Trying to decide between a 1500 chevy or Tundra

I have been looking for over a month for a used Tundra, and the problem is a 03 access cab used with 30k miles is as much or more than a brand new 1500 with the backseat. I drove a chevy 1500 today with the vortec V6 and it rode better than the Tundra but I had 2 dislikes. One was the V6 seemed weak to me compared to the Toyota six . Also the chevy had a moaning noise when you first accelerated up to about 15mph (salesperson says its normal). I have always been a nissan/toyota person because of the bad ratings on American cars, but Ive heard that BS for weeks about Toyota resale till Im sick of the arrogant attitude of toyota salespeople. That employ pricing makes the chevy 6 grand cheaper than a new Tundra! I will be towing 3000 pounda about 40 miles every day (lawn care). My question is have the GM products improved as of late? I cant bring myself to pay 18-20 grand for a dang used truck. The chevy I drove was in my price range (barely) at 18,800 compared to a new Tundra for

26,000. I have to have the back seat for my twins. Just wanted to see how you other chevy owners have felt about your trucks and will they go the 200k like the Toyotas? Sorry to all chevy fans but Im having a hard time going back to domestics.

Thanks Danny

Reply to
Dad-x-2
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I love my 04 1500 Crew Cab. I got it for $22k last summer. That is with the 5.3l V8. No problems and very nice.

Reply to
Sigwings

I just bought a new 05 1500 just before employee pricing. Came in at $25K from a $32K sticker. 5.3 motor with HD locking diff 3:73 gears, Tow package, Onstar, XM radio, power drivers seat, power windows. I would not ever buy a V-6 in a full sized truck ever again.

The ONLY thing wrong with the truck is a factory blemish in the paint where it looked like the robot hiccuped on the spray pattern. Dealer fixed it with no questions asked.

Used 04's and even 05's can be found for much cheaper.

Eightupman

Reply to
Eightupman

Chevy recently rated tops in 5 different categories for long term owner satisfaction, and has good ratings on new owner satisfaction also. Times have changed but the urban myths about foreign car vs traditional US brands quality continue. Many of the vehicles are built in US or Canada, regardless of brand.

The rape continues after the sale if you buy Toyota. I bought a starter for my American iron V-8 (IH Scout II) for $47 while it cost my son $110 to buy a starter for his Toyota. Both purchased at Kragen. His starter could almost be carried in shirt pocket. Similar low cost for a starter for my Suburban a few years ago.

I traded 97 2500 HD extended cab l>I just bought a new 05 1500 just before employee pricing. Came in at $25K

Reply to
Robert Ball

brand

vortec

THis is a tuff one because I like Chevies and Toyotas but I will give it a spin. The Chevy V6 is based off of the old small block 350 minus two cylinders and it is a very proven and solid engine and I have seen then go well past 200k in variuos vehicals. V6?s can sound differnet at times. Toyota makes a nice engines too and I have put over 200k on a few of them too. What it is going to boil down to is price and comfort in operation. THere are some real steals out there on GM trucks and they do make a very nice cab (one of the best out there). One word of caution I would give you is if you plan to tow, DO NOT buy the chevy if it has a 3.42 axle ratio (it is standard) because it will give you disappointing tow performance for sure V6 or V8. You want at the very least a 3.73 (option code GT4) in that truck if you want to tow 3000lbs. If it has a GT5 (4.10) you should be able to relistically tow up to 5K or so but again DO NOT BUY A C1500 chevy to tow with that has a 3.42 axle regardless of what brouchers or salesman tell you because if you do you will be disapointed. Sorry to be so blunt but I read about a LOT of people disappoint with towing performance with new SUV?s because they were not properly geared for the task in the real world.

Reply to
SnoMan

I had a GM loaner once that was a 2wd extended cab with a short box and V6 with 3.73?s and I must say it ran pretty good and kinda surprized me. But, it you have tall stock gears, you will not have a good experiance. They put real tall gears in them by default to try to squeek a extra 1/2 mpg on EPA mileage dyno for fleet averages, not for the real world.

Reply to
SnoMan

For what its worth, I had a 94, 96, 99 and 2002, Chevy Silverado Z71 extended cab.. Loved each one of them. I now 2003 Chevy Tahoe Z71. I love it too. Wouldn't have anyother car.

Mark

Reply to
LionsDen

sez:

Just wanted to see

Engine might, but the tranny won't ... you'll need to replace it at least once, maybe twice, to get 200k out of a chevy.

