Very High mileage tahoe Z71

[jruba]

My neighbor is selling an 05 Tahoe with the Z71 offroad package , truck is clean in and out , leather , carpet , dashboard etc etc , engine sounds good , he claims to be the second owner and hes been driving it for the last 3 years trouble free , now the bad is 318k miles on the clock , i wonder if at this high miles this is a time bomb waiting to go Booom!! no transmission nor engine work done on his part he said , he told me i could have it for 5 grand , toughts?

 

[txnight]

Sounds like a deal to me. What would your plans be to modify it?

 

[MACAMN]

5 grand is a little steep for that many miles in my opinion. That is the going rate for similar tahoes/ suburbans with about 100k less miles near me.

 

[jruba]

Camping , adventure vehicle , kayak carrier ..

 

[jruba]

5 grand is a little steep for that many miles in my opinion. That is the going rate for similar tahoes/ suburbans with about 100k less miles near me.

I checked the kbb.com yesterday and it was at 8k , i would never pay that of course , but for some reason we have the lowest minimun wage rate , and everything is more expensive down here :/

 

[aardvarcus]

I hate to be a buzzkill but that is way too many miles, and I like Chevys. It isn't about how it runs now, it is about how long do you think it will keep running before you have to start replacing it piece by piece. Been there, done that. The problem is the whole thing doesn't just die at once, it goes one “small” thing at a time. It's just the transmission needing rebuilt. It's just new shocks. It's just new fuel pumps. It isn't that it is a bad vehicle, it is just with that many miles things start to go bad. One day you will step back and realize that for all the money you spent on fixing this and that you could have had a nicer newer lower mileage vehicle. In the meantime, if you wreck the thing the insurance doesn't care how much you spent rebuilding the engine or transmission; it is just X vehicle with X miles.

If you are on a fixed budget, I would rather start with one with less options and a less clean interior to get less miles on the clock.

 

[Buliwyf]

It's a Chevy. They just don't last THAT long without some help. So it might not be too bad. It's got to have some new parts! Have your local mechanic do a 4 wheel alignment on it and check everything out. Then you're only out $100, not $5k.
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Would you still buy it if needed to rebuild the transmission this year, and the engine next year? When I bid on my F250 with a blown fleet engine, my answer was yes. If that Tahoe turns into a $12,000 ride due to repairs, is it still a good truck?
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Is it a little Tahoe or one of those big Suburban sized ones?

 

[jruba]

like this one , comes with the girl , lol ..thanks for the input im walking from this , i just wanted to hear it from somebody else other that my wife , haha ... Im keeping my 02 Dodge 1500 crew cab with 118k only.

 

[jruba]

I hate to be a buzzkill but that is way too many miles, and I like Chevys. It isn't about how it runs now, it is about how long do you think it will keep running before you have to start replacing it piece by piece. Been there, done that. The problem is the whole thing doesn't just die at once, it goes one “small” thing at a time. It's just the transmission needing rebuilt. It's just new shocks. It's just new fuel pumps. It isn't that it is a bad vehicle, it is just with that many miles things start to go bad. One day you will step back and realize that for all the money you spent on fixing this and that you could have had a nicer newer lower mileage vehicle. In the meantime, if you wreck the thing the insurance doesn't care how much you spent rebuilding the engine or transmission; it is just X vehicle with X miles.

If you are on a fixed budget, I would rather start with one with less options and a less clean interior to get less miles on the clock.

Thanks for the advice , its sad to see all this options the z71 has go to waste , trust me it had all the options ....Reminded my of an old 98 5.9 zj limited i had a few years ago ..This baby was loaded too.

 

[chilliwak]

I think that silver Chevy looked pretty good. Also, if the rig comes with the girl I think it would be a good buy. Both look pretty good to me....:drool:

 

[gloriavoxdei]

My wife has a 2001 Yukon XL 2500 with a 6.0 that had 198k when we bought it in 2008 for $4300. The truck now has 305K and all I have done is a front differential, front a rear brakes, 3 sets of tires and a fuel pump. Now that's not to say that it won't need an engine or transmission in the next year or two but I have had not issues with the truck in regard to those two items. The newer trucks are all pretty well built from all the manufacturers. That said, you are probably better off just keeping the Dodge with the lower miles if the Tahoe would be replacing it.

 

[RAFoutdoors]

I had an 04 Tahoe that served me very well. Drove it from CT to AZ for the Overland Expo 2011. Loved the truck but it was my daily driver. Did some trails with it but nothing crazy. Car was garaged, serviced regularly and the dealer was amazed at the service records they read when I traded it in for a 13 Z71 Tahoe. My problem was that as well as it was cared for, it developed a coolant leak at 190,000 miles that several Chevy dealers could not identify. It was starting to cost me money just trying to diagnose the problem. It was obvious I was leaking coolant into a cylinder so it was beginning to look like it was going to cost me alot to repair it and when all was said and done, it was still 9 years old with 190,000 miles. My wife and I want to take another cross country trip when I retire in 2 years and she did not feel comfortable relying on the 04 so she wanted me to get the new one.
I think you need to ask yourself how much you are willing to spend to keep the Z71 running? Will it be a daily driver or just used for overlanding? If it fails (or gets laid up waiting for repairs), do you have other options for transportation? How far out into the trails will you be heading and will there be other vehicles to help you limp home if necessay? We loved out 04 but it was not very friendly for DIY repairs on the trails if some of the electronics start to act up.

It was a pride thing for me giving up my 04 at such a young age. I wanted to keep it at least 12 years and 250,000 miles but my wife wanted more reliability now that it looked like it was sarting to age quickly.

Good Luck

 

[tsbrewers]

a buddy of mine just bought an '04 tahoe with 167k on it for $3200. It needed about $400 in Misc. interior things right away, radio, 4x switch, heater switch, etc. but runs and drives well so far. Just a point of reference.