Does Anyone Like Barettas?

Does anyone here have or like the Chevy Baretta? I am getting a 1995 Baretta from a family member but am not sure how great it is. I have driven it a couple of times now and it seems to have some pep to it. I was wondering how other Baretta owners feel about theirs. Thanks for responding.

its not a bad car, but I definitely dont reccomend driving it hard very often. Their transmissions are a very weak link and so are timing belts in those motors. Id put a new belt in it roughly every 60,000 miles cause if one breaks unexpectedly, you might bend or break valves and damage and or bust pistons.

It's got over 96,000 miles on it so I am sure the belts have been replaced.

The Chevy Beretta is a great car! You can ask any Beretta owner and they'll tell you as much. It has a strong motor and I haven't had any problems with mine up to date. The only thing that I had to replace was the alternator, but that is only because I am running a high power stereo system and an under car light kit, fog lamps, etc. The stock alternator wasn't capable of handling that much of a power pull. You should have very few problems with your Beretta. I race mine all the time and it still runs like new and they're a beast in the snow!! However, I would suggest getting a tranmission fluid exchange with new filter every 60,000 miles. It's just better for the car in the long run and it'll make it last longer. Make sure you keep up with the oil and filter changes every 3,000 miles. If you do these two things, the car should last you a lifetime. I know someone who has over 400,000 miles on their Beretta and it still is running like new.

Which Motor do you have in yours,, Its the 3.1 Multi port right??? its a great motor i had one in my 93' Grand Prix, Very strong V-6 When you drive hard on it the bushings in the Dog-Bone mounts located on top of the motor dont last long at all but its an easy fix, you will know they are gone, it feels like your transmission is slipping,, My friend bought mine off me 3 years ago and it has over 160,000 on it still running strong... -Jimmy

Hey Jimmy,

My Beretta has a 2.8L V6 multi port fuel injection in it. It is a very strong engine. I've been told that most of the GM V6 engines are strong motors however I'm not so sure of that, especially when it comes to Pontiac models. Not to bust on the Grand-prix you once had (because we could have just been unlucky and gotten lemons), but both people I knew that owned pontiac vehicles, including myself, had nothing but problems with them. My ex-husband bought a brand new Grand-am back in 85' and one year later, the engine locked up and I had to pull out the old motor and replace it with one I got at a salvage yard. A friend of mine bought a 95' Grand-prix for $5,000.00 and ended up putting another $7,000.00 into it for repairs and she's still having problems with it. I once owned two Trans-ams (a 1980 & a 1984) and they both nickel and dimed me to death so I got rid of them. I'm glad I did because a couple years later, I found out from the step-mother of the guy that bought the 1980 Trans-am I sold, both of the doors fell right off the hinges. :disappoin I sold both of them at very low prices but I had no idea the doors were about to fall off of one of them. So it turned out to be a very good decision to go with the Beretta because as I've said, I haven't had any problems at all with it other than the alternator but that was of my own dumb fault. I should have known that I was going to need a more powerful alt. with running all the stereo and light equipment I have on it. Yeah, I pimped out my Beretta. :smile: I figure it's such a great car and is running like new, I'd have it for a long time so I modified and customized it. It's not my dream car (Ferrarri F50) but it's close enough for me. I ABSOLUTELY love my Beretta. I've never owned a better car. :grinno: Annette

Sweet I only had my Grand Prix cause I was saving for The truck I bought now (which is my baby).. Silverado Z71 LS ext cab.5.3 V8 Im a big chevy fan myself but I know GM uses the same V6 motors in alot of their cars. My buddy had a berretta another had a 94 cutless, and I had my grand prix, the funny part was they all shared the same motor, body styles,interior ect... sorry to hear you had such bad luck with Pontiac.. I sold my grand prix to my friend and he still drives the crap out of it wth no major problems... -Jimmy

Your Silverado (very cool), it has a big engine in it. Is it fast? I don't know much about trucks other than I know the Ford Lightening is really fast. It's basically a muscle car with a truck body slapped on it. So far to date, it's the only vehicle that has beaten my Beretta in a 1/8 mile drag race (street race). I was quite upset. :banghead: I beat him off the line really bad but then all of a sudden, he came out of nowhere and whizzed by me like I was standing still. I thought he may have had NOS but people have told me that they are really fast so maybe he didn't. I like Chevy too. I don't like Ford at all. Chevy makes really good cars, except the older Cavaliers, I've seen a lot of them that have basically fallen apart. Chevy did a bad job with the early models of the Cavalier. That's cool your friend has a Beretta. As for Pontiac, thanks by the way. I do like the new GTO they're just bringing out. Looks like a really sweet car. It has a fairly fast motor in it too...something like 350HP. I'm looking forward to the day I can get a turbo charger fabricated for my Retta and then I'm going to add NOS to it. I'll probably end up killing myself in it at that point. LOL :lol2: I don't street race very much any more though. The last time I went downtown to the circuit, the guy in the lane next to me came very close to side swipping me. I haven't gone in there since. Some of those guys drive like idiots and don't know how to drive. I'm going to eventually take my Retta to the dragstrip at the Mason Dixen Dragway. It'll be a lot safer there (I hope anyway):rolleyes:......Annette

