1st Gen Sequoia vs GMT800 Suburban Advice

[CrazyDrei]

Even though I am slightly favoring a GMT800 Suburban 1500, you can't go wrong with either the Sequoia or the Suburban/Yukon XL. Sequoia is slightly more reliable until you have to change the water pump and timing chain every 100k and repairs are 3-4 times more expensive than a GMT800 truck, and has much less room, and gets less miles per gallon and can't go as far on a tank.

I built my 2000 Suburban 1500 to comfortable run 250-300 OFF-ROAD mile days with two toddles. I have enough room for 6 adults and 1,000lbs of gear behind the 3rd row. The interior space and volume of the Suburban is unmatched by anything but the Excursion.

If I were in you shoes I would get on Craigslist and search for both Sequoia and Suburban, go look at everyone and take the first one that puts a biggest ear to ear grin on your face, because that is the truck that you will want to take on adventures.

PS: Stay away from a 2500 Suburban, bigger motor is nice, tranny is a little bit better (if you plan on abusing it and trying to destroy it) but the ride quality is that of a paint shaker.

 

[rayra]

Either is suitable for family outings, lots of room, capabilities on par with each other. Neither should be off-roaded to their mechnical limits. And get either really stuck and you'll need a lot of help.

Martin's said all my bits about how swell the GMT800s are for capacity etc.

Cost of ownership, low cost of repairs - especially if you can turn wrenches yourself - hands down goes to GM. Parts availability and low prices are at their optimum right now, have been for years with likely several more years to go. Just go to rockauto.com and compare parts prices.

See the links in my sig for a lot of info on issues and repairs on GMT800s

 

[calicamper]

So we almost were ready to cut a check/deal tonight on a 2019 Yukon Denali. Except because we don’t own nor have ever owned a GM vehicle the near invoice priced deal “wasn’t” available to us. So another words new customers interested in switching brands must pay upwards of $16,000 to join the GM club? Wife and I laughed at the sales guy and walked a way. Dumbest thing I have ever seen a company do is turn new customers away that are leaving a competitor/ brand.

Seriously we had a the checkbook and were ready to buy but I ever pay more for something just because I’m new to the brand. Seriously GMC might have just lost a new customer.. I’m going back to the drawing board to look at other brands again and will call around if all GMC Dealers operate this way Ffem!! I’ll go buy something else and stay a zero GM owner the rest of my life.

Crazy stupid sales tactic

 

[hbabler]

I would definitely talk to another dealer that’s some serious stupidity there.

 

[Overlandtowater]

I will put in my 2cents...the Seq. was what I was going after to start out but I bought the sub. mainly because of the price diff......with that in mind the seq. has two big flaws lower ball joints~ when they fail its can be catastrophic for who ever is in the cab and the water/timing issues for the Sub. the two major flaws is the trans they say and the knock sensors under the intake..

 

[Frogprince]

So we almost were ready to cut a check/deal tonight on a 2019 Yukon Denali. Except because we don’t own nor have ever owned a GM vehicle the near invoice priced deal “wasn’t” available to us. So another words new customers interested in switching brands must pay upwards of $16,000 to join the GM club? Wife and I laughed at the sales guy and walked a way. Dumbest thing I have ever seen a company do is turn new customers away that are leaving a competitor/ brand.

Seriously we had a the checkbook and were ready to buy but I ever pay more for something just because I’m new to the brand. Seriously GMC might have just lost a new customer.. I’m going back to the drawing board to look at other brands again and will call around if all GMC Dealers operate this way Ffem!! I’ll go buy something else and stay a zero GM owner the rest of my life.

Crazy stupid sales tactic

Some dealers attempt to get you that way. Sad but there is another person behind you that will pay sticker or above for a vehicle.

Some of the best advice I have seen recently is deal with the price portion in email. They should come down if they want a sale. Car sales are suffering and a new Denali is an expensive purchase and they don't want them sitting on the lot to long.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

So we almost were ready to cut a check/deal tonight on a 2019 Yukon Denali. Except because we don’t own nor have ever owned a GM vehicle the near invoice priced deal “wasn’t” available to us. So another words new customers interested in switching brands must pay upwards of $16,000 to join the GM club? Wife and I laughed at the sales guy and walked a way. Dumbest thing I have ever seen a company do is turn new customers away that are leaving a competitor/ brand.

