I own an '05 and completely opposite experience so far. Maybe you didn't do the necessary upgrades?

The L67 in my Buick Riviera has an aluminum lower intake manifold, and of course the blower is alum - no issues with the EGR. The LIM gasket did degrade slightly by 246k miles, but frequent (3k) oil changes prevented any problems. Not only did the engine perform flawlessly from 24.5k miles, it was modified to make 300…

If you get a car with 17" wheels, you could have strut rub issues, resulting in tires wearing out in 5k miles. The 18"- equipped cars had fewer issues. All GTOs required a switch from soft rubber bushings to urethane, regardless of wheel size. Besides, the 18"s look better proportionally on a car with such big, flat…

If you get a car with 17" wheels, you could have strut rub issues, resulting in tires wearing out in 5k miles. The 18"- equipped cars had fewer issues. All GTOs required a switch from soft rubber bushings to urethane, regardless of wheel size. Besides, the 18"s look better proportionally on a car with such big, flat…

Cool vid. I had the same weird idea about a year ago. Here's mine:

Cool vid. I had the same weird idea about a year ago. Skip to 5:40 for the action:

Holden Monaro/GTO will do a good one!

The man who said this:

Buick Riviera. It was rebuilt at 246k after an incident on the road course. In the back straight following an Audi S4, chipped piston #1 at the top of 2nd gear. Later had injectors flow checked, #1 was running lean. Other than that the engine was still in very good shape and could have easily passed 300k miles in my…

I own an '05 GTO, but sadly keep it under cover in winter. What a mistake!

You mention a huge advantage these engines had over the competition: an OEM power adder, which opened up possibilities you just didn't have with NA engines, even the more capable ones. Fueling and timing are easy tunable from a laptop, and upper RPM limit can be raised for some amazing performance potential while…

Coolant leaks come from lack of basic maintenance - these things can happen with any engine, especially if driven to high miles. If you ignore the smell or see it leaking coolant, it's not going to heal on its own. My radiator, water pump and hoses were leak-free until 236k miles, then an easy fix. The fire recall was…

The LIM gaskets are a known issue ($40 part + sat afternoon), but otherwise not much breaks down on these engines. The ignition coils used on the supercharged version are very strong - I'm still on my originals at 271k miles! My engine has bolt-ons and dyno'd 300 crank HP, achieved as high as 37 MPG on a 125 mile…

Agree the final gen 3800 V6 is one of the best engines from the late '90s. The supercharged version in my Riviera lasted 246k miles until it chipped a piston at 5800 RPM down the back straight at Nelson Ledges (clogged fuel injector = lean condition = knock). Simple rebuild and now 271k miles and counting. Aside from…

I am in the US. It could be the way you drive and take care of your AMG engine, or maybe your definition of bulletproof is different. Here, bulletproof is reserved for Honda and Toyota engines, especially I-4. But domestic V-8 engines are sometimes included when you talk about performance, and interesting they are…

It's an interesting question that I researched before purchasing an LS2-powered car over an AMG, M or Audi S/RS. LS1 isn't the best LS for comparison, as it was designed years before the AMG 63, and wasn't "hand assembled". The LS7 was the engine GM built during the same period, and by hand. The LS7 made 505BHP &…

What a modern four-cylinder turbo engine does is force denser and colder air into that cylinder at a higher compression, yielding an explosion that's just as big but uses less fuel. That's a bit of a simplification, but you get the idea.

I don't think the international perception that American cars are actually inferior. I think that's what Americans think their perception is, because here in the U.S. that's what everyone's been told for many years, and to some extent it's been true. But quality has gotten a lot better, and the Big 3 are making some…