Monthly payments

BacDoc said:

For those financing and saying you are getting more on invested money, this is true but you are also paying $100k for that $80k vehicle.

If you want to make the smartest financial decision with purchasing a Tahoe or Yukon, buy a 2 year old model with cash. You will end up paying $50k to $60k for that $80k vehicle and no payments.
That’s probably the smartest financial move.

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And in most cases will be CPO that will give you a better warranty than OEM.

TollKeeper said:

And in most cases will be CPO that will give you a better warranty than OEM.

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I’m with you 100% on this statement.

My preference is to purchase CPO cars that are around 3 years old / 36k miles.

Generally they’re lease returns…but our 2018 Sub was actually just a used purchase from a Chevy dealer, not CPO. It was only 1 year old w/30k on it, former Hertz rental so likely an auction purchase.

They “gave” me (I’m sure I paid for it one way or another) an Ally 100k mile warranty that paid for a new tranny when the original failed at 96k miles.

for me it's easier to use other peoples money for a small fee, rather than deplete my resources and have to recoup it all.
if you buy at 5 years old generally speaking you are not getting hit with a additional 50% devaluation on top of interest fee's. higher insurance and higher registration.
I don't care if the jones have a 2027 demo parked in there driveway.
I'm poor too so there's that as well.
you go buy yours at $80k and i'll buy it at $26k when you trade it in (after the interest hit and depreciation hit) and take my happy @ss home. even if it burns to the ground the next day my loss is way less. the bug's and recalls are all worked out and parts are readily available.

Doubeleive said:

for me it's easier to use other peoples money for a small fee, rather than deplete my resources and have to recoup it all.
if you buy at 5 years old generally speaking you are not getting hit with a additional 50% devaluation on top of interest fee's. higher insurance and higher registration.
I don't care if the jones have a 2027 demo parked in there driveway.
I'm poor too so there's that as well.
you go buy yours at $80k and i'll buy it at $26k when you trade it in (after the interest hit and depreciation hit) and take my happy @ss home. even if it burns to the ground the next day my loss is way less. the bug's and recalls are all worked out and parts are readily available.

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That’s a smart way to look at it and let someone else take depreciation.
Unfortunately these nice trucks depreciate quickly and getting that $80k truck for half price is a smart move.

TollKeeper said:

And in most cases will be CPO that will give you a better warranty than OEM.

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I believe this is a misstatement. Let's say your headlight switch works, but is loose on the dash. From experience. Under the original warranty, this is no questions asked. Under CPO, it's questionable. If the part is defective, it's covered. If the part slipped out of place, its chargeable. Also, when something is not covered, there is a diagnostic charge. jmoymmv

BacDoc said:

That’s a smart way to look at it and let someone else take depreciation.
Unfortunately these nice trucks depreciate quickly and getting that $80k truck for half price is a smart move.

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The way I look at it, is I'd rather get something else for the $40k, where the sticker is 45k, than an $80k vehicle for half price. Before the pandemic, I was seriously considering a S63 AMG with the P30, for $37k. It was $165k brand new. Absolutely gorgeous. If I had gotten it, did I smartly let the previous 3 owners take a $128k depreciation hit? The conventional wisdom says no. $37k is the used retail price, and fair. It's not a bargain. The reason I never bought it is after the pandemic, the prices went up. The vehicles got older, had more mileage, and cost even more. I don't accept that on used. On new? There are two identical vehicles on the same car carrier and one is more than the other, it's not something we can control (2025 Tahoe had 3 price increases, was it smarter to buy in Sept 2024, or August 2025?). again jmoymmv

I have been recently looking at a new car for my wife. We looked at small/mid sized SUV and mini vans.
We didn’t see anything in the $40k-$45k MSRP with the higher trim options.

We are in Florida so ventilated seats are on the list, my wife wants leather seats, adaptive cruise and 360 cameras.
To get these options you need to get the top trim levels and everything we looked at was over $50k and that’s before the dealer mark ups for all the stuff you can negotiate down but it’s still part of the price that dealers are charging

Buddy at work with his baby momma, just bought a 2019 tahoe. Close to 50 grand! Dumb if u ask me. He said $1000 a month.

