Is 2- or 3-year-old Tahoe a smart purchase?

No

I can't decide with all the info, but I still have an 08 if it helps you. 250k miles and no significant maintenance.

Probably a smarter purchase than a new one.

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People who think cars lose half their value as soon as you drive off the lot haven’t purchased a car in 15 years.

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So what’s changed? They still have a precipitous depreciation when driven off lot.

only if you don't mind transmission problems or dealing with the awful AFM system

The Cash for Clunkers program. It decreased the number of used cars available in the market after 2008. Also with all the incentives and kickbacks car manufacturers give on new cars now. They are significantly a better purchase than they used to be.

I just bought a 13 avalanche with 82K miles on it. Got a deal on it for half blue book. More miles than I would like but the price was right and everybody says it should make 150K with normal maintenance

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So what’s changed? They still have a precipitous depreciation when driven off lot.

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Check prices on one year old cars. Most of the time they're only a couple grand less if that than new.

From what I see, the "big" discounts on one or two year old cars are the ones where the first owner has already blown through most of the warranty.

The last several times I've looked into buying new vs the same car one year older, my research showed only a marginal financial advantage going used.

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Check prices on one year old cars. Most of the time they're only a couple grand less if that than new.

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Yep. Also when you buy new you can get exactly what you want. Sometimes this can be cheaper than used if the used vehicle has a lot of option packages you don't want/need.

No