Wheeler-Dealering with Texas Mike. Lots of CHANGES this winter!

You just never know if you're going to get a good car or not.

I had three mid-90's Pontiac Bonnevilles and loved them all. Moved to this 2002 Grand Prix Collector's Edition and it too was great. Comfy, reliable and nearly 30mpg on trips.



Then traded for this 2006 Grand Prix GXP. It used a quart of oil every 1500 miles, the dashboard cracked, transmission was funky, and it got Suburban-like mileage.



Was fast, but was also my last Pontiac...

-Mike

 

That's the truth. Sometimes the car that looks the best, has all of the maintenance records, low miles, etc turns out to be nothing but trouble.
Meanwhile the car that looks rough, has no maintenance history and an exorbitant amount of miles can turn out to be as reliable as the day is long.

You just never know.

 

I think you would have LOVED one of these....

 

And what, pray tell, is it?
Looks like a concept car of the Pontiac variety perhaps? My friend has a Grand Pre GXP and the rear end is different than this car.

 

2000 - 2005 Pontiac Bonneville.

 

Ah, I should have known.
Thanks Krash.

 

Krash I never bought one of those because they used the head-gasket-blowing Northstar V8 in them, and after seeing what my Grandmother went through with her DeVille and my in-laws went through with their Seville STS, I wanted nothing to do with Northstar motors. It's sad too, because the Bonny GXP looked GREAT!

 

Well what about one of the SSEi versions with the supercharged 3.8? I think you could get those through 2003....?

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...&searchRadius=0&makeCode1=PONT&modelCode1=BON


This is the inside of a different vehicle. Above vehicle didn't have any interior pics in the ad....

 

Mike, how do you like the Suburban? The wife is looking to get rid of her car and wants a larger vehicle for road trips. I've had 5 Suburbans, but they've all been of the '80s vintage and haven't been in one newer than 1989. I'd love to trade her payment in for a much smaller one...

 

Yep these were still nice cars, but I liked the 96-99 style better inside and out.

 

Fantastic trucks. This is my 4th one. GM got these SO right. I tend to buy them with around 100K miles and then drive them until around 200K, and then start over again. Getting harder to do now that they are getting older, but the 2000-2006 big GM SUVs are just wonderful and reliable vehicles.

 

So you'd say the 200k mark is the time to dump them or just when they start requiring more maintenance than ditching it and finding another?

I'm looking at one tomorrow that has 220k on it, but the price is pretty nice (cheap).

I'm definitely interested in something reliable. I love my '73 wagon but getting the family to ride in it for long distances is a chore.

 

We had a 2011 Chrysler 300C AWD a few years back. Traded it in with 86k and it was running fine. Great car and amazingly easy to service. It even had heated and chilled cup holders! My wife frequently lamented my having traded it, but much of that went away when she replaced it with her current 2016 Mustang EcoBoost Premium Convertible.

On direct injection, I lease a 2017 Suburban with the 5.3 GDI motor and the MPG is incredible for such a beast... 20+ in combined driving and up to 25 on straight highway trips at 65-70 MPH. Come to think of it, the Mustang has a GDI motor and I don't notice sooty exhaust tips when I wash it. It also manages 26 MPG in combined driving - even if we are having some fun with it.

 

My 99 Suburban K2500 6.5 TD has been a bear on maintenance, most of it was just from the age of the vehicle and some was from abuse of previous owners (for example, a broken washer fluid reservoir) but some issues are from the factory:

Worst Offender: Oil Cooler Lines; they're held on with a C Clip that, if it rusts, will let the lines come off and there goes your engine. Supposedly, the gas engine Suburbans of this generation are the same way and you need compression fitting lines to replace these (AutoZone didn't have any when I looked about 16 months ago.) I replaced mine with lines from a small outfit online:

http://www.lubricationspecialist.com/gm-6.5td/6.6l-diesel/97-and-later-6.5td-oil-cooler-lines/

The lines linked above may not fit gas engines.

Another (comparably minor) concern: Front Sway Bar; it's hollow. I replaced this with a solid Dorman part.

Some of the things from age are as follows:

Power Steering Fluid; Needed flushed with Seafoam Trans-Tune once. This means you need 3 cans of it if it's a Diesel (which holds about 40 ounces of fluid.)
One window track rusted through.
The roof rack was rusted on.
A power steering line rusted through.

The worst offender on abuse was this:

The transmission fluid was probably never changed, meaning I had black fluid when I bought it and a transmission with a broken rear gear within a month of purchase.

With all that said, I haven't had issues lately except rust at quarter panels and at the rear wheel arches which I have the replacement parts for. Thank God for Fluid Film in this road salt environment too.

 

Here's my thoughts elB. Generally around 200K is where the bigger issues start on these big GM SUVs. Now I've seen some with well-over 300K still going strong, but generally you can get a NICE 00-06 Burb with around 100K miles for the $3-5K range, keep it maintained, clean, and drive it for 3-4 years to 200K, and then re-sell it for almost what you paid for it originally. Love these trucks!

Here's my big GM SUV's over the years from around 1999 to today. Started with "Tony Soprano", a 98 Suburban LT 4x4, then moved to the "Taco Wagon" a '96 Surburban LT conversion, following by the black "Secret Service" '03 Suburban LT, then my white '01 Yukon XL Denali, and my current pewter 2002 Suburban LT (with my son's white 2002 Silverado 1500 HD beside it). Loved all these vehicles!








I've pretty much followed the same rules about on these, with the exception of the '98 4x4 which was nearly-new at the time. The rest all had between 75-120K miles at purchase and all were sold at around 200K to start over again. My current pewter 2002 Burb LT was found down in San Antonio over this past winter, with 118k miles on it. Clean, one-owner and all records from new. Sold new in San Antonio so never seen salt.

A good rule of thumb is to find a southern or western one with all the service records. These DO rust up north, and many were used for towing large trailers and general work, so I've driven some that felt pretty worn-out at 100K miles, and others that felt nearly-new at 200K miles! It's all in how they were cared for and used.

Some will argue, but I would avoid the 2007+ vehicles. GM brought out the cylinder-deactivation "displacement-on-demand" in '07, and those suffer from oil-burning, collapsed lifters, and many have major engine failures around 75-120 miles. Sad. The '07+ also suffer from fogging headlights, shattered dashboards, broken door handles and trim issues, and the roof pillars are wider, glass area is smaller, seats are narrower, and 3rd-row especially is harder and thinner, with less room. It's sad because I like the LOOKS of the 07+ but in-general they have a LOT more issues and compromises than the 00-06 models....which is why I keep going back for the now-older models.

Happy Hunting!

-Texas Mike