[Professor_SS]

Wife's burb is getting a little long in the tooth. She wants another one, but I really don't see the need for that much truck anymore and the 50 grand price tag is a bit more than I want to pay over the next 5 years. I've shown her the Tahoe, about 38 grand, tried to talk her into taking over my quad cab Dakota and buying me a new full size quad cab dodge, 45 grand or so, we also looked at a Jeep wagon, again around 38 grand. Then we looked at an H3. I like it. It is big enough for her to feel safe in, yet still smaller than the Burb. I can get the 5 speed standard with OD. Only other thing I can get a stick in is a pickup, it isn't available on anything else we looked at. We'll keep the burb for back up and heavy towing duty, plus I have my other truck and the Dakota for towing the utility and car trailer so I really don't have to worry about the towing capacity as much. I'm sure it would pull the boat without any problem.

What I'm really concerned about is that 5 cylinder engine. It is not multi fuel and it is rated at only 220 HP. Wish they had a V8 option in the H3. Oh, BTW, the H3 is 6 to 8 grand less than everything else we looked at. It has about he same MPG rating as the burb and full size truck option, a couple of MPGs less than the claims for the jeep and Tahoe. Anyone have one?

 

[zeke67]

No, but a friend just bought a Jeep Commando for his wife. Same agreessive boxy look as the H3, not huge, and with a Hemi! They love it, trade from a one year old Lexus SUV because it was underpowered.

 

[Professor_SS]

No, but a friend just bought a Jeep Commando for his wife. Same agreessive boxy look as the H3, not huge, and with a Hemi! They love it, trade from a one year old Lexus SUV because it was underpowered.

We looked at one of those also. About 40 grand. I hear the Hemi is really thirsty. I really didn't care for the looks of it as much as the hummer. I do have to say that they have cleaned up the looks of the new suburban. I am worried about having enough power to run down the road with it. Here if you can't run 80, up as well as down hill or 0 to 60 at average or above average times you'll get run over.

 

[Jay65SS]

Holy cow, are gas prices dropping or something?
Between the payments and fill ups...ouch

 

[70 SS LS-5]

And people wonder why gas prices are so high. :sad:

 

[NiteOwlNY]

It's built on the Colorado chassis... You're pretty much getting a new fangled S-10 with a Hummer looking body on it.... I haven't heard anything good about the Colorado trucks...

 

[zeke67]

Yeah, they get about 13 MPG in mixed driving.

 

[gotago]

We looked at most of the SUVs under the sun that came with manual transmissions. The Nissan Xterra is what my wife chose, 6 speed V6 with an off road package and some goodies for about 28 brand new out the door. The V6 is really snappy with the 6 speed and there's plenty of room. Give one of them a shot.

 

[Alan]

Why not just freshen up the motor, and rest of drivetrain in the Suburban? Cheaper and has the power to keep up with traffic. And proven to be reliable.

 

[GRN69CHV]

If it was me and I was in the 38-40 range, I'd be looking for the remodeled M-Class Benz. I put some miles on a the 3.5 lit 6 banger. Real smooth,plenty of power, decent mileage. Think these came out in '06. You can usually get them off a 2 year lease for a decent number. JMHO.

 

[Professor_SS]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Colorado. My buddy drives a Colorado and he gets 18 mixed and low 20s highway, he loves the thing, I think it is butt ugly but he likes it. 13 mixed seems low. I know that their claims are high but if they claim 15 city and 18 highway 13 mixed would seem low. But then again people are always telling me my burb gets 8 or 10 MPG, when in reality it gets about 15 mixed.

What ever it is it will be an American name plate. It will also have to fit her idea of safe, and after being crushed by a tractor trailer, her idea of safe is considerably different than most people's. She won't ride in anything smaller than a mid sized pickup forget putting her in a sport UTE. The H3 has a 5 star crash rating, one of the first things she asked about. The blazer is about as small as she will go, and she thinks it is too "bug eyed." The Darango is too ugly. she's right. She'd buy another burb tomorrow and not even bat an eye. I'm the one hung up on the size and cost of the thing. Fuel economy is way down on our priority list.

Ideally what I would like to buy would be, a Tahoe sized SUV, Good looking, like the new Burb, small V8, 5 speed stick, 4x4, CD radio, air, cloth interior, rubber floor mats, everything else manual. I can easily live with 18 MPG mixed. Screw the on-star and the power windows and locks and all that crap. priced in the low 30s and I'm all over it.

