I had a K5 Blazer rigged-out for off-road. It was too much truck. The wheelbase was just too long for the suspension configuration. The Suburban is much worse. No good for off-road. It does however have great carrying capacity. The US Secret Service used them for quick tactical deployment when I was on course with them at Rowley. It held a whole tactical team (five armored men) with a variety of weapons, night/thermal vision, sensors, cameras, rangefinders, grenades, medical and other supplies. That's quite a bit of gear. It's often the vehicle of choice for such applications. As long as it's on pavement it's great! Not the greatest gas economy, but the government has deep pockets... 🙂

I had a K5 Blaser rigged-out for off-road. It was too much truck. The wheelbase was just too long for the suspension configuration. The Suburban is much worse. No good for off-road. It does however have great carrying capacity. The US Secret Service used them for quick tactical deployment when I was on course with them at Rowley. It held a whole tactical team (five armored men) with a variety of weapons, night/thermal vision, sensors, cameras, rangefinders, grenades, medical and other supplies. That's quite a bit of gear. It's often the vehicle of choice for such applications. As long as it's on pavement it's great! Not the greatest gas economy, but the government has deep pockets... 🙂

Oh they are great for teams and kit. 😎
I certainly agree the wheelbase is not going to tackle what my 75 Jeep CJ could tackle, but after driving suburbans on some serious freshly logged roads, the bush and ice roads of james bay for eight years, I will say they can do a very decent job if you get the right speed going. We beat them bad and the beast kept us going to the point we needed a bulldozer to drag us out. Still prefer the Jeep or ATV but as you said, they carry a lot of kit and can be tricked out with all the stuff you mentioned