Buying Used Denali XL?, What pitfalls to avoid?

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GTNator

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It’s always good to test drive any vehicle before purchasing. And yes, I would test drive one of these too for the reasons you mentioned. However, I don’t know how prevalent the booming/buffeting/vibrations are, but probably less than you think. You’ll hear more people get on a forum to talk about problems than you hear about people signing up to talk about how awesome their experiences have been. So it’s probably not as bad as it looks. BUT, there are people who swear that many of them have the buffeting issue; and different people will drive those same trucks and not feel a thing. My hypothesis is that some people are just more sensitive, for some reason. The other thing I’ll say is folks are having fewer and fear problems with the newer ones. GM has learned from each year since 2015 and they’ve improved, tremendously. So if you can swing a 2018/19 that’s best, if not look at 17’s, 16’s etc. but I probably would stay away from 2015’s; but that would be true of the first run of any vehicle. Just my 2 cents


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Jettix2

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Any benefit to getting an early 2015 build (pre Oct 2014) to get the less troublesome 6 speed, to hopefully dodge the bullet on the 8 speed TC issues?

That would scratch that issue off the books, so I’d only have to worry about AC compressors, vibrations, and buffeting sounds? (LOL).



It’s always good to test drive any vehicle before purchasing. And yes, I would test drive one of these too for the reasons you mentioned. However, I don’t know how prevalent the booming/buffeting/vibrations are, but probably less than you think. You’ll hear more people get on a forum to talk about problems than you hear about people signing up to talk about how awesome their experiences have been. So it’s probably not as bad as it looks. BUT, there are people who swear that many of them have the buffeting issue; and different people will drive those same trucks and not feel a thing. My hypothesis is that some people are just more sensitive, for some reason. The other thing I’ll say is folks are having fewer and fear problems with the newer ones. GM has learned from each year since 2015 and they’ve improved, tremendously. So if you can swing a 2018/19 that’s best, if not look at 17’s, 16’s etc. but I probably would stay away from 2015’s; but that would be true of the first run of any vehicle. Just my 2 cents


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Jettix2

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We bought an immaculate 2014 Escalade ESV Luxury to solve our dilemma. Low 30k miles, very clean inside and out. 6.2 L94, proven chassis, remaining factory warranty and GMEPP on the way, etc.

Dealer is delivering it Monday, can’t wait :)
 

Shadow17

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Any benefit to getting an early 2015 build (pre Oct 2014) to get the less troublesome 6 speed, to hopefully dodge the bullet on the 8 speed TC issues?

That would scratch that issue off the books, so I’d only have to worry about AC compressors, vibrations, and buffeting sounds? (LOL).
No. Even with the early tranny issues of the 2015i, I would not buy a 6 speed.
5 and 6 speed tranny’s are like manual windows vs electric.
I could never go back to a 5 or 6 speed.


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Jettix2

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No. Even with the early tranny issues of the 2015i, I would not buy a 6 speed.
5 and 6 speed tranny’s are like manual windows vs electric.
I could never go back to a 5 or 6 speed.


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That’s ok, we ended up with a 6 speed 2014 Escalade (see above 2 posts). :))
 

jlsr

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We had ordered a 2015 Yukon Denali in 2014, took delivery Sep 14. It had 6 speed transmission and was 4WD . We owned it for 1 1/2 yrs and it was trouble free . I loved it but hubby needed a one ton pickup to tow our 5th wheel , so I had to say goodbye to my Denali. At least the truck is a Denali :)
 

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