I had been wanting a Silverado for many years, ever since the 99 body style came out actually. All I had ever owned previously was cars, I had never actually owned a truck. I had a 1987 G-Body Cutlass, and a 1989 Jaguar XJ6 that both ended up getting flooded in hurricane Katrina. So we were down to just my wife's 2005 Altima (which we had JUST bought a few months before Katrina). I needed a new vehicle so I began searching for a Crew cab Silverado. This was in December 3005 that I began searching, and I quickly realized that even VERY well used crew cab trucks were out of my price range. I considered an extended cab, but we had a newborn baby and the rear facing car seat would NOT fit in the rear of an ExCab unless I had the front seat moved ALL the way forward as far as it would go. My wife and I BOTH agreed that we definitely needed a crew cab for the extra room. We had one kid, a newborn, and who knows if we might have more kids in the future.
The absolute cheapest crew cabs I could find were over 20k, and most had over (or just under) 100k miles on them too. I did have some money from my flood insurance claim that I was putting towards the truck, but 20k was still out of my budget. Plus I didn't want another note, since we had just bought my wife the Altima a few months earlier. I was paying cash, so I HAD to find something in my budget, which was about 20k all in. So a 20k truck would have easily cost my about 24-25 with TT&L. The salesman at one dealership suggested I look at a Tahoe since they were more in my budget, and they had the interior room that I was looking for, but not the pickup truck bed. I looked at a few Tahoes and Yukons, and I liked the interior room, and I liked the fact that they actually drove better and handled better than an actual pickup. I'm guessing it mainly has to do with the coil spring rear suspension instead of the leaf springs. By this time, I had pretty much settled on a Tahoe, but I couldn't find one that I liked. Most had a LOT of miles, or else the interior was destroyed because it was a soccer mom car and the kids just tore shit up. I came across my Suburban and although I thought I was going to get a Tahoe, I test drove the Suburban just to appease the salesman. But once I actually realized how MORE rear cargo space the Burban actually had, I fell in love. I could remove the third row seat and fold down the rear seats, and I have the same room as an 8ft pickup bed. I can (and I HAVE several times) haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood with the rear hatch door closed. I wanted a pickup, but they were WAY out of my price range, this Burban was WELL under my Max budget, and it fit all of my needs that I was looking for. The only drawback is that I can't haul wet or muddy stuff like you can in a pickup. You can just hose out the bed of a pickup, but not an SUV. I don't plan on hauling muddy cargo so that's not an issue. This Burban didn't have a lot of miles either. It had 52k miles on it, and they were only asking 16k for it. This was in January 2006, so my 2001 model Burban would have only been 5 years old at that time. 16k for a year old Suburban was a damn good deal. The interior and exterior were completely immaculate. It's obvious that the previous owner didn't have any kids riding in the rear seats, because there were no stains, pen or crayon marks, or rips, scratches or tears on anything. Most of the previous Tahoes that I test drove had some sort of kid related wear or damage. The asking price was actually $15,995 and we settled on an even 15k. With a three year extended warranty and all TT&L, I was all in at just over 18k.
Now here we are 12 years later and I still love my Burban and I take great care of it. Most 01 Burbans and Tahoes that I see these days are beat to shit. But I would not hesitate to drive my truck across the country at the drop of a hat. I actually drove it to Florida in March. Over 3600 miles round-trip and it drove beautiful the entire time. I did bring a bunch of tools along though, just in case I had to do an emergency roadside repair. LOL
Cliffs/ TL;DR : Bought my Burban because I wanted a Crew cab Silverado but they were a bit over my budget, so I bought the Suburban because it was a lot cheaper.