grenade252

I'm looking for a new vehicle to replace my jeep and would really like a tahoe. I found this one I'm thinking about buying but wanted to get some opinions on it first. It's 3 hours away so I can't drive it, the dealer says everything is good but who knows.

It's a 2003 LT, 4x4 with 113,000 miles for $7800 plus taxes, etc. Miles are a bit higher than I'm looking for but if it's good I can live with it.

It has a lot of after market parts. They are; black American Racing rims, Nitto terra grappler tires(look new), dual exhaust, k&n intake, pioneer touch screen stereo, amp, sub, back dvd player that I think is aftermarket.

Here are a few pics.






Each front door has that black square by the handle, any ideas what it is?

oldchevy

Doesn't look bad from what I see. How was it maintained? Are there maintenance records? If it was well maintained then it should be a good truck for quite a while. Oil and filter changes are very important to any vehicle. You have to take it for a test drive and check the records before you buy.

grenade252

I don't know how reliable it is, but I used vincarcheck.com and it only shows 4 odometer readings from 2003-2010, no accidents or anything. Carfax website says 26 records but it's $40, the dealer says carfax available so I'll ask for that if I call again. My jeep says 25 records for whatever reason.

SabrToothSqrl

Even at 3 hours away, you can't test drive it?
I use cars.com and autotrader.com a lot when buying cars.

Put in year/make/model, and you'll get a list of a lot of cars.

grenade252

I guess I should have said it will be difficult to test drive it. I will drive it when I get there but if I'm going that far I would hope to buy it. I got the car fax but my phone is a pos so it's hard to see it right now.

grenade252

Carfax says it's valued $523 below book price because of what's on the report. The only bad thing I saw was in 2006 it was listed as a fleet vehicle and then sold at auction.

mmb617

I know what you're going through as I recently bought an '03 Yukon Denali that was 3 hours away from me. If everything has looked good to this point all you can really do is make the drive to see and drive it in person then decide whether you want to buy it based on that.

Make sure you've already gotten as much information from the seller as you can. I saw tons of pics, had the carfax report and talked to the dealer on the phone about the vehicle before I made the trip. From that phone conversation I learned that the dealer had sold the vehicle new and had just got it back as a trade-in. They had complete service records on it. Everything looked good so all I could do was drive up and look at it.

I made several long trips to look at vehicles that turned out to not meet my expectations when I saw them in person. Just because you drive a long way, don't settle if it's not what you really want when you get there.

As soon as I pulled into the lot and saw the Yukon I bought sitting right up front I knew I'd buy it unless I found a problem on the inspection/test drive. It was head and shoulders nicer than any other I'd looked at.

I was starting to get a little discouraged because I saw so much junk in my price range ($10k), but eventually you can find a nice one if you're persistent.

Good Luck!

{tpc}

When I bought mine, I had a similar experience, mine was 2 hours away. I would say go with your gut after you see it in person and drive it, but also don't be surprised if your gut fails you. Especially if this is the only one you have seen.

When I bought my 07, there were plenty of concerns I had, and despite preparing to do the deal on day one, I went with my gut and walked. It was only after another week of looking and driving other vehicles that I really knew the first one was best of what I had seen. And I even looked at newer lower mileage units than the one I actually bought.

So before I went for the second look, I emailed the dealer and listed out everything I wanted taken care of. Most was pretty minor stuff. But there was about 10 different things. They said they would do it, and do it for the price I wanted and gave me the price I needed on my trade. So I went back and got that one.

Sure there are things that have needed to be done, so don't be surprised if you have to sink more money in it, but thats just how it is with older used vehicles.

I do suggest looking at everything in or out of the year and price range as you can thats close. If you can, also drive some of them. Test out the 4wd system, etc. Crawl under them....if you have a code reader for your phone check for any pending stuff. This will give you the best shot at feeling right about this one imo, after you have driven 3 hours. And if its not right...walk away, there are other vehicles out there.

grenade252

I'm going there early tomorrow if they don't sell it today, Going to call when they open and ask them to hold it today. They say no rust because it's a local inland truck but I plan to check everything. All the tahoes around here have 130k+ miles for Atleast 9k.

{tpc}

My main concerns would be leaking around the axles and differentials in front and back, and that you can get it in and out of 4wd and while in, it doesn't sound funny or grind or something. Mine had bad CV joints when I got it. Not terribly bad, but the boots had started to tear. Not ever owning a vehicle like this, I never noticed (maybe they cleaned it before I got there).

That said, I have brand new front axles/CVJ sitting in my closet. I know given the tools I can do the job. Its the tool aspect that holds me back. (and crappy weather right now) Then again, they weren't that bad because I've put 20k on the truck and have yet to replace them.

One side of mine has developed a small leak in one of the front diff seals (the part that bolts to the axle). That seems a little more difficult to fix, only because I have watched all the videos on it, and I get that feeling that what looks so easy on there, won't be so easy for me. So I've topped off the front diff, just so I know it won't run dry. This will get done when I do the axles, whether or not I do them or someone else.

Anyways, just a little real world for ya, maybe it will help you notice something. If it is at a dealer, don't be afraid to ask them to fix things you find wrong. The worst they can say is no.