Out to Pasture...

Shannon and I had some decisions to make about what to do with the Suburban. As I mentioned in a previous post, it would cost about $1000 to fix the Suburban. This would have normally been the choice I would have taken, but the Suburban didn't really offer many other redeeming qualities. It had 200,000 miles on the original drive train, the body was getting destroyed by rust, the 10 mpg and 44 gallon gas tank isn't exactly economical, and, well, it is 11 years old! My big fear was that we would spend the $1000 and get the transfer case replaced and three months later the transmission, engine, or rear axle would go out and then what would we do?!

So, we made the decision to replace the Suburban. I figured we would just get another Suburban (or Yukon XL), just find something newer with much less miles. Well, even with gas prices at $3.50 a gallon, the Suburbans on the used car market were still demanding a premium. I wasn't about to pay $10 - $15k for a 10 year old Suburban with 100,000 miles on it! I also did some thinking and realized as nice as it is having a Suburban sized vehicle, I really only used all the "size" for about ten days out of the year and the other 355, I drove around a huge vehicle for no reason! With that realization, we started looking at Tahoes and Yukons. It didn't take long to eliminate these as options either for the same reasons as the Suburbans! They are just too popular right now and the prices are not dropping on the used car market! We looked at a 2007 Tahoe with 150,000 miles on it and they were asking $25k for it!!! No thanks!

So, we went down one more size and started looking at the Chevrolet Trailblazers and GMC Envoys. We both really liked this option. These offered a nice sized SUV that would fit our family perfectly, got decent gas mileage, was easy to drive, and had better value on the used car market. After looking at a few, we decided a 2006 or newer, GMC Envoy is what we wanted. I wanted it to have as low as mileage as possible and not be white in color, other than that, I didn't have many demands. I did a few hours of internet searching and ended up finding one at a Walser dealership in Roseville and one at another Walser dealership here in Bloomington. The one I found in Bloomington had just been taken in on a trade and was not ready, but they said they could get the one from Roseville brought down to Bloomington for us to look at! Sounded good to me, since I didn't really want to drive to Roseville! When it arrived Shannon, Maeve, and I took it for a drive and loved it. Walser gave us what I wanted for the 'burban on a trade and we had a deal!

So, we are now the proud owner's of a 2006 GMC Enovy SLE! It has a 4.2L Inline 6 cylinder motor (291 hp!), four speed automatic transmission, four wheel drive, air conditioning, power window, power locks, keyless entry, cruise control, tilt steering, rear window wiper/washer/defogger, AM/FM Stereo/Cassette/CD Player, automatic headlights, fog lights, full gauges, power sunroof, leather seats, dual power front seats, roof rack, alloy wheels, and a towing package!

It has just over 70,000 miles on it. It was originally a rental car in Hawaii then was shipped back over to the mainland and sold to a lady in Amery, WI. The vehicle is very clean and well taken care of! It handles like a dream and performs very well. It is quick! This is the newest and lowest mileage vehicle I have ever had! It is nice having a nicer car!

All of the staff at Walser commented on what good shape the Suburban was in. Which made me wonder if they were just trying to make me feel good, or they get some really crappy cars on trade! Either way, they said the 'burban would go right to auction and who knows where from there! It might even end up in Mexico like my old truck! I had the Suburban for almost exactly four years and put 32,200 miles on it, which ends up being a little over 8,000 miles a year! I hope it has a little life left in future!