2005 Chevrolet Tahoe LT review from North America

Rear universal joints needed to be replaced at 106000 miles.

6 Disc CD changer was non operational when we bought the Tahoe. I replaced myself for $100 and the dealership reprogrammed for $25.

Leather drivers seat has started to crack on side right above the power seat control.

We got a great deal on this vehicle, so the CD changer being non working was no big deal to replace. The leather cracking is because the seat very rarely gets conditioned, so it's my fault and not a huge problem.

I replaced the U joints this past weekend. They required that I take them to a shop to get the plastic retainers melted out. It was $15 to get the old joints removed, and $18 for new, greaseable type to replace them. The total time was around 1.5 hours to replace. The truck had a bit of a "clunk" when shifting from park to drive or reverse, and a rattle on hard acceleration. The replacement of the joints took care of everything and she drives like new now.

The only other costs associated with ownership are the normal wear and tear items, ie. tune up, oil change, tires, etc.

We seems to get much better gas mileage than a lot of people, but I cannot explain why. The 5.3L motor is bullet proof so far. We get 14-16 MPG around town (which is typical), but we drove it 250 miles to Niagara Falls recently and it averaged 22.8 MPG according to the on-board computer. I checked the miles against what it took to fill it completely when we got there, and the computer was pretty much dead on. (My calculations came out to 22.6 MPG)