thinking about buying a 2000 zr2

I'm looking into something a little more winter friendly than my poor camaro. There is a 2000 blazer zr2 that caught my attention, ive done my research on them, but im still wondering things reliability and what not wise, from owners, and is there any other kind of 4x4 you would recommend looking into? Also, generally speaking, how much more does the zr2 package make the blazer? I'm a car guy so I'm almost completely new to trucks/SUVs I'm afraid :(. Any general help would be appreciated.

There good trucks with allot of dumb little things the most important thing is if it was well maintained the zr2 have better ball joints and wheel bearings and did not have the problems with them like the reg s10s and blazer if you do decide to buy it replace the vac switch on the transfer case it could save you allot of money later its like 10 bucks at advance. also change the trans fluid it is always overlooked and cost about the same as and oil change there were some problems with intake gaskets that were bad if not fixed but ive had a 96 blazer 96 bravada and a 98 Sonoma with no real issues besides normal stuff with cars with 100000miles on them between the 3 of them I have put about 700000miles on them. its the only gm product I would buy again if maintained good you could get 2000000miles easy explores are good to

I've owned a 2000 ZR2 for about 6 years now, 130,000 on it and very few problems. The ZR2 is heavy duty everywhere in suspension and likewise mine is still solid. I did replace a wheel bearing at 110k though. Other than that, tires and shocks around the same time, brakes at around 80k. Drivers door hinge pins, and a loose alternater bracket. Oh yea, fuel pump at 85k has been the only biggy but at the time I was driving about 600 miles a week so I can't say if it's common.

New, the ZR2 package added $4200 to a standard Blazer from the stickers I looked at.

If your familiar with Camaro engineering you'll feel the same with the Blazer.

I also own a '93 with 225,000 miles on it. Still only uses a quart of oil between changes (5k). I'd like to see it hit 300k but I don't think the Wife does. I''ll be trading that one in next spring for another Blazer.
Go for it.

If I didn't get a Blazer, I probably would have gotten a 2nd gen Pathfinder or Infiniti QX4.

I've got a 98 ZR2, 80k miles on it. Bought it three years ago with only 35k on it. It's a good-looking truck. Body holds up well (except the edging around the rear windows, it's sun-damaged). Pulls my boat well. Cant' get it stuck in the snow.

Enough positive about it though. The 4WD has been out twice (dash switch failed once, Transfer case control out once), the ABS caused trouble for awhile (wheel-speed sensor that cost me $175 AFTERMARKET!), and the heater core had to be replaced at about 60k. I also had the ever-common intake gasket issue, the rear wiper quit working long ago, and I've put new motors on both front power windows. I've also replaced the door hinges on the driver door. From reading online and asking around, these are all very common problems.

The real killer. . .16 MPG highway and about 12 in the city (with platinum plugs and a new airfilter and regular oil changes, otherwise it's worse).

I had an 96 S-10 extended cab pickup before the blazer, and it had almost identical issues. It's like GM just refused to engineer a fix for the 4WD, door hinges, or cooling system issues.

^^^Yeah, I like these trucks, but don't understand how GM could allow these things to happen for so long. And that gasket thing is a problem on thousands of other GM products too.

As for your 12/16 ratings, that is definitely not normal numbers and you shouldn't have to use platinum plugs to make those numbers better. I'm surprised your Blazer is running well with platinums plugs. Changed your tranny fluid and/or differential fluid lately? How old are the 02 sensors? Ever get any SES codes?