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Most miles put on a GM car

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    • #38214
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      I thought we could share some stories about high mileage GM vehicles we have owned, in 2000 I bought a 99 Chevy Blazer with 22,000 miles, it now has 237,000 miles it is still my primary means of transportation but will most likely be replaced next year, maintenance has been fairly general, at 180 it had a major front end ball joints ect overhaul. I love this vehicle and have driven it all over the US.

    • #38500

      @yabadabadoo nice work. My first car was a ’93 Blazer that I bought with 100,000 on it. Took it up to 200,000 before I parted ways with it. I’ve seen a couple old Chevy trucks with 500,000 on the odo, but I’ve never owned one.

    • #38502
      wbodyfan
      Participant

      Put 110,000 on my 2005 GTO before moving out to Alaska for a project job. Funny thing it only took me 5 years to get to 105,000! Planning on keeping my brand new 12 Camaro SS RS for my boy… who will hopefully be born in the next year or two. But its a secret – don’t tell him! 😀

    • #38513
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      It’s funny people/friends made fun of me for buying GM telling me what garbage they where, and yet my Blazer and now my wifes Malibu Maxx are the best Cars I have ever owned from a maintenance standpoint and reliability. The Malibu Maxx has 72,000 on it and is fun to drive and they are great values used.

    • #38515

      @yabadabadoo you should have tried owning an old Cavalier 😉

    • #38516
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      Ha, ah yes the Crapalier. I do recommend reading car reviews before buying a car. However, I do know people that have put on the miles on their Cavaliers as well but not everone, the issue 4 me was always overall build quality, yikes!!!! My good friend had the anti lock brakes go and he flew through an intersection and plowed into the side of someone…

    • #38518
      wbodyfan
      Participant

      Yea, @yabadabadoo GM doesn’t get the credit it deserves for reliability. Sure the interiors and build quality were very poor at the old GM. But the cars held up, god dangit. They held up!

      Unlike some of my friends with Volvos and BMWs. All of them have had some kind of a major electrical problem in the last few years on their 2007 and newer “luxury cars”. Bud’s Volvo had a headlight that burned out every 1,300 miles like clockwork. I made fun of him without hesitation as I drove circles around him in my GTO and then G8.

    • #38520
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      I totaly agree GM builds great cars, I am still amazed at how many late model cars you still see on the road, cars from early to mid 90s ect. The quality in last 10 years is great, and the overall car today rivals most manufacturers in my mind.

    • #38521
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      For me buying a car comes down to value for the money, in otherwords Iam not loaded. GM cars represent that 4 me, I have also been amazed at issues friends have had with their foreign makes, premature tranny and engine failure especialy on Honda and Acura models. I had major issues with a Subaru I owned major brake overhaul at 48,000, CV boots failing every 6 to 9 months thus axels going bad; an absolute headache. All my foreign cars were in the shop twice as much as my GM cars. At the end of the day no car is perfect but you can’t tell me that GM builds junk. I made the decision to return to GM because other family and friends were having great success wth their GMs. But 4 most it will be about personal preference and the fact that they are still duped by the foreign car stigma that foreign cars are better.

    • #38522
      Alex Luft
      Keymaster

      @yabadabadoo Agreed. I would even add to this:

      “The quality in last 10 years is great, and the overall car today rivals most manufacturers in my mind”

      I think it doesn’t just rival other makes, it beats them very often, including the Cruze, Sonic, and new Malibu. Camaro is really good as well, contrary to what all the detractors are saying about its interior.

    • #39538
      chevtothemax
      Participant

      you know there is always people saying that the interiors are horrible but as a truck person I’m used to hard plastics. anyways there easier to clean 😀 so there lol. also the rides don’t bother me either. :)>-

    • #39539
      Brian_E
      Participant

      My 2001 GP has 196,000 on it currently. I haven’t had to do too much maintence on it.
      My work commute is a shade over 90 miles round trip, so I’m averaging around 27k – 28k per year. I’m shooting for 250k, and then I’ll replace it with something else in a couple years. I’ve been very pleased with the Ser. II 3800 V-6. The following is what I’ve replaced on it (not including the routine maint: oil, brake pads, tires, etc)
      Replaced water pump @75k
      Removed Catalytic Converter @ 85k (element broke off inside and plugged up)
      Replaced front wheel bearings @ 135k
      Replaced front struts @ 190k
      Replaced ignition key tumblers @ 195k (stupid passkey III)

      I think it’s been a good car and it has taken the abuse I’ve thrown at it in stride.

      As an aside, I think that the reason that some people get high mileage out of their japanese cars is because they don’t thrash them as much as your typical ‘buy american’ person. I personally think that American cars can take more abuse than Japanese cars. (I have no basis for this -its just my perception.)

    • #39542
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      Brian, thats great. My parents had a 99 GP GT, they traded it in without telling me otherwise I would have bought it from them. There GP was decked out with leather, It was very nice, and you just felt extremely cool driving it. I have for years wanted a 96 GP GT Coupe, dont know what it is about that model, just think it is sweet. More recently considered getting a 2006 GP as well.

    • #39543
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      It is really to bad Pontiac went away, I would love to see what they could develop for a a Pontiac brand.

    • #39558
      Brian_E
      Participant

      @ yabadabadoo: I would like to see that too, but I think they are looking forward with Chevrolet and not planning on reliving the glory days.
      (late reply due to Easter. didn’t touch the computer for three days and it was kinda nice!)

      Other high mileage vehicles in my family.

