Long term results for K2XX 1500?

Billy346 · December 10, 2016

Regarding the Tundra with 1 million miles on it, you need to watch the you tube video and pay attention to how that vehicle was used. The guy that owned it was using it as a long distance hauling and towing vehicle. Probably 95% of that vehicles lifespan was spent on the highway at or above 55 mph. He put over 100,000 miles per year on it. On top of that, the guy was using it along the gulf coast between Florida and Texas, which means that the land he was driving it on was mostly flat. That truck was basically driven under ideal conditions for long miles: mostly highway use, flat terrain, no frame eating salt on the road surface. My bet is that most Tundras will go anywhere between 150,000 and 200,000 miles before needing a major expensive repair, and will most likely rot out due to road salt and old age before they hit 300,000 miles. That being said, it's not that difficult to find someone with a Chevy that has well over 200,000 miles.

Most people keep their trucks anywhere between 3 and 7 years. Unless you are putting over 100,000 miles a year on your truck, you don't need a vehicle that has the capability to go 1 million miles before replacement. Even if you plan on keeping the truck for a while, the older it gets, the harder it is to find parts for it or to find a mechanic who knows how to work on it. I have a 1998 Camaro that I have to take to a private mechanic because the dealer no longer knows how to work on it!

Colossus · December 10, 2016

Just too much to go wrong on an optioned out top of the line truck. When I traded my 2014 SLT at 61,000 miles it was in need of some parts already. Tires / Brakes / Shocks / heated and cooled seat broken / piss poor factory headlights needed to be upgraded etc etc it probably would have been fine for another 50 to 100,000 miles with a small investment.

Tires- Normal wear and tear

Brakes- Normal wear and tear.

Shocks- Normal wear and tear

Heated and Cooled seat broken- There's bound to be something on a vehicle that breaks with all the components in em now a days.

Factory Headlights- Came from the factory that way.

Doesn't matter if you have a $100,000 truck or a $20,000 truck. What you listed is not unrealistic. I think you would have done just fine as-is.

FL335i · December 10, 2016

I have a 1989 Full size GMC Jimmy (AKA Blazer). 113k original miles, was originally from PA. I'm the 3rd owner. Only slight rust int he rockers. I'm almost done getting the truck partially restored and back on the road. This truck is a gem. I keep it garaged.

I also have an all original 1985 Grand Prix LE with the 5.0 I bought about a month ago from the original owner. FL car. Old lady owned. Garaged. ZERO rust. Car runs awesome, but the plan is a nice 350-400HP 350 carb build derivable muscle car that is as stock as possible. I keep it garaged.

My '14 K2XX has 58k on it. I work in construction. My previous employer/company only bought GM trucks. I saw trucks go easily 200k under not even close ideal conditions or well maintenance vehicles. I have a foreman who had a early 2000's chevy 1500 from up north and he moved down to FL and that truck is rusted inside and out, close to if not 300k when he turned it into a job-site truck and bought a new GM truck. My K2XX does not fit in my garage!

I ran my 1984 Supra up to over 200k. I actually did that on two MK2 supras. Both over 200k. Awesome cars. I have a lot of respect for the older Toyota's, but the ones they are building now are nothing like the old ones they built. Toyota got crappier, GM got a whole lot better since the 1980's. I bought a new TRD Off-road 2009 Tacoma and it was flimsy shizi. That was my last toyota. I special ordered that truck. What a disappointment. I had a '94 4runner that I built into a SAS rock crawler. That truck rocked. Again, old school Toyota. My 2009 Taco had a C-channel frame that twisted like crazy off-road. That truck was terrible, it was made of paper thin metal and nothing like my 80's supra and early 90's 4runner was. My wife had a 2000? 4runner and it was "ok". you could literally see the down-slide Toyota was on from my 1984 Supra up to my 2009 Taco. Add insult to injury, my '09 taco go 17mpg in all situations, never did better than 18MPG once. My K2XX Tows 2x's the capacity, is a larger truck and i've gotten up to 24mpg when it was more stock than now and even now I get 17-18 in the city and 19-22 on the hwy. Gm needs to pay more attention to the details on their newer truck (shakes, type A complaints, glue etc) and they would have vehicles that would rival the 80's toyotas in terms of reliability and becoming infamous.

Edit. I watched the videos. Pretty impressive. I liked the undercarriage shot, specifically the rear axle. My RR axle is wet, and has been since 16k. As much as I would like to think a K2xx could that.... if I was a betting man, my money would be on the Toyota.

