An “SRT*” trim package was available with the diesel.
The sedan was popular in the UK with livery companies, being a 1/2 Mercedes
and it looked American gangster in black or white with dark tinted windows!.
Yes there was stretched limo version!.
Nice.
It’s a little jarring, likely due to seeing so many of these with the “regular” front end. That being said, I never really warmed to this front on the pickups either. The older (and regular) front end on Suburban/Tahoe is a handsome one already. This is like a mid-cycle refresh that usually makes a vehicle look worse instead of better, i.e. change for the sake of change, not necessarily improvement in matters functional or aesthetic.
Did the Tahoe get this front end down there as well?
I had always wondered why the Suburban/Tahoe didn’t get this front, and now really wonder why the post-bailout 2014 redesign didn’t take the opportunity to sharply reel in all the unneeded differences between pickups and SUVs that had crept in during the “fat” years.
I’ve never heard it described as “angry appliance” but I can see the resemblance. It always confused me just a bit when they refreshed the pickups in ’03 but left the Suburban/Tahoe/Yukon unchanged; I suppose they were thinking along the same lines as to whether it was a good match for the back 2/3 but I don’t mind it on the longer Suburban. I think it might look a little unbalanced on the shorter Tahoe, as it either has a longer front overhang or gives the impression of one due to the laid-back angle.
Bob Lutz came up with the, as he called them ” angry household appliances” analogy when he came on board with GM some years ago. For a time he was publicly critical of his new employer and their poor strategy.
He wrote his memiors of his time at GM. His description of their corporate misdirection and irrational policies was both hilarious and sad. GM was spending lots of time and effort to build better cars but often had no idea how to do so, resulting in needlessly compromised designs.
Looks decently done, but as a person that works in the OEM body parts business it can be a nightmare when body shops try to order crash parts for one of these conversions and they keep getting the “wrong” parts!
Living in San Diego, I have seen a number of these from MX roaming around the local streets here. It is a bit jarring to see in person, I just don’t think the look of the angry front end flows well with the rest of the Suburban profile.
I don’t think that angry front end flowed well on anything.
The original Avalanche looked OK with its similar face but they botched this one IMO. I think the only reason it doesn’t seem so jarring on pickups is the sheer numbers of them that sold.
Since the front was a mismatch for the Silverado’s body, it doesn’t make much sense that it would be any worse the Suburban. I like the current Suburban, but I’d have liked one to match the current Silverado’s less shopping-mall-centered style much better.
I wonder if the similarities to the Silverado are more than skin-deep. Is it possible the MX-market Suburban is basically a Suburban body mounted on the Silverado frame and suspension as well?
THIS screams “Suburban” to me…
I never particularly cared for the attempt to graft the rounded GMT400 grill onto the flat-nosed R/V bodied Suburbans, Blazers, and C3500s.
I know what you mean, but a lot of people like it. They’ll put that grille on a 1500/2500 pickup that never came that way.
I’m one of those who does like it. I don’t think I’d necessarily switch it over, but for whatever reason it works for me. A nice way to get a couple more years out of the 70’s vintage body…
I’m pretty sure my post is of a stock
mid-80s Suburban – stock except for
that ridiculous spoiler peaking up
over the aft end. Straightforward
Suburban, not pretending to be
something else, like most cars are
nowadays.
It’s actually a stock 1990-91. The “spoiler” was, I believe, a dealer-installed option, I think to cut down on wind noise over the rear doors.
Sorry, that grille was used 1989-91.
So the Suburbans(Chevy and GMC’s)
did not go ‘aero’ the same year as their
pickup trucks(1988)?
The pickups were re-designed for 1988 but the Full Size Blazer and Suburban along with the crew cab pickups stayed with the older body style through the 91 model year
I too am surprised the Tahoe/Suburban never got the Avalanche Face like the Express and Malibu did. I like the looks reasonably so and the extra variety would have been interesting especially if the redesigned Silverado taillights had been integrated. I have seen a Suburban with the Avalanche Face in Montana, but that was a homemade job and a Silverado with an Escalade face somewhere in my travels.
