Originally Posted by Idle

A friend bought a 2003 Chevy Malibu. A nice little car for zipping around in and even pretty nice for road trips. Good mpg and low initial cost.

And no way to check the transmission fluid level. No way to drain fluid or to refill it. Sealed for life is what GM said. And I must admit it did last the life of the car which was about 136,000 miles when the engine just wore out.

So was GM really saying: The transmission will last the life of the car because the car is not built to have a long life?