Edited December 10, 2016 by FL335i

wacko · December 10, 2016

I bought a 2004 Double Cab Tundra loaded with every possible feature.... truck would not go into 4wd at the first snowfall. The transfer case internal shaft was machined wrong. I once drank the Toyota kool-aid as well... 1-million mile trucks have more to do with maintenance than what the manufacturer sells you. Although there are exceptions like the 6.0l power stroke diesels and I almost ended up with one but decided to go the Duramax route... thank god

Eddie 70 · December 11, 2016

My 2014 was bought in October of 2015 with 42k miles on it. Today it has 70,000 on it. Just been routine maintenance so far. There are things I want to change though. Over the holidays I plan on changing trans fluid and diff fluid. I do have a pulse in the brakes when slowing coming down from high speed. So there is a warped rotor again maintenance item.

anonymouse · December 29, 2016

My 2014 High Country has been OK, but deeply disappointing given the price.

Prior to this, I owned a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe. I only traded that in because the A/C finally died at 13 years old. That little SUV in perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition. With a detail which I would do every year, it looked like it just came out the showroom. Never had a major mechanical issue, and I traded it in at 130K miles. It had zero rust on it after 13 harsh Illinois winters.

My 2014 High Country on the other hand:

- has had a series of recalls on it, all to do with potential safety issues.

- has more paint chips on it in 2 years than my Hyundai had in 13

- is rusting pretty badly on the chassis. There was a TSB on it that I had to argue with the dealer to perform last year. The first GMC dealer nearest my house refused to do it saying I needed to take it back to a Chevy dealer. I had to drive out to the selling dealer who argued that "all trucks rust". I printed out the TSB and showed it to him, then he grudgingly had it done. One year later and the rust is back. The bottom of this truck is lterally wasting away.

- Recent seatbelt recall fix has GM requiring dealers to "cut into the interior trim of the truck with an exacto knife" leaving a gaping hole in the trim. So much for professional quality work on a $60K truck. No appeals to the dealer or to GM social team or executive team to do a better job did any good.

GM has done a lot of things right with this truck, but overall, the company fails to do the small things right. And it does not care about its customers. It does not take much to do a proper rustproofing job, or a proper paint job, or a proper fix for a seatbelt issue... they just do not care.

Colossus · December 29, 2016

You are comparing a little POS Hyundai Santa Fe (I can call it that because my mom owns one and it IS a POS) to a full side truck. Not a very good comparison.

willyr1er · December 29, 2016

2014 CC with 40K, no vibrations still on OEM tires. Love the truck! Does everything I need it to do and more. No major issues. Minor issues have been 3 recalls(hitch, seat-belt, airbag reprogramming), wind whistle in the cab(dealer replaced weather seals on the door - fixed), easy down tailgate broke(deal replaced a broken part of it, still never opened slowly so I just got a deezee easy down for $30).

anonymouse · December 29, 2016

You are comparing a little POS Hyundai Santa Fe (I can call it that because my mom owns one and it IS a POS) to a full side truck. Not a very good comparison.

I am relaying my experience and a reference comparison with another make and manufacturer that supposedly is a cheap import with a bad reputation for quality. Without a doubt, my experience with Hyundai is the quality and after sales service is far superior to what I have experienced with GM. A 2 year old GM truck should not be rusting as my top of the model line High Country is. It should not be chipping paint like it is. It should not be subjected to a hack job on a seatbelt recall. These are real issues with this truck. You can see a number of others on this forum itself with the same issues. And GM chooses not to do anything about these issues.

It is unfortunate your mom is having a bad experience with her Hyundai. I have another 2009 Santa Fe as well, which is also trouble free. In addition, I find the dealership experience with Hyundai to be superior to the dealership experience with GM.

Edited December 29, 2016 by anonymouse

Billy346 · December 29, 2016

My 2014 High Country has been OK, but deeply disappointing given the price.

Prior to this, I owned a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe. I only traded that in because the A/C finally died at 13 years old. That little SUV in perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition. With a detail which I would do every year, it looked like it just came out the showroom. Never had a major mechanical issue, and I traded it in at 130K miles. It had zero rust on it after 13 harsh Illinois winters.

My 2014 High Country on the other hand:

- has had a series of recalls on it, all to do with potential safety issues.

