2005 GMC Canyon Reviews

Heat at 25,000, which was fixed by dealer.

Engine has to be replaced at 46,000 miles.

Brake ABS light and check engine light on/off constantly.

This truck has been nothing but trouble from about 20,000 miles on. Was warned about buying GMC, but I knew better and purchased one anyway.

The most recent episode was a trip to service department because truck was stalling when at idle. Have been told that I need a new motor. At 46,000 miles? When I asked how could that be, I was told due to excessive wear. Needless to say I am not replacing motor, going to pick up car and donate it to charity to end this nightmare. Service people sucked, could tell they were lying and comfortable with it. Will never purchase a car from G M C again.

Do yourself a favor, and do not buy this truck.

Air conditioning continues to make a high pitched whistling noise periodically.

Loud rattle in the exhaust at 2100 rpms that has not been identified yet. Thought it was the heat shield, and so did the dealer, so they replaced it, but it still continues. Luckily, even though I purchased it used, it was GM Certified and it came with a 1 year/12,000 mile bumper to bumper, so that was no cost.

Power windows have come out of their grooves on certain occasions.

Weather seal on back driver side window had to be replaced after falling into the door when rolled down.

Speedometer reads about 7 mph faster than actual driving speed. When I first had it on the interstate at 70 mph, I thought everyone else was just driving really fast until I realized this was the problem.

Overall it is a reliable truck. I has the 5 cylinder, but in my opinion it doesn't posses as much power as I would like.

The crew cab offers adequate size for a smaller truck, but during cold weather it has a lot of noise.

No problems

A well built and well engineered mid-sized truck. With the automatic and the 3.5 engine it gets a consistent 26 mpg and has all the power for most people.

My only complaint is no outside passenger side door lock. Other than that, no complaints!

It was recalled for the taillights not lighting up when you press the brake, and I was playing with the keyless entry too much and messed up the lock. Those were both covered by the factory warranty.

The brake lights were still working, I just took it in to fix the keyless entry, and was never charged for any of it.

It's great I have a manual transmission and can burn rubber in 1, 2, and 3 gear. I haven't tried 4 or 5 gear.

My 375 pound friend go to lunch in it almost every Monday, and he has no complaints about feeling tight in it.

I just replaced the tires for the first time.

I change the oil myself, and have had no issues with the transmission or the engine or anything else for that matter.

It's fast enough for me.

The first week I hauled a 5*5*10 trailer loaded to the max 650 miles with no problems, and have driven the truck with a loaded bed from NY to Nebraska getting 26.97 mpg.

Within the first 1000 miles, this vehicle was noted to have a water leak on the passenger side of the vehicle, with water coming in under the dash. On bad rain days, as much as 1 - 1 1/2 gallon removed from floor pan. It took the dealer over a 1 1/2 years to find the leak and was tracked down to an improperly leaded roof seam over the passenger head above the windshield.

This water leak shorted out the electrical system several times, causing the Onstar system to be replaced x3, and loss of minutes due to the phone calling numbers repeatedly stored in the memory. I had to pull the wire connection on the back of the mirror and fuse several times to shut the system down.

This leakage also damaged the computer, and caused corrosion of the wire connections that have caused problems with the fan to the heating/cooling system, and failure of the keyless entry system.

Currently 01/09/09, I have additional electrical problems that have caused the fan, lights, and other electrical system to stay on after the vehicle is shut off, causing the battery to be dead in the morning. I am currently at the dealer, and after 3 hours the problem was tracked down to wire shorting in a wire bundle under the drivers side dash. The wires are unprotected and rub on a brake cylinder part in the firewall, causing a potential fire hazard. The wires in this bundle are melted together, and it's about a $600.00 fix that will not be covered by the factory. Even though, any reasonable person would not expect this to happen, and it's clearly a manufacturer's defect in equipment. Another works to expected reasonable wear.

I have also had a manifold crack at 40K, which cost me $1,000.00 to have repaired.

Now I have been informed by the dealer that GM is no longer going to make the Canyon - and it is probably for good reason.

This was the first GMC that I have ever purchased, and more than likely the last one. I originally purchased the vehicle because I wanted a high quality/value vehicle, and planned to keep the vehicle for some time; now I am just looking for a way to unload the thing.

One other thing.. 98% of my driving of this vehicle is express way. I have never had more that 15mpg with this vehicle, and that is at 70mph at over 104K.

Due to the wheel base and the wide tires on the vehicle, it tends to wander on roads with a lot of surface groves.

The vehicle is under powered with a 5 cyl, and shifts in and out of gears under load and on hills at highway speeds.

Safety Issue: Also, it should be noted that you should not use the cruse control in the Canyon on wet, snow covered roads, or going up hills, or on bridge overpass (low traction condition). If you lose speed the cruise will drop a gear and break traction with the back tire, causing you to spin out of control. This is almost impossible to recover from at expressway speed, and will cause an accident.

I have talked with several people who drive emergency vehicles, and this cruise control problem with the Canyon is a real danger. I was also informed that tires on the Canyon should be change before normal to prevent high speed traction loss with cruise control.