good evening everyone!
i live in south florida with my husband & 2 teenage sons. i've gone from
2-door sports cars, to european sedans & i'm quite happy to say i now drive a 2005 suburban z71. it holds all our stuff- for fishing, shooting, shopping, whatever. drives like a dream, really comfy & people get out of my way.
queen mary is getting a little up there in miles- 137k- & dh thinks its time for me to get something new. 17y/o needs a truck, too & 22y/o's truck is older than mine. dh drives a 2007 escalade, which he is trying to foist over on me.
it drives like a bubble, only think i like is the acceleration.
i love the way my suburban drives, i can feel the road, i'm sitting higher than most, it can tow the boat without too much fuss & we never worry its going to slide off the ramp into the water.
did the z71 become the ltz? what is the 2013-4 approximation of the 2005 i'm currently driving? i'm not a fan of the 2015.
since these are daily driving cars, at least 30-80 miles/day, could both myself & my son- drives '03 tahoe, 148k miles- keep our trucks going without breaking the bank? the boys fix some things on the trucks themselves but not bigger, more "serious" repairs. the vehicle issue is looming large in our home these days!
also- sometimes when i turn the wheel- either way- or go over rough road or tracks, it feels sort of like the whole thing is going sideways a bit, like a crab. kind of makes me worry a bit that the whole underside is going to blow out or something.
sorry my first post was so long!
thank you for any thoughts or ideas!

 

Welcome to the forum....
The Z-71 is a suspension package and the LTZ is a trim level package. the Z-71 was generally always 4x4 where as the LTZ may not always be that...
Its all about selling you options....
I would suggest the 2010 and up as a lot of bugs were worked out from the 2007 and up....

 

Yes the Z71 used to be the top of the range.

in 2007, the Z71 split into the off road package

and LTZ is now the luxury model.

 

In regards to vehicle longevity and cost - My '01 Burb just rolled 200k miles. The good news is the engine, transmission and transfer case still run perfectly. A few of the highlights of more expensive repairs I've done (I have more money than time, so I pay a mechanic for all of my repairs):-

Front hubs/bearings are a single assembly and expensive.
Exhaust manifold gasket leaks - expensive
Fuel pump - expensive, because you have to drop the tank
A/C condenser, clutch and tensioner - expensive if you don't do it all at once
The self-leveling rear shocks on the ZW7 suspension are expensive (~$300 each)

I'm a perfectionist, so I won't let a problem slide - I get it fixed. I probably spent about $3k in repairs over the last 5-6 years on it. But she's dead-nuts reliable. I wouldn't hesitate to load up the family and drive across the country.

If the fuel pumps on the '05 and '03 haven't died yet, they will soon. That much you can count on. I believe the repair cost me about $800.

 

My 2013 Tahoe has RPM fluctuations when driving at a constant speed/RPM, any where from 40 MPH to 70 MPH . If may raise the RPM 2-3 hundred, but will jump to 1000 if i let it continue. I've had it at the dealers 3 times. The problem is very intermittent, in that it may happen once a day for 2 days ten not again for 1 week or 2. I have just realized that if I break during the mis-fuction the fluctuations seems to stop.
garth