Purchasing a van, looking for advice
- Thread starter lindy74
- Start date
vintageracer
To Infinity and Beyond!
There were.
One year 2003 and not really a true 2500. The AWD front-end is mostly 1500.
Scotty D
Active member
If you are not camping off road or on beaches, then for sure dont bother getting awd , it so hard to find one at a reasonable price
Choff
Adventurer
I have seen alot of fully loaded GMC AWD Savana or Chev conversion vans on the net. for some low prices, go for the 2005 era, 5.3 will get you a lot of good miles.
AWD goes through a lot of snow, sand and dirt, a locker rear end is a bonus
lindy74
Member
Now begins the search for the right van to come up for sale. I am really leaning towards the extended Express now. Sadly, its so rare to find one in a 2500/3500 with either the 5.3 or 6.0 in it. Then add on top of that trying to find one with a clean skin. Im trying to stay in a budget of less than 17k for the van. I have found a couple 2003's that fit my requirements, one being a church van (I feel like thats a good thing) that is a 2003 with 97k miles on it for 12k. Its 3 hours away so I'm hoping it will be a fruitful trip =) I would think that besides "new tech" getting an early 2000's van isnt a bad thing if its clean and low mileage correct?
Highlander
The Strong, Silent Type
What mileage is considered too high for a used GM/Chevy van? Like, when one can say ok it's safe and when one can say it's too much.
The Cevys / GM vans are everywhere. I was not paying attention to them at all, but they seem to be in relatively good price range. As mentioned, they have well proven engines and transmissions.
@86scotty
What do you think the Nissan NV? (Yes, they are very ugly).
The Cevys / GM vans are everywhere. I was not paying attention to them at all, but they seem to be in relatively good price range. As mentioned, they have well proven engines and transmissions.
@86scotty
What do you think the Nissan NV? (Yes, they are very ugly).
86scotty
Cynic
GM vans are capable of very high miles. I wouldn't let high miles scare me if it's in good shape. Church vans/Schools/etc. tend to use vans twice a year or so though and it just isn't good for anything on them to sit that much. Belts, seals, tires, anything rubber and all the fluids do better when exercised than not. I know a guy who used to run Chevy vans for delivery/expedite and he swore they were just about bulletproof except for needing oil pumps around 250k miles or so.
I like the NV's, especially the Quigley ones. A friend of mine, another guy in expedite, put over a million miles on an NV3500. I have never driven one or really even been close to one other than his.
One of the best things about GM vans to me is that you can find them with the 6.6 Duramax. More power and torque than a 7.3 Ford and MUCH quieter. Better fuel economy than any full-size gasoline van too.
The biggest downside is that the side walls taper quite a bit above the belt line, so they end up being 3-6” narrower in that area.
Highlander
The Strong, Silent Type
86scotty
Cynic
Calling @whith
Yes, it's a very good engine but pretty rare. Certain years are better than others. All diesels have their years to avoid and known problems. I can't tell you specifics but plenty of people here can, like WhitH for instance. All said above is true though.
Conversely you can find GM's with a 4.8, 5.3 or 6.0 V8. All good engines with varying degrees of power and fuel pump shock.
whith
Active member
Sorry, I missed this somehow? Yep you could get the Duramax up until 2016 but they are hard to find. Its an excellent engine that has only needed oil changes in the the 120K miles I've put on it. Oh it did need a fan clutch awhile back. Its very quite, more quite than the gas ones actually, and gets quite a bit better fuel economy of course as well. I drive mine all over the west, up and down mountain passes in the winter and summer and I wouldn't change it for anything. The doghouse does take up some room but I'm 6'3 and it doesn't bother me. I do long days in it pretty often.