Buy a New 2024 Yukon or Tahoe or wait til 25s

[Alexandroid]

It isn't about "being covered" ....it's about dependability. I don't care that I'm "covered" if at any time on a 2000-mile trip this thing could lose its cookies. There's a reason why the duramax forum on this site only has 150 Entries (and the majority are not show stoppers.) and the other engine threads are littered with issues. I'm three years into my D Max and it's been flawless.

I agree on "dependability". And if GM could guarantee that a Duramax and all of its diesel-exclusive equipment (including the turbo and the alphabet soup of emissions acronyms like DPF, DEF, SCR which I don't want) in my new Yukon will NEVER break, I would forget about "the awesome V8" as BacDoc just called the other engine and would buy a diesel today. I'm not asking for the bumper to bumper, just the powertrain dependability.
But based on what I've read on this forum and outside search results on LM2 and LZ0 reliability, they are not infallible and when they break, they are more expensive and take longer to repair, experienced diesel mechanics are harder to find and parts are harder to get.

And I do care that I'm "covered" because I need a Plan B if my BabyMax throws a tantrum somewhere between home and Alaska just after its warranty expires. I need to know how long I will be camping in the boonies waiting for that DPF, "Drinking cab in a solo, Solo in the cab of my truck" to paraphrase Scotty McCreery and if I'll be able to afford any "Silver Oak, 1998", at all after that diesel mechanic shakes me down, not to mention a rental car.

 

[Stbentoak]

I agree on "dependability". And if GM could guarantee that a Duramax and all of its diesel-exclusive equipment (including the turbo and the alphabet soup of emissions acronyms like DPF, DEF, SCR which I don't want) in my new Yukon will NEVER break, I would forget about "the awesome V8" as BacDoc just called the other engine and would buy a diesel today. I'm not asking for the bumper to bumper, just the powertrain dependability.
But based on what I've read on this forum and outside search results on LM2 and LZ0 reliability, they are not infallible and when they break, they are more expensive and take longer to repair, experienced diesel mechanics are harder to find and parts are harder to get.

And I do care that I'm "covered" because I need a Plan B if my BabyMax throws a tantrum somewhere between home and Alaska just after its warranty expires. I need to know how long I will be camping in the boonies waiting for that DPF, "Drinking cab in a solo, Solo in the cab of my truck" to paraphrase Scotty McCreery and if I'll be able to afford any "Silver Oak, 1998", at all after that diesel mechanic shakes me down, not to mention a rental car.

Do they guarantee the 5.3/6.2 will never break? many didn't make 10K miles... Some were bad w/in 6 months of new and needed total replacement....

No engine is infallible, but the track record of the LM2/LZ0 is pretty solid so far. Read a few other forums besides this one about 5.3/6.2 failures in pickups and Tahoe/Yukon/Escalades. I'm on my 4th diesel with a DPF in the last 10+ years. Not one DPF failure or issue in 4 vehicles. The 2 I sold are still on the road today, with friends that were waiting to buy them and currently @150k+ miles, because they know how well I take care of my vehicles. No issues with any of them that required major repair like lifters or complete engine replacements. At one time my dealer in FL had 8 units in the long term "bullpen" waiting on lifter parts/decisions being made by GM management/ or total engine replacements of 5.3/6.2 engines.
It's pretty hard to convince non-Diesel people that they are truly the best engine for this product. If you don't want one, don't buy one. But if it doesn't have an issue during the normal 6/100 warranty, you can be well assured it will go the distance for more years w/o a warranty. This all assumes that you actually take care of them....

 

[Alexandroid]

No engine is infallible, but the track record of the LM2/LZ0 is pretty solid so far.

No man or machine is infallible. As the old saying goes, if it has balls or tires, she'll have problems with it (or something like that).
The LZ0 doesn't have much of a track record - looks good on paper though. Actually the LZ0 looks so good that it makes the LM2 look bad because it replaces it and they're not shy pointing out the long list of shortcomings the new engine improves upon.
Put another way, if the LM2 was perfect, they wouldn't need the LZ0 to replace it.

