Ok, right now I have my Maxima but this spring I want to sell it and buy a Z/28 or Trans Am. My mom is b*tchin about how they are unreliable cars, yet has no experience or knows no one with experience just Consumer Reports. I want to convince her by spring that they ARE reliable as long as they are taken car of. She thinks I'll drive it like a maniac which is false, I'd respect a car with power. I'll be 20 in August, I have a clean driving record, what do you clean drivers my age pay for insurance? What have been some minor problems with these cars, how easy is it to fix. I've had my heart set on an F Body from day 1, and this spring I really want one. Help convince my mom that an LT1 f body IS reliable. Also I don't know if this is the right forum so sorry if it isn't.

 

Ive got 155000 on my engine, heavily abused engine at that. Been raced, sprayed, top speed runs all the time.

You may also want to point out that the 93-02 f bodies had 4 stars in crash testing.

 

Ive had two fbodies. First car was a v6 only thing wrong was window motor broke and some fuses went out. I have a 94 z28, I recently purchased from a local guy here in pa. He was the only owner and he seems to have taken care of it. Theres 96,700 miles on it and he has the receipts for everything and it doesnt not seem to bad...except for the opti, thats a hassle. I wish I could be more helpful, Ive only had the car for a few months, so there hasnt been much time for anything major to happen.

 

the lt1 fbody is fairly reliable, it all comes down to proper maintenace and DRIVING HABITS.
weak parts on the LT1 fbody-optispark,4l60e (a4 tranny)

i pay $950 every 6 month through GEICO for my 96Z28 convertible. im 22 and married. we both have clean driving records.

jesse

 

....got my '94 Firebird when it had 29,000 miles on it {from the original owner, who took excellent care of it}. It now has 109,000 on it {3 1/2 years later}. I don't take good of care of it and the only problem I've had is the starter went out 1 time. Before this I had an '84 Camaro and again I didn't take good care of it and still no problems {for 50,000 miles} until I put a nitrous kit on it! At least no problems with the 125 jets, no problems with the 150 jets, ah but the 175 jets were a problem. Anyway, tell your Mom that you only live once. And you want to enjoy your younger years as much as possible. Having a hobby such as cars will help keep you away from 'things' that aren't good for you! Bill....

 

as much as i can complain about the car its never let me down...

u remember ur maxima is taxed much more driving to just go a normal speed...

meaning it will tire much quicker i remember my truck i counted to 12 before i got above 60 mph... and every on-ramp u better belive i was WOT just to get to running speed before i gotta merge... to do the same thing in my firebird i wont go over 2500 rpms instead of redlining every where i go.

because of this power these engines are capable of around 300k before they die... granted they will slow down and tire

but my insurance (18 years old clean insurance) is 1800 a premium. for full insurance $250-500k and $500 deductable
if i remove the collision (after i pay it off) it'll be 350 for 6 months...

a week or so ago my starter died... $100's later i was driving home free

 

i have a 96 z28, the only probs you will definintely run into are the optispark(distributor) will go out eventually. and i second the A4 tranny...they were a bit weak. get a manual if you can. o ther than that, with regular maintenance you will not have probs.

 

I run the car often as God intended. Today @ 110 MPH it was smooth and ran hard. Original and proud owner of a 1995 1LE Z28!

 

what makes the a4 weak? I'm currently looking for an M6, but an A4 may be in the future for me.. if the A4 is that much of a liability I'll just hold out for the M6, however aside from abuse I don't see how the A4 could be that weak.

 

If you live in the middle of the country or some place where you don't have much traffic get an m6. A lot of people probably love their m6 but traffic sucks my *** and I would never want to be in bumper to bumper with a stick. a4 works fine for me. I said the same thing when i got my car. I still kind of drive it a little retardedly but compared to how I drove my 79 k5 blazer, it's a huge improvement. Like the earlier post said, WOT to get up to freeway speed. I did WOT everywhere pretty much. This thing doesn't need to but it's still fun too. But it's also fun to just cruise in. Reliability shouldn't be a probllem. My parents actually didn't buy my brother a Camaro because of the "supposed" reliability issues. I'm just figuring that since I'm the younger child I get my way? because they bought me the Camaro for my 19th birthday. He wanted one too. Instead he got an Integra. And it's had it's fair share of problems too. Besides, who cares about the reliability of the car? Chances are if you're 20 and hopefully in college, by the time you're out and through with the car, you can buy a Corvette with your high paying job. It's just a temporary car, and better than a Maxima. Get a new Maxima instead. I wouldn't mind one of those myself. Modern car comfort with decent performance.

 

one thing that is weak is the 3-4 clutch pack

FWIW my stock A4 77k miles held 356rwhp/349rwhp for less than 10 seconds i lost 3rd and 4th gear. 1st and 2nd was ok though.

even in stock form, if you run it hard it wont last......

jesse

 

Personally, mine has proven to be VERY reliable. It has 85k on it and runs like a raped ape with no problems.

 

108,000 miles, one Opti, no other problems. $480 dollars a year, full coverage (i'm 35 and married with children).

 

These things tend to average out.

The fact is that if you buy pretty much any car and take care of it properly, it'll do well for you for a LONG time.

Your gas mileage will go way down of course, if you're coming from a japanese econocar.

I also feel that your mother's worry that you will kill yourself in a powerful car like that is not without merit. It's not your fault. Young guys are just like that. Lord knows I was, and I expect that someday my son will be just as bad.
Plus of course, you kids today don't know how to "do" street racing. Nothing personal, every generation has it's flaws.
The best defense against that is to develop a snobbish attitude about racing only on the track, because street racing if for those Fast & Dumbass types and you're simply above that.

The bottom line is that if you buy a car in good condition and you MAINTAIN it in good condition, an LT1 car, whether it's an F or B body, will be as reliable as the sun rising in the morning.
You can point out to your Mom that the same basic powertrain is used in Police cars and Buick Roadmasters.

BTW, if your Mom wont let you get an LT-1 F-body (and frankly, I have reservations about a 20 year old having a car THAT fast without having already owned a fast car under someone's close supervision), then there is another alternative.

You could ask you mom about getting an Impala SS.

You can point out that it's a VERY safe full sized car, with a full frame, air bags and anti-lock brakes. You can also mention that it has much less horsepower than the F-bdy LT-1.

I would leave out the part about how easy it is to turn either engine into a 500hp monster.

 

depends on the car you get. I had a white 96 T/A with 78000 very hard miles on it (there was lots of little stuff wrong when I got it). When I finally got rid of the car it needed a new cat on the drivers side, new rear end, new front wheel bearing...the A4 tranny was fine though

Right now I have a 95 T/A M6 with 62000 miles...so far the only things that have gone wrong with this car are the door lock switch and a window motor (replaced by dealer). I take care of it, but I still run it hard, and it hasn't hiccupped yet (other than the 1-2 shift grinds if its really cold outside, but thats my fault - my arm is faster than my leg).

Heres a thought, if you have a Carmax in your area buy your car from them. The prices are not the best in the world by any means, but they CAN get you financed, they offer a 30 day unlimited warranty so if anything at all breaks in 30 days they replace it, and I got an additional 2 year warranty on my car (which I have yet to cash in on)...so if your that worried about reliability, get the warranty!