Annette, True.. the F150 Lightning SVT now comes with a supercharged DOHC V8, The truck is insane.. My friend just sold his 03' SVT Cobra and the Lightning is supposed to be faster.. It was only a matter of time before my friend would have ended up in the hospital, up here in MA The streets are barely smooth and never clean (potholes everywhere) anyways the mustang would get up to 140 like nothing! the lightning is supposed to be quicker but alot more dangerous, some people say the F150 is competition for the corvette. Ill never know id rather spend the coin on the new SSR which I think chevy did a sweet job with. Post some pics of your Beretta I didn't know people were so into these cars, Ive seen some tricked out (custom paint, wings, stereo's ect..) but it would be cool if I saw one smoking a pimped out civic..
-Jimmy

Jimmy,

Yeah, I kind of figure the Lightning had to be very fast in order to come out of nowhere like he did and passed my Retta (thought he may have had NOS though at first). My girl has a lot of torque and can reach a top speed of 180MPH (I replaced the factory chip and put in a high perfromance/racing chip so I wouldn't have the top speed limiter on the car any more). The only reason why I know I was going 180MPH is because I got caught by a State Trooper here in PA on interstate 83 (it's a highway that has a lot of straight aways and it's smooth). Not like up there in the states further north. New York has the worst roads I think. I do have photos of my car posted in the gallery here on this website under "vehicle photographs". I also have a website that has a couple photos of it and lists all the modifications I've made and lists the vehicles I have beaten in a 1/8 mile drag (street) race. I haven't gotten any photos of it racing because where I used to race it in the Circuit downtown, it's nothing that is organized. Everyone just goes cruising around the loop and when you get to a light, if the guy next to ya wants to race, then the race starts from there when the light turns green. Of course you have to be the front two cars at the light. Oh, and I have beaten a lot of Honda Civics that were pimped out...also Accura Integras also. There are a lot of them in my area. Seems a lot of people are into those Euro type of cars. That's all good though, I like the American muscle cars and I'll stick with them. Oh in case you want to look at it, my website address is http://hometown.aol.com/penandinkartist/ You might be able to access it just by clicking on the address itself (if not, just copy and paste it). Sorry I can't comment much on trucks, like I said...I'm very limited in my knowledge about trucks. I've never even owned one. I've seen some really sweet looking trucks though already that were pimped out and had the low profile tires on them and a lowering kit, etc. You can make a truck look really nice/sporty.

the F-150 hits an aerodynamic wall at about 150 MPH..after that it's almost impossible to accelerate....mind you 150 is blazing fast for a truck so...yeah...anyway...just my .02

Hi Pimp_squeak,

Thanks for your two cents worth. :biggrin: By the way, I love your Camaro, totally awesome!! See, that's what I'm talking about, good old American muscle. Do you show it at car shows? It looks like you did a really nice job of restoring it. I tried to access your homepage but the site isn't working right now.

A buddy of mine has a Lightning and it's a rocket, he still comes in second though.

That IS a nice Camaro.

-slacker

Hey Slacker,

Your buddy comes in second against what type of vehicle? Cuz if it's your Vet that beats him, I'd have to say that most cars would come in second to that. Sweet Vet!! Makes me drool. :iceslolan

Im glad to see the Vette Kick a## I Believe the Corvette to be the Real American Muscle Car! someday probably when I'm 40 Ill actually own one..
Slacker come visit MA and show my friends with Mustangs how its done... anyone around here with a Vette is drives slower than me in my Z71, poor vettes never get a chance.

I used to work the service counter at new car dealerships (svc/pts/warranty/etc).From 95-98 I worked at a Chevy dealer. We had many unhappy Berretta owners. Unlike the average guy who knows his own car, and maybe a few others, I became familiar with about 100 Barrettas, so I feel qualified to give an educated opinion. Unfortunately most of them had problems. Here are the most common.

.1- Water leak behind the dash.
We went crazy with these until we finally found what the problem was. Rain & wash-water would get in where the main heat/ac unit goes through the firewall. But most people, think the lower windshield is leaking. Spend $$$ to have the w/shield removed & resealed, but that’s not the cause. What you have to do is gut the entire forward interior (seats/console/carpet/dash/etc) remove the whole heat/ac unit, smear a 2” thick bead of body sealer around the openings in the firewall & re-assemble everything. The cost was about 8-12hrs labor @ $60-75hr, and it always happened past the 3 yr warranty.

.2- Water leaks through the rear side windows.

.3- The vertical door handle would break

.4- The seatbelt retractors would loose their tension & the belts would hang out the door.

.5- Misc electrical shorts due to the water leaks.

.6- Many small things would break in succession after a certain age.

.7- They went through brakes very rapidly (could be bad driving habits though?)

There were engine/trans problems too, but no more than other 90s Chevys.
And some of the Grey & Blue paint peeled, but that also was not limited to the Retta.

Funny thing was the few cars that didn’t have theses common problems, had NO other problems at all? A good friend of mine was one of the lucky few, who never had a problem (although he did go through a lot of brakes, come to think of it).

They were cool-looking cars, with unusual innovations. They were either a great car, or fell apart from under you. You might get a good one, but the statistical odds are against you. Kind of like the early 70s Vega.

Ugh, me and a lot of other people I know must have gotten lucky with our Berettas cuz neither I nor anyone I know has problems with their Rettas such as what you mentioned. I guess it's like with any other car, some come off the line good and others come off the line as lemons.
Annette

I own a 1992 Chevy Baretta V6 3.1 Multi Port Fuel Injection. I have no problem with it and it hasn't had a problem with me. I tried the HP out and found out I can go from 0-60 in 6 seconds. The only think wrong was the brake pads. Of course it was because of me, I come up to a stop going between 70-90 Mph and stomp on those breaks. I love my car, I have just been told that if it driven mostly in Michigan then it doesn't last long. I live in Texas and take several trips to Michigan and still no problem. I love my car. There is one minor problem that I have seen on other barettas, the back seat fabric on the top of the seat wears easily. Other than that, I love it.

Go here and you will find all the information about Beretta's that you ever wanted. I love mine, and you will see that many other people love Beretta's as well. There are fixes for the "common" problems listed above, and those are hardly deterrents from buying these great cars.

www.beretta.net
www.berettastuff.com
www.berettaspeed.com

I have owned 6 Berettas and havent' had any major problems. The one exception to this is my current 89 Base project car, which recently bent a valve. Of course, it has 247,000 miles on it, so it was about due for something. I drove it for 2yrs with no probs. Brunell8 has it right if you want to learn all kinds of cool mods and tricks for your Beretta. Just go to bstuff or one of the other Beretta sites. We are a pretty friendly bunch!

Ron

p.s. www.bstuff.com is the forum areas address!

Jimmy,

Yeah, I kind of figure the Lightning had to be very fast in order to come out of nowhere like he did and passed my Retta (thought he may have had NOS though at first). My girl has a lot of torque and can reach a top speed of 180MPH (I replaced the factory chip and put in a high perfromance/racing chip so I wouldn't have the top speed limiter on the car any more). The only reason why I know I was going 180MPH is because I got caught by a State Trooper here in PA on interstate 83 (it's a highway that has a lot of straight aways and it's smooth). .


Serioulsy your so full of crap it's coming out of your ears and nose, get real please, your post are so bad I had to register to the forum just to call you out for such horrid crap of lies.

[QUOTE=lovedoctx]I own a 1992 Chevy Baretta V6 3.1 Multi Port Fuel Injection. I have no problem with it and it hasn't had a problem with me. I tried the HP out and found out I can go from 0-60 in 6 seconds. QUOTE]


Dude can you count??? a 3.1 v6 is more like 8.8 seconds 0-60, the fastest beretta is a GTZ with a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder and it does 0-60 in about 7.2 with 180 hp and 160 tq from the show room floor. Some of the conversion 3800 super charged v6 (from a 240 hp GTP) swapped motors wont even take a beretta to 6 flat 0-60.

Jimmy,

Yeah, I kind of figure the Lightning had to be very fast in order to come out of nowhere like he did and passed my Retta (thought he may have had NOS though at first). My girl has a lot of torque and can reach a top speed of 180MPH (I replaced the factory chip and put in a high perfromance/racing chip so I wouldn't have the top speed limiter on the car any more). The only reason why I know I was going 180MPH is because I got caught by a State Trooper here in PA on interstate 83 (it's a highway that has a lot of straight aways and it's smooth). Not like up there in the states further north. New York has the worst roads I think. I do have photos of my car posted in the gallery here on this website under "vehicle photographs". I also have a website that has a couple photos of it and lists all the modifications I've made and lists the vehicles I have beaten in a 1/8 mile drag (street) race. I haven't gotten any photos of it racing because where I used to race it in the Circuit downtown, it's nothing that is organized. Everyone just goes cruising around the loop and when you get to a light, if the guy next to ya wants to race, then the race starts from there when the light turns green. Of course you have to be the front two cars at the light. Oh, and I have beaten a lot of Honda Civics that were pimped out...also Accura Integras also. There are a lot of them in my area. Seems a lot of people are into those Euro type of cars. That's all good though, I like the American muscle cars and I'll stick with them. Oh in case you want to look at it, my website address is http://hometown.aol.com/penandinkartist/ You might be able to access it just by clicking on the address itself (if not, just copy and paste it). Sorry I can't comment much on trucks, like I said...I'm very limited in my knowledge about trucks. I've never even owned one. I've seen some really sweet looking trucks though already that were pimped out and had the low profile tires on them and a lowering kit, etc. You can make a truck look really nice/sporty.


Not to be an ass or anything, but I just dont believe your car can hit 180, it doesnt make any sense. I guess it was a typo.

Hi Pimp_squeak,

Thanks for your two cents worth. :biggrin: By the way, I love your Camaro, totally awesome!! See, that's what I'm talking about, good old American muscle. Do you show it at car shows? It looks like you did a really nice job of restoring it. I tried to access your homepage but the site isn't working right now.
thats not a real car. Its a concept that someone came up with for a 2006 or so camaro

as for berettas, they are great cars. I have a corsica which is a 4 door beretta and I havent had any major problems with it. I wish i had a 3.1 instead of this slow ass 2.2 lol

I love my BERRETTA!!!! Bought it brand new off the floor with 2 miles on it and now I have over 200,000 miles on it. Had some minor problems with an air leak in the intake but took care of that and now it runs like brand new. Just went and bought a KIA and I hate that car. My berretta has more balls then the KIA. To bad that Chevy stopped making them. I drive it until it falls apart.

I did like my Beretta. I also beat the s**t out of it. Still, it made it to 115,000 before I blew a head gasket and totally trashed the engine. Somewhere in this thread(too lazy to quote) someone said it went through brakes fast. I found that to be true until I put on genuine AC Delco pads and rotors again. The brakes are still good (too bad the engine isn't lol)

The Chevy Beretta is a great car! You can ask any Beretta owner and they'll tell you as much.

Amazing you should say that. I've never met any Beretta owner (until you, I suppose! :p ) who actually liked their car -- myself included!

In the 3 years I owned my 92, I had it in the shop some 49 TIMES for defects. That's right, just the defect work; that doesn't include normal maintenance. The thing was an absolute lemon (If I hadn't been so young and stupid I'd have pursued lemon law on it). Among other things, it had the annoying habit of locking the steering wheel when running down the highway at 70 or so -- never could figure that one out!

I used to work the service counter at new car dealerships (svc/pts/warranty/etc).From 95-98 I worked at a Chevy dealer. We had many unhappy Berretta owners. Unlike the average guy who knows his own car, and maybe a few others, I became familiar with about 100 Barrettas, so I feel qualified to give an educated opinion. Unfortunately most of them had problems. Here are the most common.

.1- Water leak behind the dash.
We went crazy with these until we finally found what the problem was. Rain & wash-water would get in where the main heat/ac unit goes through the firewall. But most people, think the lower windshield is leaking. Spend $$$ to have the w/shield removed & resealed, but that’s not the cause. What you have to do is gut the entire forward interior (seats/console/carpet/dash/etc) remove the whole heat/ac unit, smear a 2” thick bead of body sealer around the openings in the firewall & re-assemble everything. The cost was about 8-12hrs labor @ $60-75hr, and it always happened past the 3 yr warranty.

.2- Water leaks through the rear side windows.

.3- The vertical door handle would break

.4- The seatbelt retractors would loose their tension & the belts would hang out the door.

.5- Misc electrical shorts due to the water leaks.

.6- Many small things would break in succession after a certain age.

.7- They went through brakes very rapidly (could be bad driving habits though?)

There were engine/trans problems too, but no more than other 90s Chevys.
And some of the Grey & Blue paint peeled, but that also was not limited to the Retta.

Funny thing was the few cars that didn’t have theses common problems, had NO other problems at all? A good friend of mine was one of the lucky few, who never had a problem (although he did go through a lot of brakes, come to think of it).

They were cool-looking cars, with unusual innovations. They were either a great car, or fell apart from under you. You might get a good one, but the statistical odds are against you. Kind of like the early 70s Vega.
I think I found my water leak, thanks for that info. My 93 Baretta is approaching 200,000. miles and still runs strong. Good pm schedule and premium fuel. Unfortunatly, the interior is getting in poor condition. Looking for interior parts, console, door panals veets etc.

nice looking little cars, and will last a while if properly maintained, but if not, they will have a lot of problems down the road.

I love my Beretta. I have a 1990 Beretta GTZ witht he HO 2.3L Quad 4 hooked up to a getrag 5-speed manual tranny. It does have a water leak somewhere making a nice 1-2 inch puddle on the floor behind the driver's seat, also making the floor in front of the seat damp. I love it though, none the less.