I'm thinking of buying a 1999 Blazer from a buddy. It's in extremely nice shape with about 100K miles on the clock (160K Kms). He will let me have it cheap.
.... so I hit the Internet to do some reading and discover this car is generally hated: intermittent electrical problems with the power windows, locks, and interior lights, extremely low fuel economy, front end requiring rebuild every 60K Kms, front CV joint problems, and a few other things that sound common. The general concensus of the 110 negative reviews (of 170) is that they are expensive vehicles to own.
I notice alternators and radiators aren't on the list. Don't they use the same alternators and rads as the full size pickup trucks?
I'm sure this truck has a bad frontend. It wonders a lot. It has big tires so that is probably part of it. I don't mind rebuilding it, if that's all it would take to make it perfect.
This is the 4x4 version of the truck and it has every feature from heated leather seats, CD changer, and so on. It's all there and it all works and looks like new except for some surface cracking in the leather on the driver's seat close to the door.
To be fair ot the vehicle, a lot of the negative reviews are really more about terrible to non-existant dealer service causing a fault to turn into a big, big deal.
I guess what I'd like to know is how bad are they? Does anyone here have some service nightmare stories to share?
I'm thinking of picking it up Tuesday. It is cheap and I could use a four wheel drive as winter approaches. Did I mention it was cheap?
EGR valve issues, injector issues (expensive repair, may have been repaired under a special warranty policy though), I've replaced the occasional 4wd selector motor (obviously not a problem if it's not a push button 4wd). Power windows not more of an issue than any other car I've worked with. Rattles galore. Get rid of the dexcool in the cooling system, if the system develops a leak, it turns to mud and clogs everything. Interior light and lock issues usually are due to a broken wire in areas that get a lot of flex, like between the door and the body. Fuel mileage is not super, but not off par for that type of vehicle. Really not a bad vehicle though.
Just out of curiosity, what exactly does the front end wonder about?