I’m seeking advice from anyone who has experience with Chevrolet Suburbans. I have my eye on a Chevrolet Suburban XLT. It has about 100K miles on it. It’s a 2007. It’s in very good overall condition. It’s a 4x4. They’re asking $20K, but I’m expecting to pay about $18K. I won’t be financing the car.
The car will be driven 7-8K miles a year. Short in town trips, and a few longer road trips and camping. We will do occasional towing. We need a vehicle that can handle sloppy roads and that has higher clearance.
My questions are:
-how reliable is a Suburban this old?
-any particular issues with Suburbans that I should be looking for?
-mileage seems low for a car this age, but is the Suburban a car that starts having issues after 100k?
I agree. I got a 2005 Dodge Dakota with 4000 miles for $16k back in 2006.
According to Kelley’s Blue Book, that quote is appropriate for a totally super-tricked out model with every accessory and extra, and in “Excellent” condition.
Which is unlikely in the extreme for a 9 year old vehicle with 100,000 miles on it.
My daughter paid about half that for a 2008 Tahoe, a shorter version of the Suburban. And it has 20,000 fewer miles. The highest price for any 2007 Suburbans on my local Craigslist is $11,000, it has 120,000 mile but is listed with a new engine and transmission. Run, don’t walk from that.
I don’t know, the price seemed high to me, too, but looking at cars.com it seems to be pretty close to what the market for Suburbans is around my parts.
There are 127 2006-2008 Suburbans within 200 miles of my zip code. About a third of those have 150k miles or more and about a half dozen are 200K+ and even those are in the $9k-$11k range. The ones with about 100K miles are priced between $17k-$22K with a couple exceptions down around $14k.
I’m not very familiar with Suburbans but there seems to be a reason why people are willing to pay that much for a decade old vehicle with that many miles. They cost a lot to begin with and are one of the few options if you need a freaking huge truck. If they are known to be reliable then there you are. I’d recommend the OP check out some Suburban owner message boards and see how other owners feel about reliability.
A 2016 Suburban is going to be a lot closer to $75K than $20K.
$20K seems to be pretty much the going rate for a ca. 2007 in the Bay Area; it wouldn’t be out of line for a similar model here in the Midwest either.
OP: the Suburbans tend to be expensive to repair, and are only so-so on reliability. Does the seller have repair records? Oil consumption has been a big problem in some of the mid-oughts engines, particularly the 5.3 V8s, and of course your fuel economy is going to be abysmal on anything that big, even worse with a 4x4, but I imagine you know that going in.
I would not be particularly concerned about the mileage being low, because a lot of these are used not as daily drivers but only for weekend towing (the boat to the lake, the horse trailer to the show, etc.).
Well you aren’t going to finance it, so you can blow your money any way you want. But for that price I would like to see some serious maintenance history. And I would just buy a C-5 Corvette, but that is just me.
New shocks? Because if they are still stock you need to replace them. How about the rest of the suspension? Has it been rebuilt? It probably needs to be. Exhaust condition? U-joints replaced? These are some of the expensive things that go out on trucks at about that mileage.
How has the engine been maintained? Any records? If not they may have cleared any stored engine codes and you won’t find out until you drive it for awhile.
If they don’t have any records, and if none of the suspension has been upgraded or replaced, offer 10k and walk away if they insist on more the 12K.
Spend your money as you see fit, while thinking about what you might do with that extra 5-8k you just blew.
Yes, yes I could. I don’t want a car. I want an SUV that will haul me and 4-6 other people, 2 dogs, assorted gear, and possibly a trailer around the Pacific Northwest on camping trips, skiing trips, road trips, visits to National Parks, etc.
Good suggestion and thank you for validating the price.
