Learn Me: 2007 Escalade

Neighbor has a 2007 Escalade ESV with 150k miles. It's one of his many cars that he will get around to fixing up (sike). Anyway he had a garage sell and I noticed it's been sitting there with a flat tire. I asked him about it and he showed me everything it needed and started it up and hooked up a code reader to it and everything. Apparently it was a daily driver until his wife bought one of those TELLURIDE(?) and she loves it. He then offered it to me for $4500. Majority of what's wrong with it are cosmetic and it needs tires. The interior is in really good condition as well. 

What say GRM of these vehicles? 

How good are the 6.2l v8's compared to the earlier LS engines?

Is the 6L80e more reliable than the 4L60e?

That’s a $2000 truck up here, looks beat and sounds like a deferred maintenance party?

There’s a lot of 2002-2005 Escalades going for $3000-$5000 in our area.  The 2007’s are in the $6-$10,000 range so maybe it’s a deal?

KBB

In reply to Patrick :

Yeah it's been sitting and got swiped while parked there. He def let it go cosmetically. But I wonder is 2k realistic? Because my excursion doesn't look much better visually and has uglier interior but runs like a top (slow loud stinky top lmao). From what he says he's been doing maintenance to it here and there just not the cosmetic stuff yet. His 69 scout also took a lot of his attention away. I was thinking offering under 4k.

He said next week he's gonna put the other set of wheels on  it and let me drive it for a day and see what I think. 

Have you priced tires yet. They'll be pricey. 

Steel wheel. Is the 4th alloy present? 

John Welsh said:

Have you priced tires yet. They'll be pricey. 

Yup after owning an f250 and an Excursion, I consider tires a sunk cost. I put them in the same category as fuel and insurance when it comes to car budgeting. 

Maybe 2 was low, 3 is probably fair. 

Do the 6.2 have AFM/DOD?  If so, and i know they do not all fail, i would disable immediately.  I’ve experienced a couple and several friends have, enough of a sample group for me to not want the chance of failure.  

It’s a tow monster, that’s for sure.  Would look good cleaned and fixed up towing your BBC(ar) to the challenge 

If you aren't interested, I am!

Yeah Greg just likes Black cars from Texas 

The cylinder deactivation system sucks.  Mine failed on my wife's Denali a few years back and I had to rebuild the heads.  Disable it as patrick said if you get it.

pimpm3 said:

The cylinder deactivation system sucks.  Mine failed on my wife's Denali a few years back and I had to rebuild the heads.  Disable it as patrick said if you get it.

I wish that ours was just the heads, it was 6 wiped rod bearings

I'm not familiar with the value of these trucks but I do know the 6L80 is a good trans in a half ton truck application. it was very good towing and in normal driving with dad's LC9 5.3 powered '13 crew cab. I understand the 6.2 does want higher octane fuel and will have a healthy appetite for it, but that also means you have plenty of power. From what I've read the DOD delete consists of pulling the heads, swapping out lifters, possibly changing the valley cover and then flashing the ECM. Seems like a lot of people do a cam swap while they are in there but that's up to you. 

I probably wouldn't be scared of it if he's being open about what it needs, but I have no idea if $4500 is a fair price and that one definitely looks beat. 

bmw88rider said:

Yeah Greg just likes Black cars from Texas 

This is true. Barracudas still in storage waiting for it's turn.

The AFM is the only thing that would make me worried on these.  I do need a tow vehicle and now that I'm doing about 10k a year vs 50k I'm not concerned about gas mileage.

I'd personally opt for a Suburban over an Escalade, and a Tahoe over both, but that is just me.

I'd want to see a really big stack of maintenance records. It looks to be a 2WD version, too. 

In reply to Patrick :

$2k for a 6.2 Escalade? Don't be ridiculous man

Brett_Murphy said:

I'd personally opt for a Suburban over an Escalade, and a Tahoe over both, but that is just me.

I'd want to see a really big stack of maintenance records. It looks to be a 2WD version, too. 

I thought they were standard "awd" in 2007. I thought the Escalade was basically a flashy Tahoe. 

In reply to yupididit :

Or Suburban in this case being the ESV. The Escalade also gets air suspension that might have also been offered on the LTZ but certainly wasn't standard on most Tahoes/Suburbans.

I understand the logic of preferring less options on one of these trucks as it ages as typically less options means less broken things on an old neglected truck. And in this case less options to the extreme is an LT Tahoe instead of an Escalade.

Daylan C said:

In reply to yupididit :

Or Suburban in this case being the ESV. The Escalade also gets air suspension that might have also been offered on the LTZ but certainly wasn't standard on most Tahoes/Suburbans.

I understand the logic of preferring less options on one of these trucks as it ages as typically less options means less broken things on an old neglected truck. And in this case less options to the extreme is an LT Tahoe instead of an Escalade.

Oh I get it now.

If I wanted less options and super simple then I'd want to keep my excursion. But, it's  sorta crude and I'm finding myself wanting refinement and options as I get older. But, I also don't think the Escalade is too complex. Maybe it's my ignorance or my S600 is redefining complex for me. 

In reply to Dootz :

For a beat up one that likely needs $1200 in tires?  I’ve seen them, and the only thing that stops me from buying one for a donor is lack of liquidity right now.  I passed on an 07 suburban for a grand last week too.  Up here as soon as you can see rust or unfixed crash damage the escalade loses any social status it had and becomes just another beater suv

This weeks local auction '02 Escalade Repo with 200k 

John Welsh said:

Have you priced tires yet. They'll be pricey. 

Steel wheel. Is the 4th alloy present? 

I didn't see your second question. Yeah, he has 2 full sets of wheels just haven't swapped over to the other set. 

Greg Voth said:

If you aren't interested, I am!

If I pass I'll let you know! Im in no rush and neither is he. 

pimpm3 said:

The cylinder deactivation system sucks.  Mine failed on my wife's Denali a few years back and I had to rebuild the heads.  Disable it as patrick said if you get it.

How can you tell if they're failing? Or do they just go like SUPRISE!

Any ppl who had owned early gmt900 SUV's want to chime in?

I don't believe the 6.2 in '07 had AFM - one of the big advantages of an Escalade/Denali with the 6.2 as opposed to a Suburban with a 5.3 w/AFM. Seems like a good deal to me, I would try for something like $3750, but $4k seems like a good price.