Hey guys about to purchase a third generation Camaro and I was wondering what to expect. I am planning on getting one with under 60000 miles on it......how is the reliablity on these cars? Any info would be appreciated.....hope this is the appropriate forum for this...kind of a general question so it may not be. Thanks alot,
Barry

 

if you're buying a northern car, check for rot on the floorpans. also, check that there are no drivetrain problems (since these cars are old).

the reliability is good if you take care of the car. the were well made, but they're just getting old, so parts will break.

 

The reliability of these cars depend on the previous owners, just like all other cars. Luckily, parts are not scarce and there is plenty of help if you do run into problems.

This is what I would look for: check under the car and the body for rust, make sure the hood, doors, and rear hatch open and close correctly, make sure there isn't any loose wires in the engine compartment or passenger compartment, if the car has T-tops make sure they don't leak, if the car's a Firebird make sure the headlights pop up and down, if the cars a convertible make sure the top goes up and down correctly, check to make sure the check engine light isn't on, and make sure to get the VIN number down and decode it on the main page of Thirdgen.org (this is to make sure the seller is telling the truth about the year and type of engine it has). Good luck.

 

ALSO!! look under the dash and check the whiring and make sure no one has screwed with the wiring!

 

Aside from checking for the maintenance that was/was not done, also choose your model correctly.

Most of us on here have had more than 1 thirdgen. In my case, I bought a '92 RS, thinking it was going to be a muscle car. I was sadly mistaken with the 305 V8 that was in it. I didn't realize what the car's potential was.

My recommendation is to review what models had what motor/tranny and options that you want. If you're looking for a good, decently powered Camaro, you might just need an RS. If you want the best performance from a stock 3rdgen, look for an IROC or Z28. Again, ask yourself what you're going to want out of this car in the longrun. If you are looking for a drag car, you might just consider a V6 base model and then you can modify it as you see fit.

Overall, don't make the mistake I did... meaning, don't buy the RS thinking its a muscle car, then sell it because its not fast enough and then have to find another car 2 months later.

 

Me personally, if I were to start over, these would be my two stipulations. Hard top, and rustfree straight body. And Iroc, or 91-92 would be a plus, but as long as those things are there it's good enough base for me. The suspension parts, and drivetrain I'd want to upgrade anyways so the Iroc package wouldn't be a huge deal there, and I'd want a motor swap so a good bodied v6 wouldn't be out of the question.

It just depends on what you want to do with it. And honestly, none of the thirdgens are too terribly fast imo. The thirdgen is a great bodied, great handling car in it stock form, with okay power in some of the higher packages, but personally any thirdgen I'd ever get I'd probably rebuild/swap a motor in it.

 

Reliability - If you get one with a V8, and its been kept in a decent state of tune and has had its oil changes on time, then you will have whats probably the most reliable and bulletproof engines on the planet; the small block Chevy

 

At the age that these cars are at, looking for one to be reliable is really hit or miss... these things are at newest 12, almost 13, years old... reliability is pretty much luck, unless you personally know the previous owner and the maintenance schedule.

 

In addition to the other points, check for alignment of hood/tailgate/doors...make sure they're centered and aligned properly..if not something may be afoot, like paint work, crashed, etc...run your hand under the doors to see if there's any rust that you cant see yet, check the strut tower braces to make sure they're not rotted around them, check oil/tranny levels. Check air filters to see if maintainence has been done. Check tires for irregular wear hinting at a misalignment, etc. Check the brakes on a test drive to see if it pulls hinting at a brake problem. Drive with the radio off listening for knocks when shifting, whirring, etc etc.

 

basically what everyone else mentioned with teh addition of checking for a spare tire and jack, teh previous owner had a amp hidden in the well that he took off foudn the tire at a scrapyard, but ever damn jack has been missing out of every car i have seen for the last 9 months.

 

Best advice I've ever heard: open the oil cap and look inside. Cruddy and black? Move on...

 

Get an IROC-Z, get a 90 IROC-Z with the 350 auto t.p.i. OR the 305 5 speed and you won't be disappointed.

as for what to look out for look for any replaced fenders or doors "different color visible under the engine bay from a chip etc" look for rust on the underside of the car, look at the tranny and oil pan for seepage and signs of leaks, same goes for the rear end.

you can also throw the codes to see if it's thrown any latley.

 

the most important items to look at is the body..everything else can be replaced and upgraded with time but a bad rusty twisted body is foreven on these cars. get a nice iroc if you can find but all are good investments and fun the rs looks nice and the base model is a good daily driver nothing i would put alot of money into. find the best options for the money you have to spend.

i got my z28 with a solid body just some dents and such needed mechanical work and the restoration began from there.

