[Six-Pack]

Allow me to introduce myself by first saying... I DO NOT own a Chevy Suburban

***waiting for moaning, hissing, and throwing of overripe tomatoes to subside***

I swear, it's NOT MY FAULT!! hehe...

Back when we bought our '95 Ford Club Wagon (15-passenger van)...

***more waiting for cries of 'kill the ford owner!'***

... I REALLY REALLY wanted a Suburban, but I was outvoted by the hubby and the sneaky sales guy who cornered him while he was at the dealership getting the truck serviced and asking what our options were on our lease agreement. We had just had baby #5 and were (temporarily... and yes, i know, probably illegally and unsafely) buckling two of our children together in one seatbelt. We needed to 'move up' to something bigger, but were locked into a lease and only by buying another Ford from that dealership (as far as we knew then) could we get out of it without being penalized. Ford did not, at that time, have an equivilent to the Suburban, so the Club Wagon seemed our best choice for a large (and possibly still growing) family.

Of course, during our almost-11-year ownership of that van, the production of the Ford Excursion came and went with us hardly noticing it's existence. Until I parked the van on it's side one day, about a month and a half ago. Myself and the 5 kids who were with me survived with no injury whatsoever, but the insurance company pronounced our beloved white box 'DOA'! (pssst... don't tell anybody, but I was kinda hoping it would just up and die on it's own, I was definitely ready for something new... but despite my husband's ridiculous claims, I doubt there is any way someone could engineer totaling a large vehicle like that while still keeping it's six passengers alive and unharmed. Well, an all-powerful, Divine Engineer, maybe! )

All of that to say... we are now in the market for a new family vehicle. The four main criteria appear to be...

1) Must carry at least 7 (if not 8 or more) people, relatively comfortably. Those long roadtrip vacations just don't cut it with kids fussing at each other constantly... but you all knew that!

2) Must be capable of pulling a travel trailer with a max weight of 7700 lbs.

3) Really should be 4 wheel drive, to accomodate driving on snowy, icy roads in the mountains... lol... on a regular basis, since we live there!

and...

4) I get sick at my stomach, just thinking of the poor souls behind us on the road, but the hubby says he wants a diesel this time around, mainly because of the trailer. And he doesn't seem to be backing down about it. (Where was MY resolve, back when I wanted the Suburban in the first place?)

So, FINALLY, here's my question...

Does anybody here know WHICH YEARS Chevy and/or GMC made the Suburbans with a diesel engine option? Preferably recent Suburban history, please... although I have decided that I do kinda fancy the 1947-1954 stylizing of the Suburban, just don't think it'll cut it in the 4x4 and towing departments!

I'm very disappointed to find out that we can't get a new vehicle, since Chevy is not offering up the '06 or the '07 with a diesel, and Ford quit making the Excursion one year too early for us! So, we are now in the process of trying to figure out what our options are. It looks like any year of the Excursion (2000-2005) or (YAY, FINALLY!!!) a used Suburban with a diesel. I've spent hours, here on the net, trying to pin down which years we should be looking at, but have had little to no luck figuring it out, so I'm hoping someone at this site can help me. I even had one Chevy dealership saiesman flat-out lie to me by telling me that the Suburban was NEVER made with a diesel engine! lol.. can you believe that?

Okay, I know I have already rambled sufficiently... and then some... so I will say bye and 'thanks in advance'... looking forward to 'hearing' your responses!!!

'D' mom of 'D' six-pack

 

[84fiero123]

RE: Howdy Y

First welcome to the forum. Even if you don’t own a Burb yet.

Second, don’t worry we are not all just Suburban owners. I have 2 of those full size Ford vans, 88 Club Wagon, and an 84 Cargo Van. Both have the old 300 -6 cylinders. You can easily put 30 bales of hay in either one if the extra seats are not in.

I know they put the diesels in the Burbs in the 80’s, but don’t buy one of those. Was just a reworked gas engine. Genius engineering by GM. Those had a lot of trouble.

Now the newer ones are a lot better. We have several members here that own the newer diesel Burbs, but for the life of me just can’t remember who or what years right now, short term memory loss, and old age I think.

Dealers just want to sell you a new truck and not what they don’t have. Not to mention most of the salesmen don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

Call any Chevy, or GMC dealership and ask for the service dept.

Talk to their service manager, they see all years, the good and the bad. They will be able to tell you what years a diesel was available. If it was available for the pickups, it was available in the Burbs.

Again welcome to the forum and sorry I wasn’t of more help.

By the way, Where are you from? Just wondering, you said you needed 4X4 for snow.

I drove our 86 2 wheel drive Burb for or 10 years here in New England without a hitch as far as getting stuck in the snow. Just so long as you put real snow tires on it, it was great in the snow.

 

[84fiero123]

RE: Howdy Y

Hey Steve, your clock is wrong. It says I posted at 8:10 Am, it was 7:10 when I posted here earlier.

 

[hmfdphil]

1999 is the last year of the diesel Suburban, I own one. If you want to use it for towing I would go for a 98 or 99. They upgraded the cooling system to solve some oveheating problems. If you buy and older one you can buy an aftermarket kit to do it yourself.

 

[ChevyFan]

Wow, this one goes back quite a bit. Big bonus points to hmfdphil for digging it up and for breathing life back into this topic! ;-) :great: