The Truth About the New Chevy Cruze, Buyer Beware
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, Kenneth case of
Scotty
I really like my 2017 chevy cruze
premiere RS I never had a problem
throughout my ownership should I keep it
thanks, well it's a 2017 it's only a year
and a half old, you better not have any
problems, you might as well keep it cuz
I'll tell you the truth if you try
selling that thing now, you'll see how
much money you will lose, what you owe on
it versus what it's worth it would be
foolish to sell it now maybe you got a
good one that's gonna last, I never advise
anybody to buy it and I got a customer with
one he's got a picture of Mickey Mouse
in his back window cuz she's sued them
under the lemon lawn for some weird
reason they gave him back three thousand
dollars and that was it, they wouldn't
take the car back so, you know but if it lasts
drive it around cuz you would lose your
shirt if you sold it now, CK says Scotty
I'm looking into buying a 2004 GMC
Canyon with two hundred sixteen thousand
miles from a mechanic should I buy it
okay
well it depends if it was the mechanic's
vehicle and he took care of it, not a
bad idea but if he's selling it for somebody
else
you kind of think now the canyon was
kind of a bizarre truck they weren't
that bad
I mean look that thing's got a lot of
miles it's still running, I just uh
wouldn't pay too much for it, it's a 15
year old GMC pickup truck with two
hundred sixteen thousand miles if you're
looking for a Knockaround truck to haul
a little bit of stuff around why not but
just don't pay too much, it's an old GMC
truck with a lot of miles on it,
Albee says what's your opinion on police
cars mainly 2013 police patrol vehicle
Taurus with the 3.7 Mustang engine with
100,000 miles on it, well that was a fun
vehicle in its time but the thing is if
it was a police vehicle, generally they
drive them like maniacs and they get
the heck burnt out of them, I mean you generally
expect you're gonna put an engine or a
transmission in them in a short period of
time, but if you are thinking about
buying one use, do not touch it until you
get a guy like me a professional
mechanic and gonna check it out with his
computer and road test it and tell you
what kind of shape it's in. you want to
start there if you do want to buy a
vehicle like that, they can be fun to drive
around but of course don't pay much for
it, a used police vehicle the resale
value is not that much, you don't want to
pay much because
you know you're playing with dynamite
you don't know what's left with that
vehicle, why do you think the police get
rid of them every so many years,
Alvaro Tejado says Scotty I got
a 95 volvo 940 when i start it up in the
morning it makes the metallic rattling
sound when I rev it, it goes away for 3-4
minutes, the engine was rebuilt seven
years ago you know what's really typical
with those things, is the catalytic
converters rattle as they age for some
reason they made them crappy inside your
catalytic converter are these honeycomb
pieces that have platinum in them and
that burns hydrocarbons and as they age
especially on those vehicles it cracks
and they will rattle, but then when they
heat up the metal expands and they
stop rattling check that first now, if it
runs okay it doesn't hurt anything and a
new cat for that vehicle cost an awful
lot of money, you might live with it if
it is the cat rattling and it runs okay
when it doesn't run good, the
temperature gauge run hotter and you'll
only be able to go like 55 miles an hour
not any faste,r then you know it's
clogged up and you'd have to replace it
then, US storm says Scotty I have an 07
Honda Civic LX coupe with rear drum
brakes should I upgrade them to disc
brakes, okay here's the thing the rear
brakes on that car are one thing mainly
most of the power is stopped in the
front disc, the rear drums are there
so the car doesn't fishtail when you
stop hard and when you corner and stop for
normal driving those work perfectly fine
and you're not gonna have any problems
with them, it's kind of a waste of money
putting it in a little car like that it
really doesn't need it it's a light car
and disc brakes for all four wheels are
more for racing because they don't fade
when you stop go fast stop go fast stop
go fast, drums will actually stop a car
just as fast one time but in a race they
aren't that's why they were first used
in race cars because they're slamming them on
and hit the gas, slamming them on and
hitting the gas and the drum brakes will
overheat where the discs wouldn't and
that's why they started using them but
on yours are you really wouldn't want to
spend money for that, my Honcho says Scotty
should I put fuel injection on a Dodge
Dart 318 v8 well it's a good question
but depends on what do you want to do
with the thing, if you're planning on
selling it in the future, no because if
it's stock that's a classic 73 Dodge dart
you're gonna lower the value by taking
the factory stuff off,
but if you want it to drive faster
and get better gas mileage, put it on but
save all your old parts, save the
manifold, save the carburetor because
then if you sell it at some point in the
future
you can say to the guy, look I did this
because I like fuel injection you want
to go back to stock here's all the parts
in the box keep them all, don't throw
any of them away, always do that with the
classic car never throw any old parts
away and if you want to modify it to your
heart's content you're gonna keep it for
years go right ahead
just keep the old parts, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!
The Only Chevy Product I Recommend
Scotty Kilmer:
Rev up your engines,
mike says hey whats your take on the chevy
colorado inline 5, everybody knows I don't
like GM products, but that said I still have
customers with chevy colorados with the inline
5 and their running strong with 250,000 miles
on them, and they use them for their work
trucks, they just drive around in them all
the time, their not taking 15 tons of pipe
line here in Texas, they are actually a good
engine and they can be a decent vehicle, like
any gm vehicle their electronics stink so
your going to have problems with the electronics,
ac systems and stuff like that your going
to have to fix just cuz it's gm, but the engines
and transmission in those seem solid, I've
had customers with them that had pretty good
luck with them, so fool people I'm not always
saying everything they make is horrible, just
most of them,
sing says scotty what do you think about the
subaru brz, well they are fun cars to drive
around, if you want to get a zippy little
Japanese zoom around car you know they can
be good cars, they do like all subarus if
you push them too hard those boxer designs
they have a tendency of blowing head gaskets,
it's a type of vehicle that if you really
like it, either lease it or buy it new, because
if you buy a used one it's kind of like playing
with fire, you might get burnt, and it might
be like a stick of dyno, you lit the fuse
when you bought it and then you know a few
months later there goes the engine, so if
you like the way they drive and ride, either
lease one or get a new one, you might have
fun with it if you don't mind spending that
kind of money, just realize you got to spend
some money to get a decent one,
pepper white says hey scotty advice please,
I'm considering buying a used 3 series bmw
with a manual transmission, reliable or a
money pit, well it's more reliable than the
automatics theirs no arguing that, and they
do have extremely low resale value, if you
can get one cheap enough and you want something
for a weekend toy that you want to be like
"oh I'm riding around in my BMW" you know
you might think about doing that, but do not
ever buy one and think your going to put 20,000
miles a year and use it for an everyday driver,
cuz if you do I guarantee it will eventually
turn into an endless money pit, I got a customer
who's a doctor, he got one and even he got
sick of it and he made a lot of money, he
said I'm just sick of this thing breaking
and paying all this for fixing it, even he
gave up on the thing, so if it's a toy go
ahead, but everyday driver, meh,
marcus says I got a limp mode in my infinite
g37, when you get into a limp mode, that means
the computer has found a problem that is going
to destroy the catalytic converter or overheat
the engine, a serious problem, so it puts
the computer system into limp so you have
a limited amount of power to try and save
the catalytic converter and the engine, whatever
the system has a problem in, the first thing
you have to do, is get the vehicle scanned,
you get a bunch of codes, and you have to
have a mechanic like my analyse those codes,
and see ok is this a serious one, which code
do you fix first if theirs multiple codes,
and then you reset the codes and drive it
a little and see what happens, because a lot
of times they go down the line, if you get
one code that will trip another code and another
code and another code, and it might only be
one that's tripping the code so, you have
to start there, because there's something
somewhat serious is wrong, so have it scanned
soon to see what's going on,
j morris says hey scotty I got an 06 cadillac
sts with a northstar v8, it sounds like a
diesel when I accelerate could it be an exhaust
system issue, well let's pray that it is,
have it jacked up in the air and have somebody
rev it while your crawling around looking
and do it when it's cold so you can feel with
your hands too, and feel if there's exhaust
leaking and if it is great fix it, cuz if
it isn't the exhaust leaking and it sounds
like a diesel and making a lot of noise, it
means your engine is going out, and those
northstar engines are endless money pits,
I mean even something as simple, well not
simple anymore, but as a head gasket job on
those northstar racing design engines, it
can cost you $4-5,000 to do a head gasket
job on one of those, so you want to pray that
it's just an exhaust leak and not internal
engine problems, las vegas says scotty I have
a 2006 scion tc and sometimes it grinds in
3rd gear, is it a serious problem, when cars
only grind in one gear, that generally means
that they syncromesh in that gear is starting
to wear out, so what you can do is baby 3rd
gear, don't rev it up really high in 2nd gear
and then rip it into third gear, shift a little
bit earlier and take your time shifting it
to third gear, now if it does it once in a
while I mean just baby it and if your not
a race car guy, you can go from second and
go high rpms in second and then just skip
3rd and go from 2nd to 4th and then you won't
even be using it, cuz eventually if you do
drive it hard and it keeps making a noise
and grinding, eventually third gear would
break and then you'd have to rebuild the transmission
cuz if it broke and pieces fell out in the
tranny, that's the end of the transmission,
you can baby them though like I said and they
can last a long time,
so if you never want to miss another one of
my new car repair videos remember to ring
that bell!
I Can’t Believe I Said This About Chevy
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines
g garner says Scotty what do you
think of the chevy cobalt 4-cylinder not
much okay not for a small engine it puts
out a decent amount of power yes they
don't hold up over time the whole car
itself is a pile of junk and it doesn't
hold up over time if you want to get a
small car that's got some zip and it's
gonna last a long time go buy a Toyota or
Honda they run circles around those
things but on the other hand I always
want to tell people you got options
let's say you're gonna buy you used one
you can pick those things up for down to
nothing and if you don't mind driving
around one if you get it so cheap for
$1,000 $1,500 and it still runs and
shifts okay and it lasts a while now
you're making out okay I mean in a long
run now it's not a good decision but if
you can get one cheap enough what the
heck you're never gonna get a good
Toyota or Honda cheap because everybody
knows they're good cars and they go for
a lot of money use but those things they
got bad reputation for various good
reasons but you can get them dirt cheap
I've had customers buy those old sandals
for $1000 and driving for four or five
years and maybe spend five six hundred
bucks with me fixing them over four
years that's perfectly fine form you
know on their ugly looking cars and
those particularly ones that bashes on
them so they got then real cheap but if
you want a knock around car something like
that could be okay if you get a dirt
cheap but just don't think it's gonna
last forever
and you're gonna be able to drive it for
twenty thirty thousand miles a year and
drive it for years that's not gonna happen
Nick 20s says Scotty what are your
thoughts on discount gasoline sold
Costco Kroger and kwiki gasoline any
good okay every gasoline sold in the
United States has to meet certain
minimum standards its law and generally
in each area there's all you want to
supply or gasoline all the other
companies buy it like shell is the
largest refinery in the world the last
time I checked so a lot of the gasoline
is refined by shell and then say if you
buy Exxon gasoline in your area if shell
made the gasoline your buying shell gas
and the only difference does Exxon is
putting their protect
and it is on top of it and dying at the
color that they want their gasoline to
look so you know it's not like you got
a wide choice it where the actual
gas things coming from anyways it's the
same thing with batteries there's only a
handful of battery manufacturers left
over in the United States so even though
there's 40 different brands if there's
only three companies making them the
brand doesn't really mean up that much
you gotta find out who's making that
brand for gasoline in most areas same
company making all of it,
trade be hey from Canada I got an 06 5
speed manual Volkswagen Jetta 1.9 TDI
with 173 thousand miles on it
hey you're in Canada you're supposed to
say kilometres I'm wondering should I
sell it before it has engine problems or
hold on to it I got a new timing belt
and clutch I change the oil every 5,000
miles and do highway driving what the
heck drive it it's worth very little
with that mileage on it and being 14
years old and you never know I've seen
some of those things with 300,000 miles
on I just say drive it till the wheel
falls off cuz if you try selling up now
you're gonna get nothing for the vehicle
what the heck there's Scotty telling you
to keep a VW that's a rarity I
believe me but it's a standard
transmission it's a diesel it runs just
keep driving it chains and you never
know how long this thing's gonna last
let's you're gonna get much worried if
you sell it and what the heck up you get
years more out of it you're making out
like a bandit, ronald regan, gee I thought
he was dead
hey Scotty my daughter's 2010 Ford
Focus started cranking by a few
seconds normally it starts right up
tried to spray cleaner remedies and it's
slightly better but still randomly
cranks longer does the cleaning helped
of course try it again now if it still
doesn't change the fuel filter first
since the fuel filter gets clogged it'll
do that that doesn't do it
pressure test a fuel pump now you always
have to change the fuel filter and a ten
year old car before you price your test
the fuel pump because if the fuel
filters clogged up you're gonna get
false readings well why don't you change
the filter if that doesn't fix it then
test the fuel pump pressure and if it's low
replace it, it mean design its way out
which is typical when they get to be 10
years old like that it could just be
that the fuel pump is starting to go out
from old age they're electric pumps
after a while they wear out just like
anything else does, flabo I'm cleaning out
my dad's old
garage I found tons of old new stock 62
Ford parts and several cases of oil
transmission fluid in the old metal case
is dated 1971 is that me this oil still
good I mean you might want to use it for
a lawn mower or something if you wanted but
don't do that either,
put in on ebay people collect
stuff like that you won't believe what
people sometimes will pay for these old
cans with the old oil in them and even
the old 1962 Ford parts put it on eBay
you never know what people are gonna bid
for these days and those old metal cans
that they don't make anymore
those are collectors items lots of guys
have museums they want that stuff and
they pay a pretty penny for it why use
it for oil they can get for two dollars
a quart when you don't know what you're
gonna get for that stuff when it's that
old and this is the original can people
collect all kinds of weird stuff these
days they might give some pretty good
money for that stuff so I put it on eBay
if I were you, honest mechanic Scotty my
grandpa's a 69 Firebird 400 hasn't run
in 20 years I want a surprise I'm
getting it run I know I need a battery
plugs tires and brake fluid there I also
need new fuel lines and brake hose lines
what else do I need you want to check
anything that's rubber to see if it's
cracked and stuff cuz you don't want to
be on safe but of course yes to be
perfectly safe you'd have to do the
whole car all the rubber stuff and
that's an awful lot of money so you're
gonna want to clean the gas tank out
there's probably crowd in it putting in
fuel and change the fuel filter I
changed the coolant and you know why all
transmission fluid and then see what
happens because you don't want to go too
far until you see that it's running and
that it's going good once you do all
that don't give it a grandpa drive it
for you know 10 15 20 miles and see if
there's anything that's leaking if
anything's not working correctly and
then kind of go from there because when
you get an old vehicle like that I mean
it's a 69 you kind of restore it
gradually if it's gonna be kind of a toy
car the original equipment cost a
fortune to do and most people aren't
gonna do that you want to make it a safe
car do what I said and then drive it
around for you know 20 30 40 miles and
see how it feels and then
from there, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos
remember to ring that Bell
GM Just Threw Away the Chevy Camaro
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, GM says that the six
generations Chevy Camaro z/28 program
has been cancelled all right now for the
car guys out there that are the muscle
cars
there have been rumors going around that
they're not going to be making the
Camaros in the future they don't have
any particular plans that they have
set in stone with it there's even some
rumors that they're gonna make an
all electric cars which may be what
they're going to do they're canceling a
sixth generation I'm assuming that they
are gonna stop making Camaros they
stopped making the things a few years
back and then they brought them back
again they had a bunch of quality
control with the ones they were making
in Quebec and so then they just stopped
making them entirely I mean those are
terrible machines in the end I had them
where the wiring harnesses would go out
