Due to having no vehicle (After my serious roll-over accident last month), much less getting my boat back together and fishing soon on LT or Buchanan, I am looking at possibly buying a Chevy Z71, 4x4 Suburban or Tahoe. Or denali series. Any comments, Good or Bad??


Due to my job, I need to purchase a SUV. I have never owned a 4x4 Yukon or Yukon XL or Tahoe or Suburban. I noticed that the suburbans have only a 3.42 rear-end. The Z71 series have a 3.73 rear-end. Prefer the 3.73 for pulling instead of fuel economy.

The AWD denali Yukon or Yukon XL look good, but come with either a 6.0L or 6.2L V8. Any comments? Good or Bad??


I noticed a body change in 2007. Also noticed that the newer suburbans are now 6.2L V8. My destroyed GMC Yukon XL had the 5.3-V8 engine that was great to me...


I have owned three suburbans (1984 with 7.4L -V8-----1998 with 5.7-V8----2000 with 5.3L-V8) All for the most part have been great suburbans.

Robert

I would try to avoid the AFM Active Fuel Management If I could.

Past that for general purpose use pulling a boat and economy I think the 5.3 with a 3.73 is your best option. If you dont need 4x4 dont buy it.

matt

Tahoe & suburban are both good. 5.3L is a good motor. Avoid AFM if you can, like Matt said. The 3.73 would be better for towing, but the 3.42 would be fine honestly if a bass boat is the most you'll ever tow.

Why avoid the AFM?

No first hand experience with it, but have heard that they have an issue with oil not getting to all the top end componets of the motor when the motor goes into running on 4 cylinders.

I have a 5.3 with AFM and just rolled over 32,000 miles on mine with no problems. I wanted the 6-speed transmission and thats the only way to get it when I bought mine.

I agree with Patriot07... 3.73 with the 5.3 and you should be good to go although if the boat is the most you will tow the 3.42 will do as well.

This is a very, very small percentage of the engines with AFM. Practically every 07 and new GM truck or SUV with the 5.3 has AFM and there are a ton of them. I've had several, so has the family and we never had an issue. I've never met with anyone that has either.

That is not true. The 5.3's from '07 on are not all AFM engines. I believe if you have the 4-speed auto it is a non AFM engine.

I have a 2011 Denali that I pull my boat with and I love the truck. I only get about 11-12 mpg when pulling the boat but I think thats about as good as anything else. When not pulling the boat I get about as good of gas milage as any other SUV and the Denali has the big V8. Its a classy vehicle and you can't go wrong be dissapointed if you decide to get one.

Nope. I had an '07 GMC Sierra Crew Cab Z71 with the 5.3 and 4 speed and it had AFM. Maybe the '07 classics didn't have AFM but the new style trucks did.

my 09 5.3 with afm has 154k on it and it hits the rev limiter every day. no problem here. change the synth every 10k. 5600 rpm sounds so good through the magnaflow. can't wait till the 14 sierras come out.

You can turn the afm off a couple ways. I'd ditch it myself. Mileage increase is negligible to begin with and would be made up with the tune.