1999 GMC Suburban SLT review from North America
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Transfer Case failure 50,000 miles.
Oil Cooler Lines 35,000 and 85,000 miles.
Batteries (2) at 85,000 miles.
Power mirrors and interior lights
at 125,000 miles.
Transfer case (Auto Trac) encoder motor at 150,000 miles.
General comments?
The last year of the old style and it was in production for 5+ years as the 6.5l. The latest versions had engines supplied by AM General which bought the tooling from GM to use in it's two big products, the Hummer and the Post Office delivery truck. These had the stronger blocks and the piston cooling.
Personally observed (and paid for) weak points are: the front brakes which are ridiculously small for the 8600 Gross Vehicle Weight, the transfer case and controller which fail without reason, and the oil cooler lines which are rubber hose swaged into aluminum lines which fail at that connection either from poor design or assembly or both. Current replacement pair OK now with some 50k on them.
Best points are the size, fuel economy.
It doesn't handle badly either, but you have to recognize and adapt to it's characteristics.
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| 1998 - Suburban SLT 350 CID Vortec Without a doubt the poorest quality, most expensive car I've ever owned. |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Year of manufacture | 1999 |
| First year of ownership | 1999 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 6.5L turbo diesel Automatic |
| Performance marks | 10 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 9 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 9 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 4 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 10 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 0 miles |
| Most recent distance | 155000 miles |
| Previous car | GMC Suburban |
| Date of Entry | 15th September, 2003 |