what's the price point on the one your looking at? haven't seen too many used ones priced where it made sense to buy used over new. RSE is nice, but no so much if the screens are cracked...I mean, how did that happen - to both of them? if it has RSE then it should have a native NAV system meaning there should be a SD card reader (see below)
does it have a sunroof?...if it does, has it ever leaked/trapped water? the 21's were notorious about it as there was a TSB on fixing it.
I'd ask which dealer they used for service and with the VIN call/go by the dealer and get a copy of the service records on it. that should show all the possible work that's been done.
from a lifter perspective, the general rule of thumb was that they'd fail early on, once you got past 20k+ miles, maybe it's not 100% in the clear, but it seems fewer failures were occurring later on (someone can/will correct me if that's not the case).
we had a 21 AT4 (5.3) with a laundry list of issues, put a bunch of miles on it and got lucky getting out from under it. I wouldn't view our experience as typical though...items in bold are things I could see possibly being an issue on any 21 with these options at some point
- rear axle module replaced
- airbag light recall
- water trapped in sunroof (this took about 5 months to fix)
- radio screen went out...believe this was an update issue they had to push
- idler pulley went out
- SD card removed message randomly comes on (tried to diagnose this and even after replacing the SD card slot - message still comes on several times a week) -
- blue tooth speaker(s) has a reverb to it when talking on the phone - its the audio coming in which is odd...to the point its relatively useless now...dealer said they'd have to take the dash off to truly diagnose (think its a cable or something?) - we decided we'd pass on that remedy as we are going to just get out from under it
- auto steps motor went out
we traded down a trim level to get away from the additional tech...
if it's a good buy and it seems most of the wrinkles have already been worked out, then it will probably serve you well
Thank you so much for this detailed reply - extremely helpful.
I'm nowhere near being able to afford a new one as much as I'd like to. The one I'm considering I can get for slightly over $50k. I know it needs new tires right away and I'll likely want to replace the screens in the back (note: they still function properly but the screen is cracked). Owner had a friend helping her load furniture when this happened.
- Great tip on the navigation/SD card - DONT REMOVE THE CARD!!!
- It does have a sunroof although I'm not aware of any prior water damage. I will definitely investigate further and I had plans to contact the previous dealers ID'd on the Carfax to see what specific things had been done - another great suggestion.
Where do I need to visibly inspect on the sunroof to see if it has the water trapping issue?
- fixed running boards on this one
From what I can tell, I think I'm looking at a very solid deal. The truck is very clean inside and out, clean carfax, rides/drives well, zero rust, and still has powertrain warranty for 15k more miles. Current owner has had it almost a year and put 20k highway miles on it with no issues. Once I investigate a little further, I think I'll have a better idea if most of the wrinkles have been worked out already, as you say!
Last question: if I reach out to dealership(s) that have worked on it and there hasn't been much done in terms of fixing things and/or recalls, would you take that as a sign that it's a good one, or a red flag that issues are likely to come soon?
. The only picture I have is 3.1MB and I can't figure out how to shrink down the size......page won't let me upload at 3.1MB apparently.
