Hey guys,

Im looking for a new car and since im in college i dont have alot of money to spend.

I found a few 1996-1998 Camaro V6 with 100-120k miles on them in the 3000 to 4000 range.

Am i looking at a car that will break down soon as i buy it or is these years camaro ok at the 100k mile mark?

Let me know.

Thanks!

 

As a general rule the 3.8 is one of GMs better motors 200K is not uncomon.

It all depends on how the car was maintained and used. I am replacing the motor in my 96 with 135K on it. The story I got from the lady I bought it from was the car ran perfect right up till she lent it to he now X boy friend. A friend of hers saw him doing burnout and generaly running the crap out of it. My guess he over reved it. So if one bad night can kill an engine how can you be sure a 10 year old car has no problems?

Make sure you get a good mechanic to check it out. Cars that have not been well maintained can be made to look they have been but it is much harder to fool a pro.

 

my 96 3.8 has 221xxx miles now, and outruns low mileage 3.8 camaros. i bought it for $4200 a couple years ago with 167xxx miles. it was from a used car lot. i thought the guy was tryin to sell me a piece of crap at first. i mean, the body was perfect, but the mileage and price for said mileage turned me off. however, after smoking some tires and running the crap out of it during the test drive, i was sold.

you may have mechanical issues with a car over 100k miles, but it shouldn't be anything too bad. my transmission went out at 190k, and was only 700 bucks to replace (including used tranny and labor). i also had intake gaskets replaced for 500ish dollars. those are the only major jobs on mine so far. obviously, it was taken care of before i got my hands on it, because i gave it hell the first year i had it. if you get one, just keep an eye on all the fluids and if something odd starts happening have it checked immediately and you shouldn't be out a lot of repair money for at least 50k miles or so.