to transmissions and blow up and they
brought them back again I who knows
maybe they'll just eventually have them
only as an electric car and shelving the
production of any sixth generation
Camaro kind of tells me they yeah
they're maybe they're thinking about
making the mental electric cars only
time will tell her that but you're
obviously thinking about getting rid of
Camaro is a muscle car by not producing
these, ash says hey my wife has
an old ML 320 it's forty eight thousand
mile keep it and driving myself for
selling wife wants a new car
forty-eight thousand miles isn't much if
you haven't had problems with it it
hasn't been wrecked flooded or stolen
you might as well keep it you said it's
an old one if it's an old one it has
virtually no value nobody wants to buy
an old Mercedes the resale value was
cramped but with 48,000 miles generally
don't fall apart until they are over
100,000 miles so what the heck you got
it why not use it for your car and then
get your wife another car obviously
you'll put that many miles on the cars
it still could last a while cuz you
getting nothing selling if it works okay
now what the heck I personally wouldn't
buy one but you already have it so you
might as well driving around you'll get
much for it if you try selling it, Bologna is
there any way to buy nitrogen to fill
your tires yeah oh that's kind of an
interesting subject matter realize that
Earth's atmosphere is already something
like eighty percent nitrogen dress is
about 20 percent oxygen some trace
elements but
about 80% nitrogen already so what
difference does it really make if you
have a 100% nitrogen you tires or 80%
for years people tried to sell me as a
mechanic at my shop systems that purify
the nitrogen in our atmosphere and turn it
into almost a hundred percent
nitrogen and filling the tires with
because theoretically it doesn't oxidize
inside and the temperatures don't affect
it that much when they change hot or
cold or they do use nitrogen I believe
in like the jet airplanes because
they're up at 50,000 feet and it gets
really cold there and the pressure the
tires would keep going up and down for
them and it makes sense but you're not
driving your car at 50,000 feet out
there so you know if you can find a
place that sells the stuff go right
ahead but far as I'm concerned you're
mainly wasting your money on that stuff
for a car that you're driving every day
nobody's approached me in the last year
trying to sell me one of these stupid
nitrogen systems and it cost thousands
of dollars so so if anybody has one
they're gonna charge your pretty penny
to fill up your tires cause hey they had
to pay a bunch of money for the stupid
machine
Daniel pina says hey Scotty is the 2007
f-150 a reliable vehicle these days
yeah the previous owner took care of it
2007 f-150 is pretty reliable vehicle
they're much better with the v8 sixes meh
any vehicle if you're talking about
buying a used one have a mechanic like
me check it out before you show your
money out cuz you don't know something's
wrecked flooded stolen there's all kinds
of things you can go around and with our
fancy machines we can tell I spend about
an hour checking out used cars I just
checked out a used car for a guy this
morning you know it's a fourth of July, I
forgot
he made an appointment so I got up
there anyways they can't be great good
cars but you want to make sure there
isn't a problem in it in the first place
cuz you're not gonna get a guarantee
demon says Scotty I got a
2005 Chrysler Sebring Convertible with
eighty two thousand miles my first car
any thoughts baby that thing that was a
big lemon Mobil that they made the v6
engines those things were terrible it's
still running it's 82 thousand miles
let's say it runs and it shifts good now
baby it you got it it's a convertible a
lot of times people think of verticals
are worth money but convertibles aren't
because everybody knows there were
terrible cars but you gotta take care of
a change the oil every 3,000 miles don't
overheat the engine don't race it don't
peel off
pretend you're a little old lady driving
that car and maybe the last one I got
some little old lady
drive them and they're still going okay
because they drive slow but all the men
that I knew that drove them hard they
all burn out either the engine or the
transmission or both, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that Bell
Here’s Why Chevy Silverados are Crap
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines
GM has a lawsuit against them now saying
that they were selling diesel pickup
trucks in the United States they
couldn't run correctly on American fuel
it turns out that a bunch of them had
Bosch German fuel pumps refined slightly
differently so people are saying that
it's wearing the fuel pumps out the fuel
pumps are throwing metal shavings into
the fuel injection system and destroying them
of course GM denies all this stuff I
mean they seem to deny everything they
denied that ignition switch thing where
they even changed the number of the
ignition switch replacement parts so
people wouldn't notice that the old ones
were designed wrong and then they got
sued and then they had to pay out a
bunch of money for that stuff that they
were doing and now they're claiming that
oh no that's not the case well I mean if
people are having problems what only
time is gonna tell us what happened I
think it's got the interest soon yeah
they couldn't even design their own fuel
pumps they're buying the German fuel
pumps and they didn't even probably
think before they put them in the vehicles,
jackie says Scotty what would be a
great first car for about two grand if
you want reliability get an old Corolla
or an old camry,
now for two grand its odds are it's
gonna be pretty old you don't get much
for two grand these day two grand today
is equivalent to when I was a kid to a
hundred dollar car and usually can't get
much for a $100 car, do the old trick
that I've always told people do you're
gonna pay that much money for a car get
one with a paint's peeling off they
don't have any value when the paint's
peeling off and then if you really care
go to one of those places like Earl
Scheib that'll paint a car when they're
gonna sale for 250 bucks or one that's
got bashed in founders it still works
good but when they look bad to go for a
lot less money, sing says
all wheel drive or front wheel drive or
rear wheel drive for a winter all-wheel
drive works better than waiting at all
the wheels driving but do you really
need that much as an example my mother's
92 she still lives in Agra Falls she
drives two Toyota Corolla front-wheel
drive car in the snow doesn't you put
snow tires on they plow the roads in
Niagara Falls and she never has any
problems now if you going skiing and
mountains and stuff all-wheel drive is
much better
front-wheel drive is pretty good and of
course rear-wheel drive is the worst for snow
you spin around it turns out that
vehicles are more controllable if you
pull them rather than push them so with
front-wheel drive you got better snow
control and rear-wheel drive because
you're pulling instead of pushing but if
you live where they plow the roads you
don't care one way or another most guys
are front-wheel drive these days anyways
clam dick said why shouldn't you use
full synthetic on an engine at state
semi synthetic 97 Ford Puma you could if
you would have from the very beginning
but my advice to people and I engineers
have argued this back and forth with me
but I don't care I've seen it happen you
have an engine that you've been using
regular oil or semi synthetic oil and
you switch to full synthetic oil and
it's been using the other oil for a long
time a lot of times they'll either start
burning or leaking oil because the full
synthetic oil flows better it's thinner
and a lot of times it'll leak or burn a
lot sometimes the engines start making
noises if you start it out with it you
generally don't have that problem but I
would just leave it alone today if you
want to buy a new car and put full
synthetic go right ahead but don't
