new burban

[scharmer05]

Well, I finally traded off my 01 suburban yesterday. It had 187,245 miles on it when I dropped her off at the dealer. I put most of the miles on. My dad put on the first 30000 before I got it. What a great vehicle. That many miles and nothing but a new fuel pump, tires, and oil changes. (oh and a brief problem with the onstar, but it was warrantied) I traded up to a used 03 loaded with everything but DVD with about 80000 miles on it. I got a decent deal on it and I know the guy who owned it before me and he always takes great care of his vehicles. Its not my favorite color, pewter, but whatev. I'm going to add a few things to it hopefully if a come up with the cash. Different rims, billet grill, chrome rocker panels, and maybe a spoiler on the back or something like that. We'll see. I'll get pics up sometime soon. Everything is melting up here so the roads are a mess, and it will be dirty for the next few weeks, but as soon as I clean her up I'll snap some pics.

Edited April 20, 2006 by scharmer05

[caddycruiser]

Good stuff, and starting out so FRESH at 80k :AH-HA_wink:

We had our '02 Avalanche until 27 months and 33k miles, and now are at 22 months and 31k miles on the '04 Suburban.

The Suburban has had quite a few more issues than the Avalanche ever did, particularly build quality bugs, but has been doing fine for a while now.

I'm curious...at 187k miles, how did it "feel"? I'm mainly asking about did it feel a lot looser and have several rattles/creaks, etc.?

I can't imagine my mother having this truck much past 100k, but we'll see. She already said she wants a new one (actually is now bored with the '04 after seeing her first '07 Tahoe on the road), but has some budgetary constraints and is going to try and keep this one until it's actually paid off.

I'm just hoping it doesn't starting falling apart at 36,001 miles....

[scharmer05]

yeah well i had to start off with a used one becuase I am actually paying for this one, whereas my old one was just my dad's hand me down. I thought maybe I would be getting his 04 silverado this comming summer, but he says he is just going to make it a farm truck, so whatever i guess...i needed something with less miles that was in my price range, so an 03 with 80000 is where it ended up being. I'm not scared of starting with a few miles especially if this one gets me to a 180000+ also.

As for the 01, it was still in pretty good shape after that many miles. I hit a deer with it once and broke something behind the bumper, so the bumper began to droop after time, but I got that fixed so it was solid again. As for squeaks...the only one that got to me is when i went through a big bump, the back suspension would squeak. And yeah it was starting to feel a little different. It definely needed new springs. the suspension was getting really soft, but I put all new shocks in at like 150000 i guess, so it felt decent after that, but i wasn't going to pay for springs if I was going to get rid of it. Overall, it was a great vehicle, build quality was very good. I hope I am as happy with this second one.

Edited April 7, 2006 by scharmer05

[caddycruiser]

Very good to here, especially in this household

Though 3 out of 4 cars we have is over the 100k mark, I think it still scares my mother, especially since she's never owned a car past the warranty period in the past 10 years.

Just out of curiousity, how much did they give you for the '01?

Also, enjoying the new electronics (steering wheel controls, programmable computer, etc.) on the '03? That's the one thing I definately like more about the '04 vs. our '02...though, somehow, I think the base Delco CD player in the Avalanche sounded better than the 9 speaker "Booze" in the Suburban.

Mom's is at 31k right now, and she just called and told me she had the tires rotated, the driver's mirror is being replaced because it stopped heating up to defog/defrost, and that she also had them put in a new fuel filter and do a fuel system cleaning.

After 2 years and 30k+ miles, the fuel filter wasn't a bad idea, but I just didn't have the heart to tell her the fuel system cleaning was just some stuff in a bottle you can buy at the store...oh well

She does try, at least, to keep it in the best shape possible.

[scharmer05]

Lovin the '03 so far. One thing I really like is the blinkers in the mirrors....I just think they are cool. The other little things are nice too, like the stereo controls on the wheel, and the all the other little things you can program.

The 6 disc is pretty useless to me though cus i just use my ipod and a fm transmitter. I think the bose sounds decent for a factory system, but it won't be in there for long...im kinda an audiophile so something better will be going in there soon.

