Owners' Reviews

the vehicle will not shift out of park into gear.

This 2001 Monte Carlo is the biggest piece of crap I have ever owned. I have spent thousands of dollars repairing this lemon. I've replaced the brain and too many parts to write about.And once again another problem. I can't even drive it to get groceries 2 miles away without it stalling and barely getting back to my driveway. I did find that most electrical parts are made in Canada and they don't use lead in their solder.Then you get things called whiskers that shorts out the Electrical parts. I'm an electrician by trade so I know about Electrical problems just not cars.I had 3 Nissans with 175,000 miles average and this Monte Carlo has cost me more than all 3 combined. It's a pretty car but a major piece of crap.

I bought my 2001 monte carlo LS at 49,000 miles on it. Worked sooo good until about 100k miles when the manifold went out. I didnt even realize until now (100k miles) that none of the cigarette lighters worked. For some reason the place i bought it from said the entire engine needed to be replaced, so we replaced the engine with a new one with who knows how many miles. I dont even know if we needed it but i'm not a mechanic so i just trusted them and wasted around 1100 dollars. (McFerrin motors in Texas, i believe they are snakes) After they repaired that, the radio didnt get reception either, or just barely sometimes. Now at around 149k miles, there is a huge amount of electrical problems. 3 batteries and 1 new alternator later, it finally starts and drives again. The blinkers work whenever they want because of a faulty control unit which also works as the emergency light activator. The AC compressor doesnt stay on for more than 30 seconds because the engine falsely thinks that the engine coolant is low. I had the temp sensor on the engine replaced to fix the readdout on the instrument cluster, which is always at 0 degrees UNTIL i disconnect the battery for a while, then then the heat starts readin, the ac compressor turns back on and etc. Now it also has ABS issues. There is a loud noise when i start off from a halt but it stops when i take my foot off the gas pedal. After this happens a ton of lights come on, like ABS warning and etc. i didnt know it but when i got the car originally the radiator must have busted, or the person who owned it was trying to fix the manifold themselves by FILLING the radiator with stopleak, which caused the car to run very warm all the time until i replaced the radiator. None of the power locks work anymore. WTF. they stopped working at about 100k miles. The windows still go up and down, and also the trunk open button stopped working as well. This thing is an electrical nightmare. It did serve me very well for 60k miles, but was not worth the 12g's i spent on it. Slow, bad handling. The one thing it had going for it was amazing brakes. Really, sincerely amazing brakes. However now the ABS light comes on now when i start driving. I really, really hate this car. Not because its a chevy because i dig Chevy products, its because this one I ended up with was such a rotten lemon. I have put so much money into this and have gotten a barely decent, crappy radio sounding ride in return. If i could go back in time and warn myself not to buy it, I'd just tell myself "Lets look at a truck, instead. A ford truck." Tommorow some poor sap is coming to pay me 2000 for it, or he says he is. Lets wait until he test drives it. For the love of god let me sell this car. - Sincerely, Rick. P.S. When I turn the wheel it makes a cracky popping noise. I guess from what i read on the other reviews, an intermediate drive shaft? :/ god damn front wheel drive cars. Also turns out the type of radiator fluid that is in these cars becomes extra acidic under certain conditions and replacing the intake manifold gasket becomes neccessary on every single car after a while. There was even a class action lawsuit that provided people with x amount of money to repair it.

I am the original and only owner of this car. I've replaced the battery 3 times, the alternator twice, the intake manifold gasket twice. It made the trip to Arizona from St. Louis when I moved in 2004. It made the trip to Oklahoma from Arizona when I moved in 2006. It has just under 100K miles. I think my fuel pump is starting to go out, as of today. Usually, it idles so smoothly at stop lights that I have to be sure it's still running. It always is. I hope to keep this car for many years to come. Go GM!!!

I have a 2003 monte ss and only have a couple of concerns one is the fuel gauge reads anything it wants to even after replacing the level unit in the tank for 127.50 an 1 hour of my time, ant he catalytic conertor failure (clogged) had no power replaced it and my car is as fast as it was previously which is quite impressive for a 3.8 litre engine and i get 33mpg @ 73mph because i measured this when driving from just outside philadelphia pa to las vegas nv in just 36 hous straight just stopping for gas (i did not sleep for the entire trip driving by myself )and a utah cop who just wanted to search my car beacuase i was from pa other than those 2 issues i love my car it the most comfortable car i have driven any where

A great car, the official pace car monte carlo, but it has horrible electrical issues when u use left blinker and right the dash lights up like a christmas tree, track off light battery ;ight service traction light service engine light brake light. and also makes a buzzzing sound like a bee when in use.

wont start with the key.can cross it over but wont stay running

I just bought this car 2 weeks ago from my sister. The brake, ABS brake, low coolant, & check engine soon lights all came on while I was driving it home. Then within 3-4 days it produced a coolant leak. Whenever I would start the car, coolant poured out from the back side of the motor. Put coolant stop leak in and solved the problem for the moment. A day after the coolant leak started; it also produced an oil leak from back side of motor also. Oil stop leak did not work for this problem. I am a chick, so I only know the basic needs to know about cars. Need some advice please.

bought this car with 27000 miles on it about 4 and half years ago now has 44000 miles on it no trouble what so ever everything still works and runs great!!

My Monte has put up with a lot. I am not the easiest on cars and she still purrs like the day I drove her off the lot.

