mrsmoos

We got son a 95 Tahoe w/ 98,000 miles as his first car last year. He will get his license in August so that means Mom has had a chance to drive it a little and I LIKE IT!
SO---I am looking at some newer used Tahoes. I can't-- nor want to afford a new one and really don't care for the looks of the new style. I am thinking an 04 or 05. I have my eye on 2 05's I saw while "shopping online". One is an LT with 37,000 miles on it. Was privately owned and has a Carfax record of having more than $500 damage to it at some point. The dealer who is selling it says the only record of repair they have was to replace BOTH side mirrors. I am assuming the owners went someplace they shouldn't of and damaged the mirrors. I am also assuming that this repair would cost easily more than $500 hence the Carfax. Dealer says it has no damage to the frame etc. They wan't $22800 but I am thinking they would go down more due to the gas prices.[]
The other 05 I am wanting to look at is an LS with cloth interior and 66000 miles on it. It is listed as a corporate vehicle and the dealer selling this one has another one in White from the same business that "downsized". They are asking $16,975.
Both of the vehicles I want to see have Onstar on them which is something I really want.
My questions are: For those of you who have this year Tahoe, at what point did you have problems? If you could buy one of these cars, which one? Is there anything I should know about this model year? I have a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivan right now and it is loaded. But it also has A LOT of problem areas such as the AC--I am on 3rd condenser and 4th compressor right now and summer is approaching![]Along with a Technical Service Bulletin list a mile long on that year T&C. It has all the bells and whistles but the Daimler Chrysler bells and whistles seem to break--A LOT![:-]
So--the lower mileage, all the bells and whistles private owned or the higher mileage basic corporate owned? Or???
Any advice would be appreciated-I want to avoid buying another lemon!

in2pro

Of the 3 Tahoe's/Suburbans I have experiance with a 97' 01 and an 03 the only issues I had with them was Fuel pumps, the 01 Suburban went thru 2. There easy enought to replace but costly.On the 97 witch is not near the same as the 01-06's I had to replace the fuel injectors, popets and regulator at about 110K not bad not diffcult but a little time consuming.
Othere then searching thru this forum to see what other issues people have had that is about the only major one I know of is fuel pumps.

engine2

Private owner would be my choice

73shark

Do you have a CarMax near you? My wife bought an '04 at one with 25K on it and has about 36K now and so far, no problems.

in2pro

I have heard good things about CarMax as far as the quality of thee vehicles, they don't buy crap or sell it but they also don't bargin much either or so I have heard.

engine2

I forgot about them. They do have nice vehicles and the price on the window is the price you pay.

73shark

They also have a buy-back period (about one week), no questions asked. And if your local store doesn't have what you want, you can check on-line and they'll bring one in for a small fee which depends on how far they have to bring it. They seem to have a good business plan.