My fiancee's truck (89 gmc S15 4.3) finally coughed up a headgasket. So as planned we are taking it off the road to fix it, bag it, and paint it. (was a goal of hers anyway, just came a little soon).

We are replacing her truck with an SUV. She had showed a lot interest in Blazers/Jimmy's. (nothing new, probably, late 90's). Now my faithful .Org what do you reccommend? Any advice on what to look for?

Looking at SUV's is new to me. Would you reccommend another vehicle? Jeep? Some people we know told us to steer away from Jeep.

Thanks for your help



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The Jeep 4.0 I-6 is awesome for reliability, and the Grand Cherokee is the best vehicle I've ever driven in the snow. Gas milage sucks (expect 10-15mpg with auto), as you would expect. Higher milage Jeep auto transmissions can be a problem (>100k miles). If youre just looking for a winter SUV thats absolutely unstoppable, grand cherokees are the winner in my book.

On the other hand, if you just want SUV versitility and dont want to sacrifice too much mpg, toyota rav4, honda CRV, and even GM's small line like the Equinox, are good choices. Good luck

My husband's family had 2 of them & had tons of problems with them - they were traded for a Highlander and Elantra. His step father's was having all sorts of problems at 120,000, pretty weak for an SUV. The last straw was when it would just shut off while he was driving just around this past Christmas. His sister's, we can't remember the mileage, but it had a lot of problems with the wheel bearings, repeated problems. Both of them were paying repair bills constantly, it was easier to pick up a car payment to have something reliable. We're not exactly sure of the years of them either, but they were late 90's or early '00. I wish I could give you more examples, but it's been stuff we mainly hear about over the phone ove the past few years, not like we log it or actually help fix since they're so far away. I do remember thinking there's no possible way I'd ever buy one after hearing about the constant troubles.

Out of curiosity, why the need for an SUV?

if your into the blazer/jimmy/bravado's get the 4.3 vortec V6 all the other motor have no power, the 4.3 is easy to work on too!

Thanks, Yeah she does not want something smaller, and wants to stay under 10k.

I told her jeep from day 1, but her s10planet buddies said they are not reliable at all,I did not agree.

Thanks for your advice.



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Susan - first thanks for the help. Thats what she would like. Her mom just got a 1999 GMC Jimmy SLT and loves it.

Ztwenty - LOL thats the motor that coughed the headgasket, but I am sure they fixed alot of problems between now and then



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yeah the newer 4.3s are different than the older ones. many advances have been made.

My dads 96 K1500 still has its origional 4.3 in it. Great engine. Only real complaints I have from working on the S/T vehicles is front wheel bearings, rear rotors like to nor come off when doing brakes, and i have seen a few autos take out the reaction sun shell.

I get better mpg out of my Sierra's vortec 5.3 then by buddy at works gets out of his Blazer's 4.3. Not just a little better either.

Just something to think about.





**there is only one true love in my life... and my girlfriend has learned to live with it**

When I grew up our family vehicle was a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. It was a 4.0 auto. Over 14 years and 296000kms it was very reliable. The only real problems we ever had were front wheel bearings, the windshield wiper motor came loose a few times, the heater wasn't working too good when we sold it, and sometimes when you put it into 4wd it would only go into part time 4wd instead of fulltime. The gas mileage wasn't that bad on the highway either. I imagine a newer cherokee would be the same or better.


I would recommend a cherokee, but I'm biased.

i had a 2001 chevy blazer LT with 130K on it. i loved it. gas miles are what you would get with a suv with that size motor. around 13-17 city and 18-22 highway. but then my mom wanted something that was 4 wheel drive and so i gave her the blazer and she drove it and loved it also. but my dad wante something with less miles and so they picked up a 2005 chevy Equinox LT AWD with 56K on it. and that is a really nice suv. its got nice pick up to it also for the little 3.4 it has.

Does she need the room of a SUV? What about a Subura?

O noes!

well, we are trying to stay under 10k because we are tight on cash but need something 4wd for her. Trying to go with an SUV for room. Truck really is not in thepicture that I know of.

Thanks for all the input



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was the typhoon AWD?



05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.523@111.30

personaly i Like ford when it comes to suvs
the Ford explorer is every where so that means you have advantage in that you can be picky im driving my friends explorer sport its a 1999 it has 104 thousand miles it runs pretty good for its age smack a curb with a highlander or elantra or any other garbage cute ute and you will be replacing a control arm or two.

if 10000 dollars why not just pick up a new v6 explorer thats abig down payment you would be able to get for like 100 bucks a month

I love people who bash the s seires trucks it usauly some sissy boys who cry when they hear a little rattle or rear main seal drips a little. The S truck has the same layout as the ford but the motor isn't as high tech it

the only weak point in the explorer i could see would the transmission. it mainly because for some reason people never take the overdrive off when they putt around town. its my opinion that button is there for when towing or when alot is demanded of the little truck such as high snow or towing.
and another thing why is it women always bash American makes
then again what did mr garrison say? about bleeding for 5 days?

we dont have 10,000, thats what we want whe purchasing, weprobly can gather about 2k



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You could easily pick up a Subaru wagon under $10,000. They've got a ton of cargo space, AWD & great gas mileage. One wrong turn with a gas guzzler and you're going to pay a few hundred more a year in gas. How much cargo room do you need? We brought home a brand new bathtub in it's packaging with the hatch CLOSED - that's cargo room! The roof rack is very handy on the Subaru too, we've strapped stuff up there a bunch of times, it's easier to reach than an SUV roof. Plus the Subaru will last a long time! There's a bunch in today's paper, I just looked at it earlier. There's also a used car dealership that's only Subaru out on 441 past Marietta if you'd want to look there.

she hates the look of subaru's. I tried that route, shes stuck on a Blazer or Jimmy



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Well, I've had great luck with both my Envoy's, 03 and 05. They go for 12-13 in Canada so I assume you can get them for 10 stateside.

I have a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 linited. I love it! Rides like a caddy has leather heated seats easy to work on and it is fast. Plus the Jeep forum is a godsend. Anything you ever want to know about it can be found on that site. I would definatly have her drive one as I think they are more comfortable and and funner to drive than the blazer/jimmy.

From a mechanics perspective I would say jeep over chevy anyday. To me the jeep seems more staright forward when you work on it then the way chevy designs the blazer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Sunday, January 27, 2008 8:28 PM


FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!

QBE (Aka Phil No More Boost) wrote: Some people we know told us to steer away from Jeep.

Those people are retarded; I'm not. Buy a Jeep.







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