Looking to buy 1st Tahoe or Tahoe and have some questions

[steve45]

Those cracks look too uniform to me to not have been made that way. However, I just went and looked at my 2009 Tahoe and it does NOT have them. The exhaust manifold bolts on these engines are notorious for breaking, too.

I've had 4 Suburbans and 2 Tahoes. The Tahoes are much easier to park, but for highway driving the extra wheelbase and the slower steering gear of the Suburban makes them much more enjoyable to drive. The Tahoe steering is just too light, too touchy. They want to wander much more than the Suburban, and I don't think it would be as good for towing a boat. The extra storage capacity of the Sub makes it ideal for all the extra stuff you need when you go boating.

By the way, I paid $22,000 for my '09 Tahoe about 3.5 years ago. It had 92,000 miles at the time. I think it has about 145K now, it's my wife's car. I've put tires, a battery, new headlights, and a rear bumper cover on it. (I'm going to give up on the rear bumper--it's been hit THREE times since I replaced it a couple of years ago). The outside mirrors are another weak point. They will fail eventually and they're ridiculously expensive if you buy from the dealer. Here's a link to an aftermarket upgrade: http://www.gruvenparts.com/gruvenpa...-2007-2014-gm-trucks-folding-mirror-assembly/

Good luck in your search!

 

[jatkinson8755]

These are really nice trucks. I think that manifold is cracked, but maybe send us a better picture of it. They do crack from heat, especially if overtightened.

FYI, this is a good resource for all GM truck owners :

http://www.gruvenparts.com/shop-by-car/gm-truck

Lots of improved replacement parts here for GM trucks that you otherwise would need to buy entire assemblies from GM.

Just an FYI to help out the forum members

 

[sanco]

nice thing about these trucks is that they are usually pretty solid. I owned a former police 2007 SSV tahoe that i bought at 90k and sold at 130k, still ran just as good as the day i bought it. I currently own a 12 Z71. From owning both i would definitely go with the 6 speed over the 4, i noticed a much smoother acceleration and better overall fuel economy (dont expect much though, you will be somewhere around 12-14 city). I currently have 285-70-17 setup on MTs and i have some rub in certain turning conditions (thats almost a 33" tire). A leveling kit would be an easy fix, a lift kit would be a proper fix.

Police vehicles are going to give you the best bang for the buck, but they also come in with a major risk factor including tons of idle hours. If its your first experience buying a fleet vehicle, it can be fairly risky but this site has solid pointers on what to look out for. My department was terrible at fleet maintenance and we still had tahoes going well into 130k+ range.