Sorry but the following statement contradicts the well-known concept in the field of reliability called The Bathtub Curve:
"But if it doesn't have an issue during the normal 6/100 warranty, you can be well assured it will go the distance for more years w/o a warranty."
There's a good reason why manufacturers limit their warranty to the low failure rate plateau of the curve -- it is followed by the wear-out period with increasing failure rate.

It's good to hear that you take care of your vehicles. I wish more people were like you but many aren't. They use regular gas in the 6.2L, pretend they don't hear the knocking of pre-ignition detonation and then complain about spun rod bearings or damaged main bearing. They don't change the oil often enough and complain about the lifter failure.

On the contrary, those who take care of their 6.2s like you take care of your 3.0 are as proud of their precision machines as you are and you all are rewarded with reliable vehicles.

 

[Stbentoak]

Well like any new product, you got to get it out there give it some time in the field, and then figure out what improvements can and need to be made at what cost. This is how the LZ0 was born. If you waited for every improvement that you thought you could make, you'd never get anything out there in actual use. It doesn't mean that the LM2 is not a good engine, but the next one is just an improvement over the previous series that corrects a few things that could be refined. I don't have any regrets, and the one I have runs flawlessly.... I've drove it a mile a day for weeks on end, and I've drove it 1000 miles in a day. Never a whimper out of it.
As far as the warranty goes, the vast majority of people don't keep vehicles past six years or 100,000 miles. So mostly they will stay covered. Personally, I'm not going to own that many more new vehicles in my life so I'm getting a new one every 5 to 6 years and we'll probably buy an LZ0 the very last year it's available in these vehicles. I'm always watching for the announcement of this will be the last year this is available.....

 

[arep15]

I am dealing with the same dilemma. I can get a 2025 Yukon Denali with Reserve Package for $95k or get a good deal on a 2024 for $87k (6k off MSRP). Seems like too good of a deal to pass up since Denali's are normally not this discounted.
Interested in hearing others thoughts. I am indifferent due to same build and not sure the refreshed interior is worth $8k to me.

 

[blkfalc4]

While I'm probably going to hold out for a 25', I'm still tempted by the 24'.
With that said, arep15, your dealer gave you pricing on the 25' already?
Mine is telling me, "not yet"

 

[Polo08816]

Not sure how the dealer would be able to give you pricing on a 2025... the order guide hasn't even been released yet.

 

[gtrslngrchris]

It isn't about "being covered" ....it's about dependability. I don't care that I'm "covered" if at any time on a 2000-mile trip this thing could lose its cookies. There's a reason why the duramax forum on this site only has 150 Entries (and the majority are not show stoppers.) and the other engine threads are littered with issues. I'm three years into my D Max and it's been flawless.

I know this thread has passed this point but all those guys are on the Duramax forums complaining and asking for help from the guys that run diesels because, go figure, the Tahoe/Yukon forums don't have nearly as many diesel experts. It certainly is not because the baby duramax are flawless.

 

[Stbentoak]

I know this thread has passed this point but all those guys are on the Duramax forums complaining and asking for help from the guys that run diesels because, go figure, the Tahoe/Yukon forums don't have nearly as many diesel experts. It certainly is not because the baby duramax are flawless.

No engine is "flawless". I'm on the other forums too. There are problems here and there, but if you polled the LM2 owners I think you would find that 98% of them are super happy with the product and have basically had no engine related problems.... that's not too bad for a totally new engine design....

 

[gtrslngrchris]

No engine is "flawless". I'm on the other forums too. There are problems here and there, but if you polled the LM2 owners I think you would find that 98% of them are super happy with the product and have basically had no engine related problems.... that's not too bad for a totally new engine design....

I've got a GM mechanic for a best friend that would disagree with that statement based on what he sees come in and come back repeatedly.

 

[Polo08816]

No engine is "flawless". I'm on the other forums too. There are problems here and there, but if you polled the LM2 owners I think you would find that 98% of them are super happy with the product and have basically had no engine related problems.... that's not too bad for a totally new engine design....

There may be some confirmation bias at play there. Hard to know for sure unless there's real data re: LM2/LZ0 vs. L84/L87 failure rates.

I've got a GM mechanic for a best friend that would disagree with that statement based on what he sees come in and come back repeatedly.

You would think that if the L84/L87s were failing at a similar if not greater rate than the Toyota V35A-FTS, they would have a recall and be replacing engines. Are fleet users encountering an alarming rate of failures (ie. across the police fleet)?

 

[Tahoe14]

I don’t think that the greater majority of the American population are on truck and SUV forums. I would not base any percentage of what is failing or not failing on forums. I would base it on what the Dealer Service departments and the techs are reporting. If they have eight or ten sitting in service waiting for an engine repair whether it is gas or diesel would be the best indicator.

 

[T Ford]

Great time to buy a new 24. I personally am not excited about the 25s and the dealers near me are motivated to sell their 24s.

 

[Sean Michael]

I was waiting for the 2025s, but last week while doing my weekly online browsing of local dealer inventory I found the exact configuration I'd originally wanted back when I started looking for a new Tahoe last year, color and all. It was discounted over $4K and then I negotiated free tint and splash guards on top of the discount. There were no dealer add-ons like nitrogen, etc., at all, so I really did walk out at sticker minus the discount plus TT&L. And the trade value they offered me was fair, not hungry for it like was happening a few years ago, but fair enough.

No regrets. I definitely paid less than I would for an equivalent 2025 if I were to buy one right at release. Besides, I read they are dropping active exhaust on the 6.2s in 2025 along with going to through-the-bumper exhaust. Also, personally, I'd rather have more physical buttons than a larger screen, and it appears in photos that some functions have moved to the screen (I could be wrong, just basing that on looking at pre-release photos). This is my 3rd Tahoe and I have generally bought at or near the end of a model run, hopefully when all the kinks are ironed out.

 

[Polo08816]

I was waiting for the 2025s, but last week while doing my weekly online browsing of local dealer inventory I found the exact configuration I'd originally wanted back when I started looking for a new Tahoe last year, color and all. It was discounted over $4K and then I negotiated free tint and splash guards on top of the discount. There were no dealer add-ons like nitrogen, etc., at all, so I really did walk out at sticker minus the discount plus TT&L. And the trade value they offered me was fair, not hungry for it like was happening a few years ago, but fair enough.

No regrets. I definitely paid less than I would for an equivalent 2025 if I were to buy one right at release. Besides, I read they are dropping active exhaust on the 6.2s in 2025 along with going to through-the-bumper exhaust. Also, personally, I'd rather have more physical buttons than a larger screen, and it appears in photos that some functions have moved to the screen (I could be wrong, just basing that on looking at pre-release photos). This is my 3rd Tahoe and I have generally bought at or near the end of a model run, hopefully when all the kinks are ironed out.

I'm interested in how quickly discounts on the 2025s will match those of the 2024s after release.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/09/chevy-average-transaction-price-drops-almost-5-percent-in-august-2024/

 

[MissFrost]

One of my full sized GM SUV's had the power steps. (Escalade) Based on my personal experience, if you live in an area of the country that uses salt on their roads, the power steps over time will most likely be affected and seize. Mine were replaced under warranty, but my guess is that unless the design has been modified, it may well still be an issue.

I wholeheartedly agree with this comment!! I previously owned a 2011 Escalade with the power running boards/steps. They liked to freeze up in the winter (Northeast resident) and just seize up at any given time. I ended up turning off the switch so that they just stopped coming out at all anymore. I swore off power steps in any future vehicle after that. Love my 2022 Tahoe RST non electrical running boards.