Faults:

First off, it was my manifold gasket, with water leaking into the engine, causing the oil to fill with water.

Then, my catalytic converter has gone to oblivion, porcelain parts loose and banging around in my cat and muffler.

Now I just received an estimate for my ball joints, idler arm, and pitman arm, well let's just say it's gonna cost me over 1800.00 to replace it all. I spent 850.00 on the coolant, manifold gasket, and green replacement antifreeze. Yes, DEX-COOL is very, shall I say, "Crap".

I will never own one of these again. Honda, here I come. Bah!!

Faults:

One month after purchasing the vehicle the front brake calipers seized.

The check engine light is on intermittently however the vehicle runs well.

There is a loud booming noise from 75 kilometers and hour and up which could be from the Michelin tires only.

The oil cooler lines are leaking.

I have had no other problems.

General Comments:

I have owned many vehicles from Corvettes to F150 trucks to Austin minis. This vehicle is the most ergonomically efficient and comfortable vehicle I have owned. The interior layout is exceptional as is visibility and driver comfort. Ingress and egress are very good. I find the ride smooth, quiet and comfortable however there is wind buffeting if the real windows are open.

I know the service history of the truck and it has not experienced a lot of the problems others have had so far.

I tow with this vehicle and find the optional towing package from GM saves the truck from damage well.

The problematic areas reported by owners that I am watching carefully are the transmission, ABS and braking system, ERG- fuel injection system, front wheel bearings and 4 wheel drive switch.

After reading all the reviews here and elsewhere I can see (and believe) that the vehicle can be problematic to downright unreliable. I have owned and raced over thirty five vehicles since 1968. If problems become too frequent I will flog it, however, I wouldn't rule out buying a newer one, perhaps a 2000 or 2001.

Body quality seems to be good however paint finish is marginal. There are some chips and a small amount of rust.

Faults:

The car was returned to the manufacturer because it didn't conform to warranty. The right front wheel leaked, and was corrected by regrinding, and by tire and valve-stem replacement, to no avail. Still drops to about 13 pounds in about 10,000 miles of driving. The tachometer shorted, as is apparently common in GM vehicles, and bounced around like crazy. Only replacing the entire cluster would cure the problem, I was told. My O2 sensors went after all of a week owning the car.

Worst of all was at about 75,000 miles, the entire rear differential assembly turned to garbage. Removing the plate saw several cups of dust and particulate matter come tinkling out of the case. The differential, the axles, the transfer case (remotely activated, so located next to the differential), all had to be replaced at TREMENDOUS expense.

In the course of repairing the complicated automated system, the repair somehow caused damage to the transmission, as awful sounds started coming from it, but I was assured that the transmission sounds had always been there. Being a professional musician, I know my sounds, and this was simply not true.

Mechanically, this car has been difficult since day one.

General Comments:

Perhaps the most compounding factor aside from the mechanical difficulties of the vehicle has been the dealership. Upon having a GMC specialist evaluate and appraise my vehicle for trade-in, we discovered that the ENTIRE vehicle had been repainted. Carfax revealed that I had been essentially cheated in a big way, and I went over this car with a fine-toothed comb before I purchased it. My local "certified GM dealer" is a scam artist after all.

That aside, purely focusing on the Jimmy, my SLT was the top-of-the-line for GMC SUV's in its day. Comfort-wise, the vehicle is outstanding with fully-articulating leather buckets and a very simple, easy-to-use set of controls. Outstanding cargo-space, great towing power, and fairly decent handling were accompanied by a very nice 4WD system. The braking on this car was very substandard in my opinion.

This vehicle performed at a very low level in terms of reliability and mechanics. I would not buy a GMC again, I'm afraid.