Hello,
I recently purchased a 2003 GMC Yukon Denali AWD with 196,000 miles on it. I bought it for the sole intention of it being a beater vehicle. Are there any issues at all that I should be aware about that will cost me more than what I paid for it ($3,500). Let me know at your convenience. Thank you!
Except for really lousy gas mileage, no. An almost 18 year old vehicle that hasn't been taken care of is about at the end of it's rope. Has the trans fluid and filter been changed lately? Do you have any maintenance records on the vehicle? $3500 may just cover the cost of a new trans.
If memory serves me correct, the previous owner is a mechanic and stated that he did a lot of work to it, to make it more reliable. Unfortunately, bad on my part, I don’t have records indicating whether it’s true or not, but it works very well, and doesn’t have any shifting issues, at the moment.
you paid way too much. You're already in the red.
What would’ve been a good cost?? Especially nowadays, everything is overinflated, so realistically it’s not as bad as everywhere else I’ve been seeing.
I would have to inspect it myself and test drive it. It's possible I wouldn't even touch it.
Even though those vehicles were made much better than the modern ones and are kind of reliable, 196,000 miles is pretty close to the end of that transmission’s life. Not a bad vehicle but still, it ain’t no Toyota. I personally think you just got one with too many miles. The only reason my dad got an ‘04 Suburban with 200k miles was because he got it for cheap and he had the extra money to just put a new transmission in it and it was running really good after that. The only problem I had when he let me drive it every day was the fact that gas alone cost more every month than the car payment, gas and insurance COMBINED on my new Camry 😆
I 100% agree with you on it not being a Toyota quality. Trust me, I was looking for 5 months for a beater Toyota, but everywhere/everyone around me, during that time, was asking over $7K for used Toyotas. My budget at the time was $5K and it was strictly needed for a vehicle with 4x4 or AWD capability, since we live in the mountains.
My wife and I currently own 2 Honda cars, and we moved from an area where it was primarily flat. So this vehicle we purchased was just for a “oh shit it’s really bad out, take the (vehicle with 4x4 or AWD) out and get to wherever we need to go safely, as much as possible.
I would watch the motor and transmission on that. They are both worn out and (assumingly) still working.
If the mechanic did a lot of preventative maintenance like he said, you may be fine. I have several friends with those, and all are at the 300k+, one had 399k a couple of weeks ago.
In different areas, it can be really hard to find a decent deal, and you have to go with what you can.
Start doing the cheap and easy maintenance now, and maybe it will last a good while.
