looking to buy my first ever GMT800

[HACK BLOCK]

since my family is starting to get bigger with my third child on the way i'm finally in need of something with a 3rd row. so me and the wife agreed on a tahoe/yukon but since this is my first time ever looking to buy 1 or even own an american car in general i have lots of questions. i'm buying this car as a family car for the fall/winter so about the next 6 months, after that ill buy a brand new car and i'm not sure if ill sell it after or keep it

i've always had the mindset that you should buy the newest model possible within your budget. so that puts me in the range of 00-06. i was told by some that that i shouldn't even consider anything older than a 2004. i could find some 07+ but its mostly old taxi/ubers over 200k. so would it be worth it to spend all my money and get a 07+ with that kind of mileage (i always run a carfax and have it inspected) and hope nothing expensive happens or get something older and keep the change to fix anything wrong with it?

right now im looking at 05-06 tahoes and yukons. i prefer the yukon for the bigger engine but like the exterior of the tahoe better. am i beating myself up for only looking at 05-06 or the differences in the years not that big of a deal? couple of car i been looking at are

2005 red z71 with 205k asking $3500 1 owner car

2005 white denali with 165k asking $5300 but says it needs front suspension links and front right axle

2006 black yukon with 223k asking $4900 1 owner car

2009 tahoe lt with 238k asking $7500

couple things i know for sure i want is leather, rear entertainment and rear bench seats instead of rear captains so should i expand my search, just stick with a 2005-2006 , or press my luck with a 07+

 

[HiHoeSilver]

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...g-a-00-06-nbs-tahoe-suburban-look-here.61834/

 

[PNWMuseumman]

One thought, although you may have considered it. with a second row bench, if you leave the carseat on the passenger side of the car as recommended, that means you will have to either have your third row passengers climb of the middle row, or your ingress/egress point is now the 70 side of the 70/30 split. Maybe you don't care about that, but at least for me, that is a little bit of a hassle since the release cable for the back of the seat broke, making things a little tricky. Having only the one baby plus a fur baby (golden retriever) and after having seen how nice the captains chairs are in my in-laws suburban, I would totally go captains chairs. All that being said, now I'm curious what makes you want the bench.

Also, for my money, I wouldn't mess with an 07+ in the price range you look to be in. They just make me a little uncomfortable. That and there seem to be a lot of people on here that comment how they regret swapping their NBS (00-06) for the NNBS(07-14). I don't know if this is them being nastolgic or if the NBS were actually built better, I own two 2002's (a tahoe and a denali) and I freaking love them. Best of luck with your choice!

Also, you came to a great place to have your questions answered, the people on here are extremely knowledgeable and very nice.

 

[HACK BLOCK]

my reasoning for wanting a bench seat is that I already have 2 small kids still in booster car seats and now with a newborn. my plan was to stick the 2 kids in the 3rd row and my wife sit with the newborn on the bench. so with the newborn, I'm gonna be carrying a stroller all over and the kids like to go to the park and ride bikes or scooters. so I figured if I need the trunk space I could either fold up the third row or remove it and could have all 3 sit on the bench together and my wife in front. but if I had the captain chairs and I folded the 3rd row for space that leaves me a 4 seater and there is now 5 of us

 

[HACK BLOCK]

my wife is not a fan of the nbs interior always complaining how old it looks but she loves the nnbs. her way of thinking is if I'm gonna buy a car close to 200k I might as well buy a nnbs

 

[PNWMuseumman]

my reasoning for wanting a bench seat is that I already have 2 small kids still in booster car seats and now with a newborn. my plan was to stick the 2 kids in the 3rd row and my wife sit with the newborn on the bench. so with the newborn, I'm gonna be carrying a stroller all over and the kids like to go to the park and ride bikes or scooters. so I figured if I need the trunk space I could either fold up the third row or remove it and could have all 3 sit on the bench together and my wife in front. but if I had the captain chairs and I folded the 3rd row for space that leaves me a 4 seater and there is now 5 of us

Yeah, it becoming a designated 4 seater without the third row is a bummer.

Have you thought about a suburban? I would really suggest that if you are going to need more space than enough for just the stroller. You may even be hard pressed to get a folded up stroller in the back when the third row is up. I haven't tried it in ours, but I really don't think it would fit. I would've definitely gone that route if I could've gotten one in the garage, but too many toys and tools has my garage space at a premium. Luckily for us, our tahoe doesn't have a third row, or even the mount points to put one in. So when we haul people, we take the wife's car, when we haul stuff, we take mine... But with a suburban... People+Stuff = One Car

Just a thought though.

That's a fair point on the NNBS, I like the nbs interior, but there is a few things that I really love about the NNBS. It's hard to get over that styling, they did some damn good looking things on that restyle.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

my wife is not a fan of the nbs interior always complaining how old it looks but she loves the nnbs. her way of thinking is if I'm gonna buy a car close to 200k I might as well buy a nnbs

I think you are right on target with an 05-6. Find a well maintained one and you are good beyond 200k.

 

[aces-n-eights]

As you know the '07 is the new model year for the NNBS, and personally i would not buy a new model year - too many growing pains. If you want a NNBS i'd look at '09 or newer. I'm quite happy with my '06. I think you're right on track with finding a good '05 or '06.

 

[mizzouguy]

The 05-06 have a few upgrades compared to my 04, but in my opinion ANY 01-06 that has been maintained well is going to be a good vehicle for you. If you expect to carry a lot of luggage/strollers/etc I'd try to find a suburban/yukon xl. There is about 12" behind the third row on my tahoe.
I'd be more interested in say....an 04 with 200k and maintenance records from a chevy dealer its whole life compared to an 06 with 150k that you don't know the history on. Just the normal fluid changes/filters alone if they are all due or overdue can ring up quite a bill. Let alone front end parts and other items that tend to fail between 150-200k.
Don't let a $200 detail fool you. It may look clean but be falling apart underneath. A well maintained vehicle probably wouldnt need an expensive detail right before they sell it unless it was neglected.
Do you expect to tow any? Tow package is a plus. Or just a family hauler?
Even if you don't live where it snows, i'd try to get 4wd. You never know when you may need it, and you don't wanna be stuck in the ditch in the middle of nowhere with 2wd with kids in the truck.
Just my $.02

 

[Rangel]

IMO with 3 kids a Tahoe/Yukon isn't enough room. I'd opt for a suburban/Yukon XL. Still plenty of room in the suburban with the 3rd row.

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