Prior to the BBB filing, I could not get them to give me a repurchase offer. They wanted a replacement. After the BBB filing, the I got a repurchase offer but the mileage was capped at 6950. I can continue to use the vehicle while they process the paperwork which can take up to 60 days.

I'm now talking to a friend of mine who works in auto wholesale. They buy trade ins from dealerships and take them to auction. I'm hoping to get a 2007 GX470 for about 20 - 23K. Anyone have experience with late model GX's?

 

I had a 2006 GX470. It was a great vehicle. The only problem I ever had was the drivetrain "clunk" that they never seemed to be able to resolve (just greased frequently). I should warn you that you will be appalled by the gas milage...I got about 13 MPG. The interior was also more cramped than my Tahoe and forget about using the 3rd row seating alltogether. Try to get one with Navigation and the Mark Levinson sound system...well worth it.

 

The "drivetrain clunk" has been resolved. I got a 2006 CPO GX470 with 29K miles on it. Nav and Mark Levinson although I could not tell the difference between that and my RX330 that does not have the Levinson system. Drove it home yesterday and averaged 21.5 on the freeway. Not bad for a vehicle w/o cylinder deactivation.
The suspension is very smooth but too cushy in the comfort setting.
It is a mixed feeling coming from the Tahoe but it was nice to have memory seats and rain sensing wipers again. Plus I like not having to fold the mirrors when I pull into my garage.

As a final note, I brought my Tahoe to the dealership last week. It took that long to get all the paperwork done. At 8000 miles, it has some abnormal wear (cupping) on the front tires that I have not noticed at 7000. I informed the dealership about this and was told it happens sometimes in the Tahoes.

For my Lemon Law case, they had initially offered me a Trade Assist but penalized me 5000 miles out of 7000 in my ODO. When I filed with the BBB, the offer was revoked and the new offer was a penalty of 7000 miles for both repurchase or trade assist.

Given that I was going to take a $3200 hit to lose the Tahoe, it made more sense to me to get rid of it. Auction prices for used TaHy's with 10K are 25,000 and the $3000 was much less than the depreciation for the vehicle if I traded it in.

If I still get to keep my $2500 hybrid credit (since I put it into service last year), then the TaHy will cost me $700 for 7 months.

Now I could understand Nicka's comment about how this process "stains the brand". By the time you file the case with the BBB, you will feel disowned by GM. The person who picked up the case is one cold fish and her only objective is to mitigate the losses to GM. By the time I agreed on the settlement, the case was moved to the repurchase department which is more human and amicable. This experience was so strange, the district manager and business resource office seemed to do everything in their power to push you away as a customer and destroy all the goodwill built up by the dealers. But the repurchase department is very professional and courteous. It almost seems like they should put the repurchase department up front.

When I purchased my TaHy, it had about 200 miles on it. I had wrongly assumed that the settlement was 7000 - 200 miles. When I called the BBB, my CSR also could not tell me if I was entitled to the deduction since it was settled out of arbitration. She had to ask her manager who gave a vague answer also. Long story short, I ended up paying for the original miles too even if Lemon Law states it is usage miles. There was no formal document outlining the numbers. I would need to agree first to see the math. By the time the numbers came out, it was too late for me to dispute anything.

Between me, GM and the BBB, I was the only non-expert on the lemon law. I feel GM used this to their advantage. IMO, although the BBB says they are a neutral party to this case, I think their assistance to the consumer is skewed to the manufacturer since they are the one that pays to join the "Arbitration Club". You wouldn't shoot your customer in the foot would you?

I still plan to update my Tahoe Hybrid Problems blog with all the documents. No consumer should be made to go through all this after buying a new, expensive vehicle. As the consumer, the burden of proof is so great especially on an intermettent problem. I'm maybe lucky that all my problems surfaced in the first 7 months of ownership. Lemon Law has a 2 year provision but once it reaches the 2 year mark, the usage fees you have accrued would have made it worthless to pursue lemon law.

 

$3200 is a lot of batteries!
I'm surprised they could't get to the source of your problem as it seems easy to localize. They'll likely fix it and sell it for a nice profit.

 

was your car "running" IE in auto stop when your battery ran down or had you stopped IE shut the car off and were still using the battery IE radio and AC on?

 

I have an '08 TaHy. I have about 10k miles on the truck. I used it all last year to tow a BMW M3 on an 18' trailer all over the northeast and Quebec. It tows like a charm although with the rear loaded with gear and my family and dog the rear does drop a little. I get 15 mpg on the highway towing at capacity. My '01 Yukon used to get 9-12 mpg in the same situation so I have to say that I am happy with that result.

My dealer has not been the most responsive. I had some braking issues when the truck was in for a software reflash. I had to take the truck to another dealer to have it fixed.

Then the tranny started acting strange and throwing codes. Wouldn't run in hybrid mode. The dealer said that it was some valve that was bad. Replaced it but this weekend it started bucking again and now the regen braking feels strange. Back to the dealer it goes.

Oh, and the battery thing... the manual clearly states that if you want to sit and run things you should do it with the key on to allow the system to cycle the engine on and off as needed. I've done this for hours leaving the lights on to illuminate a work area. The motor just cycled on and off occasionally.

 

Vehicle was not running. In 2 cases, I would drive 100 miles the day before and vehicle wouldn't start and give error codes the following morning. Since I bought my Tahoe, I've had 3 full firmware updates and 3 batteries.
Battery never runs down in Auto Stop but I don't keep my accessories on in ACC either. After the second repair, I unplugged everything on the accessory sockets and left them at home. So my vehicle was back to stock and the problems were still happening.

 

My truck is in the shop again (2nd time in first month of ownership), this time the lower gears and reverse were not properly functioning. They are have to order new parts for the Transmission, but the truck is out of commission for a week.

Has anyone else had problems with their transmission?

 

We bought our 2009 Hybrid Tahoe about the same day as you. I can tell you that after 600 miles of driving, the brakes failed and the flashing "service" lights were all over the place (service stabilitrak, etc). The more I read on the web, the more concerned I am that this is a very real issue and GM has yet to recognize it. It's wild as we just had a recall with our Nissan so they could move the LATCH system (clips for child car seat) about 1/4". It was hardly anything, but they recalled it to make it safer. As I read more and more on the web of this recurring brake problem with the Tahoe Hybrids, I can't imagine GM doesn't know about it! How can there not be a recall for this? To say the brake failure is unnerving is a HUGE understatement. My wife drives the car with our 1 year old each day and to think she could be on the highway doing 55 mph and lose braking power doesn't sit real well.
I wish you luck with your Tahoe. Mine went into the shop on Saturday of last week, so I'm holding out hope that everything will be just fine and there will be no further issues.
Best
Kevin

 

Hey OSU125,

I left my truck at the dealership last Saturday for a "Service Hybrid System" message last Saturday after Onstar said it was a serious code. Last Monday they got it in the shop and diagnosed that one of the drive motors in the tranny failed. GM sent them a brand new complete transmission which came in Thursday and I am picking it up today. 10 days without the truck .

The upside is that no one was monkeying around inside the tranny and I got a brand new unit which is guaranteed to 100K.

The code for the "Sevice Hybrid System" message flagged a bulletin. It basically told the dealer to NOT do any reflashing of the software or touch anything. It instructed them to download the freeze frame snapshots from the module and send them to GM TAC. It stated that GM engineering is trying to "Route Cause" the issue which means they still don't know what is going on. Anyway, my dealer has changed at least 5 other Hybrid transmissions since they came out and none have been back once the new tranny was installed. I am confident in the dealer and the tech who did the work. It just sucks to have to be without your truck for so long.