1999 GMC Jimmy SLS review from North America

Alternator died at 101,000 miles.

Driver's seat has large hole in it.

Hinges on both doors sagging badly, driver's side seems almost to the point of falling off - not to mention nearly impossible to shut.

Oil leaking from valve covers, etc, etc.

4 Wheel drive system broken; front axle does not engage, transfer case control module persistently confused about encoder motor's position, resulting in 4x4 low range lock-in.

A/C motor constantly switches on and off every few seconds, even when A/C is not on at the control panel.

Strange grinding/vibration coming from the front left wheel.

Suspension too soft and floaty.

Overly sensitive steering.

The subject GMC Jimmy is not owned by me personally, my sister-in-law actually owns it. That being said, I do drive it from time-to-time and recent experiences have driven me to warn others about this poor quality vehicle.

This vehicle has just over 100k miles and is starting to fall apart!

It left me stuck in 4x4 low-range, requiring me to drive home at ~35 mph, then I had to pull the transfer case "encoder" motor to manually switch it back.

The front doors are nearly impossible to shut correctly with the hinges failing.

The ride is comfortable and the seats are also fairly comfortable.

However, the suspension is actually too soft and floaty, making the truck difficult to keep going straight.

The steering is short on positive feedback and a little too sensitive.

This vehicle does not provide a confident-feeling driving experience. Though not terribly unconfident-feeling, it could be much better.

There are many nice luxury features in the Jimmy SLS, but the poor quality and engineering put into it make many of those features prone to break.

My "well-used" Honda CR-V has only about 30k miles less than the Jimmy and has had no problems.

...now tell me again why the American auto industry is struggling to stay afloat ;-)