2000+ Monte Carlo SS as DD??

Been running across some nicely optioned Monte Carlo SS's on CL for decent money and wondered how suitable they are for DDing. Not a bad looking car at all, IMO. I'd be satisfied w/ a NA 3.8L. No problem w/ routine maintenance but no aftermarket shenanigans planned.

So, w/o spending hours googling, are there any issues to beware of? Intake gaskets? GM wheel bearings are good for 75K or so.. but no biggee. Any gremlins specific to these? Any preferred models or years? What is the cut off for mileage w/o major work?

I've seen several cars in the 50-70K mile range that look promising. I'd probably keep it for 2-3 yrs. or 25K miles or so w/o major work.

TIA

my son's had over heating problems, not sure why but that was the end of it........good looking car.

My wife had a '00 SS until it caught fire at 169k, pre-recall by about 2yrs.

In that time, it ate a few transmission components (expected for me), one front wheel bearing, sway bar links, and one lower ball joint. Everything else was just general upkeep.

I'd buy another in half a heartbeat or it's Pontiac twin. I loved the 30mpg it easily pulled....

i have an '01 Grand Prix GTP with 145,000 miles on it.. runs good, gets close to 30mpg in the summer if i baby it.. in the year i've had it, i've put a radiator, valve cover gaskets (did the coolant elbows at the same time- put in the aluminum ones), both front wheel bearings, both drive axles, and front brake rotors and pads... it's got a few clunks and rattles and the CEL is on for an evap code, but it's 13 years old and it gets me where i need to go in relative comfort regardless of the weather..

everyone i know that makes money fixes cars says that they don't have to do too many expensive repairs on those cars- just wear items like brakes and wheel bearings, mostly..

the Monte Carlo is just a 2 door version of the same car with some different trim, so i can't see why one of those would be any different..

I just got out of an Intrigue that I had for over 12 years and they're on the same chassis and mine still had the 3.8. Head gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, upper intake manifolds (Dorman makes an improved replacement you can find for under $100) and the stupid coolant elbows can all fail. I replaced the upper intake, the elbows, and the gaskets. And about six months later it started showing symptoms of a dying head gasket.

Best mileage I ever saw was about 28 on highway trips. Electrical issues, build quality determined by accountants, and I don't think it was all that great on the packaging front. They're cheap and common cars but if you really want one, I'd get an Intrigue or an Impala simply because there's more space and these aren't cool (I hate red gauge illumination so the Pontiacs are out, and the Buicks are zzzz).

I really can't think of a reason to suggest these cars, even if they're "cheap to buy", because they were "cheap to build" and "feel cheap", especially the Chevys.

We have 140K on our 01 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. The N/A 3.8 makes good power and gets great highway mileage. I've had to do the upper & lower intake gaskets once and a rack, otherwise only wear items. The fuel sender is out though. They make great DD's and are reasonably sporty.

They are basically along the lines of a grand-am/grand prix/malibu/whatever. All of those late 90's/early millenium GM cars feel the same to me.

In short, they are ok. They "shouldn't" leave you stranded and the important stuff will always work. I'd only buy one because its cheap though, the japanese manufacturers at that time were still putting out better cars for the money. YMMV. And while the GM cars get pretty good mpg on the highway, in town is usually pretty poor.

My FIL purchased his 2000 SS new and after I insisted in using Mobil One in it has now got 305K on the odoeter.

The elbows were replaced with aluminum parts, several sets of brake rotors, ball joints, tie rods, alternator.

About what you would expect for 300K, the engine has never been opened.

He drives conservatively, although he rides the brakes with his left foot, and regularly gets well over 30mpg highway

I drove one for a temporary company car a while back. My memory of it was that it was a wonderful highway cruiser...could eat up endless boring miles in comfort. Not overly sporty, but nice seats and a soft ride quality. If that's what you're looking for, you may like it.

Sounds good even considering the maintenance, but what cars don't have some kind of specific issues. Did the Saturday afternoon maintenance like wheel bearings, brakes, bushings etc. on my 90K+ '02 GP SE. Then it would need head and tail lamp housings, ignition switch w/ coded key, door locks, washer bottle and pump etc. so traded it. Interior plastic and cloth was meh so... maybe leather.

I don't have the time or space right now to replace intake gaskets but there's a local mechanic who is the 'go to' guy for that and is reasonable as well.

Dad has a '07 3.8L Buick, smooth and comfortable for longer trips, plenty of power for me and if it returns close to 30 mpg good enough. But I'd opt for the sporty SS at this point.

I'll be looking further once the weather clears some.

Other DD options are 325 and 330XI's, there's a few of them around I could look at too... and w/ them there's that cooling system maintenance thing.

Javelin wrote: We have 140K on our 01 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. The N/A 3.8 makes good power and gets great highway mileage. I've had to do the upper & lower intake gaskets once and a rack, otherwise only wear items. The fuel sender is out though. They make great DD's and are reasonably sporty.

while a NA 3800 has decent power and runs forever, a Supercharged one makes just enough more power to make the car more fun and actually more user friendly in around town driving and gets almost the same gas mileage.. and if the supercharger ever starts making a clunking noise, it's usually a $20 plastic coupler from Dorman and some supercharger oil (i've got 5w30 Mobil 1 high mileage motor oil in mine) to fix it and not the $2k supercharger that most mechanics will want to sell you...

If it's in good shape, you'll get lots of miles from it. Parts are cheap and they aren't too hard to work on.