The 3.9 is rare. In a Monte Carlo. Sure they may have used to engine before and afte 2006 but that was the only year it got placed in to the Montes.

Things I've had to give attention to in my 2006 LTZ Monte.
Dead battery. (they claim it's my fault for not driving the car every day)
Bad tire sensor system. They replaced the entire system for free.
OnStar back up battery dead twice. Again they blamed me for not driving every day.
Replaced the stereo. They claimed it ran the battery down. Before they started blaming me.

Tried to get both headlights replaced. Other 2006 owners said the chrome inside went bad from the sun. Noticed mine looked dull too. Dealer refused to replace them even though Chevy okayed the work.

I am very happy with my car. Do I wish it was the 5.3 V8 SS instead? Kind of.
But the SS doesn't have a rare engine like my LTZ does.

Guys. I have been getting a lot (and I mean a lot) of flak from my mother and girlfriend about this car. Why? Cause I rarely drive it. I make the payments. I do any up keep. It's getting to the point I'm ready to get rid of the car. I'm tired of the crap. Right now it has 14,850 miles on it.

Would I be happy if the car was gone? NO! And I'd be pissed cause I gave in to them. For the rest of my life.

 

Yeah, GM is big on the look alikes but totally different. IE: The TrailBlazer, Envoy and Bravada(???) are all based on the same platform but they have something like 95% different body panels, the Camaro and Firebird the same way. Same car but you can't swap body parts.

Thanks for the heads-up on ChevroletForum. I've jumped over there and asked essentually the same questions.

rj, thanks for the in depth reply. On*Star not a big concern, her TB has it but hasn't been activated since she was given 3 free months when she got it. Like the concept but just seems too pricey, since she doesn't go that far from home... I would look more into it if they had a per use choice, or let you sign-up for a month or two when going on vacation, etc. From what I've seen that TPMS is quite a PITA, is there a way to shut it off or are you stuck with it? Other then the Monte I've never had a vehicle that even gave a rats a** what the air in the tires was like, that's why they invented tire gauges. :p How much do you drive your LTZ? once a week, month... year??? The collection you have I can undersand not driving any of them all that often, must be a real bear to choose what to drive. People tell me with my 3 that I should sell one or two, but I can't do that, how would I decide? All three have different jobs!

Once again thanks to all for their help. Will call the dealer to see if they can bring it to town (It's at a sister dealer on the GA/SC line and I live in the center of SC) today so I can get a closer hands on look and feel of it.

 

Sorry i'm a little late on this thread but here is my input:

I LOVE my 06 Monte. I just flipped to 85,000 miles this weekend on my road trip. I have the 3500 V6, which has been really reliable. It puts out good power, is an extremly smooth engine, and gets awesome gas milage for such a large car. The 3900 is basically the same engine as the 3500, so I would imagine it will act simlar to the 3500 with a bit more pep, and slightly less fuel economy, but still a great engine.

Problems i've had with my Monte are:

-CD player went bad (kinda my fault, but still should not have happened IMO)
-Power Steering pump
-Water Pump

Otherwise, its been a great car, and I love driving it everyday!

I've had the Impala as a rental, and it is almost the same car. I could hardly tell I was driving the Impala vs. my Monte Carlo. I would consider an Impala if I needed a 4-door car for sure.

 

What's the warranty on it? I recommend she gets the extended if she can.

My parents' 06 SS has had a few ECM issues, if the warranty wasn't there it would have been costly.

 

Just for the record, I collected a lot info on the 2006 Montes. The Impala was included in quite a bit of this information. (or maybe Chevy looks at it the reverse?)

It looks to me Chevy does consider the Impala/Monte related. We all know they share the front end. Not sure about the cowl/firewall & windshield area or not?

Don't forget:
The 2006 was a complete new design for the Monte. Not only from the firewall forward but the rear quarters are suppose to be like 2" taller compared to the '00-05 Montes. The rear bumper cover is/was a new design for the Monte as well.



Truthfully, I haven't had my '06 monte out since the first week of august.

I realized some time ago buying the extended warranty on the car was stupid. I just gave the Chevy dealer (they sold me the warranty) $1,700 for nothing more or less. Could I get a partial refund? I doubt it.

The car setting so much sure there are things that can go bad just from setting. (brakes for instance) and let's say the trans springs a leak from setting. Only then will I feel the extended warranty is worth the money I paid for it.

Say, I did a car search through Yahoo saturday night. I found several '06 Montes for less then $10,000 in the listings I looked up. Maybe you could find a decent one close to you doing a similar search?

PS. I located a somewhat nice 2003 JG Monte in Lima, Ohio for just a little more then the girl wants for her 2001 Pace car. This JG Monte has about 60k miles on it.