Now I sometimes think it would have been interesting if the Astro received the Avalanche Face as well.
Wow, you now point out one way in which GM did *not* sabotage itself before the bailout. Kudos to the person who had the good sense to not put that pickup front on the only high-dollar vehicle in the lineup that sold in any volume at all.
I actually had not paid attention to how the pickup and Suburban front ends diverged at some point. I suppose that the Suburban has reached a point in its life cycle (and in its appointed demographic) where it needn’t be a slave to what pickup owners want their truck to look like.
Happens to be the same front clip as the unarmored Avalanche from 2003-06. Makes sense in a way, as all the Avalanches were produced in Silao, Mexico. I gotta say, though, this front clip looks more jarring on the Suburban, even though the Avalanche is basically a Suburban without a rear roof from the C-pillars back. (Full disclosure, I own an 05 Avalanche without cladding. I rather like it.)
I feel this face works better on the Avalanche, because of the restyling of the rear end. It’s more angular in the rear, to match the angularity of the front.
I never liked the 2003 Silverado facelift, and I must say it looks even worse on the Suburban body. FWIW, this was my least favorite Suburban body of all the generations, the curves and slab-sidedness just not really meshing.
Not a favorite of mine either, especially on a light-colored truck. The new face looked even more “wild eyed” on the heavy duty models.
When driving an ’03 to ’06 Silverado like these, the edges of the hood are unusually high in appearance, looking to be higher than the middle of the hood.
I’ve driven a bunch of them over time.
I think it was a Chevy attempt to show all the trucks in the Chevy lineup as belonging to the same family in Mexico. The first gen Chevy Colorado had this same angry look. Was the first gen (04-12) Colorado offered in Mexico? I know the current generation is.
You can spot previous generation Mexican market Suburbans by their weird combination of the GMC/Chevrolet front ends.
That just strikes me as unusual for the purpose of being so. Was the GMC front clip a few bucks cheaper to manufacture?
I would assume it is slightly cheaper to manufacture, I think both the Chevrolet LS and LT of this generation had a fairly nice all chromed setup. Though you would think just differentiating them would cost more than using one nicer setup across the board, economies of scale and all.
Though if cheapness was the absolute goal, they could have used the black plastic W/T front end with the sealed beam headlights.
And by how sloppily they’re affixed! At
least in this example.
Saw a Magnum with a ’55 front end. Could have been Photoshopped.
The front end looked like this.
Interesting. I think I like this nose better on the Suburban/Tahoe than on the pickup. Maybe it’s the angle.
Either way, not GM’s best styling work. The ’06 Pickup nose looks more complete, although the higher hood of the ’06 looks awkward back at the windshield.
The original ’99 reminds me of taking the ’94-’98 and making the whole thing look more like a loaf of bread. Worked better – and looked more unique – on the Tahoe/Suburban than the pickup.
Although 95% of people will probably not notice or care, what I am planning on doing is getting a 95-96 Chevy Caprice and swapping out the grill with a 91 Olds Custom Cruiser grill. I’m going to put a stand up Olds hood ornament on it and replace all the bow tie emblems with Oldsmobile logos. Swap the steering wheel so it says Oldsmobile and any other chevy marking will be changed over. I’m going to replace the Caprice badge with something of my own. Not sure what I’m going to call it yet. Maybe an Olds 89, or a Custom Supreme, Cutlass Caprice, Custom Royal… suggestions?
Custom Caprice?
Every day, looking out the kitchen door, I see the ’03 Silverado and the ’08 Trailblazer with the same-looking front clip. Still looks kinda weird…
Here in Phoenix I occasionally see this type of ‘burban or Tahoe. Also have seen a Mexican-market Ford “Suburban”, but rare even here. Maybe some sort of custom job? Sonora plates.