2000 LS V6 general questions

HI.. Im new to this side of the forum.. Im looking at a 2000 LS V6 with the 5 speed manual transmission with 98k miles.. The car looks really clean and has basically only had 2 owners (the guy who has it now bought it from his dad).. my questions are basically am I buying a headache? Ive read so many horrible reviews on this car, but I really like the way it looks and drives..

Is the manual transmission more durable than the automatic?

Will i get better mileage with the manual?
If so, what can I expect?

The car runs great and I felt no miss, but the engine light is on and the codes say bad O2 sensor and misfire (didnt say which one).. but I didnt feel a miss..will I have to do a tune up as soon as I buy the car?

Does the V6 engine have all the same issues as the V8 (coil packs, etc)?
Will is stand up better?

Overall, are these good cars or are they lemons to stay away from? Any help would be appreciated

You won't have to worry about the transmission issue so much with the manual, but I don't know that fuel economy will be much better than with the automatic. You might expect 1 mpg better economy city and highway. A lot will depend on how you drive it.

The coil issue and leaky valve cover gaskets are there whether you have the V6 or V8. The surprise is the coils and valve cover gaskets are easier to replace on the V8 than on the V6.

My wife has a 2002 LS V6 automatic and other than needing to replace 2 power window regulators, she hasn't really had any problems. She had a problem with random stalling for a short period, that seemed to be remedied by putting in a new battery. She's put about 40k miles on the car. Oh, I also had to put a new Dual Coolant Control Valve (DCCV) on her car to get the dual zone climate control working again. I've been impressed with how easy this car is to work on actually.

I had a 2004 LS V8 and likewise, I was impressed with how easy it was to work on, even though I really didn't need to do anything to it in the short time I owned it.

-Rod

thanks for the reply.. what kind of mileage is your wife getting.. city and hwy?

She rarely calculates it, so I'm not sure. I do remember calculating it on a trip of mostly highway we got 26 mpg average over 450 miles. That was with two adults, a 3 year-old, and a week's worth of luggage for all three.

-Rod

So far I have replaced the AC compressor, coil packs, valve cover gaskets/seals, spark plugs, front sway bar bushings, and the right interior door release (plastic junk) handle. Only other things have been normal maintenance like brake pads, wipers, etc.

It's a nice car for the money. The sell pretty cheap because they have a terrible reputation. I don't think the car is really that bad. Most of the horror stories I have heard are due to mis-diagnosis which leads to people spending a lot of money on things that aren't needed before the real problems are fixed.

My car has 130k on it. I bought it used with about 98k on it. It still runs and looks virtually new.

Gas MPG is typically only about 19-21 for me.