Post bailout engines straight up don't last. As a valet, I saw more surviving gm cars from the 90s and early 2000s, than I did the 05-15 gm era cars, and that says a LOT. They're already off the road!!
GM had the best seats and decent interiors until about 2005-07 when they discontinued all of their 90s holdover platforms. Bailout and post-bailout GM had the most uncomfortable seats and the cheapest hardest plastics known to man.
Late 90s-early 00s was peak GM. The interiors didn't look bad, the plastics were creaky but mostly held up well, the seats were tremendously comfortable, and the engines were very durable. These SUVs and the trucks they were based on used to be everywhere. These are still competent daily drivers if you find one that's been taken care of and isn't rusted or roached out.
I love this one... A very very cool early SUV... Its front fascia is so... idk... Just pretty like perfect 90s... Very very nice era for the Jimmys... And its very like... Modern enough to not be a hazard on the road and also to be quite comfortable for the users, and not too crazy to drive them insane with stuff...
It's so interesting for me to watch reviews of cars I've never seen with my own eyes, just because a lot of them just never were selling here. Greetings from Kyiv :)
98 gmc jimmy 4x4 4.3l vortec 4l60e np233. Very reliable. Did the Oldsmobile bravada front passenger axle swap. Np231 transfer case swap. The dash block off panel where the 4x4 buttons were. Ive had engine and transmission rebuilt. Complete suspension rebuilt i have a gu8 axle code. Had the original paint color repainted new gloss and had the orginal rims cleaned up. Get rid of the vaccume modulator on the front axle and vaccume tree the electronic shift on mine got stuck i replaced it a year later same thing!! No longer need now a stock s10 manual lever to shift transfercase.
Currently on my second Blazer. The first met a Kamikaze Nissan. They're slow. They're bumpy. There are a few design choices I hate. But as you put it, you can just drive a Jimmy. If you haven't driven one in 20 years, you can just get in and drive it. It just clicks. Tragically, there aren't any newer vehicles that you can do that with. At least that I've found. The closest I've come is the '06 300C I regularly used for work. After a few days, it's intuitive. It is one of the cars of all time.
I never really paid attention until this video, that pre-facelift for this generation it had the split tailgate but then if you notice after the refresh the tailgate on the became one piece where the glass still open separately but the entire tailgate opened upwards instead of the bottom part opening downwards. To be honest I don't know why they would change this, I guess at this point in the 90s the preference was to have the full liftgate so they opted to continue with that and ditched the clamshell style.
I had owned one '96 GMC Sonoma truck extended cab truck Highrider option 4x4. Great vehicle to own . Ordered new. Purple exterior with Grey interior Could've ordered the Jimmy with the Highrider option same as Blazer's ZR2 but decided with the truck. The 4.3 was a great engine . Reliable started every time!
I remember them. They were reliable and long lasting vehicles -- probably one of the last few to sell well or have strong sales stamina until GM's bankruptcy and slow decline that continues to this day.
I noticed its missing the rear wiper. But regardless I love the GMC JIMMY. I have a 1986 GMC S-15 JIMMY I've owned it since 95. Love my GMC S-15 JIMMY.
Had a -97 S-10 Blazer, that I bought new. It served me well for like 60k miles, but the next owner got a tsunami of troubles. (It was serviced by a local GM dealer during my ownership and I´m not punishing my vehicles...). As I can recall, the only surviving part of the drivetrain was the engine itself. I must say that the -96 Grand Cherokee I bought after this, was a way better automobile in every respect (But also more expensive new) The ride was superior to the S-10, and gas milage was about the same, even though with some tweaks to the 5, 2 it was much faster 0-60.
Those 4300 engines are notorious for blowing gaskets and coolant leaks, and bad owners fixing that with stop leak. I wouldn’t exactly call them “reliable”. Especially if you’re picking one up used I’d be wary of thinning they’re trouble free
Ill never forget, as a valet, all the annoying creaks and plastics from this era of GM... but atleast the dash hasnt exploded into a million pieces like a dodge, makes decent power unlike a toyota, looks ok, and is very reliable.
Hi. Interesting video. I have a '95 Jimmy, and I noticed that the '96 and beyond have a different 4.3 engine. Would you happen to know why they changed it? I have a repair manual that says that the engine in the '95 was only on the '94 and '95 Jimmy's before they changed it. I would appreciate any information that you might know. Thank you for the video, Kaycie 👩🦳