switch after it's had a hundred thousand
miles of some other type of oil,
Jacob Roger says Scotty I got a 98
Chevy s10 with a locked up 4 cylinder
can it be unlocked if your engine's
locked up it means it has internal
problems and odds are you're gonna have
to take it all apart and rebuild it or
that old clunker try to find a used
engine from a junkyard and put in it if
you want to try you can get a long
extension bar in a socket put it on the
front crank pulley bolt try turn it back
and forth and back and forth and if you
can break it loose say take the spark
plugs out and put oil in them leave the
spark plugs out with oil in the holes if
you can break it loose maybe you can get
it running again who knows I've done
that some times in the past
Donald says how often should you change
brake fluid love your channel all your
information and tips I personally have
had Toyotas that had 250,000 miles on I
never changed the brake fluid and never
had to change anything but the brake
pads the cylinders didn't leak but on
the other hand if you got some piece of
junk like a Chrysler
I changed the fluid none have them every
four or five years they're not made that
well and they will absorb a lot a lot of
a prett have problem if you really want
to see if yours is any good there are
tests that we make
do we have little machines a test for
the percentage of water in them and the
percentage of copper because a lot of
times the copper from the lines will
infiltrate into it it won't work as well
so it can be tested if you got an honest
mechanic he can tested for you tell if
it's good or not
Rossler go says Scotty my 2010 corolla
tire spin when I hit a bump okay if you
get spinning tires half the time it's
just the tires are worn out or they're
crappy tires if you buy crappy tires if
the rubber isn't soft enough it's too
hard it will actually spin you hit a
bump and hits and it spins because it's
too hard and it slips you want to have
tires that are reasonably soft so they
grip if you're watching those car races
you might think tires in those car races
they're changing them every 110 miles
cuz they're so soft and they're going so
fast that they just erased themselves
going around a track at that speed and
at that temperature
you don't want tires that last 150 miles
but you don't want really hard ones to
skip check the tires first if it's not
the tires generally it's the shocks wearing
out and then they're bouncing and
slipping after you hit a bump, Jeremy
says what do you think of body kits well
if you wanna make your car look tougher
go ahead and bolt or not it doesn't you
know generally affect how they run or
anything problem I see with them I see a
lot of kids that put body kits on these
Honda Civics they put them way too low
and then the pieces get ripped off every
time to go over a speed bump or they hit
something and pieces come flying off,
do whatever you want it's your car I
personally think hey the way they're
made is good enough for me there are
transportation devices you know and
motorcycles generally my thing with them
is naked take everything off of them
except the motor and wheels so I don't want
anybody on them at all
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell
Here's What I Think About the Chevy Impala in 1 Minute
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines
the pillow mafia says, is it bad that I
prefer the Chevy Impala over Toyota
Avalon and Ford Taurus, well just means
what you mean by bad and how you drive
now you're never gonna get the mileage
out of a Chevy Impala that you will with
a Toyota Avalon, it will fall apart long
before the Toyota, and the Ford Taurus
they were up in the air cars, some years
were excellent, some were pieces of junk
so I mean the Toyotas are so much
better made, now if you have an Impala
and if you drive conservatively, and you
don't put a lot of miles on it, it might
last for years, but customers that I've
had with Impalas, once they had a hundred
thousand miles, generally they started to
fall apart if it was city driving and
they weren't happy, the transmissions
went out, or the engines blew head
gaskets, or the air conditioning
compressor blew up, they really weren't
happy with the cars in the long run, but
if you drive low mileage, no car should
fall apart if you don't put many miles
on it, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos,
remember to ring that Bell!
Pawlik Automotive on Chevy and GM Trucks, How Reliable are They?
pawlikautorepair:
Mark: Good morning, it’s Mark at Top Local
we’re here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive
in Vancouver.
Vancouver’s best auto service experience,
16 time winners of Best in Vancouver, Best
Auto Repair in Vancouver as voted by their
customers.
How’re you doing Bernie?
Bernie: I’m doing very well this morning.
Mark: So we’re going to talk about Chevy
and GM trucks, how reliable are they?
Bernie: In a nutshell, they are very reliable.
Mark: So, ok, straight and to the point, thank
you so much for showing up everybody!
Let’s dig in a little bit more, how about,
let’s just start with pick up trucks, there’s
a lot of different brands of or line of vehicles.
Let’s start with pickups, how are they?
Bernie: I’d say they’re very good, I mean
so I’d say in a nutshell they’re very
reliable, nothing is foolproof or bullet proof
and in our industry that’s always a good
thing, you don’t want a car built that needs
no repairs.
But anyways besides that, trucks are awesome,
engine-wise, I like Chevy trucks a lot so
let’s talk like between say the years of
2000 and newer.
Excellent engines in all their trucks, we’re
talking about full size pick up trucks here,
good V8 engines, very reliable, durable and
simpler than say Ford and some Dodges use
pushrod engines, but a lot of them use overhead
cam engines.
GM stuck with the pushrod engines which are
not so sophisticated but they are very reliable
and they generate good horsepower.
So I really like the engines, they last an
awful long time, front ends like steering,
suspension, ball joints, steering linkages,
they’re all good, I mean they do eventually
wear over time but you usually got to put
a few good years before any of that wears.
Transmissions are reliable, some of them even
come, like the higher end, the heavier duty
models come with Allison Transmissions which
are a bullet proof unit.
Interior, fit and finish, everything else
is good.
Not too many electronic, quirky things, there’s
nothing unusual about them in terms of how
they wear out they are quite durable.
Mark: So how about the vans?
Bernie: Vans, again same thing.
Here you get two categories, you get the full
size vans and you’ve got the Astro van which
they discontinued a few years ago which is
too bad because it was a very popular van,
a lot of people in the building trades and
even people had them for family vans because
you could put a few seats in them.
So it was a nice size mini van but my inly
thing with vans is that you’ve got the engine
mounted inside, buried inside the vehicle
so to speak, and the access is difficult.
So when repairs come, they’re a little more
costly and time consuming but overall they’re
very reliable.
One thing about the Astro vans, the idler
arms wear on these things all the time.
They’re kind of expensive but it’s not
the end of the earth but that’s sort of
the one thing that sticks out in my mind as
being a common issue.
Other than that, just general repair and maintenance,
brakes and they’re good.
Again very reliable, they run for a long time.
The larger vans use the V8, for the most part
use V8 engines, same as the pick up trucks.
Same level of reliability.
Mark: And what about the SUV’s?
Bernie: Well the SUV, so you’ve got, I’m
thinking of the larger ones like the Suburban
and Tahoe which are essentially a Chevy pickup
truck.
The Suburban is like a four door pickup truck
with a short box and it’s just built in.
So same level of reliability and durability,
so yeah, excellent that way.
Tahoe is a bit of a smaller version and yeah
overall excellent.
Mark: So there’s a lot of diesel engine
choices in Chevy and GM trucks, how are they?
Bernie: Again, really good.
They’re one of the best, I like them best
among the options.
We don’t fix too many of them which says
a lot.
The odd fuel injector job here and there but
again it’s not that common, they are much
more reliable than the Fords of a lot of vintages,
maybe not the 6.7 litre but certainly much
more reliable.
Now when you go back, so I’m talking about
the Duramax diesel, they were introduced in
early 2000, the earlier models used the GM
made 6.2 and 6.5 litre engines.
Not so good.
A lot more problems and once we get into the
older ones, the diagnostics are a lot more
difficult as well but I would not buy a truck
with a 6.2 diesel.
These are getting very old at this point and
time but we still see them though so they’re
still around but they were not the best, durable,
reliable diesel.
The Duramax by the way, is made by Isuzu,
so it’s a Japanese made engine which says
something to about the quality of American
made engines.
Mark: Ooh, so anything to add in closing,
any other parting shots?
Bernie: Um, you know overall I like GM trucks
and so I’m a little biased, I drive a Suburban
myself and the reason I drive it is because
I like the vehicle, it’s reliable and durable
but as far as the diesel trucks, again I would
buy a Chevy over everything else.
I like the way they drive, they’re durable
and my parting shot you can’t really go
wrong with a Chevy or GM truck these days.
Mark: So if you’re looking for a reliable
maintenance on your Chevy vehicle in Vancouver
Pawlik Automotive are the folks to call.
You can reach them at 604-327-7112 or check
out their website pawlikautomotive.com.
Thanks Bernie
Bernie: Thanks Mark
The End of Chevy in America
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines,
steve says Scotty do you think GM
will ever pull out of the United States,
not completely but of course they have
already begun it, like the other year all
the ones they sold in China were made in
China, so it wouldn't surprise me if in
the near future they start making them
in China and selling them in the United
States
the handwriting's kind of on wall on that
one
and people can talk politics all they
want about they don't like this they
don't like that, but the corporation's
pretty much rule with that, if they want to
make someplace else and
selling them they'll get the politicians
in their back pocket to let them slide
it in, there's too much graft and
corruption in Washington for anybody to
say their actually gonna stop
something for real, other than just
empty promises that they are all thrown out
from both sides
onesays how reliable is a
2014 v8 Raptor versus a generation 2
Raptor with the twin-turbo v6, their
relatively new but realize of course the
v8 ones are gonna be more reliable just
because you got a big v8 engine that can
take the power and it doesn't have twin
turbos on it, you get a v6 you put
twin turbos, you're putting more pressure
inside the engine and those twin turbos
and the GDI injectors which push
thousand-something psi into the engine
versus 40 psi in a regular fuel
injected, all the extra pressure and all
that extra technology of course it
breaks down over time, it's only logical
you know you get a v8 engine and take care
of it's gonna outlast v6 that's got twin
turbos and GDI that's only common sense,
plus the newer technology often there
are things that fail, because they didn't
know how long these things are gonna
last 200-300,000 miles, where I see
many v8 Ford engines out there with 200-
300,000 miles on them, Joel says Scotty
what do you choose Mustang or Corvette
well I chose a Mustang I like the
Mustangs, the Corvettes have become more
of a european-style car, they're not an
American muscle car anymore like a
Mustang and I like the Mustangs think
it's kind of fun to drive around in, the corvetttes
the good ones that really
zoom, they cost too much the new ones
over $100,000, you can still get a really
nice Mustang $50k, so half the price I
wouldn't buy the corvette
I'd get a Mustang, but I'm cheap I won't
buy anything, I get to drive them for free
when I'm done working on them and that's fun
enough for me,
Dominic Vargas says Scotty what do you
think of the Mazda Miata 2011 and the GT
Ford Mustang of the same year, basically
you're comparing apples and oranges, you
can't really compare them, the GT Mustang
is a muscle car for screaming around and
they're both rear-wheel drive cars I'll
give you that, but you got a Mustang
that's a screaming car and gets horrible gas
mileage and has a ton of power, versus a Mazda
Miata that's a cute little car, still
their rear-wheel drive, it's fun to drive
around it gets really good gas mileage
you really can't compare the two cars,
you'd have to decide what do you want
you want a cute little car that can last
a really long time and drive around in
or do you want a muscle car, in the
business I'm in repairing cars, the Mazda
Miata are known as a girly car,
the mechanics all call it a girly car
and the Mustang is known as the guys car,
what image do you want to
portray, but they're apples and oranges
you can't really compare them grab
Lee says should the oil in a manual
transmissions be changed or is it not
needed,
okay it's a good idea to change it but
you don't need to do it that often, maybe
every
sixty to eighty thousand miles, manual
transmissions use what's called splash
lubrication, you dive down the road the gears
just splash oil all over the place and
it just drips on the gears and it
lubricates it, automatic transmissions have
oil pumps that pump it through the
system so it's completely different
system, but I still would change it every
60
80 thousand miles cuz it's easy to do,
most of them just have a drain plug on
the bottom it drains out, then they have
a side plug you take that out and you
pump new fluid in until it comes out of
the hole on the side and then it's full, it's
a
real easy thing to do, Angela Dolores says
should I get a motorcycle or car, depends
a lot where you live, let's say you live
in Seattle, I wouldn't be seen dead in
Seattle on a motorcycle it's always
raining that's when you get killed and
slid or people slide into you, you got to
think about the weather
motorcycle versus car, you really do
have too, like if you live in Hawaii hey
feel free get a motorcycle or maybe
New Mexico where it's dry most of the time
hardly ever does any rain,
it'd be fun to have one, if you don't
mind being out in the elements and
getting dirty go ahead and get a
motorcycle, just realize that it's the most
unsafe form of transportation, I mean
they don't have seat belts on them because
if they did, then when it crashed you'd be
crushed with the motorcycle
it's dangerous stuff, I've driven them
since I was a teenager, I've lucked out
I've never had any big wipeouts and got
injured, but realize that are extremely
dangerous mode of transportation and if
you live in a place where it's really
cold cold cold like Alaska, you could
never drive in the winter, so if you
never want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that
Bell
Electric Trio: The Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model 3 Square Off | Edmunds
Edmunds:
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN EDMUNDS: What we have here
are three electric vehicles
that are well known,
perhaps because each
is a dedicated EV that has
no gasoline counterpart.
Chevrolet has plugged
everything they
learned from their Bolt plug-in
hybrid into the Bolt EV.
JASON KAVANAGH: The Model 3
represents Tesla's first foray
into a more accessible EV.
CALVIN KIM: And the Nissan
LEAF, the first widely available
electric vehicle in
the United States,
is now in its second generation.
And while they're all
mainstream offerings,
they're not true
direct competitors.
JASON KAVANAGH:
Today, we're going
to explore the differences and
similarities among these three
popular EVs.
Well, the Tesla Model 3 has
a lot of power, actually.
I mean, there's no
complaints that I have
with the acceleration in this.
And like all EVs, it
has that instant torque.
You can punch around cars on the
freeway pretty much instantly.
I mean, you dip your foot
down on the accelerator,
and there's just an instant
reaction from the car.
That's one of the
things that EVs
and in particular, the
Tesla does really well.
DAN EDMUNDS: One of
the things I like
about the Bolt is it's quick.
