Mrs. VCH has decided that she would like to upgrade her SUV game a bit, and it looking at replacing her old square-body Suburban with something slightly newer. We've looked at a few '92-'99 Suburbans (the GMT400 platform) and she likes them. For various reasons I won't get into the newer ones are not acceptable, but she likes the GMT400's enough better than her square body that a nicer square body isn't in the cards, either.
So we've been on the hunt, for several months now, for a '92 to '99 Suburban. And....still hunting.
Her non-negotiable criteria:
- 4x4
- Cloth interior
- 350 (not a big block or a diesel)
- Functional A/C
- Barn doors
Stuff we'd really prefer to hold out for:
- Under 200k miles
- Color preference (in order of preference) Green/teal, black, blue
- Mechanical 4x4 (not pushbutton)
- 2500 (3/4 ton)
The 2500 is the most negotiable of these criteria; a clean 1500 would probably be fine; I just prefer the stouter axles and transmission of the 2500. Anything red or silver is an immediate disqualifier. She hates leather interiors, and the tailgate on her square body is one of the things she hates most.
Unfortunately, the pickings have been really, really slim. Everything has been either beat to piss, or priced stupidly high, or both. We're not looking for a deal, I'm willing to pay FMV for the right truck, but $10,000 is not FMV, that's fishing.
Guess I'm just ranting. I enjoy the hunt as much as the next guy; hopefully things will get a bit better come spring.
volvoclearinghouse said:
Mrs. VCH has decided that she would like to upgrade her SUV game a bit, and it looking at replacing her old square-body Suburban with something slightly newer. We've looked at a few '92-'99 Suburbans (the GMT400 platform) and she likes them. For various reasons I won't get into the newer ones are not acceptable, but she likes the GMT400's enough better than her square body that a nicer square body isn't in the cards, either.
So we've been on the hunt, for several months now, for a '92 to '99 Suburban. And....still hunting.
Her non-negotiable criteria:
- 4x4
- Cloth interior
- 350 (not a big block or a diesel)
- Functional A/C
- Barn doors
Stuff we'd really prefer to hold out for:
- Under 200k miles
- Color preference (in order of preference) Green/teal, black, blue
- Mechanical 4x4 (not pushbutton)
- 2500 (3/4 ton)
The 2500 is the most negotiable of these criteria; a clean 1500 would probably be fine; I just prefer the stouter axles and transmission of the 2500. Anything red or silver is an immediate disqualifier. She hates leather interiors, and the tailgate on her square body is one of the things she hates most.
Unfortunately, the pickings have been really, really slim. Everything has been either beat to piss, or priced stupidly high, or both. We're not looking for a deal, I'm willing to pay FMV for the right truck, but $10,000 is not FMV, that's fishing.
Guess I'm just ranting. I enjoy the hunt as much as the next guy; hopefully things will get a bit better come spring.
Suburbans have recently taken a wild swing upwards in value around me. My guess is gas is finally cheap enough that people are buying them again, as apposed to 2 years ago when 2k was high for what you are looking for
mtn
MegaDork
2/20/19 9:49 a.m.
I would take a guess that cloth seats are relatively easy to find, and relatively easy to swap out. Maybe include leather seats in your search.
You're looking for a truck that is between 20-27 years old. People don't buy Suburbans for sunny day fun cars, they buy them to do stuff. I expect that 200k limit is what's really cutting down your choices.
If there's nothing out there for your definition of FMV, maybe you haven't figured FMV right!
It's more simply finding one that fits our (admittedly narrow) criteria, and isn't a complete basket case.
There was one on eBay recently, it fit every criteria except being a 1500, and we did bid on it. It ended up going for ~4200, which I would have paid, but I suspected shill bidding so I didn't go any higher. It was also 3 hours away, though that wasn't a deal breaker.
Woody
MegaDork
2/20/19 10:50 a.m.
My brother bought one new and just turned 300k with only a new rear main seal.
Inquired about this one. Mrs. VCH says she is down with the brown:
Suburban
That is a tough find. Good luck, this is a 1500 in the wrong color.
volvoclearinghouse said:
Inquired about this one. Mrs. VCH says she is down with the brown:
Sounds like you shouldn't let that one get away
In reply to Kingkong :
Saw that one. Looks a little more beat/ rusty than what I'm looking for. Its also been on CL for a while (not its first listing) which tells me it's got other issues.
https://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/d/lebanon-chevy-suburban/6823946812.html
Here's one. Due to brakeline and supporting undercarriage rust I'd fly-n-drive one from the south. I sold my 99 burb about 1.5 years ago for $2700 with 240,000 miles on it. It was a good rig and held up to a ton of abuse but moving to a 2004 has been FAR better. The little squeaks/rattles/looseness of the old chassis drove me a bit crazy.
