Hi all, I found a 1996 Chevy Camaro v6 auto for 1,200. The owner keeps it in the garage, it appears to be in decent shape. I would love to own a Camaro, but, my uncle who owns and runs a mechanic shop in town told me that a Camaro turns into a money pit. He says they are a PITA to work on, and when something breaks, you usually have to replace more than just the part that needs replacing. An example of the difficulty of working on, he said you have to pull the engine to drop the oil pan.

My questions are:
Is the Camaro overall a reliable car?
Is it in fact a "money-pit"?

 

Which V6 does the Camaro have?
Mileage?

Another factor is how it has been previously maintained. Why don't you have your Uncle look over the car for you?

 

It has the 3.8l
169,xxx miles
I would have him look it over, but the car is located 4 hours from here, so it wouldnt work to get it to his shop.

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Welcome to the forum, V6's are easier to work on because of the smaller engine, which gives you more room around the engine bay. As far as money pit goes...it's either a keeper or a temp car. If it's a keeper, as in you want to keep it until you die, it can turn into that. But if your just going to drive it like a regular car and not upgrade everything you can when you can, then it won't be a money pit. Normal things are going to brake as with any car.

 

eh, i wouldnt say V6 are easier to work on, i have a 350 in my 78 and there is plenty of room, but my friend with a v6...the sparkplugs were SUCH a pain in the *** to get to lol, but yeah unless u dump all of your money into for perfomance and what not, it shouldnt cost you anymore than any other car, except maybe insurance lol, with almost 170k miles i would low-ball the guy for the price, and try to get oil change recepts, i do it myself and never keep them but it is nice to know if he has been changing the oil and tuning her up when needed.