Considering a 2005 Tahoe Z71.

[Kyle Kelso]

If the Pathfinder is too small then get a Suburban! I happily park mine outside

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[ExplorerTom]

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Even then the 'burb is a better tow vehicle due to the longer wheelbase.

My point was if you go with a Tahoe you'll NEED to tow.

 

[rayra]

Final comment and picture: OP, with a spouse and 3 kids, assuming you can put all 3 in the 2nd row (most likely you can), here's what your cargo area would look like in a Suburban:
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View attachment 424308
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A lot of the Z71 Suburbans have the 2nd row buckets. I don't know what they look like folded down so I don't know if they have the same flat load deck. I definitely wanted a 2nd row bench in mine and the lack of a bench in the 2nd row would have been a deal breaker for me. I don't know if it's possible to retrofit a bench to a truck that came with 2nd row buckets - as with anything else, I assume that with enough application of force and/or money anything is possible, but in your situation I would definitely favor a 2nd row bench rather than the bucket setup often found in Z71 and Yukon XL models.

54" behind the erected 2nd row seats. Which happens to be the length of my drawers / platform.

The 2nd row buckets fold the same. You just have a hole in the middle. Which works nice for me. I put my toolbox in that space, where it is least likely to kill me in an accident, when I load mine down for travel on home renovation projects. And with my platform I can put the rest of my tool bags on top of the folded seats and sheet goods will bridge over them from my platform to the up-folded 2nd row seat bottoms.

and yeah, avoid the Denali.

and nearly $7k for a 13yr-old Sub with 200k miles seems steep to me. Maybe not in that area, more in demand there I presume. 2yrs ago I got my '02 with 126k for $6k, here in greater L.A. But finding a 4wd here was tough and they were often thrashed.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

WRT the Tahoe-vs-Suburban issue, I think one reason people avoid Suburbans is the perception that "it's too big!" Too big to fit in a garage, too big to take on a trail, etc.
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While it's true that compared to the current crop of compact and mid-size vehicles the Suburban is "big", it's actually smaller than most full size pickups, and people don't think twice about taking a full size pickup onto a trail or into the city.
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By way of comparison, one of the more common configuration of most full size 4wd pickup trucks is the 4 door cab pickup with the short bed (usually about 5.5' or so.) Comparing the 2004 Silverado Crew Cab to the Suburban reveals that the Suburban is significantly smaller than the Crew Cab pickup, even with the short bed:
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Suburban: 130" wheelbase, 18'3" overall length, curb weight 5549, turning radius 43.7'
Crew cab short bed pickup: 143" wheelbase, 19' 2" overall length, curb weight 5117, turning radius 47.3'
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So while the Suburban is "big" compared to the Tahoe, it's not too big for the street or the trail. And at 18' 3" OAL it will fit in most garages while many pickups will not.

My daily driver is a Mazda 3, the Yukon stays home and gets driven by my wife and she says it drives more car like than she thought it would when we bought it, if my wife can do it anyone can!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

My point was if you go with a Tahoe you'll NEED to tow.

ExplorerTom was saying that if you get a Tahoe and want to take a trip you would need to tow a trailer or use a hitch rack due to lack of space.

 

[03tahoe]

As someone who has a Tahoe with two kids all this makes me think the a Suburban/Yukon XL would have been better now. So far we are making the Tahoe work. For extra space we use a large roof box. The Tahoe we have has the front bench seat and a 60/40 middle bench. That helps so we can still seat six without putting in the third row. If it wasn't for that I think we would have gone with a Suburban/Yukon XL from the start. Either way the GMT800 Tahoe/Suburban is a great platform for family overloading.

 

[mnutz]

We're getting by okay camping out of the Xterra now. The last couple trips our 16 year old daughter chose not to go, and I think that will continue. She is pretty firm in her "urban" phase right now. The X has 240k on it and still runs strong, but for longer trips I'd like something a bit bigger and lower miles. I think we'd probably be fine in a Tahoe, but I am still considering 'burbs.