VLJ

Reply to
vlj

Ok my comments, rear axle ratio on tundra with manual tranny is 4.08:1,

3.88:1 with automatic. That will be a big difference in how it feels pull wise. especaly since GM loves the 3.42:1 ratio for stock. And considering 85% of buyers never cary a load or tow regularly, it works fine, another case of the general public wanting a car looks like a truck messing up the truck buyer needs a truck.. There is no difference in the fuel ratings between the 4.3 ltr V-6, and the 4.8 ltr V-8, yet 90 hp and 35 lb ft of torque more with the 4.8 V-8. In your case I think the V-6 is false economy, and you will do better in the long run wth the 4.8. If it were me, just becuse I got a sweet spot for the 327, I would go the 5.3 ltr., it only gains another 10 hp over the 4.8, but gets another 40 lb ft torque more than the 4.8, thats 75 lb ft torque more than the 4.3, and torque is what gets the work of towing done. As to how far they will go, thats up to you. You change the oil under the sevear maintenance schedule and the oil and air and fuel filters and any of the three I listed should see 250k with no major repairs. and I am sure you have been doing that with the ricers you have owned. As to bad ratings on American cars, its all media hype for the most part. For some reason you never hear about all the recalls on the ricers. go online and look what the media doesn't report sometime. all I can tell you is my last two Chevy trucks have been outstanding. 297k on an '87 2.8 V-6 powered S-10 blazer wrecked by my daughter, still running even though the water pump had been shoved back thought the timing cover. No major repairs on it drive train wise, or other wise, one fuel pump, one water pump, shaft seal on ac compressor.. The '91 4.3 S-10 Blazer tranny is acting up, its got 247k on it. No major repairs till tranny acted up. One AC compressor,a timing chain at 170k for maintenance reasons (my choice) one water pump.

Whitelightning

Reply to
Whitelightning

That sounds anecdotal to your personal experience to me. So I'll add mine. '79 1/2 ton-THM350 trans., '85 1/2 ton-700R4 trans, and the one I drive now, '93 3/4 ton-4L80 trans. All went well past 200 thousand miles with no trans. overhauls and still shifting fine, no slippage, when I got rid of the first two. The '93 is doing fine. Not a thing wrong with GM transmissions as far as longevity. I did keep the fluid and filter changed about every 40 thousand, however.

Garrett Fulton

Reply to
gfulton

"gfulton" sez:

transmissions

The 4L80 is fine but those are in the 2500s where the 1500s have the 4L60E. Do a lookup for 4L60E TCC solenoid failure due to valve body defect, Sonnax sleeve repair for said defect, sun reaction shell failures, etc ... They do demand 30k oil/filter service intervals.

VLJ

Reply to
vlj

More BS, a 4L60E (actually a 4L65E now) will loaf behind a V6 big time. Add a small aux tranny cooler and it will last the life of truck easily if it is proeprly geared for loads. I have a 16 year old 89 4x4 burb with 173K on it with the 4L60/65E predesesor, the 700R4 and it has never been down and it works great and it has had a hard life and made over a dozen trips accross rockies heavily loaded. It has had a aux tranny cooler on it since day one and had fluid and filter changes every 30k miles or so.. The guys that have problems with 4L60 are to ones that put on big tires with tall stock gears and then add shift kits too and then when they tear the tranny up it is because it is junk, not because of what they did to it and how they treated it.

Reply to
SnoMan

Not to start an augment SnoMan, but I have been towing my 3000lb sailboat with an 87 K5 Blazer

5.7 Tbi with 3.42 gears for many years with no problems. It has all the power I need to tow uphill and on the level @ 60 mph+ And yes, it does have the 700R4 tranny with an aftermarket cooler connected directly to the Tranny without going thru the radiator first. I have had no trouble starting out on a cold -20 degree day. That is my personal experience. No brag, just fact. Regards, JR
Reply to
JR

"SnoMan" sez:

Mine wuz a '97 'Burb with a 5.7l on a 4L60E w/ aux. coolers and a 3.73 diffy all stock, factory serviced and it ate its young @ 72,000 mi. Both the TCC valve body and sun shell problems were present. That Vortec was the most HP/torque put through that tranny and it taxed its weaknesses. The shame is that the weaknesses were well known for a protracted period of time and not addressed by the designers.

Therein lies the biggest difference and most telling distinction between the marques that I've found in my many decades of wrenching, the domestics like to reuse and combine existing designs (with a tweak here or there, maybe) whilst the competition tends to mate components designed for each other from the outset. I prefer the value proposition of the latter.

But, hey, you pays your quarter to see the show and you takes your chances. Once costs less at the outset but has higher maintenance costs. The other costs more up front but has a reduced hotel load once owned. In the end, it all evens out ... pick what ya like and take care of it.

Good wrenchin' to ya, VLJ

Reply to
vlj

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