Yeah, I know the feeling. Just got my VX back on the road a couple of weeks ago after waiting 5 months for what started as a couple of burnt exhaust valves on cylinder #6 (misfire code) and evolved into a complete engine rebuild (she was burning oil badly). My mechanic insists that the piston was in backwards on cylinder 6 and just fell out when he was disassembling the engine while the others were in correctly and needed force exerted to remove them.
I bought a used '03 chevy s10 extended cab zr2 pickup w/113k miles to take over the day to day grind...my VX is now semi-retired and only has to back up the pick-up. My mustang gets stored winters & the motorcycle is as one would guess useless for winter transportation.
I settled on this pick-up because it was a one owner (female) and had 8 pages of carfax reports on regular maintenance at the stealership. No obvious rattles or defects and was undercoated when new (I admit..I never undercoated the VX...now get both oil undercoated seasonally). The 4.3L v-6's are known to last if you maintain them. My buddy as two with well over 300k and his mom has one with 280k. They don't get the greatest gas mileage though but mine has been delivering what is expected--19 higway 13 city-- (averaging 17.5 mpg all around driving).
The only negative so far is it drives & tows & idles great but doesn't seem to have top notch passing power in those situations where you are stuck behind a slow moving vehicle and have a small window of opportunity to pass. Guess I'm spoiled with my SC'd VX and Mustang GT & motorcycle in those situations.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]"If its fast and reliable, its not cheap;
if its fast and cheap, its not reliable;
if its cheap and reliable, its not fast."
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?