[SSportWagon]

Flew up to Chicago from NY to pick up my newly purchased '05 Envoy XUV (V8, 3.73's, 4wd, posi, SLT, Nav, and all the toys except sunroof) and within 3 miles of pulling off the lot, added 2 more axles behind thanks to U-haul. Then went and picked up the other "new" ride - a '68 Buick SportWagon 400.

The XUV started the trip with 24,7xx miles and the Sporty had 29,760 - yep, those are BOTH one owner, older lady driven miles on both accounts !!

First off the disclaimer - DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS :duh:

The trailer was about 2 feet too short in front to get the weight distributed correctly. at 62 mph the tail would start wagging the dog. In an attempt to get more weight on the tongue we strapped 4 x 40lb bags of water softner (hey, its all we could find) which helped, but not much.

So, it was a loooonnnnng 800 mile trip from Chicago to Philly @ 55-60 mph where the wagon and trailer were dropped off, but Im ecstatic to say that according to DIC (my onboard co-pilot) AND fuel/mileage calculations I averaged a best of 14.6 on one tank and a worst of 14.1 ... not too dang shabby for an approx 4,400lb wagon PLUS ?? 1,600 ?? trailer ... but Im sure the slow speed had ALOT to do with it. I pulled in OD and let the tranny do its own thing after monitoring it up a few climbs uphill. Most of the time it would kick out of lock-up but stay in 4th ... when it did kick down to third it would stay there and not upshift then hunt back down to third so I left it alone. Temps NEVER broke 200 deg on the dash tempp gauge.

... the ride from Philly back to Long Island without tugging anything behind was pure bliss and I averaged 22.7 according to DIC

Nothing like a nice healthy road trip to fall in love with your new ride :woot::woohoo:

... and I have been smitten by the LUV XUV BUG !! What an awesome truck.

 

[SSportWagon]

What did you get the XUV for??? Looking in Jersey for one and wondering what a good price is...

Thanks Don - from a price point - this is a fully loaded XUV - not sure what was an option or what was part of the SLT trim, but, it has the leather heated/power/lumbar seats, Driver memory, power pedals, rain (non)sense wipers, hd tow package, Bose Navi, DIC, 4wd, Posi, air suspension, ... and a few other goodies.

Like I said, it was one owner, lady driven, and garage kept with only 24,xxx at time of purchase.

It was also from a GM dealer and therefore certified used which gives it a 12 month / 12,000 mile warranty (definately something worth considering vs a private party or used car dealer/wholesaler) - and they did about 3K worth of work to get it to certify ... new radiator, new brakes all around, front end links, 4 new tires and an alignment. Also, the body shop put on a new rear bumper (and painted it) replaced a inner wheel well (plastic that had cracked) and fixed a few small scrapes. (I had a friend check it out and he found all those things - I was very lucky that they addressed every item on my list)

... so you have to factor those things in.

I paid $16,100 and I can honestly say Im very VERY happy after driving it now for a week.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and I drove around with the roof and gate glass open along with all 4 windows plus the mid-gate down - next best thing to my convertible with all that fresh breeze and I even had one guy ask if I put the roof in or if it came that way from the factory ... He loved it !!

Good luck finding one - take your time though. I was looking at cars.com and autotrader.com as well as a few other places for about 5 months before I found mine which would have been EVERYTHING I was looking for it it was Red Jewel and had the power sunroof. I felt the low mileage and single owner plus the maintenance record (basically clean) made up for it.

Definately use CarFax or CarCheck - they weeded out several XUV's that "looked" good by the ad and pictures - but weren't

... As for the wagon - I dont know what the plans are, it was just too good of a deal to pass up. I do have a spare ~450hp big block buick sitting on the stand but I think Im going to give it a good cleaning, hit some shows and rack up a few trophies before I start modding it