If you read my other thread then you understand my 2003 Monte Carlo has been totaled, and is a complete loss. So I am now in the market for a new vehicle. I'm rounding up as many opinions and ideas as I can on new car ideas, and I would greatly appreciate your input. One thing is certain, I will buy a domestic, Ford or GM, preferably GM, and most preferably a Chevrolet. As of right now there are only two cars in my mind I'm even considering, a 4th generation Camaro, or a 6th or 7th generation Monte Carlo. The Camaro must be 1997-2002, and the Monte Carlo must be 2004-2007. Within these parameters I have found 3 likely cars.

2002 Camaro Z28. $12,000 from a private seller. 16,939 miles. Color: beige.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

2006 Monte Carlo SS. $16,995 from a dealership. 37,046 miles. Color: black.
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...3D28705&aff=cj

2005 Monte Carlo SS. $15,395 from a dealership. 35,518. Color: black.
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...3D28705&aff=cj

Of the 3 cars the Camaro is the cheapest and has the fewest miles, the only thing that worries me is that it's from a private seller. It appears to be in excellent condition, but who knows. I'd like to stick with a Monte Carlo, because I love the car, but if you think I'd be better served by getting that Camaro, please let me know. Just to add, the Camaro was actually my favorite car first; when I bought my 2003 SS it was a toss up between a 1999 Camaro Z28, a 2003 Mustang SVT, and the 2003 Monte Carlo SS. The Monte Carlo had the fewest miles, was in the best shape, and had the best price, plus I liked it already. So I would say my love between Camaros and Monte Carlos is nearly split. Thank you for all input and replies.

 

Something else to consider is the Insurance rate for Camaro vs MC.

 

For the two Montes all I get is the cars.com home page...

Having sort of same vehicles as those three (95 Z28, 08 Impala SS and of course the 03 Monte SS) My personal choice if all were equal would be the 06 Monte. I would make sure all is good with the tire pressure monitars, seem to be a reoccuring problem with the 06s. I love my Z but all that hp with rwd doesn't a daily driver make in sloppy weather and living in the "north" you'll see some sloppy weather for sure. Plus as you said it's a private seller. You've had experience with the 03 so you have a good idea what to expect from the 05. Now back to the 06 plan jane stock out of the box your looking at 303hp and probably a throatier rumble then the LS1, for some reason they were pretty quite stock. Not that the exhaust note should be the determining factor. Mods are gonna be easier to come by for the Z28. Since I can't see either Monte I can't tell how loaded either is, notced the Camaro had cloth seats, have become rather partial to leather myself, again shouldn't be the deciding factor. Pewter isn't exactly a "sporty" color either. :p But black is a major PITA to keep looking good... Insurance on either Monte will probably be more affordable with the 5 star crash rating, plus they really aren't considered sports cars where as the Z....

I guess I could go on for awhile but to wrap this up, with my experience I like the new SSs, all the power and with the DoD you get better mileage and it's easier to handle with fwd. Turn off Trac Control and the torque steer is greatly diminished. Whatever you choose I think you'll wind up being happy, though you may have a "what if" moment from time to time.

Good luck, keep us updated and soory about your 03!

 

Honestly, I think both of those montes are over priced.... in todays market, they have to make better deals than that I think. I also second that on looking into insurace before buying the camaro, especially being a z28

 

Insurance payments on the 2002 Camaro Z28 with my current record would be $230 per month, which is high, but affordable. I'm fairly certain that if I called into the insurance company myself I could get a more accurate quote, and it would probably be lower.

Insurance payments on the 2006 Monte Carlo SS with my current record would be $260 per month, which is higher still, but still affordable. Again, I am certain by calling into the company directly I could get a lower rate.

The Monte Carlo is only more expensive because it is a newer car, and they recognized that I am interested in the 8 cylinder version as well. As of right now I think I'm putting the 6th generation Monte Carlo out the window, I'd much rather like to have a 7th generation SS or that Camaro, nothing else.

As for the problem of finding that 2006 SS on the cars page, the appropriate information should be entered into the boxes already, so if you just click next it will bring up all the Monte Carlos, I believe it's the 3rd one down, black SS with 36,000 miles.

