Either this Chevrolet Tahoe Sport and GMC Yukon GT are owned by neighbors with similar taste in trucks, or there is a lone two-door GMT-400 enthusiast living in Chelsea.
These are handsome beasts, and the last example of a full-size, two-door SUV. While I have never been a big SUV fan, I can understand why an American or a Canadian would buy a Suburban/Yukon XL: gas is cheaper than most other countries, there is plenty of torque for towing, they have off-road ability, and they can carry a lot of people and/or stuff. But what was the motivating factor for someone to buy one of these two-door GMT-400s?
Perhaps buyers just simply liked the way these looked. They are handsome SUVs with clean, purposeful lines. There isn’t a lot of information online about the Sport and GT packages, so I don’t know how long they ran for or what they entailed other than very 90s decals and badges.
And yes, you may note that these were parked directly opposite each other. So either the owner high-fived his neighbor when he rolled up in an almost identical truck, or there is one enthusiast who is willing to deal with the hassle of owning two full-size SUVs in Manhattan.
Well, one has New Jersey plates and the other has New York plates so probably not the same guy…But nice find nonetheless, rare enough to see one of these at a time, but both versions?
Not only that, one is a GMC, and the other is a Chevy… peep, the grilles.
Which I indeed did mention, Sarcasmo.
Will, I know, your article was well written, and very thorough… I was replying to the comment above mine. 🙂
Haha oh these comment chains get complicated. Sorry, Sarcasmo!
No worries, Will. You guys who write these articles for us to enjoy, have jobs, school, families, etc… With all that, sometimes it’s hard to focus with a busy schedule.
I believe by “same guy”, Jim meant same owner.
The inherent ruggedness of these can take the abuse of NYC (or Pittsburgh) pavement conditions, Much like the Checkers of yore!
I’ve always found something oddly appealing about this generation 2-door Tahoe/Yukon, especially the GT versions. If I could find a well-kept and affordable one, and if I had the space, I’d consider it for a winter driver.
Also, these are the last iteration of the full-size Blazer/Jimmy, that replaced the beloved K5.
Then, they changed the name to Tahoe. I don’t mind Tahoe, but kinda miss seeing, some kind of version of the full-size Blazer on the market.
The decision to drop the Blazer name from the full-size was no doubt to avoid confusion with the smaller S-10 Blazer, but I still always thought it was odd Chevy waited until the 4-door arrived as a ’95 to call them both versions Tahoes. Kind of seemed like an afterthought.
True, wouldn’t be the first time GM had a bad afterthought.
Remember, when the Regency name was added as an option, on the 92-99 H body Olds Delta 88, after the cancellation of the 98, in 1996. What the heck were they thinking?
My reaction to the “88” Regency was “Hmmm, That’s like LeSabre Park Avenue….DeVille Brougham……”
I think the 88 Regency name actually made a lot of sense. Once they put the 98 grill and a bunch of interior bits on an 88, it was basically identical to the 98 Regency from the B pillar forward.
The one I couldn’t figure out was the 4 door S-10 Blazer. Why not just call it a S-10 Suburban?
Lovin’ the ’02 Tahoe I bought in January. I echo James’ sentiment about Pittsburgh road conditions!
I’m surprised to see those “barn doors” on the back of the Yukon. I assumed they were only used on the long versions of these. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a two-door Tahoe or Yukon with them before.
A neighbor used to have a 2 door, 2wd Tahoe with barn doors, now that was a rare beast.
Pretty sure all the 2wd versions of these got cut up to make “Sport Truckin” centerfolds like this one
Wow, not a fan of huge rims, but that Tahoe/Blazer/Yukon looks great. The lines are so clean on that thing.
Glad to see the owner didn’t go the bandwagon route, and switch the stock nose, for an Escalade front clip.
At least, those stagecoach wheels are on a truck, where they belong, at not tucked under a pristine B body Olds Delta 88 or Chevy Impala. 🙂
Yeah, I think that’s why this body-style truck and Tahoe/Yukon are still so popular with customizers. With just a rear roll pan and a custom grille/bumper setup you can make the very simple, clean lines look almost tailored. A handsome vehicle for sure.
Escalade front clip? Ugh. I’ve seen how that looks like. Plain disgusting. 90s Escalade front reminds me of Land Cruisers of the same era and it’s ugly.
On this generation GM trucks/SUVs, Chevrolet grille looks by far the best, better than GMC.
On current generation (2015) trucks however, I like GMC “face” better than Chevy…
That’s the interesting thing about this generation… you could now get barn doors on a 2-door Blazer (Tahoe/Yukon) for the first time.
Two-door GMT-400 with barn doors
*swoon*
Here is what I miss about 2 door cars: The ability to open the door, slide a briefcase or anything else I might be carrying onto the floor behind the front seat, then get in the car and close the door. When I was dealing with kids frequenting a back seat, this was not enough of an advantage to offset the PITA of entry/egress to the back, but now that I am back to a place where the rear seat of my vehicle is rarely used, I miss this again.
I don’t see any of these with tailgates. These are so high, the open tailgate is at belly level, and it is hard to reach anything that may be in back without climbing in. The barn doors at least allow you to reach into the back, with maybe a knee on the bumper.
I agree, the tailgate gets in the way if you want to reach into the back of the cargo area. Not to mention that barn doors look way more cool.
The tailgate version does have some plus side, however. You can sit on the tailgate, which is also kinda cool. And you get the rear wiper.
And the tailgate is not at the belly level, it’s lower (balls level, I think) – at least on the first gen Tahoe with stock suspension and wheels…
The horizontal-split tailgate was even inconvenient in the smaller Jimmy and Blazer. My mom had a ’98 Jimmy as a rental from Enterprise for about a week in the summer of 1998 when her Grand Cherokee was rear ended. Especially with beach chairs, beach toys, and a cooler, it made loading and unloading much more difficult than in the Grand Cherokee with its normal one-piece tailgate.
That being said, all GMT400s (two-and four-door, SUV and truck cab) used the same front doors which were sized with the regular cab pickup in mind.
I think some of the late ones got a tailgate, but I’m not sure.
I remember the Blazer/Jimmy got a Explorer-style flip up tailgate on their mid-cycle refresh, but can’t recall for sure on these.
Well when you have crappy roads like those in the Twin Tiers Region or Tacoma a body on frame vehicle is nice to have. In an urban environment and a rural environment a sturdy vehicle with metal bumpers is nice to have since you either have to deal with other drivers or critters running out in front of you. These two look to have been repainted at some point or maybe they are recent visitors to the City of New York.
This Tahoe looks shorter, maybe even about as wide as a 1995 Caprice 9C6 or 1A2 so you end up with a vehicle that has better ground clearance, a taller cargo area, and that high up SUV sitting position. Also, the barn doors are handier for loading cargo and unlike a Caprice the Tahoe has a 4X4 (locking rear differential?) drivetrain. The 2 door Tahoe might even have a bench seat and is the 2 door Tahoe shorter than a 4 door Tahoe?
2 door Tahoe is shorter (both in WB and lenght) than the 4 door version. Still, the 4 door is shorter than a Suburban.
Yeah that GMC division sure has a reason to exist. I’m sure their buyers would never be seen in that Chevy!
GMC exists mostly because of contracts supplying medium-duty trucks to fleets. These are not transferable to Chevrolet.we’re talking at least six, probably seven digits of profits per contract.
I think now the GMC versions of light-duty car are also the tiniest little bit plushier than the Chevrolets. also they have lower resale values on the used car market.
GMC also exists so that Buick/Cadillac dealers can have a line of trucks to sell.
GM hasn’t been in the MD truck business since 2009 so that has absolutely nothing to do with the continued existence of the GMC brand. It is all about having a truck for the non Chevy GM dealers.
GMC is Currently the “Buick” truck division; ie Above “entry level” but not ‘luxe (Cadillac). Not nearly as weird as MOPAR’s current set u,p, Chysler bought AMC to get Jeep,but already had Dodge making trucks. then kills Plymouth,(leaving two lines of cars and two lines of trucks! Then makes all “Dodge” trucks “‘Ram”, while keeping “Jeep”. I woulda folded Dodge Trucks in to Jeep and left all low suds cars as “Plymouth”” and performance cars “Dodge” and let Chrysler-Plymouth AND Dodge outlets sell Jeep. YMMV
Can’t quite tell if you’re joking, Matt, or seriously dredging up our debate from last week.
A little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. Kind of hard not to point out considering the only things separating these trucks is the badge and the lower headlights being exactly 1″ further up on the “premium” brand.
Best figure I can find suggests that there are about 1900 GMC truck dealers.
Now you can probably make a good argument that even after the last decade GM has too many dealerships, but I sure don’t want to be the guy who gets to tell 1900 dealers that they aren’t getting any more trucks.
The appeal/motivating factor for a two-door Tahoe/Yukon could be as simple as cool looks. They are also shorter (and with shorter wheelbase) than regular 4-door versions. This could be practical – either in the city, but also for off-roading.
I happen to own a 1997 Tahoe (4-door) – in a small European country where it looks gigantic among other cars, and I absolutely love it. I don’t know if I would choose a 2-door if I had a choice (over here, you can’t be too choosy about color, trim etc when buying such vehicles, they are rare)… if I didn’t have kids, it would prefer the ‘short’ over the ‘long’ version.
They are ugly beasts, a rolling billboard of how bad GM was. Not to mention the ball joint eating front suspension. Awful trucks, simply need to hit the crusher, sent to China, and come back as something else.
Please tell us why you find them so “awful”, and no, “my brother’s girlfriend’s uncle bought a really crappy one from a sketchy used car lot” is not a justification.
I personally like the styling – it is simple and has aged quite well.
+1. Very clean shape. Not my type of vehicle but quite handsome. William nailed it.
The success of the Tahoe/Yukon appears to have been a total mistake. When these debuted, they were 2-door only. It took a full 3 more years for the 4-door version to come along, so I don’t think GM originally intended them as anything more than a successor to the K5 Blazer that they’d been selling for 20+ years. You could even still get a manual transmission Blazer/Yukon in the early days of the GMT400 (no detachable roof, though).
I always liked them. They’re a sharp looking anomaly. By the time O.J. Simpson took his fantastic voyage in the white Bronco, it was all over for full-size 2-door SUVs.
Handsome? It’s a TRUCK.
Yeah, Trucks are allowed to be handsome, Cars are allowed to be pretty. I’m sure that’s in the rulebook, Somewhere ….
.
I’ve always liked these; in MN, they’re now a favorite of the bling crowd, but down in KS, these trucks always get the bro-truck treatment. 🙁 I did see a nice base model one in white with steelies today, but it was owned by KU 🙁
Hmmm, wasn’t aware these even had the optional barn doors.
Being single I am often tempted to answer the CL ads I see for these, though 99% are for four door models.
My brother has owned 2 or 3 Tahoes (they look so similar, it’s hard to tell when he changes to a newer one) and as a volunteer fire chief he needs a “good” truck, and I’ve never heard him say he regrets his purchases.
Not sure which is more laughable, that something this big is called a SPORTS utility vehicle, or that something that looks like a 15/10ths scale Mini is called a GT…and by GMC and not Chevy.
I always thought these were rare items. I feel a bit differently now. There’s a Pawn shop in downtown Davenport that has 5 Tahoe 2 doors and 1 White Yukon GT.
None are priced lower than $5,000…
Those two are probably post 95 (as they have the dual airbag dash) and yes, they’re handsome beasts. They also probably have the better Vortec headed V8s.
GM really nailed it with the GMT360/400 styling, something they repeated (to some extent) with the GMT900. And from the GMT360, my favourite ones are those with the new style, single airbag dashes, which were produced for 1-2 years.
I saw these when launched and really liked the huge side windows, but the 4 door ones have beautiful proportions and are certainly more attractive for its intended customer. They effectively killed the 2 door models.
I like 2-door SUV’s because they don’t scream “soccer mom” like a 4 door does.
And because I usually use the back for cargo, not seating.
I wish someone still made one. (The Range Rover Evoque doesn’t count).
I guess that leaves only the Jeep Wrangler as your only choice… Though the newer 4 door is a lot better in looks.
These are/were the “personal luxury coupe” of trucks. To me, they say “I can afford this, because I don’t have any kids to haul around.” The back seat is almost as useful as a Lincoln Town Coupe.
Must not be that useful, because the back seat of my 75 Lincoln Town Coupe was pretty cramped.
Nice to see these in such great shape, particularly in the Northeast. Around here it’s almost impossible to find a GMT400-based anything without at least a little rocker panel rust. The lower corners of the pickup cabs are really bad.
look at how large the rear window is behind the b pillar. How much would it cost for safelite to repair that thing? Mean looking trucks.
I liked those and came close to buying one back when these were new. I had a 1991 Full size Blazer…the final year of the body style dating back to 1973 and was looking at a 1999 2 door Tahoe Sport. My work commute distance doubled at the time so I ended up buying a 2000 Silverado 1500 shortbed stepside with 4.3 v6 and 5 speed manual and 3.08 rear axle ratio…..The Silverado got me 20-23 mpg highway while the Blazer with the 5.7 liter got me 15 highway…and the Tahoe would have gotten the same mileage as the K Blazer.
I liked these. Great vehicle for an active single young adult. And they look so much better than the 4-door Tahoes, IMO. I think part of the reason for their demise isn’t even so much car seats, but the fact that they ended up going so far upscale with their SUVs that these would be unobtainable to their target market if they still made them.
My Dad bought a brand new 92 black 2dr Sport with grey interior when they came out and the thing was great. I believe even back then it was around 28k give or take so it didnt come cheap, but the thing was a tank. A little underpowered in the hp department with I think only 200, but it had plenty of torque and I couldnt wait to drive it when i got my license in 1995.
The Sport and GT package was basically a Z71 package before they called it that with the wheel flares, skid plates, and 265 series tires included. To this day I still think they are one sharp truck and in good shape hold their value quite well.
The funny thing about when we went to the dealership to buy it, I was more interested in him getting an S10 Blazer since I didnt know they had a new body style, and I still remember his 79 K5 that was rusted out by 1985 with that red vinyl interior. He also had an 88 Cheyenne K1500 long bed, so this was the first truck I was in that was actually pretty damn nice.
We drove the Blazer to Florida the following year and it handled the 2400 mile round trip rather comfortably. In the 10 years that we had it in the family, we never had any problem with it which was great since when we bought it we traded in a lemon 86 2dr Caprice Classic that was nothing but problems from the day we drove it from the dealership.
All in all, Chevy really did a great job on this one. To this day I regret that we got rid of it. It had no rust and no mechanical problems which was a complete opposite than the K5 we had prior.