2002 lx470 vs 2005 chev suburban z1 (1 Viewer)

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This is nothing more than me venting. I own both of these fine machines since new.
Lately though everytime the LX needs a repair its in the thousands.
We are all familiar with the common problems, exhaust manifold, AHC..
Why doesnt toyota live up to its reputation and recall the manifolds. The cost to do a manifold is beyond normal maintenance.
Now my Suburban is not as elegant as my LX but it doesnt need thousands of dollars for maintenance. In fact it has double the mileage and requires less maintenance.
Any of you ever wonder about this...I wish i would of bought Landcruiser simply to deter the AHC issues.
Sorry guys just needed to vent.
 
It's OK to vent!

Reality is though that the percent of manifolds per 4.7L V8 that fail is extremely low. EXTREMELY!
 
^ what's the definition of fail? Mine ticks when cold, but that's it - I just live with it - is that considered "failed"?

Also, I have almost 130k miles on my 2000 LX and have had the maintenance experience of your Suburban.
 
I also might point out that over it's 9-year run (98-07), the 100-series Cruisers were the most reliable Luxury and Large SUV every year of production. The Tahoe and Suburban were well below average. The numbers showed that a Tahoe/Suburban required almost 200%+ the repairs vs the Land Cruiser overall.
 
I had an 03 Tahoe Z71 (lowest mileage vehicle I have owned) w/perfect documented service history and passed an inspection with flying colors. Biggest pile of junk ever, it was great to look at...which I did a lot cause it was always broken. In a six month span I replaced a hub assembly, encoder motor (4WD wouldn't work), intermediate steering shaft (known problem), rear diff seal, and sprung a mysterious coolant leak. It had a bad front diff when I finally got rid of it as a 5k loss. Don't think I am hating too much, some people absolutely love their tahoe/burb/yuk/escalade but the IMHO 100s are one of the best built, most reliable trucks out there but every car can have components that can fail

Didn't the old GM 5.7s have big intake problems that were really expensive to fix? I may be crazy
 
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Didn't the old GM 5.7s have big intake problems that were really expensive to fix? I may be crazy
Yep...vortec heads + coolant that would jell if air got into the system + crappy manifold gaskets = big known issue. I sold my '99 with 184K miles to fund the LX. I had the im gaskets replaced twice ($400/pop), tranny smoked at 105K, that was north of $2K. She was on her 2nd radiator & water pump & we experienced the known issue of rotten cylinder head heater fitting twice & the known crappy fuel pump issue once.

Generally, anything else was wear/tear...bilstein shocks, plugs, wires, battery. The 'burb was extremely reliable, parts were definitely less $$ than stuff for the LX, even with cdan's pricing...nature of the beast. Mileage better than the LX.

The LX is an effing mountain goat, better handling and traction, and bulletproof so far in snow/ice. Glad I got her but I still miss the 'burb, just a little.;)

Steve
 
Why doesnt toyota live up to its reputation and recall the manifolds. The cost to do a manifold is beyond normal maintenance.
Recall would mean it was a safety issue but it is not. They did improve the design sometime in 2002 though. So you likely will not have a problem in the future. As far as AHC, there are lots of folks on here that would give away thier original LC suspension parts for little or nothing. Just install it.
 
^ what's the definition of fail? Mine ticks when cold, but that's it - I just live with it - is that considered "failed"?

Also, I have almost 130k miles on my 2000 LX and have had the maintenance experience of your Suburban.

Its not failed in the sense that the vehicle will leave you stranded or have any negative affect other than noise, just failed in the sense that it shouldnt tick..................but like you said once they heat up it goes away, so its not even necessary to fix, unless you really want too

Recall would mean it was a safety issue but it is not. They did improve the design sometime in 2002 though. So you likely will not have a problem in the future. As far as AHC, there are lots of folks on here that would give away thier original LC suspension parts for little or nothing. Just install it.

X2

OEM LC shocks are supposed to be stupid cheap (I have two LX's so IDK exactly), plus the coil springs and t-bars would be easy to find used on MUD.

FWIW I have a 2000 LX w/ 118K mi and a 2001 w/ 116K mi........both are rock solid
 
^ so the slight, initial leak(s) due to small cracks causing the ticking never get worse?
 
The Tahoe and Suburban were well below average.

I recall from my perusing Consumer Reports that the Tahoe/Sub/Denali/Yukon were always average or better in reliability. Not surprising since it is one of GM's flagships. But the 100 was always better than average.

Of course in a vehicle class that includes a large number of Dodges then mediocre vehicles can be above average. The 100 could have half the issues of another above average performer.

What is the ratio of current book value to price paid for each?
 
^ so the slight, initial leak(s) due to small cracks causing the ticking never get worse?

No, they do. Mine started with a slight tick, would last 30 seconds then go away. Now it lasts for 15 minutes and it's so loud at first you can hear it with the windows us.
 
No, they do. Mine started with a slight tick, would last 30 seconds then go away. Now it lasts for 15 minutes and it's so loud at first you can hear it with the windows us.

Yeah, but the way you wheel the thing doesnt help that either............it still stops eventually doesnt it?
 
Yeah, but the way you wheel the thing doesnt help that either............it still stops eventually doesnt it?

Once it warms up it goes away completely. You can't tell after about 5 minutes of driving. It's still annoying but :meh:
 
I went through every single receipt ever spent on my 2000 LX (82k miles on the clock-always Lexus dealer maintained) and the total sum of receipts was less than $3k. That included normal wear and tear items (like tires, brakes,etc) also.
 

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