1993 GMC Safari XT from North America - Comments

1st day of ownership - doors would not open (electric locks malfunction).

2nd day of ownership - car would not go into gear (the interlock switch has a bad design and this is a problem on every hot day to this day).

3rd day of ownership - dealer will replace the flywheel.

4th day of ownership - car at the dealer waiting for parts.

5th day of ownership - dealer replaced two front tires to resolve front end vibration (this problem remains to this day).

6th day of ownership - the car would not start (I am out of town) had to be towed in to a GM dealer. GM provides a rental car.

7th day of ownership - car at the dealer waiting for parts.

8th day of ownership - car at the dealer waiting for parts.

9th day of ownership - transmission blows out most of the transmission fluid car had to be towed in.

10th day of ownership - car at the dealer having the transmission serviced.

And, this was just the beginning!

Since than, I have had to replace several tires and two rims in an attempt to fix the vibration, which by the way, was never fixed to this day, I guess this car was design to shake.

In the third year of ownership all the front end components had to be replaced and I am told now that they are gone once again.

For some strange reason this car needs a new muffler every two years. The local muffler shop is just loving me since they warranty the muffler, but the labor and the rest of the components are not covered by their warranty.

The transmission was rebuilt in the forth year and the transmission fluid lines to the heat exchanger had to be replaced in the second and forth year.

The coolant lines to the rear heater had to be replaced in the forth year of ownership.

Rear shock absorbers do not seem to last more than a two years on this car, I wonder if it is those plastic rear springs.

The air-condition went after four years.

Various sensors and sending units all went, one at a time, after three years. The temperature gauge is no longer working, although the sensor is fine. The switch for the rear heater broke after three years. It is funny how all of this just lasted past the original warranty.

The trim and finish only lasted about three years, after that everything is cracking, curling up and generally looking really bad, and why should I be surprised, they still use vinyl covered foam on this car's doors (1940s technology).

The paint is de-laminating in many places and it is completely gone where the tail pipe hits the fender on large bumps. This car has more rust in more places that I actually feel unsafe driving it in fear of it falling apart as I drive down the highway.

Overall, I have spent more than half of the original cost of the car, on repairs. And, not routine maintenance type of repairs, but just plain lousy quality of parts and bad design kind of stuff. Can you imagine my frustration when you have to spend first 10 days of owning a new car at the dealership? They were not even sympathetic.

Would I buy another GM product? Not in this life time. They have great commercials, but they do not have a product to back them up.

I put 389,000 km on my Chrysler Mini Van and not a screw fell out of it. I put over 430,000 km on my full size Ford van with similar positive experience. I got a brand new Honda from my Honda dealer after 4000 km, because it had bad looking paint that would require repainting and I did not want a repainted new car, now that's positive car experience. I will buy another Honda any day.

You may have gotten a bad van, but that doesn't mean all of them are the same or that all GM products suck. Our van is going on 300,000 miles one the same engine and we haven't spent nearly as much as you say you spent on yours. We haven't gotten our money's worth out of it and now it's time to let it rest, but it's done it's job and has never let us down.

I find your article very, very hard to believe. I currently own 2 Astro Vans. A 1992 Rs With 173,000 miles on it, and a 1999 with 57000 on it. The first Astro I purchased was in 1987, it currently has 318000 miles on it and I gave it to my brother with 260000 on it. I have never put anything more than routine maintenace parts (brakes tune ups tires fuel pumps etc. I wouldn't trade my 1992 for a brand new Caravan anyday!

First of all, Caravans and anything associated with Chrysler are JUNK!! Stay away from them!! They have too many engine and transmission problems. I would rather hang out with my worst enemy than to be in one of these products!!

Whoever wrote this review either did not maintain his/her van properly or he/she is a Chrysler nut and hates GM products and may have written a false review. I don't believe that GM would make a bad product on purpose.

I have to agree with the the guy who wrote this lemon van as I have encountered numerous problems with my 1993 Van. I replaced both the brake and cruise control switches on the brake pedal assembly as they had deteriorated and are plastic pieces of junk made in Mexico. The rear doors would not open one day I had to go in from the back and manually open it so I could repair the problem which turned out to be poor grounding to the solenoid. If it is a cold day say a frosty day I don't dare open the rear doors as they won't stay shut until the doors warm up. I may have to spend $600.00 on a new fuel injector system because the pressure regulator in this system has a common failure and leaks very badly and you cannot just change the regulator you have to buy the whole system. It looks like the transmission was replaced before I bought this Van. And this Van only has 141,000 KM on it! A lemon yes in deed.