I'm just rolling into the
throttle, not really laying
into it hard at all.
And it's up to speed
and in a short order.
And I am having no problem
getting around folks.
People think these
things are golf carts.
Uh-uh.
CALVIN KIM: The Nissan LEAF has
what sounds like a low number--
146 horsepower.
But it's the torque that
really gives it the beans.
It's got about 236,
possibly the torque.
Don't quote me on that.
But 236 is a lot for
a small car like this.
The car weighs
about 3,500 pounds.
So it's well in line.
I mean, basically, it'd
be equivalent to a bigger
engine in a compact car.
Needless to say, acceleration
is easy and brisk.
JASON KAVANAGH: Well, compared
to the Bolt or the LEAF,
the Tesla Model 3 is
definitely the most powerful.
It's the most capable.
It's also the most expensive.
It's also the only rear-wheel
drive EV of the three.
The other two are
front-wheel drive.
And that affects the driving
dynamics in a beneficial way
for the Model 3.
The Model 3 has the best
steering and handling
of the bunch by far.
It's just a more
grown-up feeling
car in the way it
goes down the road.
The steering feel
is really good.
It corners flat.
It picks up its speed
well over bumps.
In terms of steering
and handling,
the other two don't
touch the Tesla Model 3.
DAN EDMUNDS: The
Bolt handles great.
I mean, you wouldn't
think so to look at it.
It's tall and skinny.
But the battery pack is low
and underneath the floor,
so that keeps the
center of gravity low.
And that makes it feel
more like a go-cart
than an SUV or
something like that.
The steering is also
nicely weighted.
It's immediate, but not darty.
It's just what you want to kind
of maneuver around in traffic.
JASON KAVANAGH: Now,
the range in the Model 3
is kind of its trump card.
We got the long-range
version, which
has a 310-mile max range
in normal mode, which
is what Tesla recommends you
use on a day-to-day basis.
This will do 279 miles, which
is still really impressive.
It's still more range
than the other two.
In fact, it's the longest range
EV you could buy currently.
CALVIN KIM: This
face-lift of LEAF--
you get 150 miles
of claimed range.
Wonderfully for us, if
you put it in ECO mode
and enable e-Pedal, you can
get a lot more than that.
With our long-term
LEAF, we've been
able to drive it a
little bit already.
And we've routinely
gotten over 150 miles
with those features enabled.
That's great news for
commuters, especially
those that drive a little
bit longer distances.
So they can go a week
without charging.
Now, for EV owners,
the best way to do it
is to charge every night.
But, hey, if you're going to
go visit a friend's house,
or maybe go across town
to hang out somewhere,
it's nice to have that option.
DAN EDMUNDS: The Model
3 has a higher range
rating than this one.
But I don't really think
that at actual practice
that would be the case.
Because I've had a
really hard time getting
close to the Model 3's rating.
And yet, with this car, which
is rated at 238, I've gone 334.
That's almost 100 miles
more than the rating.
And if I'm paying for
more battery than I need,
then that's a big part
of the price of the car.
And this car could be cheaper
if it had a 150-mile range
or a 175-mile range.
CALVIN KIM: One of
the best advantages
of electric vehicles is
the ability to regenerate,
which is regenerative braking.
That means you can use an
electric motor that propels
you to help slow you down.
And one thing that
they did very cleverly,
though, is give you a
switch right on the center
console here called e-Pedal.
And just by clicking the
switch, you immediately
engage that
regenerative braking.
Nissan says you can
break as much as 2/10
of a "g," which doesn't
sound like a lot,
but from our
testing, it's plenty.
JASON KAVANAGH:
And in the Model 3,
the regenerative
effect is strong.
You can basically
one-pedal drive this thing
most of the time.
DAN EDMUNDS: Now, the Bolt is
especially good in this regard,
better than I think any
other car that you can buy,
any other EV.
Because when it's in
drive, like it is now,
I toggle using this here.
When it's in drive, there's
no regenerative braking.
It's all pads and rotors, so
the brake feels utterly natural.
A lot of cars--
EVs and hybrids use something--
a computer that kind of
decides whether it's
going to be regenerative
or brake pedal, based on demand.
And so then the
brakes feel weird.
This never feels weird, indeed.
And then when you
put it in L, there's
so much regenerative braking
that the brake lights come on.
And you can actually execute a
stop all the way down to zero
without ever touching
the brake pedal.
You just modulate the throttle.
Compared to the
Model 3 and the LEAF,
I like the Bolt's
setup much better.
Click it into L. You've
got all the regen you want.
Put it in D. You've got the
brake pedal feel you want,
if you want that.
The Model 3-- it's poke
through the touchscreen.
And the LEAF requires
you to flip a switch,
and you may not
remember to do it.
And it's not where you
think it should be.
This is really intuitive,
really easy, and very effective.
CALVIN KIM: Inside
the Nissan LEAF,
you'll find a pretty
much traditional car.
The materials are good.
There's not a lot of busyness
with the colors and design
choices.
We're in the top SL
model, so the seats
are this nice leather
with microsuede inserts.
The controls-- again, easy
to use, well laid out.
Again, it's more like a regular
car, instead of maybe a science
project, or a sci-fi set you'll
find in some of the other EVs.
DAN EDMUNDS: The one thing
that really disappoints
me more than anything
else about the Chevy Bolt
is the quality of the
interior materials.
It's just hard plastic
which would be OK
if it was attractive.
But there's just a
lot of weird lines.
And this color scheme
is kind of hard to take.
I mean, I would trade
away some battery capacity
and range to get
a better interior.
I mean, it doesn't
help that we've
got the light-colored
interior here.
I think that really does not
show it in its best light.
A darker color might
mask some of this stuff,
even like the reflections of the
dashtop or in the windshield.
Everywhere I go at just
about any light condition.
And that's kind of annoying,
because the visibility as a car
is great otherwise.
This car is probably
the least well equipped
of the three when it comes
to active driver aids.
It has a Lane Keeping
Assist System.
It has a Forward
Collision warning,
but it doesn't have
Adaptive Cruise.
It has nothing like Autopilot
or Nissan's ProPILOT Assist.
That's not bad because
you're not paying for it.
But at the same time,
it does lag behind.
And you couldn't get those
things if you wanted them.
JASON KAVANAGH: The design
of the Model 3's interior
is pretty unusual.
There's not a whole
lot of stuff in it.
I mean, it's a wide-open
space with a big touchscreen
in the middle, and
that's about it.
I mean, you could
even go and say
that maybe this is a
little generic looking.
But what you can't say is that
it's cluttered or crowded.
It feels really breezy
and airy in here.
There's a lot of space.
If you need anything, you
have to go to the touchscreen.
Or you've got a couple of
controls on the steering wheel,
and that's about it.
A good amount of
headroom for me.
I'm over 6 feet tall.
It does have this panoramic
sunroof arrangement
up here, which gives you a
little bit extra headroom.
Compared to the Bolt and the
LEAF's interior, or the Model
3's cabin-- is
definitely a departure.
And some people really love it.
And some people--
they're maybe going
to have to warm up
to it a little bit.
In terms of material
quality, the Model 3
does pretty well there.
The seats are this
synthetic leather,
which feels pretty convincing,
and looks like the real thing.
There's this synthetic
suede on the headliner
and on the door panels.
There's also this wood
applique on the dashboard.
Overall, the materials look
pretty good at a glance.
