Diver Joe

Hey everyone, I'm shopping for a new to me Suburban LTZ or other comperable GMC or Caddy. I'm looking at the 08-14 generation and I'm seeing a major price difference between trucks with 100-130k miles and trucks with 150-180k miles. I like the idea of paying cash and upgrading in 3-5 years, but I'm wondering if I'm opening myself to a world of hurt by doing so. I'll of course have my mechanic inspect anything before I buy. I'll probably only put 6-7k miles a year on it as well. At what point do these things start to become major liabilities? I also have a Silverado with a 4.8 and 110k miles that I've been running since 2014 that I bought with 40k miles, that has been a champ with only scheduled maintenance.
Just looking for folks with real world experience with these.

73shark

Welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place.

oldchevy

Welcome from Florida. Just like any vehicle, if you do the regular maintenance on time it will last longer and treat you right. Always try and get a maintenance report from the previous owner if at all possible.

Cusser

Mrs. Cusser needs the larger engine of the Yukon Denali as she tows 2 horses, and there are mountains.

In May 2021 we upgraded from our 2005 Yukon XL Denali (235K miles) to a 2011 Yukon XL Denali with 73K miles. 3 weeks after we purchased it (from private owner) the dashboard cracked (turns out that was a common issue but no recall), so we got a custom mat to cover that. The only thing that went bad was the lift supports that hold the hatch up and those need to be working for the automatic hatch-opening button to lift it. So that's all we had as issues in 1.5 years until Mrs. Cusser met up with a red light runner, and insurance totaled it.

The replacement was a 2014 Yukon Denali XL with 76K, but no issues yet as this is so new to us. This looks absolutely brand-new.

Note: we're in Arizona, all these vehicles were rust free. GM has had the AFM engines (ridiculous idea to shut off some cylinders when not under load, to save a teaspoon of gasoline) since about 2005 but these engines didn't seem to have issues until about 2020-2022. 2008-2014 range is still R134a refrigerant, so that's a good thing compared to the high cost of 1234yf refrigerant.

repairman54

Depends on how things were maintained early in its life. After 100k miles lots of suspension parts are pretty worn and that depends on what roads it was driven on. Smooth warm climate roads or beat up snow / freeze area roads. Climate is a big factor.

davidjohn

welcome on board and if you want to to get used one then have to know about the previous history of the car.