There is a reason I bought a '98 instead of an '08 or '18

Our Yukon was $47,664 (Single owner - 2021 GMC Yukon SLT 5.3L, 10 speed, had 62,984 miles)

Traded in a paid off 2019 GMC Canyon All Terrain. Got $25,500 for it.

Threw another $7,500 cash at the Yukon.

Additional dealer fees came to $861.

Financed $15,525 for 60 months at 7.59%. Not the best interest rate I know, but they wouldn't budge and we liked the vehicle. And I already planned on paying it down faster regardless.

Payment is $312.74/mo.

I've been overpaying it usually at $500 or $600 per month. I currently owe $6,874.61 on the note, after only 19 months.

It will be paid off by March/April of 2027 around 30 months ahead of time.

I haven't calculated how much interest I will have saved, if I let the payment go full term, but I'm sure its considerable.

LsHart said:

Buddy at work with his baby momma, just bought a 2019 tahoe. Close to 50 grand! Dumb if u ask me. He said $1000 a month.

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Wow. I just bought a 2020 Escalade Platinum with 40k miles for $45k.

LsHart said:

Buddy at work with his baby momma, just bought a 2019 tahoe. Close to 50 grand! Dumb if u ask me. He said $1000 a month.

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He got ripped off. I paid $38K for my CPO 2019 Yukon XL w/45K miles 2 years ago.

BacDoc said:

I have been recently looking at a new car for my wife. We looked at small/mid sized SUV and mini vans.
We didn’t see anything in the $40k-$45k MSRP with the higher trim options.

We are in Florida so ventilated seats are on the list, my wife wants leather seats, adaptive cruise and 360 cameras.
To get these options you need to get the top trim levels and everything we looked at was over $50k and that’s before the dealer mark ups for all the stuff you can negotiate down but it’s still part of the price that dealers are charging

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Dodge Durango's are a screaming deal right now. A GT plus lists at just over $45K. Hemi is $2K more. And dealers are dealing as well. Not to mention 0% for 36 months.

Carfan said:

When we purchased summer of 2021 rates were much lower and we got a 48 month loan and paid it off in 14 months. Gave us the flexibility in case we had a financial shortfall but in the end we paid very little interest.

And Christmas this year, when we got our daughter in law a new Pacifica Navy Federal gave me 3.99 for 36 months and that one we paid off in 5 months. We bought her a 2025 after the 2026 model year started and got nearly $12k knocked off.

The loan isn't a bad idea, but paying off the interest is.

Since we don't drive our 2020 daily we have very low miles on it so we aren't in the market soon, but $100k for replacement does seem like a lot even with no interest.

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Navy FCU always seems to have at least one of the best rates out there. They say that their assets are more than the 2nd to 5th largest CU's combined. It's a great idea to pay more and to pay off early, as you did. If a refi, often folks are after the low payment which naturally gets lowered because often the amortization goes back to the beginning (especially on homes where it's 15 or 30 years). When we refi'd the Tahoe, no payment was due for another 6 weeks. But I made a payment immediately and for $70 more than they are asking (keeping it the same as before). Now, there is no payment due until July 25. But I will make another payment same amount 6/15. 25 years ago an older coworker told me to always pay more when possible and I asked her OK, but how will the bank keep track? "They have computers," was her response. I was young and inexperienced to say the least. Truthfully, I didn't go to 36 which I wanted to @ 3.89, because the payment was almost $700. I just don't like how it looks. If I want to, I can still pay $700, but the rate is 4.29 right now. Won't lie, I am wanting the $250 bonus to refi at Navy. I normally don't fall for stuff like that, but if it saves $6/mo and get $250, why not.

edit p.s. I hope folks understand what I mean. We had 52 mos left of a 60 mo loan, and refi'd back to 60 mos. This dropped the payment by $70/mo. But only $6/mo in interest is actually saved due to a rate drop of 1/2%. Maybe I would ignore it under other circumstances, maybe not, but we will get $250 in about 3 mos, as a bonus to have refi'd with Navy.

vcode said:

Dodge Durango's are a screaming deal right now. A GT plus lists at just over $45K. Hemi is $2K more. And dealers are dealing as well. Not to mention 0% for 36 months.

