Well, I think I'm going to be getting a monte carlo this winter.

I just wanted to see how you guys feel about your cars. Now I know this is a monte carlo forum, so most of you will answer "yes"...

But do you guys have any suggestions? Any tips for new owners? Recalls? Stuff to replace?

I'll probably be buying an '03 with around 50,000 miles on it. I know what basic maintenence to do at 50,000, but I still posted this caus im bored

So any suggestions, comments, etc?

 

over all yes im happy with the car, the dealer ship is a diffrent story . the one i purchased my car from was great the choices i have now SUCK!!

But i own a 03 SS and love the car its self. have had no issues with it other then some minor stuff and also the one thing i can tell you to look out for are the brake rotors there have been alot of them that seem to be warping. mine i did after comming to germany the first time i got the car back from the shippers i swore something was wrong with them but could not prove it so in the next three weeks i was buying new ones. the dealers here said they could not replace them saying it is a warabel part. but the car had less then 20.000 miles on it when it got here.

Now i have just under 36000 and the only things that i need to do to it is plugs and wires to get my gas milege back up to where it should be that and im not a fan of the 100.000 plug change to me it is just not right and they need to be done more offten. But then i also changed all the fluids to synthetic at 400 miles on the car. and have kept them up and at every 2500 miles i change oil and every 20.000 i have change the tranny filter an dfluids out of it. this might be over kill but at least i know it is clean fluid in it and seems to be workign great. the oil today and the motor are jsut as clean inside as they are out.

Also there was a recall on the T-stat on this year and several otehrs so make sure that all of the recalls are done on the car if not get it in and get them done

 

I voted happy..... If they would fix the damn ISS problem and recall everything affected my degree of happiness would jump off the scale.



I am at 53K and so far I have only had routine maintenance cost items pop up, that is before getting some things fixed under warranty.



Now, lets see how the next 50K goes as far as maintenance cost.

 

Would we be congregating in this capacity if we were not happy overall?

 

Ya my brake rotors got warped but that was the only problem so far.

 

No problems so far but I only have a little over 20k miles on it. I will be putting more miles on from now on because I have decieded to use my Monte as my everyday car and my Mustang as my show car. Monte gets better gas milage and is better in the snow.

 

Actually, I'm here to see if I can cheaply boost my car.. the dream of any newbie I suppose.

Overall, I'm quite displeased with the stock 02 Monte LS. I'm not here to bash it, but it's just not practical for me. The interior is great, probably the best feature of the late generation Monte's. GM did a decent job with it save a few peeling dashboard parts and easily broken plastic clamps. For the LS, the performance is mediocre at best. I'd advise opting for the 3800 engine if possible [Does that only come with the SS?] The car isn't practical because it's not powerful, it's not really economical [though not bad, I average 26.8 mpg +/- .3], it's incapable of off-roading, it's 2-door, and my governer is set very low. From what I've seen, you really just need to be a fan of Monte Carlo's to appreciate it as a car and the styling. I haven't had any maintenance problems yet. Though, I've felt like the brakes could use some tuning. Maybe I need to replace the rotors like many of you and try spark plugs for better MPG. Sorry guys, again, not here to bash it, I'm just not a big fan anymore.

 

well thats what happens when u dont buy the big motor you dont get any power and u get a low governor mine never had a 105 governor from the factory maybe that becasue mine came with h rated tires but i love my car and the only thing i wish that i could cange is i would love to to see a muncie 4 speed in these cars but that is just wishfull thinking and to tell u the truth i prefer my na 3800 over the supercharged version and the 5.3 v8 even if it isnt quite as powerful and if your car is peling and cracking i would say the previous owner just diddnt care for the car if u take care of them they dont peel and crack

 

you can always paint the dash i did in mine and have had nothign but complments on it. I like the monte over all other then what i said earlier.

But i dont have a govner on mine any more so i can go out and play with it and set the shift points to where i like them and also soon will be adding the thrasher shift kit to it's third stage i hav eit set on 2 now and to me it was not a bigg diffrence over stock but i was worried about it holding up. seems to be doing good time to kick her in the tail now and see what eles i can get ou t of it LOL

wishful thinking is seeing the smole in the rear view mirror instead of driving threw it LOL