its a great reliable car! great fun! the power in my car is very satisfying (05 SS Supercharged). its very unique. besides. its supercharged


Remember! take care of the car and itll take care of you!

 

Overall They are very nice cars with good power and acceleration. There are a few minor issues like others have said but nothing too bad. Also preimum gas is only .20 more a gallon so it's not that terrible.

 

Premium is about 50 cents more here if not more in NH

 

I love mine. But ditto on the issues that this car has. But hey, everycar is going to have a issue. I run 93 oct. in mine and it does run very smooth. No hesitation at all. There are plenty of mods out there and the 3800 is almost like the 350 short block of days gone by. It's a reliable engine that will run forever if you take care of it. You will need to check the S/C Oil. In fact, I would change it out if you by one and put your own S/C in there. zzperformance or pfyc carries it. Check the air cabin filter.
Replace the dex-cool from the radiator.
I would say go for it if you can afford one. They are a fun safe car to drive.

 

Here's some of my thoughts, many of which have already been mentioned. I have a supercharged motor and the HD trans from an '04 Monte in my '03. The motor - supercharged or not - is a great piece of engineering that will run 200K miles with regular maintenance. The transmission in the supercharged models are a bit beefier (the "4t65e" in the NA vs "4t65e-hd" in the SC models). Yes, the SC engines do require 92 octane fuel per the owners manual. You can try your luck with regular, but a rebuild of the engine due to a cracked piston is a lot more expensive than the extra $4.75 per tank of fuel (the current difference between regular and premium around here). The fuel economy is hard to beat as well - with mostly highway driving and all of our fuel in NJ having ethanol added, I still average around 25 mpg. That's around 420 miles per 15 gallon tank - so the premium fuel costs me around 1.3 cents per mile extra. As for whether you will or will not chip a piston, you might or you might not. However doing what you can to prevent preignition of the fuel - which is the problem we are talking about here - is a good idea, especially when it's relatively inexpensive to do so. Additionally, you will see better gas mileage with the higher octane fuel in the SC engines. These motors tend to have a bit of knock in them more often than not, especially the SC ones. The car will attempt to resolve this by retarding the timing a bit at the expense of horsepower - this is called "KR" around the message boards and beyond. Using the proper fuel and doing regular maintenance on these cars will keep knock to a minimum resulting in less KR, therefore giving you better average horsepower and reducing the chance of engine damage. If you decide to get fancy and start modifying your car, there is a TON of info available and some great companies that specialize in components and information to help you along. These engines have been around forever it seems - I've been driving some type of the "3800" for the past 13 years now and I'm very sad they are no longer in production.

 

Mog,

Sorry, but I disagree with your explanation enough that I feel compelled to reply. Knock is a result of detonation - or "pre-ignition" of the fuel in the cylinder. This isn't a matter of how quickly the fuel is burning, but rather when the fuel is burning. When the engine detects this, it retards the timing of the engine which reduces horsepower. ZZP has some info that explains it very well here, better than I could do:

ZZ Performance

 

It sounds like it is definately worth getting on when my Blazer is paid off

 

The Supercharged engine is actually a lower compression than the NA engine.

You think running regular in a SC car and chunking a piston is a scam? You are SERIOUSLY mistaken.

You aren't under fueling your car, the fuel is IGNITING before the spark plugs ignite it. This is basically a tiny explosion where it shouldn't be.

These can put stress cracks in your pistons, if you continue to put those stress cracks, they WILL break. And they will break in chunks.

Also the way these computers are tuned to deal with KR are dangerous. If you have high amounts of KR it will pull the timing way too much. Not good for the car at all.

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As for the original poster.

These supercharged engines are fantastic. You will love a N/A powered Monte Carlo too, but you will always crave more power. Having boost allows you to play with how much power you have a lot easier. This is why I am going with a turbo build. However if you can start on a boosted engine, with a little money and know-how you can easily have a 300 HP car, that will be a blast to drive (and THAT supercharger whine is like beautiful music).

The biggest problem in the car. The transmission. They aren't the best, but it is basically a crap shoot if you got a bad one or not. All depends on the owner's driving style and regular maintenance.

 

What is with all of the race car versions for sale? I cannot find just a plain 04-05 SS Supercharged anywhere.

 

I've had both a NA SS (03) and now currently have my Intimidator SS. There's is a big difference between the two but the supercharged SS's tend to be a bit tougher to locate...at least when I was looking they were.

My Intimidator needed a little TLC when I got it home but it has been well worth it. The fact that it is paid for, gets the best gas mileage of all our cars, and the fact that its supercharged, makes it a great car.

Like anything these days, if you take care of it, it will serve you well for years. I would highly recommend a supercharged SS. Good luck!