Pro’s & Cons of a new ride I’m eyeing

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Jester1023

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So I presently drive a 04 Yukon SLT 195k miles on it I’m running 285/70/r17’s and love how the truck sits on these tires since I’ve had the truck for almost 3 years I have not had to do much to it I’ve kept up with the matinience religiously using synthetic with every change.

The truck has treated me well I bought it with 150K miles on it since I’ve put 45K on it I’ve changed a faulty injector,had to put a cat in had to replace rear brake lines and changed a master regulator switch that’s pretty much it.I have some issues which from what I’ve read are common problems with these vehicles one is an airbag sensor light the second being the gas gauge it just never gives me a good read it’s always floating around often times it reads low fuel then it bumps up for a bit then goes back to low fuel again it’s always floating around I heard this is a common problem with these vehicles along with the instrument cluster I’ve kind of just dealt with it.when I put the cat in and changed the rear brake lines after they let go I had to cut the spare tire winch which I never replaced!with the bigger tires my tire pressure monitor always would kick off I was never able to get it to reset now with no spare tire under the vehicle the message comes on whenever I start the vehicle again something I’ve kind of just lived with!Thats probably about it for the little quirks once in awhile which it has not done in a long time I get the annoying pass lock and the truck won’t start for about 10 minutes like clockwork I would wait 10 minutes and boom after 10 minutes it would start!

for a 04 the body is in great shape as with most Gen 2 Tahoe’s/Yukon’s they start to rust especially living in the northeast I have been real lucky with this vehicle I have only one small patch starting to develop on the passenger side rocker other than that not a stitch of rust some chipped,flaking,cracked and peeling paint in some spots a bit around the moon roof but all in all it’s in pretty good shape as far as the body goes just that one small rust spot developing!it’s hard to come by a vehicle 15 years old with a body in this good of shape so I’m pretty lucky in that aspect.

My Yukon is a rare breed as it’s not true 4WD it’s a part time 4WD it is AWD with 4LO at first I was not really too thrilled about it but I kind of like it I don’t go off roading and don’t do any towing so it suits me just fine I did tow my neighbors truck a bit back with ease as well as pull a couple of people who got stuck in the snow other than that I really don’t do any kind of towing the truck has some get up and go which I like it’s a 5.3 with 3.73 gears summit white it’s a nice looking ride the interior is so so grey leather and pretty clean I would give it probably about a 6 1/2 - 7 on a scale of 1-10.

now that you have a bit of history on my current ride I need your opinion on a ride I’m looking at the same buddy I bought this current vehicle from has an 05 Tahoe my truck is running fine so there really is no reason to move on from it other than that the mileage scares me it’s been well taken car3 of and it could run for another 100K miles for all I know or it could run for only another 10K before something goes south it’s a roll of the dice I was talking to my buddy as I know he usually is coming across these vehicles he loves everything about them driving them,working on them buying and selling them so I reached out to him out of curiosity to see if he has anything it so happens he has this 05 Tahoe.

I went to take a look at it the vehicle is in better shape than mine the interior well it’s completely redone not one rip not one crack it’s immaculate all the seats and headliner where redone,the body is just as clean it has some hazing on the hood but that can be easily blown in not a speck of rust although it does have the dreaded rear hatch peeling which he says is an easy fix it’s on his to do list.the truck body and interior wise is in mint shape.

Mechanically it’s sound too with 130k miles 65k less than what’s on mine as far as he knows it’s a great running truck he grabbed it from one of his neighbors who needed a vehicle with better fuel mileage which is much the case with the big SUV’s it has a pretty new transmission in it not that the transmission was bad from what he tells me it was misdiagnosed as a faulty transmission and it was changed don’t know the whole story but nonetheless it has a pretty new transmission in it.the good part here is this is a friend of mine who has it he knows the truck so he would not put me in something he would not drive himself he was actually thinking of keeping it for himself but he’s got one too many as it is so he’s giving it to me for 6k if I want it.

For 6K it’s a great deal you can’t find a Tahoe or Yukon for this price in this good of shape up here in the northeast.I went to go look at an 09 Yukon today at a dealer they were asking 13k for it I’m done with payments and can’t take on a payment just for curiosity I went to take a look at it 127k mikes on it but the Tahoe was a lot cleaner and nicer looking even though it was 4 years older I like the look of the 2nd generations.

