1997 Chevrolet Monte Carlo review from North America

At 120,000 Km I had to replace a leaking intake manifold gasket for $800.

It was leaking again at 210000 Km, but unfortunately I assumed I could save the $800 and just top up the oil as needed, not aware that the oil and coolant was mixing. This lead to my heater core bursting, radiator hoses collapsing and water pump failure, and $800 became $2800. I got this fixed at cheap garage, which was a mistake.

When this happens, the proper procedure is to machine the cylinder heads in case they are warped, they skipped this and charged me $2800 for the repair. A week later the engine lost power and overheated. I took it back and found the cylinder heads had cracked. They offered to do the repair at 15%, but I took it to my cousin who owned a cylinder head machine shop and paid him the $2000 instead.

Except for this incident, which I admit was my fault due to neglect, the car has been a model of reliability.

The cars handling is amazing, even with 260000km on the original struts and the engine still has decent power, although I am sensing it is starting to tire. I figure it is good for at least another 120000km.

The cars acceleration from 0-highway speed is very peppy, and I have surprised a lot of people with its speed. Once at high way speeds though, the passing power is not as good. All the power in this engine is in the lower RPM range. That is fine though, as it gets you up the the speed limit quickly and makes you work for a speeding ticket beyond that. I think all cars should be like that.

Before I got married, I loved driving this car along winding roads at high speeds. It feels like it is on rails, if you have the right tires.

The brakes need to be updated. The car comes standard with metallic pads which start squealing 3000km after a brake job. Get a good set of Wagner or Raybestos organic pads and it will make all the difference in the world. Don't cheap up on the pads.