Hey all,

I'm new to this forum, and this is my first post. I'm looking for a 6th gen (2000-2005} Monte Carlo SS to buy, although not necessarily from someone here. I'd like to make it my daily driver and I humbly ask the help and advice of others on here who currently have one or have had one (or more). What are good features? Bad ones? Is there one year that has the best (or worst) features? What type of things should I be wary of when shopping around? I've already done some research and found that a 2003 or 2004 with around 100K miles can be had for less $10,000, and more for those in or near showroom condition. I'd like it to be as stock as possible, without any engine or body modifications. I'm also NOT looking for the Supercharged model. Last thing is that I'd love to find one with an OEM CD player and XM satellite radio...if that's even possible.

A bit about me...I grew up in the Northeast US and have fond memories of my parents' 1st gen (1970 and 1972) Montes. As time went on, my mom also had a few more Montes from the 80s and later until her last one, which was a 2004 Monte SS.

I hope to contribute where and when I can, but for now I'm just asking for a bit of help to get my Monte!!

Thanks, and I hope to hear from any and all of you!!

Cheers,
Steve

 

We have a few threads I think could help you.

Here is some stuff about problems and maintenance:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...lutions-30154/
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...0-miles-46078/
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...breaker-33233/

The radios are pretty easy to swap. My 2004 Monte is actually using a factory MP3 radio from a 04/05 Cavalier and Venture Van (looks and works like factory with MP3 ability). You can also add factory XM if you want (assuming the radio you have supports XM). I added XM (but never installed the antenna) in order to use the XM option for an aux jack.
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...g-heavy-58519/

As for your pricing, in general, I have not been shopping in a LONG time. $10k sound a bit high to me unless the car was a garage queen with very few miles (less than 50k miles) and is near mint. A well cared for Monte of that era with about 100k miles and still looks and feels like new could probably be found $3k-$5k. But again, I have NOT been shopping, so what I say might be completely wrong in today's market.

 

Id be very careful on pricing. Pre covid price craziness, you could get practically any w body for sub $5k (besides ultra low mileage examples). The higher mileage stuff (150+) was barely going for double or triple scrap value. Prices for all used cars spiked when the new car inventory ran out, but I wouldnt expect them to stay like that, especially as OEMs catch up on new production. Certainly inflation has moved the baseline up a bit, but that's only a small amount when you're talking the bargain basement kind of vehicles like this.

Id just be cautious looking at w bodies anywhere near $10k as that kind of inflated price is not going to last.


As for specific things to look for:
-Rust. Primarily rockers panels and strut towers (neither of which show up on the exterior of the bodywork). If the car has spent any time in a salt belt area, I'd take an incredibly close look as the junkyard is the only viable option if you get one that's almost toast.

-Transmission. Every car in that year range regardless the engine comes with essentially the same trans - the 4t65. They're ok transmissions for a stock engine, but 100k is gambling a bit. No doubt there are plenty that have made it well over 200k, but theres also alarming numbers that fail before. Even if everything checks out ok, I'd still start a rebuild fund just in case.

As for year / options, I don't think there's anything specifically worthwhile to hold out for. Personally Id pick a 3800 powered version, but that's just because I've had so much experience with them. Most anything can be swapped or added if you find something specific you like (ie higher trim wheels, etc). With a car this old + that many miles, Id focus more on getting something thats obviously been treated well and comes back with a clean inspection than getting hung up on a specific option to hunt for.

 

Thanks for the information, The_Maniac. I'll check the links and see what's out there! As was posted after your reply, the prices you mentioned are kinda low...they have gone up. Not a surprise in today's market and the world in general. I've seen a couple of '04 Monte SS examples for sale with about 110K or so for about $7K to $8K. Since they're at dealerships in the snowy midwest and I'm over 1K miles away, they might not be the best options for me right now, although they look pretty clean in the pics. I'm in no huge hurry to find the right car.

I'm OK with doing some basic maintenance on a vehicle, especially one of the 6th gen era, but I'm not too comfortable with opening up the dashboard to work on the electronics. I saw your how-to post with your radio modification. Looks good, maybe I can use that for a reference (along with something from YouTube) if I really need to install an OEM XM radio/antenna on my own. Bottom line is I'd rather have it pre-installed...or it might not be a bad idea to find a local shop to install something for me.

Thanks also, bumpin96monte for the advice. I'll make a mental note about hidden rust in the rockers and strut towers. That's hard to do from a distance, and I wouldn't trust a dealer to provide accurate/honest details about hidden surprises (no offense to any honest dealers reading this).

Cheers,
Steve

 

Personally I'd avoid any cars from the Midwest if youre considering traveling for a purchase. A lot of areas use salt, and it destroys the bodies. The hard part with the 6th gens is they dont show exterior rust until its way out of control. At least with the 5th gens you'd get the paint bubbling under the fuel tank as a good indicator of issues.

But I've seen GP's of the same year as the Montes youre looking at with no visible external rust, yet the lower rockers are literally dust.

If youre OK traveling, I'd be looking more south. I'd also request a carfax in advance on any car youre interested in (any good dealer will give it to you for free). Thatll give you a general idea where it was most of its life - ie a car being sold in CA may have spent most if its life in NY.

If youre interested in aftermarket, any local shop can do it easily. They're easy cars to do for someone in that field.

Factory CD players are pretty common, not so sure about XM though as my GM cars from that era didn't have it. There is the option for a separate XM tuner that plays through a FM station on your stock radio though. You do have to run a small external antenna (but they're barely bigger than an oreo cookie these days), but an audio shop could easily set you up. The display is fairly small and could even be mounted in a hidden spot (center console, etc) if you don't want the look.

If the CD player is important, I'd check functionality when youre buying. I suspect a lot of these CD players haven't been used in a very long time.

Im totally with you on that. It also doesn't help that your typical big dealers won't sell cars like this (too old / too much mileage), so a lot of places that carry them will tend to be places flipping the auction cars.

Personally I wouldnt be comfortable buying a car like this without seeing it in person (dealer or not). Outside of something like a certified pre-owned program, dealer inspections can be pretty minimal - especially on auction cars.

There are just so many things to look for when buying used (accident clues, fluid condition, repairs, etc) for any car that would be risky to travel that far for a single car. Plus the seller holds 100% of the leverage once they find out (which they will as soon as they get your license for the road test) as you'd already be heavily invested at that point.

 

Bumpin is on point about rust issues. It is easy for what you see to look shiny and nice, but underneath, a rust bucket. As a result, I would want to see underneath a car. If I made a deal on a car I was going to have delivered, detailed pics are a MUST. Pics of the underside. The big hardship with the Montes, the side ground fx can hide a lot and you have no real good way to tell what is truly going on behind them. But you can get some good clue looking at the rest of the car.

As for the radio stuff, swapping the factory radio is truly no big deal, but adding XM gets creative. I believe XM was an option that began in the 2003 Monte Carlos. Personally if your passion is for a 2000-2005 Monte, I would not make XM a hard requirement. Again, Bumpin' mentioned there are various other options. You can buy devices to transmit audio via FM to the radio and then use a potable XM receiver. All things that can be done without taking the dash apart and as simple as plugging into the cigarette lighter.

 

Hi Steve welcome to the MCForum.