I am very interested in purchasing a lighting sometime in the near future. I have a couple of questions that I was hoping you guys could help me with. I work about 15-20 miles away from were I live. Its mostly highway driving. Is putting 40 miles day on this truck ok? I have heard some horror stories about engines blowing up and such. Really I just wanna know the reliability of a lightning. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

dafe

 

I have now owned two Lightnings... Both have been my daily driver. I have never had a problem with them. I will say that gas prices, and keeping the L clean do take their toll on me. But that is the price you pay to be able to drive an awesome machine everyday. One day in the near future I would like to get a "beater" to drive in bad weather. Other than that I would happily continue to drive my L daily.

 

Well, I did the daily driving thing on the L for about 3 months (Nov to Feb). Not a single problem at all.........except for the 4400 miles i put on it in that time. And hardly any of it was for enjoyable things like cruise nights, meets, joyriding, etc. All of it was work (52 mile round trip) and school (24 mile round trip). It was great as a daily driver, but I wasn't enjoying the truck on weekends because of all the mileage I was wracking up......so I bought a beat up old '89 Tbird for the work and school thing, and now I enjoy my truck on Fridays thru Sundays....I've only put 1800 mile on the truck since, AND ALL VERY ENJOYABLE WORRY-FREE MILES, ESPECIALLY SINCE AT THAT POINT I COULD AFFORD MODS...granted the $480 i've spent on a water pump and brake job on the Tbird could have gotten me a pulley and a filter kit for the truck, BUT it has saved me LOADS of cash on gas, tires, and of course, depreciation/wear and tear. It would have been quite expensive to keep driving the L as much as in those first 3 months. Can't compare 12-13 mi./gal. at $1.65 premium, to 21-23 mi./gal. at $1.45 regular

JC

 

thanx for the reply. now all I need to do is find a good deal on an L in my area.

 

I drive my '01 L everyday to and from work, around town, ect. I have put 19K trouble free miles on it in 9 months. No, I don't believe in fair-wheather cars/trucks, if I buy em, I drive em. I have had no problems with it, except a road hazard on the front tire, and a HUGE gas bill

 

Adrenaline- you took the words right out of my mouth.

Keeping them clean and maintained keeps you quite busy.

But it's a labor of love. I have never had a vehicle that I actually looked forward to an oil change on. But the L is special. I pamper it, and in turn, it whoops *** on the streets/tracks.

But for all the work- I still highly recommend getting one. The blower whine alone makes it all worth while. . . . . .ahhh.

Later,

 

Once you drive a Lightning it is hard to drive anything else.

I could drive anything I want and I choose the L for my daily 40 mile commute.

 

Mine's my only 4-wheeler. I have a 26 mile daily commute in Chicagoland traffic. This vehicle is almost perfectly suited to this mission: Great visibility, great handling, decent ride, IMMENSE power at ANY throttle position, purrs like a kitten at a stop.

Ok, so it drinks gas. That's my only complaint. I ride my motorcycles to work 2 days/week, so I average 25mpg overall. Besides, the quicker we use up all that mideast oil, the sooner we disarm their influence on world politics. DRINK UP SWEETHEART!

I think you'll find that the majority of people with blown engines / trannies had significantly modified the performance of their Ls. You wanna play, eventually you've gotta pay. There are quite a few people with 50K+ miles on their trucks with very few problems.

If live north of the Mason-Dixon, you'll need to look into some sort of winter driving solution. The stock F1s are a summer-only tire and are borderline hazardous below 35F. Some people drive a winter beater, others (me) switch over to snow tires on 16" or 17" rims, others tough it out or call in sick.

I've had no problems with my 02 since I bought it in February.

 

I live in Dallas, TX. Weather isnt really a big concern. I used to live in Michigan though and that was rough driving with any car. The funniest thing about driving in snow is watching all these people with there 4x4 trucks hauling *** because they think there invincible.

 

I drive about 20 miles each way to work daily. It is a blast to drive. I have a mix of stop and go and highway. Knock on wood, I have not had a single problem with my 99. I have a drivers door lock that is sticky, but will be fixed before the warranty runs out. The only drawback, like others mentioned is the gas mileage, but, we didn't buy Lightnings to get 40 MPG.

 

No 'trailer queen' here . 28,100 trouble-free miles--not counting the broken w/s from a rock on I-75. See my sig for mods--and it's been trouble-free! Gawdamighty, I love this truck!

Dan

 

My truck turns 50K next week. It's not even 2 years old. It's comfortable, and great on LA's truck beaten roads. Other that the IC problem, it has been reliable as a rock. Pun intended.

 

I daily drive my 2002 Lightning every day to get to work and school, which comes to around 40-50 miles per day. IMHO, the drive to work and school is generally my favorite part of the day, especially when i'm the first person to a red light that hasn't turned green yet.

 

Well, 26,000+ miles in 1 year and 1 month. I guess it is a daily driver.

Very reliable and comfortable truck. Heck, we have even gotten 18+ mpg on a few occassions

The truck is currently used as a daily driver for me, my wife, and our 3 month old son...... comfortable, but a bit tight. I just hold his little head when I get on it.

 

LOL!! You know how their skulls are kinda soft when they are young? Be careful not to "flat spot" his head doing hole-shots! Heheheh...