The Tahoe seems like a great deal it’s got plenty of Pros

Low Mileage for a vehicle 15 years old
New tranny not 100% sure of the circumstances but it’s a new tranny nonetheless
Immaculate interior with a body that’s in better shape than mine
I can trust that it was well maintained

I absolutely love the color before I saw the vehicle I was hoping it was not one of two colors that sand mist color I really don’t care much for that color and as nice is white is I have a white Yukon I really did not want white

my 3 favorites in order

spiral grey
Black
Blue

what it is,well it’s a kind of greenish blue It’s unique very eye catching Bermuda blue Metallic At first I was not sure about it I saw it on a cloudy day but the other day I saw it in the sunlight and it looked different more vibrant I really like it,it has the tan leather versus the common grey it’s very nice looking

along with pros come cons

being an LS though it does have Leather all the way through none of these are deal breakers but they are cons nonetheless

no DVD player or sunroof my 8 year old was upset it does not have neither especially the DVD player it’s funny she hardly used it anymore and I hardly used the moon roof you miss it when you don’t have it!

The Tahoe has the Dl8 where the Yukon the DL3’s again it’s no way a deal breaker I think it would be easy enough to swap out it’s a minor con

other differences are probably not even worth mentioning like the pedal assist/heated seats and a few extras that I rarely used but being an LS it has none of these

the biggest two differences are

1) I’m going from a part time 4WD to a true 4WD so I know I’ll get better gas mileage!

2) here is the second difference which I don’t know is a good thing or a bad thing the gears are 3.42’s my Yukon has 3.73’s The Tahoe has 16” rims I love the way my Yukon sits on my current rims and tires so I know I want to run these on the Tahoe.

I’ve saw a lot of people mentioning 3.73’s are better all around gears I really would like to stick with the stock gears and not go messing with anything my truck as some of you would call it is more of a mall runner I run around town with it I don’t live in the city I live on Long Island New York so it’s not farm land but it’s not the city.I want to run 33’s and maybe would want to give the truck a small lift but not at the cost of it being an absolute drag.I want an eye catcher but not something that’s going to hurt me performance wise. I am happy with the get up and go of the Yukon I know one is AWD and the Tahoe most of the time other than snow will be in 2WD so having the 3.42’s and the same size tires should I expect and drop off in the zip my Yukon has I would hate to lose that.Like mentioned the truck is more of a daily driver not an off roader and hardly ever for towing or hauling other than the rare occasion I’m getting about 13.5 now around town I don’t do much highway I just don’t want to lose that performance that I have now!

Again it’s more of a daily driver and to catch eyes though it’s not going to do much probably other 5han for window dressing though I could be wrong I would like to dress it up a bit maybe through a cowl hood on and if it won’t effect the performance too much give it a small lift I’m guessing I cannot go any bigger than 33’s with these current gears and even with 33’s I may see some drop off in performance.

I am hoping I could get between 3&4k for my Yukon I have not tested the market yet I hate the grind of selling a vehicle I always want to be completely 100% up front with what’s wrong and for the most part they all seem like minor fixes the Yukon has been well maintained for its whole life the body is in great shape for an 04 I see people asking 4K for vehicles with similar mileage that have horrid body’s the northeast is not friendly to Chevy’s 3 guys that know trucks including my buddy said I should be able to get at least 3.5-4K for it with the body being as good as shape as it’s in and a strong engine!

so that’s where I am at I know the Tahoe is well maintained I love almost everything about it the interior is immaculate with a preferred Tan leather,The body is in great shape better than my Yukon with a color I love,it’s been well maintained same size engine 5.3 with 65k less miles and a new tranny,it’s missing a DVD player and sunroof along with some creature comforts certainly not a deal breaker,16”vs my current 17”s which I would like to throw on

the one thing I wish it had was 3.73 gears if I do get this Tahoe from your guys experience what can I expect compared to my current Yukon with the assumption I’m going to run the 33’s I love how my Yukon sits on them
 

Doubeleive

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meh the 04 & 05 are both good trucks, if you feel spending another 2k (assuming you sell the old one for $4k) is worth it then by all means go for it
 
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Jester1023

Jester1023

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I love my Yukon the only reason I’m even thinking about it is the Mileage I know when well taken care of the Vortecs will run a very long time I’m looking at the mileage the Tahoe has 65K less on it just wondering what difference I may see performance & power wise I may see if I did get the Tahoe going from an AWD Yukon with 3.73 to a 2WD Tahoe when in 4WD it’s only going to be in the nasty weather no towing at all & if I do it will be on the very rare occasion
 
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Jester1023

Jester1023

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Sorry I know way too much way too long I should have just asked what difference I may see between the two gear ratios with the two trucks!
 

mpope2

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I personally would not go through the headache, but to each is their own. I’d also stay with 3:73s over 3:42s if the decision simply comes down to the gearing. Mileage honestly is irrelevant. It’s all about prior and continued maintenance. I’ve seen some trucks in the GMT800 (99-06/07 classic) become complete turds within a 100k mi of life because the owners were garbage. I’ve seen several go 200, 300, 400k without major and numerous issues. This is the most reliable generation GM will ever build. If you have a good one, keep it IMO
 

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