I think I got a pretty good trade for the 01. I was dealing with this dealer back in October on a white '03, and they offered me like 6500 for my trade, pissed me off. So when I started dealing with them on the one I bought, I dealt with another guy and was just working on a straight out deal, no trade. They told me they wanted 21000 for it and I talked them down to 19500, and then just out of curiousity I asked them how much they thought mine was worth. He came back and said he wanted 10500 to boot if i traded mine in. So like 9 grand in real cash for my 01. I don't know what makes mine worth so much more a few months later. It was a good trade i thought, cus I think I could have maybe sold mine myself for like 10000, but that was a big maybe. Plus I would have paid like 500 more in tax if I had not traded in. But yeah so like 9500 for an 01. It was an LT with everything but a sunroof, I think it was a good deal.

[caddycruiser]

Yeah, that's a great price.

If I were the dealer, I'd probably clean yours up as best as possible and replace/fix what needed to be done and put it on display as a sort of "look how tough they are" kind of thing.

Lots of cars hit 200k+ miles, but not usually in 5 years. Great story!

[scharmer05]

I'm sure that dealer won't have a hard time selling it....im sure I'll drive by the dealer next week and see like 13-14 in the window....that usually how it goes. It was a clean vehicle, never any sheet metal damage, and always well cleaned. Plus, until this last winter, ND didn't use salt on any roads, so no rust showing up either. The only thing that wasn't in the best shape was the back hatch. I pull trailers a lot, so there are a lot of rocks that bounce off the trailer and back at the suburban, so there were a quite a few chips back there. Other than that, the rest of the exterior was in great shape, as well as the interior (since I was usually the only one in it).

I wish I hadn't got so many miles on it, I always liked that vehicle.

[caddycruiser]

Miles don't mean a whole hell of a lot if it's maintained properly and not beat to ever living death.

Our '92 Roadmaster is a beast at 193k, both Fleetwoods are over 100k (mine still feels especially new and tight, in truth), and I know several people with the same cars at 350k+ miles that have had very few parts changed and still honestly run and operate like they're a year old.

If they fully detail it up and replace some parts (like fixing the noisey rear suspension, etc.), I bet they'd have no trouble moving it either.

I sure hope the "bugs" we've had with the '04 are coming to and end, because there's only about 4k left on the warranty...just as it, I think, went in for another fix today.

Great truck, but our '02 Avalanche was built a tad better and didn't have a single issue in the same mileage (and it was, technically, a first model year vehicle).

[scharmer05]

went by the dealer this morning and they had the 01 all cleaned up with 14500!!!!in the window....i hope no one pays that much for it....cus i would sold it to them for 10000 or less...haha

[caddycruiser]

Yeah, even if it were PERFECT in every regard, $14.5k is too much with that many miles. Closer to $10k, I could see, but whoever buys it will probably get it down lower to that anyway.

Now, wonder how long it will take to sell

Similarly, after we traded our '02 Avalanche for the Suburban, I knew they put it right on the used lot without doing a drop of prep work (I made sure it was detailed, as always, before going there to pick up the new truck). Gave us $21,900 and then the salesman told me they had an asking price of $24,995 when I called as a potential buyer out of curiousity.

The cool part was that a guy who lives in the golf course my father works at bought it, so he got to see it still everyday for at least a year after that, and always gave my mom "check-in" reports on what he saw, since it was the most beloved car she ever owned.

[scharmer05]

well, the roads finally shaped up around here, and I got a chance to snap a few pictures of the new suburban while it was somewhat clean, and I also thought that I would add a few of the impala. Well here ya go...

the new suburban

all I've added so far was the spoiler on back and the chrome rocker panels

and here's the impala

I've done quite a bit to this car appearance wise, new rims, a spoiler off an SS impala, dual magnaflow exhaust, a slp grill, and 50% tint all the way around. I think it looks pretty decent for an impala...I still don't think it is a very attractive car but it was cheap and is practicle

Edited April 20, 2006 by scharmer05

[caddycruiser]

Very nice, I like it. The stick-on chrome rockers aren't my favorite, but the Pewter color pretty much hides them. I really like the rear spoiler and factory flares, though--wish ours had the flares.

And cool Impala--nice exhaust work

[Ravenfreak13]

one suggestion...get some chrome nuts to replace those black ones in the wheels.

[scharmer05]

hopefully getting new rims to go along with those chrome lug nuts

[caddycruiser]

one suggestion...get some chrome nuts to replace those black ones in the wheels.

Can't exactly do that...those black nuts you see are just "fakes" holding the center cap on. The real lugs are underneath.