If you want I can list some of the random things I had to fix on mine and I'd assume any of them will need similar attention due to age.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:
https://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/d/lebanon-chevy-suburban/6823946812.html
Here's one. Due to brakeline and supporting undercarriage rust I'd fly-n-drive one from the south. I sold my 99 burb about 1.5 years ago for $2700 with 240,000 miles on it. It was a good rig and held up to a ton of abuse but moving to a 2004 has been FAR better. The little squeaks/rattles/looseness of the old chassis drove me a bit crazy.
If you want I can list some of the random things I had to fix on mine and I'd assume any of them will need similar attention due to age.
What excellent and descriptive photos in that ad! /sarcasm.
I have a '93 K3500 so I'm somewhat familiar with that platform. TBI/Vortec and all that. I really don't want to put a ton of work into anything- so we're holding out for something clean, low miles, not beat on, etc. Yes, I know- needle in a haystack. Yes, I'm being picky. But experience hath shown that tis cheaper to buy a $4000 truck in good shape than a $2000 truck that will inevitably need $3000 worth of work.
They're out there. I just need patience. I'd rock a fly 'n drive but I'd need a LOT of pictures before hand to make sure it was what it was supposed to be. Right now I've got an eBay search on and a 200 mile radius CL search. Anything beyond 200 miles on CL seems to be too much to ask of their software.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
You could use autotempest/searchtempest to do wider searches of craigslist. You can cover big areas with that.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
If you find any within a hundred miles of Charlotte nc, and need eyes on it, let me know! Im vaguely familiar with these trucks. ...
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Let me know if you want me to check it out. Not too far from my place.
In reply to Wxdude10 - Mike :
I'd never tried autotempest before- cool.link. Thanks.
I can go look at the brown one on Friday, it is only about 15 miles away. Particularly looking at brake line rust and the interior. Funny no pictures of that. I can bring my camera and nose too. Contact the seller and PM me.
Thank you for the offers of eyes, too, to those who've offered. Appreciate it and will let you know.
Just saw this one. Looks really tempting, love the color and tan interior. Last year before the Vortec engine, so non-OBDII, which is a bit of a downside. I thought I'd read somewhere that the 95 engine computers were sort of "weird", too, being in that just-pre-OBDII era. Anyone know anything about them?
Wife's current ride is a '91, so TBI, and it does flash the occasional CEL, which seems to go away by itself. Runs fine, though.
TurnerX19 said:
I can go look at the brown one on Friday, it is only about 15 miles away. Particularly looking at brake line rust and the interior. Funny no pictures of that. I can bring my camera and nose too. Contact the seller and PM me.
Thanks! I've emailed the seller, will let you know.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Looking at his posted photos again something bothers me. Who puts mis matched tires on a 4wd vehicle? I will compare diameters F-R if I go!
Our Suburban is a 99, but having just replaced rear diff, engine, and transmission in the last 20k, it's certainly not up for sale. I would imagine most owners of trucks in that age range are similarly stuck in the sunk costs fallacy.
Good luck with your search, and if GM did the same bullpucky with US products that they did with SAAB just pre-OBD II, then what you may have on a 94-mid95 is OBD 1.5. Looks like an OBD2 connector, but very very few code readers will give any reading off it. Signal wires on odd pin locations, etc...
I see these daily here in Saudi, and was actually just wondering how many are actually left in the US vs. how many have been imported here. Seems like they're all here.
shellb
New Reader
2/26/19 4:02 p.m.
Hey there - I just bought this exact thing and drove it 1,000 miles back home!
I don't really need it, but seemed like a bit of a rare bird so I jumped on it...I could probably be convinced to let it go if you're interested?
- 4x4 - check
- Cloth interior - check, 9 seater
- 350 (not a big block or a diesel) - check
- Functional A/C - check
- Barn doors - check
Stuff we'd really prefer to hold out for:
- Under 200k miles - check, 136K
- Color preference (in order of preference) Green/teal, black, blue - white
- Mechanical 4x4 (not pushbutton) - check
- 2500 (3/4 ton) - check
