Is the extra 35 horses in the 05+ vehicles something that should sway me away from buying a used 03-04 or is the power increase negligible?

 

I haven't driven anything but my 2004, but I keep in mind that the 05+ engines require premium gas, whereas the '03-'04 can take good ole 87 octane.

 

I just bought an 05. The HP bump and improved navigation influenced my decision. Didnt drive an 04 so don't know the actual performance difference but a bit more HP never hurt anyone

 

I just sold my Jeep SRT8 and bought my neighbors '05 GX470. I had test driven an '04. I couldn't notice much of a differnece between the '04 and '05. Of course, they both seemed VERY slow compared to that Jeep. I definately liked the navigation better.

 

My wife and I have test driven an 06 and then shortly after an 04. I didn't notice much difference, but she said the transmission seemed to shift more smoothly (although, that was probably more do to the different uses of the two vehicles rather than the HP diff.). That said, it was enough for her to warrant only buying an 05 or an 06 (plus the back-up camera didn't become completely standard until the 05 model came out).

We're going to pick up an 06 this Wedn. for her

 

I just bought a 2004 GX and I tow a boat weighing roughly 5,000lbs. It has no problem towing or pulling it up a ramp. So far, I have made 5 roundtrips of 120 miles towing with no issues. There is a picture in another recent thread I started.

The 05's and newer may have more HP, but the 04 works fine for me.

 

I have a 2004, after driving it for a week my folks bought an 06. I have driven both extensively and can say that I have noticed no difference performance wise. Maybe the 05+ have a little more up top but it isn't night and day difference or even noticeable to me. The navigation is a generation newer which is a noticeable change to me.

As a side note, I believe 04's with Nav came with the backup cameras as part of that package...might be wrong but know mine has it. I don't think they were available on '03's.

 

You're not going to feel the HP in a truck as much as the torque. I think the V8 in either car is going to be adequate.... in other words, you won't miss the extra HP if you never knew it was there to be had.

 

It's "recommended" not "required" - there's a difference. Modern engines can run on either 87 or 91 without the fear of damage to the engine, but performance can be negatively impacted by running 87 octane through a higher compression engine. That said, I've been putting 87 in my tank for the last 3 1/2 yrs, w/no issues with performance or mileage.

 

Most of that added HP on the 05 doesnt come on until the high RPM. If you drive the truck at about 3000 RPM and up, you would notice a difference, but on one drives a truck like that too often.

 

As a side note, SOME 04's came with the back-up camera, but not all of them. :l

 

At the dealer doing test drives, I didn't feel a difference. Then again, like "the g man" wrote, I was gently tooling around the neighborhood and not pushing it.

While the 35hp or ~15% ain't negligible, it seems this group would agree that it's hard to detect for various reasons. Weird, but true.

 

The difference will be up top, not noticeable toting around town. Side by side there is a difference if you keep the pedal down. My 04 does the job though. All told if I had a choice I would choose the 05 just for the nav and bluetooth.

 

I'm changing my vote: I'm glad that I have the bigger output V8 of later model years, but wish for even more.

Today, I loaded up the family into our '08 GX for a short overnight road trip. Rolling hills. No canyons. Three adults, baby gear and overnight stuff. Not alot of heavy supplies, but the back was filled up.

I got repeated tranny downshifts from 5th to 4th with nearly every rolling hill on the hwy. It was annoying. With the downshift to 4th gear, the GX had no trouble keeping up (I won't tell you how fast, but it was far beyond its most likely fuel efficient cruising speed), but it needed the downshift like an addict needs one more hit. I can't imagine what the smaller output V8 would've been like.

In fact, the GX downshifts on the hwy up a minor incline on my way to the office. My GS430 doesn't and wouldn't even think about it. Granted the GX is more than a half ton heavier (!!!) and probably features the aerodynamics of a giant barn (!!!), but come on. The GX should use its seemingly impressive 325ft lbs of torque for good not evil! (But I wouldn't trade a higher cruising rpm on the hwy so maybe I'm screwed?!)

Also, it was super windy and it pushed the GX all over. It's a tall truck and I felt it. It looked like all the bigger SUVs were weaving within their lane today, so no big deal. Just saying.

As we all know, our GXs are super quiet on the road, but the wind was really loud. I didn't get a good read on cabin noise w/o the wind, but I think our trucks get exponentially louder from wind and road noise (not really engine noise as long as it's in 5th gear) as the speed increases. Again, I don't hold this against the truck. Just saying.

I'll post my mpg upon my return after calculating, but it's not impressive. Gulp. Didn't expect it, but I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Didn't happen.

What do our '03-'04 brethern think about rolling hills in their fully loaded GX - especially someone who's driven both in similar conditions?!

 

You would not have noticed much difference with an 04. Sorry, but even my supercharged GS400 (far more power than your GS430) had to downshift to 4th going up hills. So did my SC430 and SC400, sometimes even to 3rd. . The HP/TQ gain would not be noticeable until much higher up in the power band which is why just about any car would downshift a gear going up a hill The taller gear is for cruising, not going up mountains. The gears are selectable for a reason which is why I put the GX in 3rd or 4th manually when climbing up a hill towing something , otherwise you get the shifting you mentioned above.