What made you go with an SUV over a Truck?

[D is for DENALI]

Large family with dogs...

Had a toyota limited awd minivan that had a tow setup, but when we dragged our camper or boat it would get like 7 mpg and could never cruise because it was always going from drive to overdrive constantly, especially in not ideal conditions..awd was great as was the toyota, but couldn't tow for squat... that's really why I'm driving the denali. Towing and roadtrips, inside space is paramount when traveling 7+ hours with 3 kids under 13 and 2 dogs.

I sold the minivan for 7k, and I'm 5k into the denali so far, but when it's done(intake,exhaust,tune), I'll be back at 7k into it but have a beast of a truck instead of a Minivan... wife feels safe driving a bigger beefier vehicle, makes her feel safer, and likes the extra 125 hp too, it's the most powerful motor we've ever had (been a toyota guy my whole driving life until now) and it gets the same mpg on ythe highway as the minivan, no brainer...

Edited to add: after lurking this forum doing research and problem fixes, I came to the realization that I could work on almost 100% of the truck myself, not the case for Toyotas. Made me feel good knowing I'm not a mechanic but did a major overhaul tune up myself...minus a a.c. service done by the right machines.

 

[Chubbs]

Was wanting to buy a used pickup (with lockable bed cover) to haul my tools but I found that NBS '00-06 ish are priced at least $1,000 higher than my cash price limit while Tahoe/Yukon same body style are priced within my cash price range. Couldn't believe sellers are wanting anywhere between $6k all the way up to $9k for 10-15 year old pickup with 150k-200k miles. Here in DFW you can buy any used T/Y of your choice/trim for about $2,000 less than the most basic CK pickup. Asking prices for HD and diesel models START @ $8,000 and go to nearly $20K for NBS with any mileage. Those guys are ridiculous

 

[corvette744]

wondering what other people have come up with to choose a GM SUV over a truck.

Let's hear it...

I had my 2012 crew cab for 4 yrs and only got a tahoe because i had to have the rear seat removed for the dog crate.So i basically was driving around for 4 yrs in a reg cab truck screw that.If you look thru the rear window you can see how big the crate is-now crate is in and i can sit people in the back more useful room.You can see i liked those rims-i had to buy new ones exactly the same and put them on the tahoe.

 

[its123am]

My daily driver since 2005 was a 2005 crew dually duramax. After I left carpentry, driving the truck 24/7 was a pain. It's so damn big. So hello 2000 Escalade! Makes life just that much more awesome and parking easier

 

[bjurkovski]

My wife


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jiggie]

I got my 99 obs gmc suburban because it was super cheep, had room for the family and everything else. It was rust free and pretty well taken care of. I added the 3rd row from a parts vehicle i got so i made my sle 6 passenger in to a 9 passenger sle. After fridays repairs i will be in to it for about 2500 including the cost of the vehicle. Only thing i wish I would have done was hold out for a 2500 diesel. It is also my first big vehicle ive ever owned. Love it and will keep dumping money in to it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Riki7s]

Had many trucks my buddies and I pulled drag boats/cars/ski racing for years. Just think of them as workhorses. But we bagged our dullays built the 454's and even put a large aluminum wing on top of one of my Last ones. Retired so still wanted a cool large guy type vehicle I could fix up and this Tahoe came along before retiring (was dealership service then sales mgr) Just about through going completely through it.

 

[dantheman]

Wife and i at the time needed more covered storage than uncovered storage and we both loved the tahoes/yukons. These days im wishing we got a truck though. Im hauling a lot of bigger/dirtier stuff around getting ready to do an LS swap in a mustang and im not enjoying putting the stuff in the tahoe. its only got 82k miles, trying to keep it as nice as possible.

 

[6speedblazer]

it was time to step up to a full size from my 5.3 swapped Zr2 s10. family was growing and needed at least a crew cab.

we tow a decent amount and wanted at LEAST a 6.0, as the 5.3 zr2 struggled to tow the side by side.

the burbans and yukons were going for a lot less money and had lower miles. I picked my 05 xl denali up for about 6k cheaper than any truck i could find locally.

 

[ScottyBoy]

I had been wanting a Silverado for many years, ever since the 99 body style came out actually. All I had ever owned previously was cars, I had never actually owned a truck. I had a 1987 G-Body Cutlass, and a 1989 Jaguar XJ6 that both ended up getting flooded in hurricane Katrina. So we were down to just my wife's 2005 Altima (which we had JUST bought a few months before Katrina). I needed a new vehicle so I began searching for a Crew cab Silverado. This was in December 3005 that I began searching, and I quickly realized that even VERY well used crew cab trucks were out of my price range. I considered an extended cab, but we had a newborn baby and the rear facing car seat would NOT fit in the rear of an ExCab unless I had the front seat moved ALL the way forward as far as it would go. My wife and I BOTH agreed that we definitely needed a crew cab for the extra room. We had one kid, a newborn, and who knows if we might have more kids in the future.
The absolute cheapest crew cabs I could find were over 20k, and most had over (or just under) 100k miles on them too. I did have some money from my flood insurance claim that I was putting towards the truck, but 20k was still out of my budget. Plus I didn't want another note, since we had just bought my wife the Altima a few months earlier. I was paying cash, so I HAD to find something in my budget, which was about 20k all in. So a 20k truck would have easily cost my about 24-25 with TT&L. The salesman at one dealership suggested I look at a Tahoe since they were more in my budget, and they had the interior room that I was looking for, but not the pickup truck bed. I looked at a few Tahoes and Yukons, and I liked the interior room, and I liked the fact that they actually drove better and handled better than an actual pickup. I'm guessing it mainly has to do with the coil spring rear suspension instead of the leaf springs. By this time, I had pretty much settled on a Tahoe, but I couldn't find one that I liked. Most had a LOT of miles, or else the interior was destroyed because it was a soccer mom car and the kids just tore shit up. I came across my Suburban and although I thought I was going to get a Tahoe, I test drove the Suburban just to appease the salesman. But once I actually realized how MORE rear cargo space the Burban actually had, I fell in love. I could remove the third row seat and fold down the rear seats, and I have the same room as an 8ft pickup bed. I can (and I HAVE several times) haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood with the rear hatch door closed. I wanted a pickup, but they were WAY out of my price range, this Burban was WELL under my Max budget, and it fit all of my needs that I was looking for. The only drawback is that I can't haul wet or muddy stuff like you can in a pickup. You can just hose out the bed of a pickup, but not an SUV. I don't plan on hauling muddy cargo so that's not an issue. This Burban didn't have a lot of miles either. It had 52k miles on it, and they were only asking 16k for it. This was in January 2006, so my 2001 model Burban would have only been 5 years old at that time. 16k for a year old Suburban was a damn good deal. The interior and exterior were completely immaculate. It's obvious that the previous owner didn't have any kids riding in the rear seats, because there were no stains, pen or crayon marks, or rips, scratches or tears on anything. Most of the previous Tahoes that I test drove had some sort of kid related wear or damage. The asking price was actually $15,995 and we settled on an even 15k. With a three year extended warranty and all TT&L, I was all in at just over 18k.
Now here we are 12 years later and I still love my Burban and I take great care of it. Most 01 Burbans and Tahoes that I see these days are beat to shit. But I would not hesitate to drive my truck across the country at the drop of a hat. I actually drove it to Florida in March. Over 3600 miles round-trip and it drove beautiful the entire time. I did bring a bunch of tools along though, just in case I had to do an emergency roadside repair. LOL

Cliffs/ TL;DR : Bought my Burban because I wanted a Crew cab Silverado but they were a bit over my budget, so I bought the Suburban because it was a lot cheaper.