I guess I could fix up the burb, but it needs a new interior door panel on the driver's front door. The plastic cracked out on the pull so when you pull the door closed it nearly pulls the panel off the door. The electric door locks have stopped working, the driver's side rear door doesn't unlock at all. The bottoms of the door panels are rusting again. The weather stripping needs to be replaced on all the doors. The rear bumper rusted through, the front bumper has been nailed by folks in the parking lot several times so it is bent up. So are the running boards and the passenger side rear door. The air conditioning quit and when you start it up and turn it off there is this horrible sounding noise from the heater fan. It has 140 thousand miles on the drive train. 13 years of dents and dings. It is due for brakes again. The windshield is cracked. The interior is starting to show its age. etc... etc.... I'm also thinking that if I buy this year I'll have it paid off in 2012, then if I replace my truck, which will by then be 11 years old I'll have that one paid off the year I can retire. :thumbsup:

 

[Professor_SS]

Holy cow, are gas prices dropping or something?
Between the payments and fill ups...ouch

actually they are I think.... last time I filled up the Burb it was under a hundred and twenty five bucks. :thumbsup:

 

[BlackBetty]

Get her a Malibu or Impala.....take the rest of the cash and buy yourself a Nice Classic:hurray:

 

[Professor_SS]

And people wonder why gas prices are so high. :sad:

a lot of folks I know think it is all these old gas guzzling chevelles that I have around here. Oh, and they also blame the air pollution on those old cars to. :wacko: I think it is families that have these fuel efficient little cars driving way more than they need to just because they get an extra 5 MPG over what I'm driving. Or the ones that don't have one car big enough to haul the entire family around so they have to take two everywhere. One of my co-workers has 4 teenage kids and a pair of honda civics. :clonk: My reasoning makes about as sense as yours doesn't it. :yes:

 

[zeke67]

The 13 MPG mixed I was referring to was the Comando w/Hemi, not the Colorado.

 

[Professor_SS]

Get her a Malibu or Impala.....take the rest of the cash and buy yourself a Nice Classic:hurray:

well, it would save money, she wouldn't drive it or ride in it. The best I can do with cars is that she will ride across town in my chevelle to the cruise. And with enough drugs I can get her to ride over to the Maryland Regional once a year. My oldest son bought a Kia, he wanted to take her for a ride in it and the woman got physically ill she was so scared when he got out into traffic with it.

 

[Alan]

Screw the on-star and the power windows and locks and all that crap. priced in the low 30s and I'm all over it.

I'm with you on that one! I wish I could re-buy my '05 GMC Sierra, I'd get a stripped down model (I bought mine with nearly every available option I could get). All the power options just mean I'll be paying the piper in electronic motors and such. Add the Bose stereo to the delete list too. What a joke it is. You could install a nice aftermarket systems for less than $1k that'd blow this one away. Too bad there wasn't an ABS delete option too; I'd check that box as well.

I like the Trailblazer SS. It's got some HP's as well. But, it's fully loaded probably and has an automatic. Sounds like you want a manual trans.

Sounds like the Suburban is a bit rougher than I imagined it might be.

Good luck in your search for a new vehicle.

 

[LeoP]

Professor, for the life of me I can't figure why you would want a manual trans, the autos of today are very good. I'm sure you already know you can' t purchase any SUV with manual windows and most of the other things you mention, ever thought of buying a used one coming off lease. Just throwing a few options out there, My wife really loves her 96 Tahoe, I just wish I'd have gotten the remote keyless entry, I didn't cause the price was already in the low 30's and the budget was tight back then. I did install remote start, best modification I've ever done to one of our vehicles, esp these cold winter mornings lately.

 

[Professor_SS]

The 13 MPG mixed I was referring to was the Comando w/Hemi, not the Colorado.

Oh, OK, I misunderstood. I know a guy that has the Hemi in a pickup and he is always complaining that it has less power and gets worse mileage than his V10 Dodge did.

 

[Professor_SS]

we both like manual transmissions. I have one in both of the Dodge trucks and in the Chevelle. I would have bought the burb with a standard transmission if I could have. The wife always had standard transmission cars until we bought the two suburbans. 4 wheel drive is also a must have for both of us.

I know we can't buy anything without all the power stuff anymore, just wish I could is all. The Burb has been great right up until I got my Dakota paid off. Then it just seemed to start deteriorating. I swear they have a built in self destruct sequence. Part of my frustration with the electrical is that in just the last month or so it seems that the electrical stuff on the Burb is going. The air quit late last fall and I recharged it, but it didn't last so it probably has a leak somewhere. The windshield got cracked last summer and I haven't replaced it yet. I put two lower panels on the doors a couple of years back, now the other two are going. The other night the wife broke her key off in the door lock on back doors. The she comes in the house carrying the door trim for the entire drivers side. I know she had something up in the dash that fell down into the vents and the fan cage is beating the crap out of itself on it. The thing is just getting to that point where I'm thinking maybe it is time.

I appreciate all the input. The more I think about it, the H3 is probably not the right way to go. I was just thinking I could get her into something for less than 35 grand. She says I'm cheap, but you know the first new car I ever bought I paid less than 3000 bucks for.

As far a buying used. I swore that off years ago. I never had good luck with used cars or trucks. My brother does great with them, never had one that was a problem, I had nothing but problems with them. So since the late 70s I've always bought new. I don't really buy cheap, it is not that, I just can't see 50 grand for a 9 passenger truck now that our kids are grown and we sold the travel trailer. What I do buy I run until they drop. I have a 87 Dodger, the 94 burb, and the 01 we bought new. I had one car for 17 years and a pickup that I bought in 77 or 78 for 15 years. I like to buy a good one, take good care of it and drive it till it drops. In this case I have the wife in it and if it leaves her sitting somewhere or in the cold with no heat or in the heat with no air.... :noway: