| 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Overall, one of GMs most reliable engine and transmission combos. Only one major repair not due to age, but to bad design by GM and government emissions mandates. Have loved this truck with no plans of selling. Almost 10 years old and hoping to hit 200k miles next year.
Engine and transmission have run very reliably (though, see cons section for major caveat) and I'm very please with the truck. Low range provides great torque when I'm trying to get up the steep dirt hills to my cabin and the the traction control works well. Switching between 2WD and 4WD modes is very easy and quick. After about 10 years and 160k miles, there is no noticable transmission slip or signs of age. The engine pulls without hesitation.
I'm very pleased with how the interior of the LTZ has held up over 10 years. The leather (or "leather", I don't know which) has minimally worn, as you would expect, where the driver gets in and out, but it's very slight and there is no tearing. The upper dash under the windshield has some significant cracking, but not in a way that it's falling apart, just noticable cracks. Impressively, none of the buttons have worn or lost their color or symbol, which I find interesting considering that most cars' buttons will wear away after a few years. The worst wear would be on the steering wheel, which also isn't bad, just some of the rubbery coating where your hands rest at 9 and 3 oclock has worn, but it's still smooth and you can't feel a difference.
The only major mechanical problem I've had is the fault of GM and their desperate need to squeeze .1MPG more out of the engine. Displacement on Demand and Active Fuel Management shut down 4 cylinders when you don't need the pull power and torque of the engine. Aparently this can starve some lifters and rockers of oil and they eventually fail. My local shop has seen this issue dozens of times with these engines and DoD/AFM. All lifters, rockers, and springs needed replaced, costing over $3k. Right after this repair, EDGE (the tuning company) released a tune that disables this feature, as you cannot turn it off yourself. I installed the updated tune onto my tuner and permanently disabled AFM. This should remedy a problem with what is one of GMs oldest and most reliable engine/transmission combos.
9/10