      1977 Chevy 1/2 Ton Cheyenne stepside. My father bought it new and had it for about 20years.
      Put over 280,000 miles on it when he sold it. He put a bigger cam in it around 80k. No other rebuild needed.
      Aside from a couple clutches, he never touched the transmission or rear-end.
      I would even see it around town for four or five years afterwards.

      1990 Chevy 1500 Silverado LW. Approx 250k and still going strong.
      replaced head gasket at about 120k. Haven’t touch the 700R4 transmission either.
      still gets about 17-18 mpg on the highway.

      1991 Chevy 3500 Silverado Extended cab Dually.
      230k when sold out of state. 454 Rebuild at 150k (Removed EFI and went with a performance cam.)

      We probably haven’t been the best GM customers since we hold on to our vehicles as long as we can. 🙂

    • #39563
      Born_and_Raised_GM
      Participant

      Nothing too groundbreaking or substantial, but we have a 2007 saturn outlook and we love it so much we’ve put 106,000 on it since we bought it new in late in 2007 (we got a decent deal since they were trying to clear the lot of 2007 models). Still runs like a champ, drives nicely, and has (knock-on-wood) no major mechanical issues. We plan on driving it for another three or four years (and 100-150K miles) and will probably replace it with a Traverse or Acadia.

    • #39584
      GMCAMARO
      Participant

      We have a 2005 Chevy Colorado with 123,000 miles, never had a single problem.
      Do all the maintenance myself, that is just oil changes and changing spark plugs at 100,000. The truck is a manual with the I5.

    • #39585
      RjION
      Participant

      Long story short. Gave my Daughter my 1993 SW2m with 419,000 miles in 2000. She drove it to 478,000 miles and gave it to her friend. Her friend now lives in SanDiego. She still has the wagon and still uses it.

    • #39969
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      RjION, Wow thats crazy…478,000. That has to be the most miles I have heard from a saturn.

    • #39971
      Alex Luft
      Keymaster

      That’s almost half a million — probably more than that now! Nice!

    • #39974
      Vic1212
      Participant

      I saw someone with a silverado and has a million miles and then another one now she has 175k

    • #39997
      freewheelin
      Participant

      2001 S-10 turned over 310,000 a couple weeks ago. Truck still has original factory brake shoes on rear, factory u=joint(near trans output), origianl clutch…..shoot, I’m still running the original antifeeze. She’s only left me on the side of the road one time when the fuel pump went out. Not bad for a $6k vehicle I bought used almost 9 years ago.

    • #40007
      Babersher
      Participant

      Original Clutch and and brake shoes? Not possible with 310k miles.

    • #40031
      bmfk
      Participant

      I just sold my 1999 GMC SAFARI AWD I bought. It with 130K on it for 3K and sold it with 237K and sold it for the same price. All I ever did was a tranny for 1475$ the new owner called me about the van and said this thing runs and drive like its brand new. All I ever did was change the oil every 2K. Now you see what maintenance can do.

    • #40033
      RjION
      Participant

      Sorry ….. I gave the SW2 to her in 2002 when the car was 9 years old .. my bad. My Daughter talked to Emily today. They just moved to Colorado (Denver Area) The SW made the trip loaded to the hilt leading the 26ft UHaul. The SW2 now has 503,000 miles on it and got 36.2 mpg on the trip.

    • #40036
      chevtothemax
      Participant

      wow. that is one long lived car RjION.

    • #40082
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      RjION, Sweet… Maybe I should have kept my SW2… Better than making car payments. HA…

    • #40086
      RjION
      Participant

      Maybe, ya never know …

    • #40091
      MFS299
      Participant

      I have a 2001 Saturn SL that I purchased used in 2002 with 9,000 miles. Currently, I have 378,500 miles and have always used Mobil 1 synthetic oil. The only problem that I have experienced was the manual shift cable broke once. I also average between 39 – 43 mpg

    • #40092
      MFS299
      Participant

      I just read the comment about the 2001 S-10 with the original factory rear brake shoes . My 2001 Saturn also has the original rear brake shoes and I have the original clutch too. Although, I have had the manual transmission fluid changed twice and I am about to change the transmission fluid again this weekend.

    • #40100
      yabadabadoo
      Participant

      MFS299, Sweet… Very nice… I hope I can get that out of my HHR…

    • #40361
      Blazerman
      Participant

      My first car was a 99 olds intrigue bought it new drove it 235,000 untill 2008 with no issues at all love that 3800! Had a 98 olds bravada had it 4 years, drove it across the country, sold it with 142,000 didnt have to put a dime in it. Now I have a 99 blazer Ive had for over 4 years. this one hasnt been to good to me….. with 99,000 the head gasket went out, water pump, radiator, as well as all the bushings and everything on the front end. 4,000 miles later the oil pump gave out on the highway going 80 mph and siezed the motor, put another motor in, had lifter problems, had to take it out… put another brand new 4.3 in and had to do some wire harness work. but the blazer runs great now, seriously just like new ( guess it should since in dumped about $8,000 in it in 6 months, people thought I was crazy dumping that into it but the body and interior is prestine and its better quality than newer cars as far as im concerned) but either way I love my Blazer and Wouldn’t trade it for anything! I will be a loyal GM customer for life!

    • #40362
      Mozeby
      Participant

      My parents have a ’93 Pontiac Transport that they bought new when I was 17. It has the 3.8L and has now driven 400+K (kilometers) which is about 250K miles. No major issues or work ever done, just accessories have gone like the alternator.

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