Seriously we had a the checkbook and were ready to buy but I ever pay more for something just because I’m new to the brand. Seriously GMC might have just lost a new customer.. I’m going back to the drawing board to look at other brands again and will call around if all GMC Dealers operate this way Ffem!! I’ll go buy something else and stay a zero GM owner the rest of my life.

Crazy stupid sales tactic

What does you shopping for a new GM have to do with the topic in question??

 

[phsycle]

Family of 4, 2 dogs. This would be a no-brainer for me. Suburban. I'm a fan of Toyota SUV's, but in this scenario, doesn't make sense. I like the GM 5.3 V8 over the Toyota 4.7. Toyota was a bit of a dog towing and doing some high-elevation passes. And MPG, atrocious.

Room, power, aftermarket support, price---I'd pick GMT800.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Family of 4, 2 dogs. This would be a no-brainer for me. Suburban. I'm a fan of Toyota SUV's, but in this scenario, doesn't make sense. I like the GM 5.3 V8 over the Toyota 4.7. Toyota was a bit of a dog towing and doing some high-elevation passes. And MPG, atrocious.

Room, power, aftermarket support, price---I'd pick GMT800.

Now only if they had put a 5.7 in them before they went to IRS the Sequoia would be a decent contender, but such is life.

 

[calicamper]

Family of 4, 2 dogs. This would be a no-brainer for me. Suburban. I'm a fan of Toyota SUV's, but in this scenario, doesn't make sense. I like the GM 5.3 V8 over the Toyota 4.7. Toyota was a bit of a dog towing and doing some high-elevation passes. And MPG, atrocious.

Room, power, aftermarket support, price---I'd pick GMT800.

Agreed my 06 Sequoia is pretty good but honestly the GM options have strong positives to be heavily considered.

 

[calicamper]

What does you shopping for a new GM have to do with the topic in question??

Dealers suck buy used from private owners!!!

 

[Martinjmpr]

The last year for the GMT800 Suburban was 06 and the last year for the 1st gen Sequoia was 07 so you're talking about a vehicle that is a minimum of 12 model years old and likely well over 130k miles (average annual miles in the US on most vehicles is around 11,000 - 13,000) so I think that realistically if you buy a vehicle that old you should plan on having to put some work into it to keep it running. IMO the Burb holds an advantage here because while repairs are likely necessary, parts are usually less expensive. Junkyard parts are also likely more available on a domestic truck.

I don't know if the Sequoia is like this but I know on the 4runner, the motor for the 4wd actuator was INSIDE the T-case so if it failed, it required removal and reinstallation of the T-case at a cost of ~$2500. On the GMT-800, the encoder motor is on the outside and can be removed in a driveway, and a replacement is about $200 on Amazon.

I think the biggest factor in favor of the GMT800 is that Sequoia's still seem to command crazy stupid prices on the used market - like $12k for a 150,000 mile Sequoia. To me that's nuts when you can get into a Suburban for half that much and have more left over for any necessary repairs.

 

[Overlandtowater]

.

I think the biggest factor in favor of the GMT800 is that Sequoia's still seem to command crazy stupid prices on the used market - like $12k for a 150,000 mile Sequoia. To me that's nuts when you can get into a Suburban for half that much and have more left over for any necessary repairs.

And I was going to spend that much I would search out a 100 series over the Sequoia IMO.

 

[Frogprince]

There are two K2500 GMT 400 with the BB down in Cali coming up on Copart today.

https://www.copart.com/lot/45267309

https://www.copart.com/lot/45786269

Good cheap way to get into a Overlanding rig.

 

[calicamper]

And I was going to spend that much I would search out a 100 series over the Sequoia IMO.

Local single owner 07 sequoia with 138,000 all major service up todate recently sold for $9800 in one day via closed private online parents group.
Sequoias the first gens don’t sell for much more than 10k now. Unless your looking for rare hardly used unicorns. My 06 isn’t worth 9k. Maybe 8k

Clean 100’s 100% working with all major service up to date in the 99-2006’s run high teens to 30k.