sx460 Posted December 9, 2002 Report Share Posted December 9, 2002 My '95 Lumina LS with the 3.4 is really beginning to show it's age. I could keep throwing money at it but it's a Lumina and after a certain point it's just pointless. Pretty much everything is original (CV Joins, Alternator, Fuel Pump, ...). The only major things done: new spark plug, wires, struts/shocks, timing belt, tires, brakes... The car has 120,000 on it. Nothing major has snapped, yet, but after owning this car it's become quite appartent to me that for my next car, reliability and cost of ownership has to be at the top of the list. I mean what's the point of being able to do a quarter mile a second faster than a 3.1? About a grand a year to maintain it. Just to have my plugs and wires installed cost about $180 JUST IN LABOR (infact I was laughed at by many places to even consider it). So which cars would you guys suggest that is reliable, decent, and cost of ownership is low (possibly just a easy to work on car so that I can do most work my self...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ismellrealbad Posted December 9, 2002 Report Share Posted December 9, 2002 the 3.1's are pretty friggin reliable, and most will tell you general mainteance is pretty easy. i post many examples with my old car but ill post another. My 3.1 only ever had one repair where it had to be taken in to be looked at. There was a time when the car would start/run fine, but after a while of driving it would just stall, and then not start up again. after a certain amount of time of letting it sit it would start right up and drive with no other probs. After having it looked at the guy just told my dad what it was and he fixed it. forgot what it was. it was fairly cheap. Other than that the only reason its dead is cuz of me. the trans was pretty shitty but the fluid was never changed in 204k miles and i drop shifted it about 3 times. It also went thru about 4 alternators, but what car hasnt?i know that car would have made 250k maybe more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORBI Posted December 9, 2002 Report Share Posted December 9, 2002 2.8, 3.1 and 3100 are very reliable so you could look for a 92+ or 95+ Cutlass SUpreme but if you are already owning a 95 Lumina i would look for a 95+ Cutlass since interior is redisigned, and if you have money you want to find a good GTP, but if i were you i would probably looking for a COnvertible CS or Grand Prix GTP especially in white (they are so beautiful in white). And changing plugs and wires is an easy thing to do i did on my friends 92CS with 3.4 and all we spend for plugs and wires was 90$ and changed them myself in about 20 min. And about 1k a year thats not really bad but if you want to get another car then i just told you my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted December 9, 2002 Report Share Posted December 9, 2002 If you want to have a reliable car from a GM W-body years 95-99 get something with the 3.8, such as a Regal, GP 97-99, Lumina Z34/LTZ 98-99. The 3100 is great but you're going to have to spend $ on things like the lower intake manifold gasket (which is pretty much guaranteed to fail) also the VIN M 3100 (94-97 or 98) has so little low end it's incredible. My mom's '95 Cutlass sucks. I'm always finding myself floorng it just to get moving from a stop. The interior sucks. The revised fabric is mediocre, knobs break off, buttons on the radio and doors shed their "black" paint so it becomes one big backlit crappy button. The center console lid has a plastic hinge instead of metal, which means if you fling it back too fast, it breaks (which it already did) The turn signal switch has a life expectancy of maybe 4 years, and if you want to change it yourself, you got to beware of the airbag, which can explode at any time if you don't get the recall taken care of. There's only 4 gauges on the cluster, the transmission already went. Brakes are good though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91GranSport Posted December 10, 2002 Report Share Posted December 10, 2002 I agree, if you want to stick to GM, and if you want to stay within the W-Body, get one equipped with the 3800 Series II and the 4T60-E. There's plenty of power in the L36 engine, I don't think you really need the L67 unless you're really that power hungry. I'd say '96-'99 models are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 my car loan will be taken care of shortly and i'm also thinking of getting a 'new' car sometime in the next 6 months. of course, i'm not trading in my CS i'd like to get a '92-ish 2-door S-series Blazer with a 4.3 V6/4L60 (i'm thinking Typhoon but can hardly afford one). the only thing i don't like about the S-series Blazer is that the instrument cluster is pathetic (very very small). i need a 2nd car....i'm not going to be able to turbocharge my CS until i have a second vehicle since i use my car at work. btw, anyone want to buy an '81 Malibu Classic Landau coupe? i still need to make room for the Turbo STE i'm trying to score. crap i better start looking looking in the classifieds for a garage to rent.... joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 If you dont like the Blazer cluster, get the 6 gauge cluster from a Jimmy. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 is it actually any bigger or did they just stuff more gauges into the same small cluster? joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 Im almost positive it's the same dashboard. We're talking GM here, guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90lumina3.1 Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 if you want big gauges... mini cooper! the speedo is about 12" diameter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 Im almost positive it's the same dashboard. We're talking GM here, guy guess problem isn't solved then joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NORBI Posted December 11, 2002 Report Share Posted December 11, 2002 I probably would go for 97+ Grand Prix GTP i am power hungry thats why after my Vette was stolen i had to get another V8 for nice days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timg Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 Im almost positive it's the same dashboard. We're talking GM here, guy guess problem isn't solved then joshua We had a 93 blazer with digital gauges. They're pretty big. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AM6_Cutlass Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 My mom's '95 Cutlass sucks. I'm always finding myself floorng it just to get moving from a stop. The interior sucks. The revised fabric is mediocre, knobs break off, buttons on the radio and doors shed their "black" paint so it becomes one big backlit crappy button. The center console lid has a plastic hinge instead of metal, which means if you fling it back too fast, it breaks (which it already did) The turn signal switch has a life expectancy of maybe 4 years, and if you want to change it yourself, you got to beware of the airbag, which can explode at any time if you don't get the recall taken care of. There's only 4 gauges on the cluster, the transmission already went. Brakes are good though!Wow, sad but true! BTW: My turn signal switch lasted 6 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AM6_Cutlass Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 is it actually any bigger or did they just stuff more gauges into the same small cluster?joshua Blazer / Jimmy / Bravada: same dash. Get the digital though. My dad had a Jimmy with the digital guages, had pretty much everything you could want and easy to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 cool, i will look out for that. if nothing else i guess i could swap one in tho. joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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