New Addition to the driveway

Somedays you just have to say, WTF ? Right?
Well that someday was Sunday... and pulled the trigger on a low mile Suburban.
'04 with 48k original miles.
1 owner. 1 guy drove the beast and garaged it as his weekend get away machine.
The interior has never had anyone that sat in the rear seats. Original stickers still on the rear carpet, seat backs and keyway for spare release.
Undercarriage is phenominal with no rust other than on the bushing bolts that can be sanded or replaced. Fluid film might be the way to go to keep her nice.
Its an LT loaded with most every option but Nav and heater for the block.
Just need to fix a small 5 " crease in the tail gate.

I need a real opinion here on what the reliabilty is of these trucks? I searched this one out at a good distance and pulled the trigger simply because of condition, miles and options.
Gas miles wont be good except on highway but with that comes the comfort and size to move the family.

My wife said its like a presidential motorcade truck..
I think its pretty kick ass....

And yes, the dealer plate on the front is comming off once I get the thing registered . That was the first shot after I got it home.;
Ya.. i said the same thing, this was at a KIA dealer?? WTF... right?

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Sweet ride, dude! You never find those that kids haven't trashed or with low miles!

You can't get much more reliable than one of those series gm trucks, either. Score!

So which one are you?

Nice! So can you take that and shuttle me around in the second row seat like I'm a diplomat or something?

That is a great truck. You can't go wrong with them. They have their issues like any other vehicle, but put that against any other full size truck and it will be cheaper to fix. And they have fewer issues anyway.

Problem areas include:

Rear hatch window hinges break. Requires glass replacement. I just had mine done, insurance covered it.
Rear quarters get rot at high miles in the lower parts like the dogleg, but you're so early on in it's useful life it will likely never be an issue, just squirt fluid film up the drains into the quarters and stuff.
Stepper motors and bulbs in the instrument cluster
Sometimes the 5.3s have an issue with cracking in the bolt area for the alum. heads, I forget what years.
Window regulators
Seat wear if leather
Bumper rot. Always spray out the inside of the bumpers, esp. the rear side of the rear bumper. You're still early on to save it.
Rear spare tire carrier gets frozen, you need to work it every so often to make sure it's not stuck. There is a safety catch hook on the 03 and newer that causes an issue, you can hack it off if it's a problem.
Uhmmmm...

I'm really picking things apart I think you will have a good experience with that. I like that it has the newer black border taillights, I like them so much better than the early ones.

The tailgate is actually an aluminum panel on at least the outer skin if not the whole shell, so that may or may not be an issue for the repair, I'm not a body guy though. The aluminum corrodes sort of with a white chalky consistency and makes the paint bubble on the hatch around the lock button, wiper arm, etc. Frequent spray washing in the winter will keep that thing nice.

You can't go wrong with one of these that has been taken care of, it will be a good rig

Matt Trakker wrote:

Nice! So can you take that and shuttle me around in the second row seat like I'm a diplomat or something?

That is a great truck. You can't go wrong with them. They have their issues like any other vehicle, but put that against any other full size truck and it will be cheaper to fix. And they have fewer issues anyway.

Problem areas include:

Rear hatch window hinges break. Requires glass replacement. I just had mine done, insurance covered it.
Rear quarters get rot at high miles in the lower parts like the dogleg, but you're so early on in it's useful life it will likely never be an issue, just squirt fluid film up the drains into the quarters and stuff.
Stepper motors and bulbs in the instrument cluster
Sometimes the 5.3s have an issue with cracking in the bolt area for the alum. heads, I forget what years.
Window regulators
Seat wear if leather
Bumper rot. Always spray out the inside of the bumpers, esp. the rear side of the rear bumper. You're still early on to save it.
Rear spare tire carrier gets frozen, you need to work it every so often to make sure it's not stuck. There is a safety catch hook on the 03 and newer that causes an issue, you can hack it off if it's a problem.
Uhmmmm...

I'm really picking things apart I think you will have a good experience with that. I like that it has the newer black border taillights, I like them so much better than the early ones.

The tailgate is actually an aluminum panel on at least the outer skin if not the whole shell, so that may or may not be an issue for the repair, I'm not a body guy though. The aluminum corrodes sort of with a white chalky consistency and makes the paint bubble on the hatch around the lock button, wiper arm, etc. Frequent spray washing in the winter will keep that thing nice.

i had to take a freaking nap after reading all that.

No Moa wrote:

Matt Trakker wrote:

Nice! So can you take that and shuttle me around in the second row seat like I'm a diplomat or something?

That is a great truck. You can't go wrong with them. They have their issues like any other vehicle, but put that against any other full size truck and it will be cheaper to fix. And they have fewer issues anyway.

Problem areas include:

Rear hatch window hinges break. Requires glass replacement. I just had mine done, insurance covered it.
Rear quarters get rot at high miles in the lower parts like the dogleg, but you're so early on in it's useful life it will likely never be an issue, just squirt fluid film up the drains into the quarters and stuff.
Stepper motors and bulbs in the instrument cluster
Sometimes the 5.3s have an issue with cracking in the bolt area for the alum. heads, I forget what years.
Window regulators
Seat wear if leather
Bumper rot. Always spray out the inside of the bumpers, esp. the rear side of the rear bumper. You're still early on to save it.
Rear spare tire carrier gets frozen, you need to work it every so often to make sure it's not stuck. There is a safety catch hook on the 03 and newer that causes an issue, you can hack it off if it's a problem.
Uhmmmm...

I'm really picking things apart I think you will have a good experience with that. I like that it has the newer black border taillights, I like them so much better than the early ones.

The tailgate is actually an aluminum panel on at least the outer skin if not the whole shell, so that may or may not be an issue for the repair, I'm not a body guy though. The aluminum corrodes sort of with a white chalky consistency and makes the paint bubble on the hatch around the lock button, wiper arm, etc. Frequent spray washing in the winter will keep that thing nice.

i had to take a freaking nap after reading all that.

Well if I wrote less, you'd know it was a signal that I was being held hostage or something...

Great replies...appreciate the feedback

Matt- thanks for the info. I do appreciate the long winded response.. it gives me a heads up. I had a feeling that rear glass panel was effin cheap and already instructed wifey to make sure she uses the latch handle and leave that lazy glass panel alone.

Fluid Film.. This truck seems like a perfect candidate for it.
Any place around that does a full undercarriage covering ? Guess it wouldnt be much coin and would be smart to do the whole thing yearly.

Already got a buddy lined up this summer to do the rear gate repair.
Plan on going with Michelin LTX tires to pass inspection. The original tires are still on the truck. And they wont pass Mass Inspection.. Cost was dealer list, so I cant bitch.
Especially with the rating those get. Wont see off road other than dirt roads in Maine on trips to my granpa's cabin.

Glad to hear this was a good buy.
Price was very fair and no loan.. thats key with a gas bill of $120+++ each fill up!

NIce,...

now get rid of the stock muffler,.
open up the intake box a little,.
put a good tune in it,.
Be a nice,.. ride.

Michelin LTX M/S 2 is THE BEST passenger truck tire.