Hey everyone! As you might have guessed/seen, first time posting here. I'll start off by saying that I'm far from knowing stuff about cars. I"m currently a Junior in college, and I decided it's time to start looking around for a car so I can commute to work this summer.

My budget is right around $3,000 give or take a few hundred. I've mainly been looking at Craigslist for used cars. I think I've narrowed it down to either a Pontiac Grand Prix or Bonneville or a Monte Carlo. From what I've heard, the GM 3800 motor is rock solid and has held up really well for my dad in his Buick Le Sabre.

After looking around on Craigslist today for a bit, I came across a new listing advertising a 2000 Monte Carlo for $3200. It has 115,000 miles (pretty low for what I've been searching for), the 3.8 engine, and just other minor details about the car.

To me, a price like that sounds just too good to be true - especially with that number of miles. From the little research I've done, MC's are supposed to be pretty solid cars and I think they'd be a lot of fun to drive if I found one for the right price.

Is there anything I should be watching for if I decide to go with a MC?

Thanks!
-Josh

 

Welcome to the forum! That price seems about right depending on condition. Good luck in your search, hope you can find a Monte that suits your needs

 

Random question are you from Iowa and is it a white one? Cuz Ive seen that ad also.

 

I was wondering if anyone would ask that. I'm not from Iowa, but Rochester, MN -- so not too far away from Cresco.

I haven't seen many Monte's priced like that, so I was thinking there might have been something about it that would make it that "too good to be true" car.

 

sounds pretty good! check the car facts! oh and welcome to the forum!

 

I saw it in cresco too I was like hmm worth going to get or not lol I had some cash adn would have had to add half of the amount to my truck loan but I decided to nto go since my girlfriend is convinced I don't need 3 vehicles and I wanted to get the rhino lining on my truck before winter. and since I dont work summers I figured I'd do it while I can afford it since when I get back to work (end of august) I wouldnt have enough to do it before winter again lol. I'd say it looks ok and it'd be worth looking at but I'd for sure call the guy and get details as to why so cheap etc.

 

Welcome to the Forum..

 

Welcome to the forum josh, good to see another minnesotan. 3800 engine is known to need upper and lower intake gasket around 100k miles. 2000-2002 montes had an issue with catyltic converter. If those 2 problems have been replaced then that would be icing on the cake. Also wheel bearings are a common problem.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I've been doing some of my "research" seeing what Edmunds has to say about the 2000 Monte as far as reliability goes - how common are the occasional issues that Edmunds lists? Link Here

Looks like I can't contact the poster via email, so I'd have to give him a call. Think it'd be worth asking him the questions that mwjames came up with and also letting him know that I probably wouldn't be able to come take a look at it for at least a couple of weeks?
It'll probably be gone by then and Monte's in my area seem to be hard to come by.

-Josh

 

Yes, but honestly it is VERY easy to fix yourself.

YES, the 4t65e transmission is not the best of transmissions. People do experience having to rebuild/replace these (but that is common of all transmissions too). Make sure the shop that you use is familiar with the 4t65e as they can not only fix what is wrong, but install a kit to fix the problems at the same time.

We call that Passlock here, it can happen, it's not terrible to deal with, plenty of options when the time comes. Some people (myself included) haven't had any real issues with it for 12 years and 183,000 miles

Another thing to note is the gaskets, check the oil and coolant. Make sure the coolant has been flushed frequently!!! It should have been done at LEAST 2-3 times by now.