If you look closer at
the Model 3, though,
you'll notice some build
quality issues here and there--
cheap plastics, things
that don't fit quite right.
We've had some issues with
things falling off our car.
But it is built to a
higher price point,
certainly than the
Bolt or the LEAF is.
CALVIN KIM: The Nissan
LEAF is a hatchback
which means, obviously,
it's got a big hatch.
A lot of interior cargo room
with the seats folded up.
The rear seats do fold 60/40.
You'll find that once
you do fold them up,
there is a bit of a shelf
from the seatback to the cargo
floor.
But I'd say that between
its comp competitors,
this general cargo
area is very useful--
the low-loading height,
and the nice, deep floor,
and the tall ceiling height.
So you can fit taller cargo,
bulkier cargo in a little bit
easier.
DAN EDMUNDS: Of
the three, the Bolt
does have the least
cargo-carrying capacity
on paper.
But it is very flexible,
because of the way
the seats fold, the
way the floor can
be set into two positions.
And because you can
put roof racks on it.
JASON KAVANAGH:
The Model 3 might
look like a hatchback
from the outside,
but surprise, it's
a sedan, which
means it has a
traditional sedan trunk.
But that's no bad thing, because
the Model 3's cargo space
is pretty huge.
Not only is the trunk really
deep and a good width,
there's extra bonus storage
in the floor of the trunk
and an additional trunk
at the front of the car.
So you're not hurting for
cargo space at all in this.
Another thing it has is a
60/40 folding backseat, which
goes basically completely flat.
You could sleep in the
back of the Model 3
if you fold the seats down.
That's how much space there is.
CALVIN KIM: Compared
to its competitors,
the LEAF prices pretty well.
Now, in this SL trim with the
Pro-PILOT Assist and everything
like that, that'll set you
back a little over $37,000.
That's a little bit
less than the Bolt
Obviously, a lot less
than the Model 3.
And the federal tax credit is
still available for this car,
so you can get out the door
for a lot less than that.
You do get a lot of
car for your money.
The biggest attractor,
though, will be the range.
Both the Bolt and
the Tesla Model 3
have a lot more range
than the LEAF does.
Now, for those that are truly
range conscious that really do
want to go on
longer trips, rumor
has it that the Nissan LEAF--
bringing out a higher
range LEAF next year--
one with a 60-kilowatt battery
that cracks the 200 barrier.
Even if you're on
the fence about that,
this standard range
LEAF with 150 miles
is nothing to sneeze at.
DAN EDMUNDS: The
thing about this car
is you can buy it with
a premium package,
or you can get the
lower-priced base
model that does everything as
far as the driving experience.
It just doesn't have as
many bells and whistles
for a lot less money.
The Model 3-- right now,
the mythical $35,000 one
doesn't exist.
It's vaporware.
Certainly, this is a lot
less money than the Model 3.
If the $35,000 one
ever comes out,
well, we may have
to re-evaluate that.
JASON KAVANAGH: When the
Model 3 was launched,
it was purported to be the
$35,000 entry-level Tesla.
While that might
be the case, Tesla
is not shipping the $35,000
variant of the Model 3.
They're only shipping
a long-range variance.
And once you have
even a bare minimum
of options like this one--
I mean, this one's
sticker price is $55,000.
So we're in a totally different
segment than the other two
cars, which are substantially
less expensive than this one.
Tesla's Autopilot system
makes Nissan Pro-PILOT Assist
look like it's in diapers.
And in a way, it is.
It's Nissan's first attempt
at a semi-autonomous driving
mode, whereas Tesla has
had several years now
of real-world use of Autopilot.
And they've accumulated
a lot of data.
With that said, it's
not a perfect system.
We've discovered some
issues with it in the past.
But the continual
software updates
are a means to
address limitations,
not just in Autopilot, but
in any system in the car.
So again, pros and
cons with being
at the leading edge of things.
CALVIN KIM: Definitely one
of the coolest features
of the LEAF is Pro-PILOT Assist.
Now, it's not an
autonomous driving system.
What it is, though, is
a very, very connected
driver-assist system.
Now, just one button push
on the steering wheel
enables the system.
And then to turn it on, you just
activate your cruise control.
Now, what that gives you
is adaptive cruise control,
which keeps the distance from
ourselves and the car in front.
It does lane centering to--
keeps the car in the
center of the road.
And it'll even bring
you to a complete stop.
It's not a self-driving car.
All it's doing is just
keeping it in the center
and at a safe distance
from the car in front.
In an interesting twist of
fate, this system actually
works pretty darn good, even
alongside the Tesla's Autopilot
system.
Now, the Tesla has
the advantage of a GPS
and a connected system, where
it knows road conditions
to a certain extent.
The Nissan does not
have that feature set.
But considering the price
premium that Autopilot has
and that Tesla has, we believe
Pro-PILOT is a fantastic
addition to the Nissan LEAF.
DAN EDMUNDS: The thing
about the Bolt EV
is while I like
the way it drives,
I'd trade some of its range
for a nicer interior and better
seats.
JASON KAVANAGH: Yeah.
And while the Model
3 is definitely
the best driving,
most capable EV here,
you're going to pay
for the privilege.
The least expensive Model
3 you can get is $50,000.
The $36,000 version
just doesn't exist yet.
CALVIN KIM: Speaking of price,
that's the Nissan LEAF's forte.
It's the least expensive.
But it's also one of the more
comfortable out of the three,
which begs the question,
which of these three EVs
is the right one for you guys?
DAN EDMUNDS: Well, for me,
151 miles of range is enough.
And I do like those
seats, so yeah, the LEAF.
JASON KAVANAGH: Yeah.
For me, the cost is the
single overriding factor.
And while I don't think the
Nissan LEAF is necessarily
the best driving one
here, its price point
is really attractive.
So that's the one for me.
CALVIN KIM: Well,
we're unanimous.
It's the LEAF for
me also, thanks
to its price and practicality.
DAN EDMUNDS: But I
do reserve the right
to change my mind
when the $36,000 Tesla
Model 3 becomes available.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
Chevy Suburban - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed
Donut Media:
(tires squealing)
- Bad guys love 'em,
cartels gots ta have 'em,
and of course you can't forget
that they're loved by the biggest,
baddest authority figures
of them all, moms.
Biggie got shot in one.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Chevy Suburban.
(electronic music)
Suburban is longest lasting moniker
in American automotive history.
It's kinda like if Ford
still had a Model T.
I'll do my best breeze by the early,
low horsepower bits that happened
before your grand-pappy was just a glimmer
in your grandad's eyes,
but I'm not gonna skip it.
It was the early 30's,
and the middle of the US
had a big bowl of dust on its hands.
From 1930 to 1934, Chevy was
quietly putting station wagon
bodies on their full size
truck frames for private use.
Private, meaning outfits
like the National Guard,
and the US Military, you
ever heard about 'em?
Support the Troops.
As these big, long, covered
trucks are coming off the line,
some dude at Chevy was like,
these things are pretty useful,
maybe we could make one for the public.
Some sort of backwoods,
family and possession
transport vehicle.
Why not call it the Suburban Carryall.
My dude, Brad, that is why
they call you the thesaurus.
Dude, thank you, I love that nick name.
The Suburban Carryall had
its Chevy Truck papa's
rugged full size frame,
and from its station wagon
mama it got a sleek body.
