04monteintimidator

thank you... finally someone who doesnt hate it just because its FWD and styled a bit out of the box

Alright the car is comming up on one year in my ownership, i've had it since May 16th 2005, and i figured id give a review on it, and i promise to be as unbiased as i possibly can. I received the car with 5002 miles on it, now it has 13287. Ill address the miscellaneous problems first. Every now and then i do here a random rattling of something, most of the time i figure out its just one of my CD cases rattling aorund in the glove box, but occassionally it is something else, tho it seems to go away after a while. Also the sunroof occassionally cracks, not as in the glass cracks, it just makes a loud crack noise, its either something falling ontop of it or something else i dont know. As far as performance, it does have the 4 speed auto and its not god awful but its not the best thing in the world either. First gear is great, nice loud rich exhaust note along with lots and lots of pull, second gear is good but theres some kind of weird gap between first and second and its kind of bothersome, 3rd and 4th are fine, not great but not bad just regular... the only thing i dont like that much is in 4th gear towards the top you can feel the engine running out of breath, of course your going considerably fast at this point, but still. Another thing thats strange with the transmission is when im accelerating hard off of a roll, such as comming out of a toll booth, there is a considerable delay in the time when i step on the gas and when the car roars foward, it does create quite the impressive effect in the cockpit as you can somehow feel the power building before it takes off, but it still shouldnt do that or at least i dont think so... The engine is AWESOME it has such good power in the low rpm and smooth consistent power until the towards the top end in 4th... it just feels so amazing when you step on the gas and feel all that power throwing you forward, its impossible to describe unless you experience it, although im sure those of you with GTOs, Firebirds Camaros etc get a better feeling out of your car, this is still quite the experience. Now to address one of the two things everyone hates about this car... front. wheel. drive. yes, the engine is mounted transversely, yes the transmission is connected to the front axle, yes if i do a burnout the smoke comes out of the front wheel wells. BIG DEAL. so its not a huge hulking V8 strapped to a rock crusher transmission delivering tire melting power to the rear wheels, but it does its job and it does its job well, and unlike the huge RWD V8... i can drive it in the snow and not have to take every corner at 5 miles an hour for fear of a spin out... front wheel drive is not that bad, no im not saying its better as far as performance is concerned, i know RWD is the better option, but that doesnt mean FWD is terrible, this car delivers plenty of power to the wheels and those wheels deliver it right to the ground handling is great, honestly ive never had a problem with corners no matter how sharp and no matter what speed i took them at, i remember once i took a 180 near hairpin turn at 45, and went into a bit of a powerslide, but had control the whole time, im never afraid that this car is going to do something i dont expect it to... it gives you this feeling of total and complete control and is surprisingly agile for a big heavy car... i can remember one time where i was going down a narrow street at 35ish and was all of a sudden confronted by another car headed towards me at 40+ mph... i reacted and the car reacted right with me... quickly diving to the side and then back into the road with minimal effort from me... its very springy on the suspension which i believe are coil overs all around... ill have to check that later... the suspension lets you know your in a sports car... stiff, very responsive, very very enjoyable ride Sure its a love it or hate it design, sure its FWD and some people hate it just because of that, sure its a V6 and not a V8 and doesnt have manual transmission, but if you like power, if you love to hear the roar of a big fire-breathing engine, and if you love a ride in an agile, sporty car, you should give a monte carlo a look... its quite the head turner on the streets and gets alot of smiles from pedestrians when they see this big monster from detroit rumbling down the street

i know i was actually really happy to see someone finally drive it and realize that just bcuz its FWD doesnt mean it suckz beyond compare... thank you for that article an putting that terrible rumor to rest and i was talking about personal experience... ive beaten both new and slightly old (model right before the mid-year change) 325s and 330s... some of them from a rolling start at like 40ish... so either the drivers were just really bad... or my monte has some tricks i dont yet know about...

mmm the good ol' days... however i must say... and this is not to downtalk the SS454... great car... BUT my car gets very similar numbers if i remember correctly... maybe even better... not by alot... but still... i believe 0-60 is in the mid-high 6s... and the quarter mile in the low 14s... is the FWD L67 still a disgrace to the Monte Carlo nameplate? anyone?

well that depends which one he has... if hes got the 240 horse coupe... and it performs similar to my monte... he'll smoke a 325 and a 330... ive done it... dont know about an X3 tho...

wow ted thats lookin nice... i see you took a similar direction as i did...

... what?!?!?! are you serious?!?!! you do of course realize the car you are refering to is a PONTIAC... not anything else... as bad as the kidney beans are... at least they keep the spirit of the split grill that pontiac is known for... i would HATE to see a single grill pontiac... because then it wouldnt really be a pontiac anymore... at all... and no i dont need anyone showing me sunbird pictures... i know... but i try to ignore that particular car... as for the car... still looks like bugs bunny + a G35... i dont like it

but uh... you also think this looks better than this end of story...

ill probably be going sometime next week... i just need to remind my dad about it... i dunno about saturday tho... maybe...

ya know wut else tho... that C pillar... would SUCK for visibility... it looks like its 2-3 feet wide at the bottom!! thats crazy!

is it just me... or does this look like the nomad concept... plus an A4... plus the camaro... anyone? if your wondering where i see this... A4... the grill and headlights... Camaro... the intake on the hood, shape of the window at the c pillar and the kick thingy above the rear wheel... Nomad... the entire shape of the vehicle

haha no no... right after i poste that i remembered that alot of the engineers ive talked to are also subcontractors of some kind... not to mention since i live so close to NYC where construction is pretty much always going on... most people involved in construction are making more money than the normal... so isregard my previous post... haha sorry

when i saw that pic i immediately thought of this:

yeah i know alot of engineers... my dad is in that business and ive met alot of people from around the country... they make much more than 76k a year... these figures are messed up...

oh man... what is that thing and what is with the c pillar?? it looks like they were goin for a hatchback kind of thing... but then decided to go with an suv thing... and didnt feel like changin the roofline... thats atrocious...

hahaha nice... i like it... oh man hyundai tiburon.... my friend drives one... and i feel bad when he tries to keep up with me... altho i feel even worse for my other friend with his 96 lumina trying to keep up with the tiburon thats tryin to keep up with me... haha the newer tiburons are alot better looking than these ones... but they are still made by hyundai so they still dont count...

im assuming its a z8 then? its real real nice... the Zs are the only bimmers that havent bored me to death with their styling... oh and i guess the 7 series are alright... but the rest... just so... boring...

yeah i know that... but i dont think the car weighs less than 2500... plus the GTI has 200 horse... which is why im saying it was boring... cuz why would you want the "rabbit" with 150 when you can have a GTI with 200?

whoa!!!! 68 what is that bimmer!!!! that is the nicest bimmer ive EVER seen... i mean the z3s and z4s are nice but that is drop dead gorgeous!!!!

150 horsepower... *yawn* oh yeah... real 'powerful' engine... is this going to look any different from the GTI? or are they just renaming it and making it really really boring?

closing the browser then comming back on works... but that was really weird...

and you think the eclipse looks good at all? even if you dont like the looks of the monte... its the lesser of two evils

heres the message i get when i try to post: