I loved my 2002 monte Carlo and regret selling it every day. I have decided to buy a new one but can't decide whether to buy a 2005 supercharged or a 2007 SS which do you guys think is a better deal as far as collectability one with the V8 or one with the supercharged, one comes with more power and it was a limited production run but I feel like supercharged would be a good collectable. I feel about 10 years from now these cars are going to be collectors items like the old Monte's and Buicks from the 80s. So i want to get one while they are still cheap. Thoughts?

 

Ehh... Tough call. But, if you enjoyed the 2002, would you stay with the same body style? I will say that having owned a '93 Prelude, I would love having another of the same generation. But the V8 is tempting...

 

Be very, very careful of the V8. Mostly the entire Internet seems to belive it is destined to shred the tranny. I personally have a leak, but that's not related to the engine.

What I do have is oil usage from the DoD. Unless you're going to carry two quarts of oil at all times, go for the S/C.

 

I vote S/C...

 

I have never owned a S/C Monte, but I have owned an '03 SS and my current '07 SS. There is no comparison. The '07 is far superior, IMO. As far as the transmission goes, I don't abuse mine, so the only issue I've ever had is the cap on a trans cooling line popping off and spilling fluid all over the highway. If you have a heavy foot, you probably will experience transmission issues. I only drive in "D" when actually on the highway, which isn't often, so oil consumption is minimal at best. Always in "3" just driving around town and back/forth to work. I drive mine every day and absolutely love it! I would have NO problem buying another one, if I had a place to park it, lol....


Just my $.02

 

Yea I wouldn't mind owning either one Both could have tranny issues if you beat on em, not my style tho

 

I don't think either will ever become a collectible car.

I do think the 2005 is easier to service, and modify.

 

What do you intend to do with the car? I see you mention multiple times which is more collectible, so is this just going to sit in storage? A lot of the nitpicks people have about either car (using oil, trans issues, etc) won't matter at all if you buy something near zero miles and just let it sit. I do think it's a bit of a gamble though as these cars aren't traditional collector cars so I think it's unlikely you're going to make a fortune. I've just seen so many special edition montes go through auction with near zero mileage and end up fetching notably less than original sticker. If the goal is to make money, id invest in something else completely or focus on a platform thats got a better chance of making money historically.

If you actually plan to drive it regularly, I wouldnt worry about the collectability or future value at all. Mileage and wear and tear will kill the collector value, so you're better off just buying what you want and enjoying it. Both have already taken a majority of their depreciation hit, so you'll be good there.

As far as which I prefer as I've owned a stock L67 which I lightly modified and a nearly stock LS4 GP. With bolt ons, the L67 was just as fast at full throttle, but less enjoyable at part throttle, cruising around out of boost. It's noticeably down on low end torque compared to an LS4 (more than a liter less engine and about 2 full points of compression less). If I had to pick one for a daily driver and planned to do few to no mods. I'd take the LS4.

The aforementioned transmission is a concern. The LS4 pushes the limits of the trans a lot more and it is extremely likely it'll have issues regardless if you beat on it or not. You could probably make it live longer by driving it extremely gently, but then why bother buying the v8? Either way, it's not a great trans and you should expect to have issues at some point with either car. No doubt there are some that make it to 200k+ untouched, but I wouldnt plan for that in case you aren't lucky.

 

Thanks for all the great advice I appreciate it I don't plan on buying the car to resell it or make money I just have a feeling that years down the road people are going to want to get the cars and it's going to be a lot more expensive to try to find one rather than picking one up now and making it what I want for the most part it'll sit in the garage but I will drive it from time to time I just really enjoyed my monte when I had it and wish I kept it so I wanted to just get the most reliable and bang for my buck that I can get when buying a new one

 

That makes sense. IMO the prices will still continue to fall in the near future if you're not in a huge rush. With the new generation of cars having DI, 6+ speed transmissions, and lots of other new tech, the tail end of the 'old school' stuff probably won't become desirable soon unless it's in a car that's always popular/desirable (like a ws6, V, G8 after Pontiac closed, etc).

The tradeoff is going to be that it'll be harder to find one with reasonable mileage on it as people continue to drive them.

If you're interested in bang for the buck, id also suggest looking at the Pontiac models (GTP or GXP). They're a lot more plentiful and can usually be found for cheaper. Depends how big of a role nostalgia for your 02 monte plays into your decision.