What a fantastic site!!!

Looking at a 2012 Denali with 85K on the OD. It is at a GM dealership which makes me much more comfortable that it has gone thru a through inspection. With that said, what should peak at in particular? This will be my/our first Hybrid. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, need to be when you own a boat. If we get it I think something I would do right out of the gate is the throttle body.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/guidance.

 

Run like Heck. Used hybrids are almost always a bad idea from a risk/reward ratio. When new, you have a high reward potential with low maintenance risk. As they age/go up in miles, that inverts - low reward potential, high maintenance risk.

Only 85K miles? I just replaced the hybrid battery on a 2011 Silverado with 57K miles.

Its location at a GM dealership should not impart a feeling of comfort. Most GM service departments have demonstrated nothing but incompetence when diagnosing and repairing these vehicles. Believing they did any meaningful reliability testing is nothing but a fantasy. They hooked up a scanner and checked for codes - that's it. They're charging you a premium just because it's on a GM lot. THAT is the only certainty.

IMHO, unless you're okay with spending another $7-10K on this vehicle in maintenance over the next 50-100K miles, HARD pass.

 

Thanks for the reply!

I was hoping that by 2012 the issues that seemed the plague the 08 and 09's had been worked out. I figured on the 3K for the battery pack in a few years at best. Investment for the better gas mileage. Maybe we will just go with another 6.2 powered Denali or Escalade. We had a Denali that was stolen during hurricane Florence and haven't had a need to replace it. Now our oldest is 16 a ready to start driving and we figured we would give her our old XC90 and finally replace the Denali.

 

Per https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find...id=31465&#tab1, you'll only save about $3K in gas over 5 years at $3/gal fuel prices with a much higher maintenance risk. Net savings will likely be negative.

 

We made the decision to pass. I appreciate your feedback S Keith. Unless I find one with 50-ish thousand miles I think we will stick with a non-hybrid model.

 

Glad to hear it.

50K miles AND a $5-7K discount to a comparable non-hybrid.

 

Having recently shopped then purchased a used 13 Denali Hybrid, I can say you can get the Hybrids for about the same cost or even lower than a conventional Tahoe or Yukon so the mileage savings can be a welcome deal, unlike when purchasing a new Hybrid and paying $10 k more than equal equipped Yukon. My 09 didn't have any issues at all until replacing the battery at 196k miles. With gas cheap there is not a high demand for Hybrid trucks, but gas may not always be this cheap, and 19.5 mpg in town in a full size truck is hard to beat.

 

test drive it good make sure the oil pressure is good as the orings fail on all models ( 4.8,5.3 and 6.2,6.0 engines)

it should fall between 65-70PSI on a cold start and about 50PSI while driving the non hybrid will be lower

 

Amen to that. Again and again through the years i have talked myself into believing the Stealership is where you need to go, and it is never so. It is to rip you off, screw you and send you on your way anyway they can. they are not an "expert" on anything but that -ripping you off. lmfao I was absolutely FLABERGASTED a few months ago when my cousin got a flier from the dealership about the breaks they told her she needed ( I had sent here there with her CRV for an axel fluid change, NP). they wants like 800 dollars to do the breaks all around. It should be criminal, honestly.
Prior, my last contact was with the Toyota stealership in town with a problem with the wiring BUS with the rear lights. they couldn't find it, talked about an appointment with their best electrician who had to go through it, etc. I found the problem in a forum, and a well known and common one for that generation Camry. The wiring harness it attached to the trunk hinge, over time it wears through. it require pulling back the carpet a little bit to see it. Simply no excuse for a Stealership, only explanation is dishonesty or incompetence. They also quoted me something like 8 hours to take down a gas tank for the charcoal canister, while i knew from already playing with it and changing it once that model Camery came with an externally mounted canister. I will NEVEER< EVER get involved with a Stealership and a car, not never. putting thousands of dollars into their pocket simply to drive off the lot. no thanks. sorry for the rant, but aI always like to tell people so whoever may read this will know.

 

Has your opinion changed on this? the cost of batteries has gone down, the technology has improved since 2015 to where you could get an aftermarket to last the life of the car? lol, its funny sometimes. It used to be worry about the motor and transmission, until it refined to such a place where the car around it always falls aprt before the drive train. Now we are back to the engine again, but as a battery.
I will NOT buy a new car from a Stealership. I don't want all the tracking, the technology and electronics that come with but i drive a car for work and the fuel economy is what i need as a priority. I have been a Honda man but then moved into a Lexus(too much Stealership, not a used model to own) which I loved and a couple Toyotas since and now I'm shopping cars again because I have to; replace converter last year and it needs to be replaced again. I live in the great state of taxation& regulation -New York; so the convert cost 700 instead of 300. Every Toyota I have owned has one common problem, and it is persistent: emissions. I have had it.
So i have been considering a return to Honda (to this day 50 years old, my 2 Civics, a 2000 and a 1995, best cars I have ever owned, outside of the upper and lower ball joint replacements). I feel the first generation is out of the question. The III however may be affordable with the first few model years. I just need help making decisions, you obviously know what you are talking about.