I have a 1998 Monte which I purchased new. I now have 228,000 miles on it and can't complain. It's been a great car. Brakes seem to be replaced alot but could be my driving..lol. Engine has been good..no major issues. Standard water pump, serpentine belt, starter,etc but what do I expect at 228,000 miles? My check engine light has been on since 100,000 miles but engine is fine. I did have to spend a fortune to tell the computer that I wasn't stealing my own car. Was DEFINATELY not happy with that. Other than what I would call minor issues..I love my monte!!

Love my 2003 SS! 611,200km and still running! Just changed my first water pump and alternator in it this winter!

190000K MILES....had my 2002 Monte Carlo since 2001...got lucky she's a great car....never missed any maintenance.....if you want proof ill show you....she's my silver bullet

So I never liked Chevys. Then I fell in love with this 2002 Monte Carlo, which drove like a dream and still does. It's not the hottest car, but it's sporty and gets through snow alright. I have the SS 3.8L. But...the first problem I had was that all the lights in the dash would flash randomly, like they do when you turn it on. I was told the instrument clusters on these go out a lot, and that's what I need to get. 15,000 miles later, it still hasn't gone completely out, which I am waiting for before replacing it. However, the blinkers also work only when they want to. And today, very sadly, on October 2nd in South Dakota, the heated seat on the driver's side stopped working. So...I guess if you want to buy a 2002 Monte Carlo, be extremely prepared for electrical problems. FYI: mine has 53,000 miles on it and already has these problems.

I bought a 2006 Monte Carlo in 2008 with 60,000 miles on it. 2 and a half years later and I have reached 99,000. I have not had any trouble out of my car. I truly love it. I get the oil changed every 3,000 miles like clock work. I will getting my first tune up and 100,000.

decent car

Ya know...I'm so disappointed with this car. I bought this car in 2005 with only 10,000 miles on it. I bought it because I was tired of repairing my old cheap cars. Buying a car that only had 10,000 miles on it which is nearly new right?, I thought with good care I should be good for awhile. I currently just hit 50,000 miles, still low miles right? Here are the troubles I have at this point. Today the plenum intake was replaced, steering clunking from the intermidate shaft I guess, turn signals work when they want too, headlights flicker, wipers park in a upright position...I think that might be it. I'm really bummed out because I was hoping for a long lasting, trouble free chevy but I guess they just don't make them to good any more. I have the Dale Earnhardt edition to which had a sticker price just shy of $30,000. After this I guess I'm back to $4-5,000 cars!!

I have driven my car from Dallas to Houston and back...and from new Orleans to Houston and back on several ocassions. When I bought the vehicle I had 27,000 miles on it, I now have over 90, 000 miles on it and the only thing i had to replace was a transmission fluid hose or something similar. This car is awesome. 2006 LT

i have a 06 monte ltz with the 3.9 V6 it runs good and has some good power. my only problem with the car is in the rain it struggles to get traction when you step on it

Bought this '01 Monte Carlo LS 3.4L V6 in mid-Oct 2008 with 64,000 miles on it. Car ran great when I purchased it, but shortly after I decided to do some tuneup work on the car is when the problems started happening... I first changed the oil and oil filter, air filter and had no problems there. Then I decided to change the belts and hoses and flush the cooling system...that's where the first major issue happened. After flushing the cooling system, I didn't change the thermostat because it seemed to be working ok but after flushing it about 1,000 miles later, my temperature gauge stop working. I then decided to change the thermostat and the coolant temperature sensor since they were next to each other. Pretty crazy just to replace one if I wasn't sure of the problem. Well, that took care of that problem...until the heater & a/c stopped working when it was below freezing!!! Checked fuses and relays and it wasn't that...wasn't the motor either...ended up being the blower motor resistor....another stupid part burnt up!! After that I noticed that my car was running lean after pulling the plugs out to check them. Wasn't sure what was causing it but later but figured out that it might've been the whole cooling system thing that caused it....which somehow screwed up the catalytic converter which needed to be replaced too because somehow one day, the car was unable to drive because it was loud and horrible sounding!! After changing the converter, it took care of that, all worked great until the coolant level sensor went out. Still haven't replaced it...not a big deal to me. Car isn't leaking coolant and it's full. Changed the spark plugs and wires and all of that is fine...but now about 10,000 miles later, I'm having an issue with the security light on my dash flickering and the door locks locking and unlocking on their own and the headlights and interior lights flickering. It's becoming a pain right now! From what I hear this is another common occurence on these cars... Heard the problem is the BCM aka Body Control Module. Haven't replaced it yet but will soon! Good thing I know how to work on cars otherwise all of this would've costed me a fortune at a garage! Other issue that I have with the vehicle is the clunking and rattling sound in the steering column/shaft...It's coming from the intermediate shaft...again, another common issue with most GM cars.. Haven't replaced it yet or greased the shaft yet. You can still drive around the way it is until it just gets to you too much to the point you need to replace it. One last thing that I'll need to replace sometime in the next 25,000-50,000 will be the gaskets on the intake and possible head gasket... Again, another common issue on most GM vehicles from 2000-2005..they used these really crappy gaskets that are paper thin and don't last long! Beyond all of that that I have mentioned... I guess you could say its a good car..lol This is the first car that I've dropped this much money in in less than 25,000 miles worth of ownership... I sure do miss my old Buick!!

I bought my 2006 Monte new, I have less than 23,000 miles on it. Since I bought it, it has been in the local dealership garage 3 times for the transmission slippage or harsh shifting, of course they can't seem to find anything wrong ! Just recently it was towed to the chevy garage for the blowing of a power steering line.I take good care of my chevy but I'm becoming a little worried about tranny and power steering