GM..would you trust one to run how many miles?

[Drew99GT]

Despite my total frustration with the internal coolent leaks on the GMs we've had, my Dad's 98 Blazer is at 205,000 miles. It's taken quite a lot to get there. The interior is literally falling apart, BUT, it's been driven on rough dirt roads in the mountains of CO quite a lot, some VERY rough roads. It's on it's 3rd trans now, the motor knocks pretty good when cold, but it still has good power and gets better than EPA rated fuel mileage. He's keepin it until something major breaks, like another trans. If it had been driven mostly highway miles with no rough dirt roads, it would be in tremendously better shape.

My mom's 99 Olds 88 is a TOUGH freakin car. It's been driven alot on dirt roads as well, some VERY rough, and barely has any squeeks or rattles. Still has the original trans (and trans filter Critic!) with 150K; only major thing was the intake and gaskets, and the upper rad hose. It's been driven to #@$%! and back and I'm amazed with how strongly it seems to be built; I think it will have no problem going to 250K or more.

 

[SLM]

When I got rid of my '88 chevy Beretta it had 188,000 on it. Yeah the paint was starting to chip and fade, the interior was starting to look a lot worse. It had a healthy addiction to oil, probably a quart before 1000 miles, but it ran good. I had replaced the headliner in it and that made it bearable, but eventually I traded it in for 700 bucks back in 2004. I suspect as long as you kept checking and adding oil, it would last 250K. The biggest advantage I had was manual trans. I suppose it hit the junkyard tho.

 

[rjundi]

My old coworker put 300k miles on a 1990 Corisa with no major work.

 

[Cutehumor]

I'm keeping my sunfire until 250k or a major trans/engine failure or a total car accident.

 

[mstrjon32]

cousincletus, it is refreshing to hear someone else with a similar sentiment!

I recently sold my 1997 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with 195K miles, and it was shifting smooth, making good power and returning excellent fuel economy, even after 10 long years of use. The engine was a little noisy, but still much quieter than many, many rattling, vibrating Toyota Camry's of the same vintage that I've pulled up next to. To be honest, I'm actually still a little depressed I had to let it go, but I was moving 1500 miles and couldn't keep them both...

My mom's 1995 Lumina made it 216K miles, despite her admittedly negligent maintenance towards the end. A blown head gasket finally did it in, but the real reason for finally replacing the car was the viral rust which had taken hold, thanks to living in the northeast.

I wouldn't trade my Chevy for anything else.

 

[wizzells]

The main reason that I recently sold my '97 Grand Prix was because it was literally starting to fall apart in a matter of about 20k miles. It had about 145k on it, but the majority of my problems happened in the last 1.5 years I had it. The intake manifold leak appeared twice, transmission started slipping horribly (serviced every 30k or less), blower motor resistor, driver door window regulator, tie rod ends replaced twice, brakes were a nightmare. I just got fed up with the thing. I had maintained it well for 6 years, and then all of a sudden, "BOOM". Tons of problems seemingly one after another, and sometimes multiple things at once.
I hardly trusted the thing to get me back and forth to work everyday - which is 5 miles, btw.
As much as I want to buy a car made by GM, I absolutely refuse to buy another one until they figure out how to build a quality product that doesn't rattle apart in 6-8 years.