1987 Chevrolet S-10 Tahoe 2.8 V6
Summary:
Makes for a good beater and off-road toy
Faults:
Windows are designed stupidly, so when the rubber goes bad, the glass likes to fall into the door.
Pennsylvania winters have turned it into a rolling rust bucket.
Motor has a misfire and (very) occasionally will die.
Shifter has gotten sloppy, so it is tricky to get things like reverse lights to work.
Headliner is falling down.
Rusted brake lines.
General Comments:
I owned an 87 S-10 Blazer when I was fresh out of high school, and the S-10 Tahoe is its pickup truck twin brother... so clearly I liked the 87 S-10 enough to buy a second one after the Blazer was destroyed in an accident.
They're good vehicles. This truck takes me everywhere I want to go, and very rarely does it give me any grief, which isn't all that common for a 25 year old vehicle.
The seats are comfortable, but they don't tilt, so if you're a short guy like me, you'll always feel like you're leaning back just a little too far.
The V6 is quite under-powered. This thing is SLOW from a stand-still, but it can get up to highway speeds without feeling too dangerous.
4WD has always been impressive for these little trucks. I've had this truck in mud, snow, fields, and on rocks. When I had the Blazer, it did its fair share of off-roading with little complaint.
It has rusted really badly in the doors, bed, wheel wells, etc. I just had to replace a brake line a couple weeks ago that had rusted out, but again, it's 25 years old, and has spent its entire life in Pennsylvania, where winters can be harsh and roads are frequently salted.
The back seats are tiny and would be best used for children.
I wish it had cup holders.
The heat blows crazy hot.
All-in-all a pretty good vehicle. I have very few complaints... great to drive through the winter months... and not too bad on gas for a 6-cylinder.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 22nd April, 2013
22nd Jun 2016, 08:25
I purchased a 1987 Blazer with the Tahoe package off the show room floor in 1987. It was a lemon from day one. The engine was dangerous for merging into Chicago traffic. The six cylinder engine was designed to 're-burn exhaust fumes from the carburetor. Wishful thinking by the engineer that designed it.
Another problem with the power plant was that the vehicle would not make left turns on wet pavement. Only a few months after I purchased it, I found myself attempting to make a left turn when a car in the left turning aisle suddenly changed lanes and increased speed. After several seconds of terror I managed to straighten out the Blazer so that if my attacker was going to hit me, it would have to be head on. This person opted not to do that, but managed to swerve into the rear wheel well, destroying the axle.
As for being bulletproof, in those days in Chicago we had a ball player named Michael Jordan who also owned a Blazer and who GM used in an ubiquitous media sales campaign. Every kid in the city wanted one. One night one of them broke into my truck and tried to run down a police officer with it. I can end this story here. When the smoke cleared I lost $7.000. And I never got to use it to tow my snowmobiles to Wisconsin; the purpose for which it was bought.