new guy here...buyers guide?

[jrobie79]

new guy here, looking to jump into an 07+ yukon denali (preferable) or an 07+ tahoe.

wondering if there was a buyers guide/checklist floating around on things to check when buying a used one of either of these two cars. I'm semi familiar with the 5.3 in the tahoe as my dad has an 03 suburban with one that has 218k on it, but I'd prefer the 6.2 AWD of the denali. Looking to keep the cost under 22K if possible.

Looking for any tips or things I should walk away from - I'm not afraid to do any of the work myself...I've swapped engines on a couple of my older BMW's and changed clutches and the whole transmission on my 2000 explorer - but I dont want to get into something that is gonna be a major burden like swapping engines/rebuilds/head gaskets, I have an old car for that kind of work.

Hope to learn a lot as I poke around here.

Thanks

 

[Rosko]

I was just in the same position you were. I ended up getting a 2007 denali. I've had previous model Yukons with the 5.3/4spd, as well as a 2007 5.3 suburban a while back.

I wanted more power than what the 5.3 had to offer, but really I probably don't NEED the power. Though the 5.3 is great most of the time, I travel over mountain passes and I just like a little more juice. I also was never really impressed with the 4spd, I like the 6spd so far and the coastability of it is almost as good as the 2wd/4wd selectable transmissions, which is pretty good considering it's AWD. Normally they produce a lot more drag/steal your mpg.

In the short time I've had it, on the flats/rolling hills I'm getting 17mpg + going 65-75mph, but I'm also not gassing it very much when I'm trying to eek out mileage. Overall it will probably get 1-3mpg less than the 5.3 from what I can tell.

I just purchased mine last week, the deciding factor to me was that I could get the denali for about the same price as an SLT or decently equipped model (yukon xl or suburban), so I got the Denali instead. It has a lot more features/things that can go bad and break, but they sure are nice when they work . I think the powertrain is superior too.

That's my two cents.