22 ZR2- 1 Year Review

[buster]

Just hit one year on the ZR2 - 9,500 miles. It's been a joy to drive, on and off-road. I've had it off-road a dozen times in the Pine Barrens, and Brigantine beach in NJ. Hauled a few small couches for some family members and a 75" TV. 90% of the time the bed is empty. It's been very reliable so far other than a faulty 4WD actuator switch, which was a simple fix under warranty.

I like the LGZ 3.6L V6. No oil consumption. Decent power. The 8 speed so far hasn't given me any problems. I did get on one occasion a jerky shift from 2 to 3 or 3 to 4. It hasn't done so since. I now drive it a bit more aggressively and I think that helps. When you're sometimes too light on the throttle I feel it gets tripped up a bit.

The truck drives great. The DSSV's are nice. The interior is the weak spot, however, the plastic surfaces are very easy to clean and I appreciate that.

I ran the OE fill to 3k miles. Put in Amsoil SS. Took the truck to the dealer to get just the tires rotated and the guy ended up changing the oil on my putting in whatever bulk oil they were using. I recently dumped it and put in M1 EP 5w30. Might try ESP 5w30 next.

Plan is to keep it for at least 3 years. I'm always torn with having a truck. They can really come in handy when you need one, but the majority of the time I feel like they're a waste. I work from home so it sits in the driveway all day. It does see its fair share of short trips (
I coated it with Can Coat about 10 months ago. Held up extremely well.

 

[joekingcorvette]

That is a very nice truck and it looks great. My brother has a 99 ZR-2 that he has kept for over 20 years and it still looks like new but he lives outside of the rust belt. His is about the same color too. I like the high lift on the ZR2.

 

[Redright9]

Those water beading pictures are awesome!! Very nice truck!

 

[buster]

Those water beading pictures are awesome!! Very nice truck!

Can Coat beads with the best of them.

 

[atikovi]

Folks here like water beading pictures almost as much as they like oil filters cut open pics.

 

[buster]

Folks here like water beading pictures almost as much as they like oil filters cut open pics.

Oddly enough, it's easy to get a product to bead. I reached out to Bilt Hamber out of curiosity and they said this:

"Beading of water does not give any indication of protection at all but it’s the noticeable thing and that’s what people seem to like.

Kind regards,
Pete Hamber"

 

[Soft Cars]

Salt roads in New Jersey?

 

[buster]

Salt roads in New Jersey?

Not this year. We've had no measurable snow at all. Zero winter. Temps have been in the 40's+ all winter.

 

[Soft Cars]

Not this year. We've had no measurable snow at all. Zero winter. Temps have been in the 40's+ all winter.

That's good. I've seen some trucks on the Eric O show that are ready to be scrapped at only 5 years old. The top part of the trucks still look like new. It's a shame.

 

[atikovi]

I've seen some trucks on the Eric O show that are ready to be scrapped at only 5 years old. The top part of the trucks still look like new. It's a shame.

GM and most car makers have at least 6 years of rust-through warranty, so not really.

 

[wpod]

If you have only 1 vehicle a pick up is nice. If you had a car would the back seats and trunk always be used or full of stuff?

 

[AZjeff]

Drive what you like and never make excuses for it. Isn't this a Bison?

Good looking truck.

 

[silversport]

looks great...thanks for sharing this...

Bill

 

[buster]

If you have only 1 vehicle a pick up is nice. If you had a car would the back seats and trunk always be used or full of stuff?

Good point. If I had a normal work commute like I used to (30+mins), I'm not sure I would have gone with this truck. Being I work from home makes it more reasonable.

 

[demarpaint]

Nice looking truck, great color as well!

 

[Cujet]

That truck is the perfect size. A friend has a similar one with the diesel. I love it.

 

[MCompact]

In my not so humble opinion, it doesn’t matter one bit whether you need a vehicle; what matters is whether you enjoy driving it.

 

[IndyIan]

Yeah

In my not so humble opinion, it doesn’t matter one bit whether you need a vehicle; what matters is whether you enjoy driving it.

Yeah, with doing so few miles on it, you can drive almost anything and it won't be that wasteful. Plus I doubt its depreciating much at all.
We might have a pickup as a second vehicle if we did less miles, but I hate filling them up, just wasted money for us, and more CO2 pumped into the sky...

 

[buster]

Where I go on the beach can get very deep in spots. You have to air down to at least 20 psi. You’d be surprised how many attempt this in just cars.

 

[MCompact]

Yeah

Yeah, with doing so few miles on it, you can drive almost anything and it won't be that wasteful. Plus I doubt its depreciating much at all.
We might have a pickup as a second vehicle if we did less miles, but I hate filling them up, just wasted money for us, and more CO2 pumped into the sky...

That’s the case with my Wrangler. MPG isn’t a concern considering how little I drive it- but I like it a lot and it’s nice to have if I need to drag a tree off of the driveway or the road washed out.