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Too bad they are ugly and on a platform that hasn’t been refreshed in a decade! lol.

Dodge just released the rumble bee trucks; if I was in the market I’d be very temped.

ReaperHWK said:

Too bad they are ugly and on a platform that hasn’t been refreshed in a decade! lol.

Dodge just released the rumble bee trucks; if I was in the market I’d be very temped.

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I think they are better looking than most SUV's today. To each their own. Try to find a better value for under $50K right now.

vcode said:

I think they are better looking than most SUV's today. To each their own. Try to find a better value for under $50K right now.

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100% to each their own. I think the front end looks descent but the rear is a disaster IMO. Hate the taillights and the entire shape looking from the rear…..

That suv needs a refresh though it’s been hanging on way too long.

vcode said:

I think they are better looking than most SUV's today. To each their own. Try to find a better value for under $50K right now.

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What I've learned is most people don't care about cargo space. If they did, the market share of the Tahoe/Suburban would be even higher. It's way above the competition. So much so, the XL version of the Ford, is barely a few cu ft more than a Tahoe. Someone on this forum even believed the Honda Pilot was about the same as the Tahoe. 87 isn't even remotely close to 123, it's 29% smaller, or the Tahoe is 41% larger. Shouldn't a person know this before spending the money. But even from a practical standpoint, 36 cu ft is more than 2 trunks of a very large sedan, or, half of the entire cargo of a fancy Euro SUV. So when folks say to each his own, it's very fitting in 2026. There's no more "thinking" for oneself automatically, it's go by the misinformation of the internet. To anyone who believes a 2026 pilot is about the same for cargo as a Tahoe, I would say go and buy it and you've saved a ton of money. For all we know, that person will be fine with the Pilot, or durango. Ask the municipalities (some are huge) how the Durango worked out for them? hint: OH and PA. Anyway, the Durango has less cargo space than a pilot, so why are they even being compared, they're not in the same class as a GM suv.

edit What next, compare a Buick Enclave to a Tahoe? It rides a lot nicer, but it's not the same at all. I get it if you don't need a large SUV, you don't need it, but they are not apples to apples.

Johnny Fr said:

What I've learned is most people don't care about cargo space. If they did, the market share of the Tahoe/Suburban would be even higher. It's way above the competition. So much so, the XL version of the Ford, is barely a few cu ft more than a Tahoe. Someone on this forum even believed the Honda Pilot was about the same as the Tahoe. 87 isn't even remotely close to 123, it's 29% smaller, or the Tahoe is 41% larger. Shouldn't a person know this before spending the money. But even from a practical standpoint, 36 cu ft is more than 2 trunks of a very large sedan, or, half of the entire cargo of a fancy Euro SUV. So when folks say to each his own, it's very fitting in 2026. There's no more "thinking" for oneself automatically, it's go by the misinformation of the internet. To anyone who believes a 2026 pilot is about the same for cargo as a Tahoe, I would say go and buy it and you've saved a ton of money. For all we know, that person will be fine with the Pilot, or durango. Ask the municipalities (some are huge) how the Durango worked out for them? hint: OH and PA. Anyway, the Durango has less cargo space than a pilot, so why are they even being compared, they're not in the same class as a GM suv.

edit What next, compare a Buick Enclave to a Tahoe? It rides a lot nicer, but it's not the same at all. I get it if you don't need a large SUV, you don't need it, but they are not apples to apples.

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Well that was me you are talking about. I went off data that was published on the Honda website and elsewhere. And FWIW, a 2019 Tahoe only has 95 cu ft of cargo space, barely more than a Pilot. Also, if you would have read the posts in context, the to each his own comment was about Durango styling, nothing else. And the only reason the Durango was brought up was that someone was looking for a fully equipped mid-size SUV for under $45K. It was never being compared to a Tahoe.

vcode said:

He got ripped off. I paid $38K for my CPO 2019 Yukon XL w/45K miles 2 years ago.

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Yeah, it's crazy