1999 Pontiac Montana Van review from North America

Tranmission went bad about 100 miles after purchasing the vehicle.

I traded in my 1999 Chevy Astro for a 1999 Pontiac Montana. The Montana I liked because it had dual sliding doors unlike the Astro (easy for piling the kids in and out). The Pontiac Montana was very nice looking and in perfect condition.

The Montana was located at a local dealer in my area and it looked like such a nice van I took it for a test drive. The van drove very nice and very smooth. It had great pick up and all the toys. I worked out a nice deal with trading in my Astro van. I told the dealer that I would like my mechanic to look at the Montana van before I closed the deal, the dealer agreed.

My mechanic said the Montana passed an inspection and everything looked good except the transmission fluid looked dirty. I asked the dealer if they would change the transmission fluid and change the filter, they agreed and I purchased the Montana.

As I drove the Montana home I heard a loud whistle noise coming from the engine area and the transmission started to make a clank clank noise. I turned around and took the Montana back to the dealer. I was worried because I did not buy the extended warranty and I was now the owner of the Montana. The dealer looked at the transmission in the shop and saw that the transmission was bad and needed to be rebuilt. The dealer was nice and gave me the option to give me back my Astro, fix the Montana transmission at there expense, or pick a different vehicle on the lot. I took back my reliable Astro (may only have one door, but it sure is reliable). I would not recommend the Montana to any person., after reading some of the other reviews people had it sounds like the Montana was built poorly and is not a reliable vehicle.