1999 Chevrolet Venture Extended review from North America

I bought this van new straight from the dealer. It now has 143,000, due to a daughter in competitive gymnastics. Thank goodness that's over.

I have had the problems that most of you had, wipers, windows, water pump and rust on the rocker panels. I had bought a extended warranty so my costs were down.

Front brakes were replaced at about 75,000 with taxi cab heavy duty ones and they are still working great.

My ABS light is on. Brakes were adjusted in February, and found no problem. My garage said the could poke around for the codes, at their hourly rate, and gave me a print out of the steps. Considering the miles, we left it as is.

Current problem is my transmission skips right over second gear. This started 6 months ago (right before the holidays). Sometimes I hardly notice it. Then I get the wake up call and even a toot to move along. Would if I could.

The thing that gets me is my engine is great. Half the time I can't even hear it running. I have never had a problem with it. Too bad the car is falling apart around it.

It needs to keep running until inspection time in July, and need a new one. I have owned GM cars since 1988, but I think I'm going the foreign route.

Are there any problem free cars out there???