 

sorry bout your car man it deff sucks

id go with a 06 07 monte myself ive found a few with 30k miles around here for 12k or less so if u look hard enough youll find em for sure & it depends on how far you wanna drive, camaros are nice but not as practical as the monte

lol is there anyway you could pull ur rocker panels off & ship them to me lol i could use em hahaha

 

yeah, those montes are over priced. but if i was in your situation, id be going with the 05 monte even though its a little more than its worth. just like above, think of the insurance on a camaro??

 

the 2002 body style camaro is an amazing car for performance, and will actually compete with corvettes that are slightly older than that but the repair cost is way more money. i work on a few of them and the worst repair is when the water pump leaks onto the distributor cap and wires. its about $1500 in parts and labour to change the water pump and cap/rotor/wires. keep in mind also most parts for the camaro are unique to camaro's and firechickens and t/a's. cars that were not very popular and sold way less than Monte's. that will make the parts expensive and hard to locate sometimes.

 

I too would go with the 05 SS supercharged. If you had any mods on the 03 that survived the crash, you could very easily transfer over to the 05. Like I said before, don't pay more that $13000 for an 05 SS. Also, do you have a winter car? The Camaro would totally suck if you had to drive it in the snow. And I'm not too fond of beige as a Camaro color.

 

I think the most important question is- what do you plan to do with the car? Is it just going to be your daily driver, and only car? Also, what are your honest mod plans? This is what I think of the cars (probably in the order I would buy them too):

-Camaro, I think this has by far the greatest mod potential of any of the cars on the list, LS1 performance parts are all over, and it takes very little work to make good power with them, plus- you've got a stronger drivertrain, and the ability to run wider tires- so you won't have all the BS problems that us FWD guys do with traction and going fast. I think there is a strong reason why a lot of the high power wbody guys have shifted to GTO's, G8's, camaro's, and firebirds/TA's- you start off with a faster car, and a stronger setup. The downside to the Camaro- as you said is the private seller thing- you definitely need a full carfax report and someone who knows cars (especially how to look for body damage or modifications) to go over the car thoroughly.

-05 Monte SS (L67- if I'm correct)-this would be my second choice because there is so much mod potential with the L67's. You can easily hit the 300 horsepower of the LS4 Monte with simple basic bolt on's, and still get better gas mileage day to day. Even other mods are dirt cheap on the L67, and there are gobs of things out there to hit 400 whp supercharged or 500+ whp turbo'd (although at that point, you'd be kicking yourself hard for not getting the camaro as you rebuild the transmission every two weeks). Plus, with a simple intake- you get blower whine. The crappy exhaust note is totally ok as long as you have blower whine

-06 Monte SS (LS4)- I think this would be last on my list. It is definitely the least moddable of the 3. Sure you can use some LS parts- but most everything needs some kind of modification for this or that, and they haven't really been showing great power gains with any set of bolt on mods yet. Not to mention, there is so little info out there still because they're so new, that you're mostly on your own when doing some mods (like an intake manifold swap- because so few people have done it, they haven't really nailed down a best/easiest way yet). Plus, some of the mods specifically coming out for them are stupid expensive ($1000 headers?). Exhaust note isn't bad, the Camaro with aftermarket exhaust will still blow it away- the single exhaust on the LS4's makes them sound a little like a LSx pickup truck, and less like Camaro's GTO's, etc. The huge boost in torque is definitely fun driving around town, but is it worth it over an L67 for worse gas mileage, and more broken transmissions (broken transmissions seem to be getting more and more common on the LS4 cars- I really wish they would've done a 4t80 from the start). Is there any warranty left on this car?


That's just my opinion though- if you have virtually no plans for engine mods at all, then I'd probably switch the last two around- and do Camaro, then 06 monte, then 05 monte since you'd have a little more power out of the box with the LS4. Even stock for stock, I'd definitely say the camaro is more fun to drive than either monte.


I'm confused- starting in 98 they went to the LS1- and the LS1 has coil on plug, so there is no cap/rotor/wires setup (well I guess there are wires, but they're like 4" long).

As long as you have decent all season tires, and don't drive like an idiot, I don't see a camaro being a big deal in Indiana. Lots of people drive RWD V8's with no problem. I'll admit, you'd have to be more careful than with a monte, especially when taking corners- but its not like it would be undriveable.