The 'burbs I see around here are generally more thrashed than the Tahoes. I'm not really up for a fly and drive. I've done that once off Craigslist and it didn't end well. Everything felt really good with the seller, and the vehicle, but I discovered some things later that weren't disclosed. Just soured me on the whole idea, I'd rather buy local now.

Thanks for all the input guys.

I passed on that 05 Z71 in my original post, and I see its sold now. Hope they got a good vehicle.

Today I'm looking at a silver 05 LS Tahoe with 195k. Dealers asking price is $6500, which means they'll sell it for about $5k. :squint:

 

[jeep-N-montero]

We're getting by okay camping out of the Xterra now. The last couple trips our 16 year old daughter chose not to go, and I think that will continue. She is pretty firm in her "urban" phase right now. The X has 240k on it and still runs strong, but for longer trips I'd like something a bit bigger and lower miles. I think we'd probably be fine in a Tahoe, but I am still considering 'burbs.

The 'burbs I see around here are generally more thrashed than the Tahoes. I'm not really up for a fly and drive. I've done that once off Craigslist and it didn't end well. Everything felt really good with the seller, and the vehicle, but I discovered some things later that weren't disclosed. Just soured me on the whole idea, I'd rather buy local now.

Thanks for all the input guys.

I passed on that 05 Z71 in my original post, and I see its sold now. Hope they got a good vehicle.

Today I'm looking at a silver 05 LS Tahoe with 195k. Dealers asking price is $6500, which means they'll sell it for about $5k. :squint:

One of the great things about this forum is that you can post up in the regional forum about a vehicle to be looked at by someone who lives there, makes the fly and drive a bit better knowing someone looked it over.

 

[mccustomize]

I would be more than happy to look at a vehicle for you locally if that is the route you choose.

 

[mnutz]

I would be more than happy to look at a vehicle for you locally if that is the route you choose.

Thanks!

 

[mnutz]

Okay so this 05 Tahoe LS is pretty nice. No rust, but a small patch of bubbled paint starting in front of the passenger rear fender.

Drives great, sounds great. Interior clean and everything works.

Dealer put in a new battery, replaced front wheel bearings and new front shocks. Changed fluids and new rear diff seal.

Service airbag light is on. They're gonna check that out and call me tomorrow.

 

[bald.eagle]

I didn’t realize the Tahoes or Suburban came with a front bench. Is it the truck type bench that has the fold down center console? My front bucket seats are getting worn and I’d like to swap over to the bench setup. Knowing our trucks came with them opens up possible junkyard sources.

 

[mnutz]

I didn’t realize the Tahoes or Suburban came with a front bench. Is it the truck type bench that has the fold down center console? My front bucket seats are getting worn and I’d like to swap over to the bench setup. Knowing our trucks came with them opens up possible junkyard sources.

I've never seen a front bench. All I've looked at have buckets.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I didn't realize the Tahoes or Suburban came with a front bench. Is it the truck type bench that has the fold down center console? My front bucket seats are getting worn and I'd like to swap over to the bench setup. Knowing our trucks came with them opens up possible junkyard sources.

The gmt400 series had the occasional bench in the front, I drove a 99 Suburban that had a bench when I was shopping last year, it's a 60/40 split setup that was fairly roomy.

 

[03tahoe]

Yup, I believe that all GMT800 series ('00-'06) trucks/SUVs had an option for a front bench. It's the one with the fold down center console. I'll get a picture if you want proof, haha. You could also get a front bench in many of the GMT900 ('07-'13) trucks/SUVs. The thing with the GMT900 SUVs was that the center seat in the front bench was useless with the new dash design that stuck out rather than being more flat across like in the GMT800 and GMT400 series. We looked at a GMT900 ('08) Tahoe with the front bench before finding the GMT800 ('03) Tahoe that we have now. What I've never found, but would like to know about, is if you could get a GMT900 Avalanche with a front bench and if so would it have the truck or the SUV dash? The GMT900 truck (Silverado/Sierra) dash was flat across so the middle seat was usable.

Good luck on the hunt for a front bench!