Advocate I
Hey all, I'm looking for actual experience with, and feedback on 8.1 GMT800 Suburbans from owners. I'm pretty familiar with the GMT800 platform as a whole, and I've had a few buddies with 8.1s in pickups but nothing beats real-world experience that matches the intended use case from owners.
A little context: I have a cousin that is right around my age that has 3 kids. He's a great father and hard worker, but doesn't make a ton of money. His wife is a teacher, which also doesn't pay incredibly well. They live in a rather expensive part of CA and basically just get by. His oldest is about to be off to college, but his two boys are much younger and are getting to the age he wants to camp with them more, and go to the family cabin way out in the middle of nowhere in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. Right now the best he has to go camp with is borrowing his Mom's (my Aunt) FWD Toyota Venza. It has gotten him by, but it's hard on the Venza and the passengers getting in/out of our cabin. The "driveway" has a few steep, rocky, rutted sectctions. He has to have everyone get out and carry gear up the hill then just hammer it up with as little weight in it as possible.
For a long time I've really thought about, and wanted to get him something he can use as a cabin and camping rig with his boys. For cabin trips he often takes his Mom too, so between 4+ people and food/water/ice/gear for a week at the cabin (it's a real-deal cabin, like no electricity etc. so you have to bring in everything) I just figured a Suburban was the right thing. I have an opportunity to get a clean, 1-owner '01 8.1 4x4 Suburban for a very reasonable price and think it could be "the one" for what I want to do. But my biggest concerns are "gifting" my cousin a money-pit he can't afford. The owner's family have kept it up pretty meticulously so I have a pretty good feeling about it not nickel and diming my cousin to death with maintenance backlog. The trans was replaced recently, which is great on the one hand but then a bit surprising for a relatively low-mile 4L85-E on the other hand. I'm working on more detail now, I believe it's pretty loaded (that's all the owner's family buys) and generally very clean and "should" have no immediate requirements.
So, 8.1 'burb owners, what say you? And just how miserable will the fuel mileage be in real-world use with 4+ passengers and a week of gear? Right now w/ the Venza they have to strap shit to the roof and really load it down, so I'd guess they're seeing 20mpg at best. Will the 'burb do 10mpg (thereby doubling his fuel costs on trips), or worse? I was originally thinking of a 1500 for the 5.3 and better MPG (14-15 highway would be a lot better than 10) but then in that era, and my budget, it means a 4L60-E which is always a timebomb and I believe a 10-bolt which is also under-spec for a Suburban IMHO.
-TJ
A little context: I have a cousin that is right around my age that has 3 kids. He's a great father and hard worker, but doesn't make a ton of money. His wife is a teacher, which also doesn't pay incredibly well. They live in a rather expensive part of CA and basically just get by. His oldest is about to be off to college, but his two boys are much younger and are getting to the age he wants to camp with them more, and go to the family cabin way out in the middle of nowhere in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. Right now the best he has to go camp with is borrowing his Mom's (my Aunt) FWD Toyota Venza. It has gotten him by, but it's hard on the Venza and the passengers getting in/out of our cabin. The "driveway" has a few steep, rocky, rutted sectctions. He has to have everyone get out and carry gear up the hill then just hammer it up with as little weight in it as possible.
For a long time I've really thought about, and wanted to get him something he can use as a cabin and camping rig with his boys. For cabin trips he often takes his Mom too, so between 4+ people and food/water/ice/gear for a week at the cabin (it's a real-deal cabin, like no electricity etc. so you have to bring in everything) I just figured a Suburban was the right thing. I have an opportunity to get a clean, 1-owner '01 8.1 4x4 Suburban for a very reasonable price and think it could be "the one" for what I want to do. But my biggest concerns are "gifting" my cousin a money-pit he can't afford. The owner's family have kept it up pretty meticulously so I have a pretty good feeling about it not nickel and diming my cousin to death with maintenance backlog. The trans was replaced recently, which is great on the one hand but then a bit surprising for a relatively low-mile 4L85-E on the other hand. I'm working on more detail now, I believe it's pretty loaded (that's all the owner's family buys) and generally very clean and "should" have no immediate requirements.
So, 8.1 'burb owners, what say you? And just how miserable will the fuel mileage be in real-world use with 4+ passengers and a week of gear? Right now w/ the Venza they have to strap shit to the roof and really load it down, so I'd guess they're seeing 20mpg at best. Will the 'burb do 10mpg (thereby doubling his fuel costs on trips), or worse? I was originally thinking of a 1500 for the 5.3 and better MPG (14-15 highway would be a lot better than 10) but then in that era, and my budget, it means a 4L60-E which is always a timebomb and I believe a 10-bolt which is also under-spec for a Suburban IMHO.
-TJ
