Questions to owners of 07-13 Suburban/Yukon XL 2500s

[MichaelSE]

I have been kicking around the idea of trading my LTZ for a more basic, lower mile 2500.

- How is the ride with the torsion bar front and leaf spring rear?

- How is the 6.0 LY6 on power, does it ever leave you wanting more? I love the 6.0 in my 1500, but it's an L76, slightly up on hp and down on torque as compared to the LY6.

- What kind of mileage do you get?

Thanks guys.

 

[ecoulter1]

I have an 08 and the ride is OK, I would say not as good as the 05 tahoe we had before it but buying a 2500 you are prepared for that reality. The 6.0 has power but we tow 6500lb boat every weekend and used to have a duramax so the 6.0 took some getting used to. I can say it pulls the hills at speed fine its just the initial takeoff that is much different but that is no surprise. Now for the bad news.... 11-12.5 city with my wife driving it and 17 highway doing 70MPH. The best part about it is whenever we are out towing etc I get lots of comments and thumbs up when people see it is an 8lug yukon. I have a list of 5 people ready to buy it if I ever want to sell but GM quit making them so I think we are going to keep it. I can overhaul the the whole driveline and still be way money ahead of buying a 70K new yukon.

 

[MichaelSE]

I have an 08 and the ride is OK, I would say not as good as the 05 tahoe we had before it but buying a 2500 you are prepared for that reality. The 6.0 has power but we tow 6500lb boat every weekend and used to have a duramax so the 6.0 took some getting used to. I can say it pulls the hills at speed fine its just the initial takeoff that is much different but that is no surprise. Now for the bad news.... 11-12.5 city with my wife driving it and 17 highway doing 70MPH. The best part about it is whenever we are out towing etc I get lots of comments and thumbs up when people see it is an 8lug yukon. I have a list of 5 people ready to buy it if I ever want to sell but GM quit making them so I think we are going to keep it. I can overhaul the the whole driveline and still be way money ahead of buying a 70K new yukon.

Thanks for your reply. What gears does your Yukon have? I wouldn't want to go any taller than 3.73, maybe even 4.10.

 

[ecoulter1]

Thanks for your reply. What gears does your Yukon have? I wouldn't want to go any taller than 3.73, maybe even 4.10.

Ours is 3.73 I am sure a swap to 4.10 would help a bit especially since it has the 6 speed.

 

[Matt_]

I'm liking my 2012. Ride is stiff but I think some adjustable shocks will help a lot; soften the ride when not towing, then increase damping when hauling . I have a similar setup on my Jeep to adjust between daily driving and offroading .

Mileage wise I saw almost 18+ on my drive home from OH to NJ when I bought the truck. City was getting 14+ but has dropped down to 12-13 after putting on bigger heavier tires.

 

[MichaelSE]

I'm liking my 2012. Ride is stiff but I think some adjustable shocks will help a lot; soften the ride when not towing, then increase damping when hauling . I have a similar setup on my Jeep to adjust between daily driving and offroading .

Mileage wise I saw almost 18+ on my drive home from OH to NJ when I bought the truck. City was getting 14+ but has dropped down to 12-13 after putting on bigger heavier tires.

Thanks for your reply. I stalked your posts a bit, the XL looks great. I thought that NNBS Suburban 2500s were rare.. until I searched for NNBS Yukon 2500s. They are few and far between. I think that if I do end up buying one, I'll have to travel for it like you did.

Which adjustable shocks are you considering? And how's it do on the highway - can you cruise at 80 and feel that you still have power on tap when you need it?

 

[Matt_]

Definitely plenty of power available, even at highway speeds. I've had to punch it a handful of times (and sometimes just for fun). I've had it accelerate from 75 through 90 once and it still had plenty to go.... but I didn't want to test my luck.

For shocks I'm getting he Rancho 9000s. Had them on a previous vehicle and put them on a friends Jeep.... pretty good quality and performance for the price . Only reason I haven't put them on yet is I'm waiting to see if I'm installing a lift this year or waiting a bit. Depends a lot on whether I sell my Jeep this spring

 

[MichaelSE]

I can't believe how tough NNBS 2500s are to find with <100k miles and in a trim higher than commercial fleet or LS. I wanted at least a basic LT with the regular Bose system and front bucket seats; hope I don't have to settle for an LS. I'm willing to drive 1000+ miles for the right one. Does anyone have any ideas of where to shop online besides the big car sales sites (cars.com, autotrader, cargurus, edmunds)?

 

[Matt_]

Because they stopped manufacturing them and people aren't trading them in few newer models.... since they're not available .

I just kept searching nationwide on all the usual sites until I found one

 

[camaroz1985]

Keep searching there, or on craigslist. You can use searchtempest.com to specify which craigslist sites to search in. I have had good luck finding them in the southerns states (TX, OK in specific). As they get older, finding them with lower miles will be hard to find, but I wouldn't be afraid of higher miles on a well maintained truck.

 

[MichaelSE]

Keep searching there, or on craigslist. You can use searchtempest.com to specify which craigslist sites to search in. I have had good luck finding them in the southerns states (TX, OK in specific). As they get older, finding them with lower miles will be hard to find, but I wouldn't be afraid of higher miles on a well maintained truck.

Thanks, I'll check out Searchtempest. Surprisingly most of the 2LTs or 3LTs I'm finding on cars.com with with <100k miles are in the east.. Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina. Looks like a long road trip may be in my future.

What mileage would you consider too high for a 2500, well maintained or otherwise?

 

[camaroz1985]

You don't want anything from the northeast. Rust!!! That is why I go south to find my trucks. As for mileage it depends on the year. I generally look for something with higher miles for the year (like over 20k a year). I don't like low mileage vehicles, a) people think they are worth their weight in gold, and b) I have found on the few lower mile vehicles I have bought or worked on that things need replaced just as much because they are sitting most of their life and not being used. I use the 20k per year as a good guideline, but if higher that generally means a lot of highway, which is much more gentle on the vehicle.

I bought a Silverado 3500 Duramax with over 400k miles, and it ran and drove like new (Test drove one that was the same MY, but only had 44k miles right before it). I drove that truck for 3 years and it was trouble free. Actually sold it for about $3k more than I had in it the entire time I owned it (including fuel).

 

[MichaelSE]

I found a nice clean one nearby, 78k miles, 3LT, 4x4, clean inside and out... but they were unwilling to move on their $11k trade offer for my LTZ. I mean I was expecting to get lowballed, but damn, not that badly. Every online trade appraisal tool I've tried has me at $14k (and that's "fair" condition) all the way up to $18k.

 

[camaroz1985]

You could always sell it outright yourself. Did you try CarMax? They will still lowball you, but maybe not by that much. We sold a Forester to them, and it was only about $1000 lower than the blue book trade-in.

 

[MichaelSE]

You could always sell it outright yourself. Did you try CarMax? They will still lowball you, but maybe not by that much. We sold a Forester to them, and it was only about $1000 lower than the blue book trade-in.

Not bad, there's a Carmax in El Paso so I think I'll head there next week to get a quote. Appreciate all your advice man.

 

[Matt_]

Make sure the price you worked out on the truck is still valid without the trade before you sell it to carmax.

Dealers work both ends, sometimes lowering the price of the sale by making up for it in the trade.

Also worth considering how your state handles taxes. In my state we don't pay tax on the value of a trade in. So if I buy a $25k truck and get $15k for trade in, I only pay tax on the $10k difference. I would therefore have to sell my car for $16k before breaking even on the same deal, not withstanding if the $25k sale price would also increase without the trade.