I owned a HONDA before and that car lasted 7 years before I had to put a dime into it like a muffler system it had over 240,000 KM on the original clutch and I owned this car from new. So I have to agree cars from Japan have higher quality than North American. I can't wait to pay off this loan and trade up to HONDA. After all I want my hard earned dollars to go a long way. The old saying is true you get what you pay for.

Disgruntled 1993 GMC Safari XT Owner.

Hondas are not all what these fanatics make them out to be I see lots of them on the side of the road... broken down.

I have a 1990 Olds Cutlass Supreme International when I bought it it had 70,000 and it now has 170,000 miles on the original motor and I have never done any major repairs to the car, and I have NEVER been stranded in the car. GM cars are not junk They are quality cars and some people can get bad ones,but that doesn't make GM as a whole builders of junk. I have seen many Hondas that were lemons also. As far as the guy who said the part was made in mexico... look at any car... they all have parts made in foreign countries because they can get the parts made for nothing there. This is the cause of the Untied Auto Worker Unions shops...jacking up the wages so that the companies have no choice, but to farm out part work to 3rd world countries. I personally would never buy a Honda. Just my humble opinion.

I agree that with this person's report about this vehicle. I too have had many many problems with my 1994 AWD Safari. A very common problem is the under-design of the front suspension. I had the drivers side torsion bar snap while driving with my family in the vehicle. The van had less than 100K miles on it at the time. I posted a complaint on the web site of the NHTSB and received a flood of emails from other owners with exactly the same problem. Most other problems I have experienced seem to be common among other owners. I would be very hesitant to buy another one.

The guy who has the lemon Safari must have gotten one of the very few bad ones. I currently drive a 1994 GMC Safari and I would not trade it for a 2005 Dodge Caravan in a million years. My Safari has almost 200,000 km on it and the original motor is still 99 percent according to my licensed mechanic. My dad has a 1997 Plymouth Voyager (same as the Dodge Caravan) with 90,000 km on it and he's on his THIRD engine.

I had a Caravan and traded it for a 2000 GMC Safari Van. I've had more luck with the transmission in the Safari and the engine is stronger. Even when I'm fully loaded the Safari gets up like it's empty. However, the power locks were fixed at about 30,000 miles and broke again by 50,000 miles. And, the power windows are rather unreliable (I'm waiting for the driver's side to totally stop working before I replace the motors on both sides). In, addition, I see I'm not the only one with cracking vinyl door arm rests, but this is still the toughest minivan out there and the only option for me.

Love my 1993 Safari.

I'm a contractor, and I was contemplating a truck, but bought the little van seeing it as a hauling tool box, keeping my tools safe from theft.

It has turned out to be the greatest little van anyone could hope for. It pulls 2 tons of building materials around on my dual axle trailers easily...

It hauls my other materials, supplies and tools around with ease...

It is very maneuverable in tight places, even with the trailer.

It has lost the safety switch for the start in park, and I have yet to replace it.

It has lost power window function in the passenger side after 148,000 miles.

The bolt in the driver's side upright needed replacement at 140,000 miles (I'm a big guy, to be fair)

And various other small inconveniences.

The motor and tranny is where this vehicle shines.

160,000 care free miles so far and not a hint of a problem to come.

I also have a 1997 Chevy 1500 4x4 and it has 300,000 miles on the original motor without ever having been disassembled. It's still going and the only part ever replaced on it was one of the two throttle body jets...

I can already see this van going in the same positive direction in my experience.

I agree completely. I had one of these vans for 12 years and it was the perfect sized vehicle for almost all jobs. Unfortunately I had to trade it in for a pickup, but I will only have good memories of that van. Even the original AC lasted the whole 180,000 miles. The truck (a 95 K1500 W/T) has been great so far, but is far less maneuverable than the little van was. It's a shame they will stop making them at the end of '05, since no one else markets a van like the Astro/Safari. It really filled a niche that no other vehicle did. Good thing they seem to last forever... it isn't hard to find a good used one around.

I own a Safari AWD 4.3l. It has 356000 km. Works like new (or better then new, no kidding).Excelent and trouble free drive train. Body stayed fair except all the doors sag. GM have got to make longer lasting interiors. They look nice...

All around good van and not a gas pig. Awd is very nice, but adds to the already front heavy 2WD.

I am going to trade up to a 98 AWD fully loaded with leather as soon as I find a suitable one.