Would you recommend Montana & Is it reliable?

We are in the market for a minivan and we are only interested on GM/Ford and our choices are Venture/Montana or Freestar. Currently we own a 01 Grandprix and a 96 Cavaliar and have had very good experiance with GM family of cars and prefer to keep it the way. My sister's family has 2 Windstars and I do like the Windstar's style over Venture/Montana. My wife is a Pontiac fan and will be the primary driver of this new van...

So, how reliable is Montana compared to Venture or Freestar? I just want a minivan that can last 8-10 years with minimum defects/repair costs. Will you Montana owners recommend it?

My wife made a "demand list" with power driver seat and power sliding door topping the list. Are they worth the extra thousands in your own personal experience?

Thanks in advance,

We love our montana! Ours is a 1999 and very reliable! Its just loaded with features. If you are buying a used one watch out for anything under a 2001 with a 3.4. If it does have a 3.4 make sure the intake gasket has been replaced! Some of the 3.4 motors have intake gasket issues! If you check out the alero forum theres alot of info about it there. Ours has 86,000 miles now mabey more and I have done brakes on it once in front originals are on the rear still. The 1999 only has one power door but with our kids and even just hauling wirk items its more usefull than I ever thought it would be! The 2000 on you can get dual power doors I would get that next time!

Be careful of the transmission too, lots of problems with the pontiac montana tranny, even with low miles on it. I have a 2001, love the van but tranny went out at like 54,000 miles after a dealer flushed it. "dont let them flush your tranny". I get excellent gas milage and a nice overall ride.

I didn't know about the trans problems mine is high miles so I wouldn't have messed with it anyways. As for as the milage it gets the same as my alero somehow!

I would give the Montana not just a Yes, but a HELL YES. :grinno:

I'm not familiar with the Freestar at all; so have no opinion there. But I do like Fords in general, and have worked on them some. You won't go wrong either way, IMO.

As far as the tranny, I'm no expert - but I will quote one. Gil Younger is to the transmission world what Smokey Yunick was to small block Chevys.

He said in an interview, that the GM trans was the best of the domestics.

We haven't had any problem with the trans in our '01 Montana, and it's coming up on 60k miles.

I do have a job ahead of me with those intake gaskets, though.

Our 2000 Montanna has been ok. Its been to the shop 8 times in 4 years. Half of the visits are from the power door. Its been recalled twice. A roller broke once. Once a wire that controls if broke. A penny get jammed in it once. Other than that, the rear air shocks both went. (30k, then 40k for the other). The strut bearings went also. Nothing major. Tranny and engine are doing fine at 45k. My wife simply loves the van. Very functional. Good looks. Average reliability in my opinion.

Keith

Other than that, the rear air shocks both went. (30k, then 40k for the other).
Keith

How much was it to replace the air shocks? Do you have to get them at the dealer or can you use any air shock?

Yeah I would like to know that also. Mine need to be replaced. Also my wife killed hers last night and now im ripping apart the motor to replace the head gasket! Ill do both at the same time and it will also fix that nasty intake gasket! All I have to say is if you can afford it have someone else do this job! This job is a bear to do! in the time I have the motor half down I could have done the whole job on my Alero!

One air shock from the dealer is around $170. Labor is very low, maybe .2-.4 hours, so given a $70/hr labor rate, its around $20. So one shock installed is right around $200. I didn't shop around because my first went under factory warranty. The second went after warranty, but I made a stink and the dealer did it for half price. Hope this helps.

Keith