Good Luck jeff

 

I think a real 60,000 miles car will be hard to find and you selection to chose from will be low.

You may find cars that say 60,000 on the clock but I would do detail research on it first.

Though the V6 cars do 200,000 miles easy and still look good. so a high mile body and a low mile engine may be your best bet.

 

also, when you start it, and if it blows a puff of smoke...I wouldn't get to alarmed....most every thirdgen I've come in contact with smokes a bit when it's started. I friend of mine had only 50,000 miles on his L98 and it smoked on start up. Also check for any stress cracks where the sail panel and top of the car meets. These cars are known to crack right along that area do to the design of having no frame. I know I'm in need of a set of subframe connectors because I have a small stress crack...but don't worry...the car won't fall in half or anything

 

gotta disagree with that 60k comment....my rs 3 yrs ago had 46 on the clock, got it for 6500, just bought my z in may with 62k on it, just found an 86 iroc with 49k on it...the iroc needs some love but it aint bad..typical crap of headliner saggin and a lil body rust ...but if you hunt around enough, they're out there...and i fergot to mention..i live in buffalo ny, so if you're in a nice, sunny southern or western location, it'll prolly be even easier to find one

 

i might also add i just got my 86 iroc-z with 63,ooo miles on it and every thing was in perfect shape other then age from sitting untill i just resently hit a deer at 95 but it will soo be fixed and ready to go for next season.

 

Did you check to see if that was original miles???

Without a background check you never know. Though you can find low mile cars at times. I have found several low miles cars.

My 80 Buick wagon only has 69,000
My 82 Yamaha Virago still has less then 7000 miles
My 86 Firebird has 212,000 miles

I check to make sure all 3 were true mileage.


There was just a thing on nightline I think about curb sellers. Over half of all car adds that look to be private sellers are curb sellers that are up to the same old dirty tricks. Especially rolling mils back. One was a nice 4th gen with 40,000 some miles that was garage kept and never wrecked. Looked nice too. But was actually in a bad wreck with well over 100,000 miles on it.

 

I lucked out and found a beautiful 89 Iroc 350TPI with 130,000 on the clock 100% stock. It was practically mint, well taken care of highway mile car. Interior was nice, body was great with newer repaint, and engine was clean. No rust, it was a florida car that was brought up here in PA to sell. 5grand for it. Non G92 car though, but everything was great except the stereo which didnt work good to good. But i replaced that with a cd player so no big deal.

it ran good, AC worked, and I have put about 15K on it so far. Blew the tranny beginning of August this year. I was running it hard occassionaly and that day it fryed 3-4 clutches so no 3-4 gears. That will happen with a 140K miles on a tranny. Other than old suspension that needed replaced, and small oil leak from intake manifold, I have had no problems. Just keep up on the maintainance.


Oh, and do a vehicle history report on mileage cuz on some cars like mine, the odometer only displays 10,000's so on mine it reads 45,000 miles when it actually has 145,000 miles.

 

This site is all over cable tv. wedeal.biz, they sell new cars well below MSRP

They got two car in your mileage range.


http://wedeal.biz/view_vehicle.php?StockNumber=N13482

1999 CHEVROLET CAMARO [Vert]
Price: $9,900.00
Miles: 55,029
Stock: N13482
Color: BLUE
VIN: 2G1FP32K4X2133710

Leather Interior
Anti-lock Brakes
Power Locks
Power Windows
Power Seats
Power Steering
Tilt Wheel
CD Player
Air Conditioning
Cruise Control
Keyless Entry


http://wedeal.biz/view_vehicle.php?StockNumber=N13490

2001 CHEVROLET CAMARO
Price: $11,900.00
Miles: 49,907
Stock: N13490
Color: PEWTER
VIN: 2G1FP22K812108214

Leather Interior
Anti-lock Brakes
Power Locks
Power Windows
Power Steering
Tilt Wheel
CD Player
Air Conditioning
Cruise Control
Keyless Entry

 

Those arent thirdgens.. but Ive bought two thirdgens in the past few years with under 40k, and both from the original owner with mileage documentation and both cost under 6k ... There out there but just expect to spend a good bit of time looking for one and you might have to travel if your looking for a specific car, I had to drive to OH for one

 

check the whell wells and floor pans for rust. most important aspect I think. It's a lot easier to repair something mechanical than it is to do a heap load of body work on a unibody car.

 

Make sure when you go to test it the engine is cold and the car has not been warmed up to hide any problems. My car the first day i had it threw a SES code But it would only do it when the engine was cold if you drove it for 20 mins it would turn off.