Monte Carlo Forum - Monte Carlo Enthusiast Forums

Hello!

I'm "Captain Dawson", and I am a new Monte Carlo owner from central Virginia! I am a 20 year old college student majoring in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Currently hold a Private Pilot's Licence and will be starting on my Instrument Rating this Spring flying G1000 equipped Cessna 172 SPs. I've had my drivers licence for 2 years, driving my Mom's 2005 Toyota Sienna, and my Dad's 2003 Chevy Impala. But it was time for me to get my own vehicle. After scouring Craigslist and dozens of dealers all over Virginia for weeks, I finally found the perfect car (and price) for me. I have never worked a full time job, so all my money came from paper routes when I was little and the small lawn care and landscaping business my brother and I ran for a few years in southern North Carolina. It took an awfully long time to make the few thousand I had, so you can imagine that this is a big deal for me. Jump-starting (and making sparks) is pretty much the limit of my automotive experience, but when Dad is helping/teaching me I can get some good work done. My Dad is no mechanic, but he is very experienced with repairs and troubleshooting. He is planning on helping me maintenance this car so I can save some money. College + flight training certainly is not cheap these days.

Yesterday afternoon I came home with my first car, a candy apple red 2000 Monte Carlo SS. Black leather seats, sunroof, automatic tranny, etc. I was blessed to have the ideal purchasing situation: Owner took very good care of the car, regularly took it for maintenance by a trusted mechanic, kept it under a carport, recently replaced several expensive components, and hardly even used it at all. The owner was an older woman who according to CarFax only drove it 302 miles a YEAR. She bought it from the original owner, a man in his 70s who took it to the dealer for frequent routine maintenance, and drove it a bit more frequently. The Monte currently has 90,000 miles and considering that the car is 18 years old I would call that pretty low miles. Interior is clean and in excellent condition for a 18 year old car, the exterior looks like it was painted yesterday despite the fact that it is indeed the original paint job. Even the plastic mirrors, dash, and door pillars are shiny and not the least bit worn or faded. Never in an accident, never in a fender bender, only the slightest tiny scratches as would be expected. New battery, stainless steel exhaust, fairly recent serpentine belt, and even brand new set of tires. The engine and transmission do not leak at all and appear to be in nearly perfect working order. Add to that the fact that he sold it to me for dirt cheap compared to the Impalas and Mustang GTs I had been looking at. We talked him down a bit, as the coolant needs to be flushed and the radiator is probably on its way out. Key-less entry doesn't work, and mirrors need a little tapping to unfreeze in the cold. Nothing else wrong, and Dad will help me fix all this. Regardless of what Kelly Blue Book says, I think I got myself a deal, and my Dad is jealous! Seeing as I could hardly find any Monte Carlos of any year in this good condition, (for a reasonable price) I believe I found a 1 in a million deal. Needless to say, I am excited about this purchase. No more taking the bus to the airport for me!

I've been poking around the forum for awhile, and I hope to glean useful information from those more experienced than myself. I'm looking into the recalls, (not sure if previous owners did them) and what I need to be doing for routine maintenance besides the normal stuff so I can get the most out of my car. The 2000 SS interior seems to be a bit bland, I hope to get red on black seat covers, a steering wheel cover and whatever other cheap options I have to spice it up a little. For what I paid and the use I will get out of it, I couldn't possibly hope to get any reasonable amount back from selling this car, and I may mod it if I ever have some extra cash lying around. I love my car, and I'm planning on keeping it forever!

I'm hoping the transmission will last awhile longer if I take care of it, but when it does go I am prepared to pay to have it fixed. If someone could give me a rough estimate on how long I might have on it based on the above info, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks for reading!
-Captain Dawson