Windows, and plenty of seats,
and it came out in 1935.
You may know that GM was in
the habit of sharing designs
between their companies back in the day,
and the boys over at GMC where like,
hey, can we borrow your backwoods,
family and possession transport vehicle?
And Chevy was like, sure.
So in 1937 both GMC and Chevrolet,
had the same care with the same name.
During Dub-Dub two, Suburbans were used
as military transport vehicles,
and soldiers got to likin' 'em.
So after all that warin' over seas,
GIs were coming home buying
houses and making babies.
A lot of them wanted to load
those families into the big
Suburbans they got used to in the war,
so Chevy gave 'em what they wanted,
with the third gen Suburban in 1947.
Look at those curve
fenders and sweeping lines.
This gen Suburban was the
inspiration for the 2011 HHR.
The greatest looking car of all time.
Through the 50s and 60s
the Suburban got beefier,
and more capable just like my grandpa,
but it also had some strong competish.
Jeep and the Ford Bronco started to siphon
some business from the Burban,
so GM responded by making
it more off-road capable.
But they were faced with a decision.
Would they slim down the
Suburban so it can compete
with the new brood of
off-road fun machines?
No, let's make it bigger!
So they did.
The 'Burban got over
a foot longer in 1967.
Sticking to their guns worked.
Just 6200 Suburbans were produced in 1967
and by 72 that number
had grown to over 27,000.
As is the custom with such great sales,
Chevy and GMC decided it was
time for a new generation
of the 'Burban, and it
would be the best yet.
- (Announcer) Chevy
Suburban, tough like a truck,
smooth like a wagon.
- The seventh gen
Suburban, debuted in 1973
and would last for almost 20 years.
This is the Suburban that would define
Suburbans for most Americans.
When it came out, you could
get it with the legendary
Chevy small blocks, or the
beefilicious 454 under the hood.
It was tall and aggressive and screamed,
I know what the heck I'm
doin', now get the frick
out of my way, you fence!
(Wilhelm screaming)
By the mid 80s, it was the Jeep Cherokee
and Toyota 4Runner that
were changing the game,
and the term SUV first entered
the automotive lexicon.
Lucky for Chevy, the
hardy, capable Suburban,
was ahead of the game.
By 1984, Chevy and GMC were
cranking out almost 65,000
Suburbans a year.
Remember, aside from small changes,
this model had already
been out for over a decade.
The world could not get
enough of this over sized,
outdoorsy, sports vehicle people hauler.
After 20 years it was time for a new look.
And GM handed the task
to their establish designer Chuck Jordan.
(jazz music)
I love doin' up the speed
episodes on American cars,
because I know how to
say everybody's name,
Chuck was known to design
cars that embodied the era
in which they were designed.
This '59 Caddy, the Buick
Reatta, this Oldsmobile 98.
He'd later do the Chevy Cavalier.
All of them competent designs,
but none of them very exciting.
Why choose someone so vanilla?
Well military and special
forces loved the Suburban,
for many reasons, but
one of those reasons,
is that it's not flashy.
It blends in as much as something
can, as massive as it is.
But when you need to stand out,
Caravan four more black 'Burbans,
and no body is gettin' in your way.
If you see a hoard of black Suburbans,
you know something is going down.
These vehicles are also reliable,
and easy to work on, all over the globe,
thanks, in part, to GM's world
wide parts supplier network.
They're everywhere and they're durable.
There are stories of dudes driving
through hostile territories and
taking fire in these things,
but making it safely out in a Suburban
riddled with bullet holes.
You know who else likes being badass
and traveling in an entourage?
Celebrities.
The beefy Suburbans
came with luxury options
and had plenty of room inside
for friends and business partners.
Biggie Smalls was in one when he got shot.
Rest in Peace big poppa.
He used to love when I called him that.
In 2000, GMC figured
it was time to rebrand
their Suburban as the
much fancier Yukon XL,
and the Chevy Suburban soldiered on
as though nothing had happened.
It did start to get a little
more comfortable to drive
when it was loaded up with high tech,
load leveling auto ride, and
rear leveling suspension.
Chevy leaned into the
off-road rugged image,
and unveiled the legendary
Z71 package in 2001,
which featured a front skid
plate, off roadin' tires,
a unique grill, runnin' boards,
and Z71 stamped everywhere!
They also had available Quadrasteer,
which means all four wheels steer,
which helps when your
vehicle is over 18 feet long.
And families love Suburbans.
They're not for everyone
but we all had a friend
whose mom or dad hauled
them around in a Suburban.
2007's 10th generation
Suburban took inspiration
from the Tahoe and was redesigned
with more modern, less boxy styling.
It had a badass, more aerodynamic shape,
and a steeply raked windshield angel.
It also got even bigger,
growing almost half a foot in length.
In February 2010, for the
Suburban's 75th birthday,
Chevy, of course, unveiled
the 75th anniversary
trim level, the Diamond Edition.
Chevy was embracing the luxury SUV market
and decided they would
absolutely kill it with this one.
This big, beefy beauty had
white diamond exterior paint.
It had standard 20 inch
chrome clad wheels.
Remote starting, adjustable pedals,
and leather upholstery with
heated slash cooled front seats.
Yes, Hip Hop moguls, and special ops
would still drive their
blacked out Suburbans,
but now Mariah Carey could have one too.
(James singing)
That brings us all the way to the current,
11th generation Chevrolet Suburban,
which was introduced to
public in September 2013.
Special edition, 11th gen Suburbans
abound the Texas Edition.
A little thank you to the lone star state
'cause more Suburbans are sold
in Texas then anywhere else.
Texas Edition featured a trailer package.
All them suspension
goodies, all wheel drive,
big old wheels, and of course,
an exclusive Texas Edition badge.
What could be cooler than Texas Edintion?
Only the most badass
special ops inspired vehicle
of 'em all, the 2017 Chevy Suburban!
Midnight Edition.
I want you guys to do an
exercise with me right now.
Close your eyes, imagine
the blackest black
you can think of, you got it?
The Midnight Edition is blacker!
Windows, grills, wheels, and
even the bow tie is black.
It's so badass!
The secret service and
spies must love this thing!
Summer of 2019 will bring us the fastest,
and most furious street themed
suburban to date, the RST.
RST stands for Rally Sport
Truck, think about that.
A Rally Sport Suburban?
The Suburban is already
unreal for it's size.
Now listen to what's in the RST.
6.2L V8 makin', 420 buff horses,
it's got magnetic ride control
with variable performance settings,
and a 10 speed automatic transmission.
Borla makes the exhaust,
and it comes out of the fricken side!
And it's also got Brembos,
because Brembos on everything.
And if 420 ain't your lucky number,
a specialty vehicle
engineering out of New Jersey
says they've perfected a tuning kit
that'll bump your beefy
'burbin to 1,000 horsepower.
That's buff horse power!
Over 10 decades, and 11
generations of vehicles,
four generations of humans,
have learned the Suburban
is unrivaled in a class it created.
And I wouldn't be surprised
if it keeps kickin',
for another century!
(tires squealing)
Thanks for watching Up to Speed,
every Thursday 'til the day I die,
new episode on Donut.
Smash that like button, smash
that like button, smash it!
This show is a history show,
but if you want me to actually,
you want to see me actually
interact with the cars,
check out my new show Bumper to Bumper.
I host it, it's just as funny as this one,
except there's cool cars in it.
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