Suburban owners--love it? Hate it? Thoughts?

[Caitilin]

(or other 8-9 seater vehicles)

We may be upsizing our vehicle from an '01 Sienna to a Suburban or similar. We will assuredly be buying used. Any advice to the minivan owner? Are there things we should know? Any comments appreciated. :) Thanks!

Edited July 30, 2010 by Caitilin

[Emmy]

We moved from a minivan to a Yukon a few months ago. After my twins were born we had too many people for a van :rolleyes: and none of my kids were old enough to go in the front seat so I couldn't even go anywhere with all the kids. We like our Yukon (similar to a Suburban which is why I'm answering) really well. One thing that we looked for and eventually got was a bench front seat. This isn't a super popular feature so it's not always easy to find in a used vehicle but it makes it actually hold 9 instead of 8, which is super handy. Just a thought.

[Caitilin]

We moved from a minivan to a Yukon a few months ago. After my twins were born we had too many people for a van :rolleyes: and none of my kids were old enough to go in the front seat so I couldn't even go anywhere with all the kids. We like our Yukon (similar to a Suburban which is why I'm answering) really well. One thing that we looked for and eventually got was a bench front seat. This isn't a super popular feature so it's not always easy to find in a used vehicle but it makes it actually hold 9 instead of 8, which is super handy. Just a thought.

 

Yeah, DH wants to find one with that feature. I wish that car sites were set up to search by features I care about, like seats. :tongue_smilie:

[charmama4]

Love, love, love, did I say love? Love my, what we affectionately call the "SUB". It's old (1989), it's ugly (black with some rust spots) but boy o boy is it roomy. It's actually bigger than the newer ones :).

 

I know I know "but what about the gas?" I spend $150 ($3 a gallon here) a month in gas. I don't go anywhere much so it lasts us. It gets about 17-19 miles per gallon.

 

We have 4 kids, a med. to large dog and we tent camp. We are also members of the SCA. So, it's not just camping it's camping like the middle ages with all the "stuff". We need lots of room and we tow a small trailer.

 

I love my "sub" :D

[JustGin]

(or other 8-9 seater vehicles)

We may be upsizing our vehicle from an '01 Sienna to a Suburban or similar. We will assuredly be buying used. Any advice to the minivan owner? Are there things we should know? Any comments appreciated. :) Thanks!

 

Love, love, love mine! It's a 98 and runs great. Of course it doesn't get super gas mileage but then quite often when we drive it any distance we are taking other families and thus keeping another car off the road so there. ;) (Said with a laugh, not meant to offend.)

 

ETA: We use this to haul a months worth of groceries, we use it to take kids and the dog and all the gear tent camping, we use it to haul a trailer and all of us and our stuff on vacation, we use it to car pool for homeschool outings, we haul a bunch of kids to youth group, did I mention I LOVE my suburban LOL. Oh, it has a name too...Big Al :)

Edited July 30, 2010 by JustGin

[momofjep]

We love ours! We moved from a Honda Odyssey because we needed more cargo room. I do miss the power sliding doors on the van, but my kids are old enough to get in and out of the car by themselves now. And I wish I only spent $150/month on gas!

[Guest ME-Mommy]

We *LOVE* our 'Burb!! It's a 1993 -- 4WD -- and it will go anywhere!! We bought a mini van thinking it would get better gas milegage for running errands, etc. and I *HATE* the thing -- it's pretty much useless.

 

I think we're going to sell the mini van and run the 'Burb until she won't run any more...then we'll get another 'Burb. :D

[Tutor]

We love our Suburban! I love being able to fit 8 people *and* still have trunk space. I am more fit now, too, since I like to park near the back of lots to give myself plenty of room to swing into spaces. LOL!

[Ottakee]

i LOVE our suburbans. We have a 1995 gas suburban with leather seats. It is a 1500 (1/2 ton). The leather is really nice with kids.

 

Our other suburban is the one I drive the most. It is a 1999 2500 (3/4 ton with 1 ton axles--a bonus) diesel. It has cloth seats but diesel suburbans are so hard to find we weren't going to argue over cloth vs. leather when we saw it advertised for a VERY low price used a few years ago.

 

Both are 4 wheel drives and that is VERY much needed if you live in a snowy area, area with mud, go off roading at all----we have even taken our suburban dune scooting----driving up and down the sand dunes with all of the dune buggies:lol:

 

If you are going to do much towing at all the 2500 is much nicer. We tow our camping trailer occ. and our horse trailer several times a week.

 

The one thing I had to watch closely with the kids after having a mini van was that these doors open OUT vs. the sliding doors and with it being a bigger vehicle you really have to watch that you don't ding the doors on cars parked next to you. They can also be fun :glare: to park in places like parking ramps that have spaces designed for yugos.

 

The 1999 and older (I think) body styles are bigger and have more interior room so that might be a consideration. If well maintained, they can go 300,000 or more.

[lllll]

..

[ClassicalTwins]

We have a 2005 Tahoe and LOVE it!!! We tried a Suburban it was just more than we needed but we like them too. :D

[StaceyinLA]

I've owned a 93, a 95 and an '01. We didn't keep the '01 long (right at a year) because we bought it after my '93 was totalled (we should've bought another one cash at that time with the insurance money but we were stupid), and I just hated having the note at the time (well, I hate notes any time). In short, we sold the '01, bought a used '95 cash with the money like we should've in the first place!

 

Anyway, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Suburbans. I did love my '95 best (front bench, seated 9, SUPER roomy older body style with LOTS of cargo space).

 

I'm driving a minivan now because we don't need the space like we did, although I downsized to a Highlander and that wasn't ENOUGH space, so I'm back to a minivan. I really love the ride of my Grand Caravans as well (this is my 4th minivan in 22 years).

 

For years I said if I could pick any vehicle in the world it'd be a Suburban. I think at this stage the only reason I might change that statement is because I just don't need the room. If I didn't have the "driving huge SUV guilt with only a couple of people in the car" thing, I'd drive one forever!

 

All this is to say, "GO FOR IT!!"

[milovany]

Another 'burb lover here. We're on our third, a 1997 model. It still looks and runs GREAT. We have the bench seat, which is a necessity for us since we are a family of nine. We have a bit of a difficult time getting everything we need in when we go away for our annual 4-5 trip to the beach house, but other than that it's plenty roomy -- we got a full sized couch in there a few weeks ago (both back seats out or folded down). Like someone said above, we'll drive this one into the ground -- and then probably get another.

[juelle]

Love ours. Had to have the space. The only pain is that the kids have to fold the middle seat up and down to get in and out of the back set. But I can't think how to avoid it, and once seated, everybody has plenty of room. I haul 2 weeks' worth of groceries at a time, we pull a boat, we lug lots of baseball equipment. It does go through gas quickly, but that's the cost of living for us.:001_smile: