[Frank T]

I was on the phone with an older buddy tonight and we were discussing he finally got rid of his GMC Denali. He’s had nothing but issues with that truck since day one. Crank sensor, electrical issues with speedo, ABS issues, Fuel pump, broken door handles, failed transmission and brakes, every 15K, the truck had around 130K on it. We got talking about the worst and best of our fleets over the years, Here are my two, whats yours?

Best: Actually had a few good ones (2006 Honda Pilot, 2005 Prius, 1982 Chevy C10) but my 1965 Lemans was the best, it was my first car. Bought it with 30K miles on it in 1984 (Jr year of High School) and it was my daily driver until 1997. It only let me down once blowing the heater core on the way to work one morning. I Finally sold it in 2001 after not driving it for about 3 years. It was killing me to watch it rust away in my yard. When I decided to let it go, I Threw a battery in it and it started right up, drove it around the block a few times and put it up for sale. A local guy bought it and used it for parts for his 64 & 65. My wife cried when he picked it up. I didn’t. I knew it was going live on as parts for other cool Pontiacs.

Worst: had a few bad ones too (1972 Chevelle, 1995 Saturn, 1976 caprice wagon) but the one that broke me from GM products for good was a 1998 Chevy Venture van. We bought it new and the first 70K miles on this van was quite good, other than a leak in the map light above the dash that the dealer couldn’t “find” and eventually stopped acknowledging as an issue. Between 70 – 105K it was a nightmare, we replaced the intake gaskets, then intake and head gaskets, then the whole motor (bought replacement right from GM w/30K mi warranty), then the transmission had to be replaced, then the intake gaskets went again on the replacement motor that had the ‘improved intake gasket design’ at 33K. GM said, sorry, out of warranty. I was furious, called GM opened a second case on this SH*T V6, but they did nothing. I finally gave up and traded it in on an ’06 Honda Pilot. I canceled my GM Mastercard (anyone remember those? Credit points toward a new GM vehicle) Wrote a scathing letter to GM listing ~34 GM vehicles Me, my Dad or grandfather bought in our lifetimes. We were GM to the core. Promised them I would never buy another new GM product if they didn’t make this right. Got no response. I kept my promise adding a NEW: Honda Pilot, Toyota Tundra, Subaru Outback, Honda Insight, Honda Accord… finally another NEW Honda Pilot last year. All have been great. I have not been on a GM lot since the Venture.