1996 GMC Jimmy SLT review from North America

The car was returned to the manufacturer because it didn't conform to warranty. The right front wheel leaked, and was corrected by regrinding, and by tire and valve-stem replacement, to no avail. Still drops to about 13 pounds in about 10,000 miles of driving. The tachometer shorted, as is apparently common in GM vehicles, and bounced around like crazy. Only replacing the entire cluster would cure the problem, I was told. My O2 sensors went after all of a week owning the car.

Worst of all was at about 75,000 miles, the entire rear differential assembly turned to garbage. Removing the plate saw several cups of dust and particulate matter come tinkling out of the case. The differential, the axles, the transfer case (remotely activated, so located next to the differential), all had to be replaced at TREMENDOUS expense.

In the course of repairing the complicated automated system, the repair somehow caused damage to the transmission, as awful sounds started coming from it, but I was assured that the transmission sounds had always been there. Being a professional musician, I know my sounds, and this was simply not true.

Mechanically, this car has been difficult since day one.

Perhaps the most compounding factor aside from the mechanical difficulties of the vehicle has been the dealership. Upon having a GMC specialist evaluate and appraise my vehicle for trade-in, we discovered that the ENTIRE vehicle had been repainted. Carfax revealed that I had been essentially cheated in a big way, and I went over this car with a fine-toothed comb before I purchased it. My local "certified GM dealer" is a scam artist after all.

That aside, purely focusing on the Jimmy, my SLT was the top-of-the-line for GMC SUV's in its day. Comfort-wise, the vehicle is outstanding with fully-articulating leather buckets and a very simple, easy-to-use set of controls. Outstanding cargo-space, great towing power, and fairly decent handling were accompanied by a very nice 4WD system. The braking on this car was very substandard in my opinion.

This vehicle performed at a very low level in terms of reliability and mechanics. I would not buy a GMC again, I'm afraid.