- has more paint chips on it in 2 years than my Hyundai had in 13

- is rusting pretty badly on the chassis. There was a TSB on it that I had to argue with the dealer to perform last year. The first GMC dealer nearest my house refused to do it saying I needed to take it back to a Chevy dealer. I had to drive out to the selling dealer who argued that "all trucks rust". I printed out the TSB and showed it to him, then he grudgingly had it done. One year later and the rust is back. The bottom of this truck is lterally wasting away.

- Recent seatbelt recall fix has GM requiring dealers to "cut into the interior trim of the truck with an exacto knife" leaving a gaping hole in the trim. So much for professional quality work on a $60K truck. No appeals to the dealer or to GM social team or executive team to do a better job did any good.

GM has done a lot of things right with this truck, but overall, the company fails to do the small things right. And it does not care about its customers. It does not take much to do a proper rustproofing job, or a proper paint job, or a proper fix for a seatbelt issue... they just do not care.

So, basically, your Hyundai remained pristine over 13 years of ownership and your two year old Silverado is rusted out and has chipping paint? I think there is some information that you are leaving out here. Did you live in California for most of the time with the Hyundai then move to Ohio (or another rust belt state) and purchase the Chevy? How did you use it differently that you are not saying? Did you wash the Hyundai regularly but neglect the Chevy? Do you drive on more dirt roads than you did before? Is there more road construction in your area now than there was before? Chevrolet does not build the best vehicle (by far) but they are certainly better built than a Hyundai.

Silverado Steve · December 29, 2016

Something to consider, the 13 year old Hyundai probably has oil based paint prior to the EPA mandate for manufacturers to change over to water based paint which chips easier. Im not positive but i think many manufacturers startrd yo transition in 2005-2006.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Silverado Steve

Knightfall · December 29, 2016

I'm just chiming in saying that Hyundais are pretty good cars. They've had that awesome warranty for a very long time now. Almost 20 years I think. If I thought Hyundai/Kia SUV's looked better I'd consider one. I hope the Santa Cruz gets put into production.

krzyd · December 29, 2016

60k miles on my '14, trouble free except for the seat thing, and I did put a tune in it, so I can't speak to the tranny issues.

Silverado Steve · December 30, 2016

I got a Hyundai Tuscon as a rental car this week with the turbo 1.6. Its not a bad car, but hardly the mpgs i would expect from such a small 4 cyl and that's driving conservatively. Imwould consider buying a Hyundai as a second car or at least used because their resale value is crap.

I'm just chiming in saying that Hyundais are pretty good cars. They've had that awesome warranty for a very long time now. Almost 20 years I think. If I thought Hyundai/Kia SUV's looked better I'd consider one. I hope the Santa Cruz gets put into production.

anonymouse · December 30, 2016

So, basically, your Hyundai remained pristine over 13 years of ownership and your two year old Silverado is rusted out and has chipping paint? I think there is some information that you are leaving out here. Did you live in California for most of the time with the Hyundai then move to Ohio (or another rust belt state) and purchase the Chevy? How did you use it differently that you are not saying? Did you wash the Hyundai regularly but neglect the Chevy? Do you drive on more dirt roads than you did before? Is there more road construction in your area now than there was before? Chevrolet does not build the best vehicle (by far) but they are certainly better built than a Hyundai.

I can only share what I have experienced. My 2014 High Country has been a terrible disappointment. I want to love this truck. Heck, I spent twice on it than I spent on each Santa Fe. Why would I not take care of it? It is a city truck - sees mall duty, not work duty. It gets a full detail twice a year and is always clean. When I detail it, I use Klasse AIO and sealant to protect the paint. With all that, the paint job is disgraceful. I seriously do not understand why it has as many chips as it does. It only sees city driving.

The rust issue is simply inexcusable. And for a GM dealer to shrug off that issue on a one year odl truck with "All Trucks Rust", is simply irresponsible. We should not have to fight to get minimum acceptable quality from GM. But sadly, we do. If you have had your seatbelt recall fix done, are you happy with it? Are you happy with the hack job they call an acceptable solution?

In contrast, both Hyundai's were purchased and driven in Illinois, and babied less than this High Country. The 2001 was sold without any rust. The 2009 does not have rust at all. How do I know? I change the oil and do the maintainance myself, so I know what the underbody looks like. The warranty should tell you something - for Hyundai to stand behind their product 100% for 5 years and the powertrain for 10, they have to build quality in.

The sad part is GM can fix these issues so easily. The technology to do a good paint job is well within their reach, as is the technology to treat their frames for rust. I have to only wonder whether GM deliberately designs their products for premature failure after their short warranties run out. Why else would they skimp on things that keep a generally well engineered product from being great?