Longevity of the 3.5L Pushrod VVT

[07Maxx]

So we are at 104,000 miles on the '07 Malibu Maxx with the 3.5L pushrod VVT engine. Still runs strong and doesn't use oil. Tranny seems to be doing fine as well. The only weak spot on the car seems to be the front suspension. Looks like I'm going to have to replace some of that again because of various clanking sounds on bumps and uneven tire wear.

But powertrain-wise, how do these engines & trannies hold up? I see a lot of Malibus & Maxxs still on the road so they must be reasonably good. I'd like to change the tranny fluid, flush the coolant, flush the power steering, etc., as well as put a new control arm and so forth, but I'm curious what kind of life expectancy these powertrains have. I found a used 2006 Caravan with only 56K miles on it and it's tempting me...

[pocket-rocket]

I have a friend with one as a tow car for doing drive away work (delivering RVs and box trucks). His has around 300k miles on it, 200k of which are driven. I just changed the lower control arm on the one side a few weeks ago because the ball joint was shot, changed a front hub/wheel bearing a couple months ago on it. Other than the occasional trans flush to fix a hard shifting issue his transmission has held up just fine. The only issue with the engine seems to be a valve cover leak.

[07Maxx]

Pushing 110,000 miles now. Flushed the cooling system & tranny a few weeks back. Also replaced the plugs. It's still running great. Plenty zippy and decent fuel economy (avg. ~23 MPG, about 70/30 city/highway driving).

Replaced control arm and tie rod. The crappy roads around here take their toll.

[07Maxx]

Wow. Just a month ago, had the cooling system flushed. On Tuesday, I discovered a leak in the radiator. Turned out to be 3 leaks, all of them occurring at the "joints". There has been an outbreak of busted radiators around here--long-term below 0F temps, and horrible heaves/dips in pavement because of the weather.