A new Buick

[Renne]

My friend wrote me this morning and said he just bought a new Buick and that he must be getting old. I have a Buick Park Avenue! I told him the following,,,,,Life "begins" with a Buick! Your now authorized to drive in the left lane at 50mph with your right turn signal on, attempt to parallel park by nosing in. Once in, you may now do a 5 minute "bumper bump" to assure equal distance front and rear. You may also drive two lane state Hwy's at 45mph oblivious to the 26 cars in your rearview mirror. You may now shop at Pamida ,, park any way you like, even sideways! You may leave your lights on, (auto shut off) while in innocent awe your horn blasts repeatedly, you fumble with your key fob then drive off with your trunk open! You may practice double parking at the drug store and café while ignoring even semi air horn blasts!.... All this in preparation for a Caddy!

 

Oh yes,,,,,,Caddy's come with optional handicap stickers that can be displayed in non-handicap parking zones!,,,, Imagine the FREEDOM! As an added plus, the owners manual comes in LARGE PRINT!

 

Renne,,,

[mrich12000]

I had a Wildcat 1963 when I was i high school. Yes Mr. Earl made a nice car. Colonel Sam did right when he made them as well.

[Nemo]

And you have to wear large eye glasses!

[Sideoftheroad]

I have a '99 Buick Lesabre Custom that my dad gave to me. 140k miles and running strong.

 

He talked about he babied it and never let it go over 1500 rpm. All I can say is I don't drive like my dad

[Yammer Dan]

I have a '99 Buick Lesabre Custom that my dad gave to me. 140k miles and running strong.

 

He talked about he babied it and never let it go over 1500 rpm. All I can say is I don't drive like my dad

 

3800 engine?? Change the oil and you will never have to worry about the engine. About time for a fuel pump.

[dynodon]

Check out the really "new" Buicks. The new Regal is from the Opel line in Germany, and is one of the best cars around over there. For once, the good cars from Europe will come to the US.

 

The first manual trans Buick in a LONG time! The base engine is a 4 cyl with about 180 hp, but the step up is a turbo with 220 hp. The expected GS will have 255 hp in a hotter 4 cyl turbo.

 

Now I don't usually get excited about 4 cyl cars, I have a 340 hp 300C Hemi, but my next car better get at least 30 mpg, and it would be nice to get 35-40. Not many will do that, but the new Buick and some other GM cars may be fun and fast enough to entertain.

 

Not your fathers Buick for sure.

 

Not much being sold today has much DNA from the Left lane bandit, turn signal on forever crowd, even the current Caddy Deville is a great handling car that rides superb and takes curves, while getting 27-29 on the highway! I have driven a few and they are impressive.

 

Ford is also ramping up. Only Chrysler is now a little behind the curve, but I like my 2005 "Mercedes" Chrysler, it gets 26-27 on the highway at 80 mph, and drives like a dream.

 

The new SHO has 365 hp and 350 lb ft of torque from 1200 rpm! and gets 26+ mpg.

 

There is some good "American" stuff out there to compete with Japan Inc, and the Germans.

[Renne]

In addition!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What's with all the hoopla hoping for 30mpg in a new auto? I remember auto ads in Popular Mech's, Field & Stream and a host of other "manly" rags in the late 40's and early 50's all advertising 30-32 mpg! Imagine, a Nash Ambassador 4 door auto/stick 18 ft long getting 32mph! With all the technology we have today, air bags, auto sensor wipers, anti skid, cruise control, fuel injection, electronic ignition, On Star computer whatever, lite weight 2 door short wheel base w/ radial tires etc etc...don't'cha think 30mpg is a sin?

 

Renne......... :think::think:

[bryan52577]

Back in 1971 I had a Dodge charger 318ci V8 with 340 heads on it, ran REAL GOOD. And on the road at 70 mph it got 28 to 30 mpg constantly and that was with the high speed rear ends. Could smoke the tires and have LOTS of fun.

Then 30 years later I got a 2001 Dodge Intrepid with a 3.2 V6, and get "on the road" at 55 mph 34 mpg consistently.

30 years a smaller motor, less hp and only 4 mpg better,,, think I've been screwed. Where are the old engineers / designers? I want what I use to have!

 

Bryan

Edited January 26, 2010 by bryan52577

[Renne]

Back in 1971 I had a Dodge charger 318ci V8 with 340 heads on it, ran REAL GOOD. And on the road at 70 mph it got 28 to 30 mpg constantly and that was with the high speed rear ends. Could smoke the tiers and have LOTS of fun.

Then 30 years later I got a 2001 Dodge Intrepid with a 3.2 V6, and get "on the road" at 55 mph 34 mpg consistently.

30 years a smaller motor, less hp and only 4 mpg better,,, think I've been screwed. Where are the old engineers / designers? I want what I use to have!

 

Bryan

 

That's what I'm talk'in about! I say the auto co's are still being bought by the oil co's to NOT produce better MPH cars!

 

Renne........

[TEW47]

We have a '99 Buick Park Avenue and around town we get 24 to 25 mpg. It has the 3.8 liter engine. 30 mpg on hwy.

 

tew47

[mraf]

Have a brother-in-law that had a 69 Buick GS. He blew up the Buick motor and put in a 400 Pontiac. The car was forever christened the BUI NE AC! :rotfl: What a POS. BUICK When you say it fast sounds like your getting sick.:rotfl: GM should have kept the Pontiac line they were alot sportier looking. I'm with ya on the conspiracy theory. Somebodies on the take.

[99silver]

We went to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last Saturday and laid eyes on the 2011 Regal GS show car w/ twin turbo's and AWD, pearl white paint, the thing was stunning. Best looking car of the show, with exception of a few I couldn't afford even if I won the lotto.

[FJR Rider]

.....!.... All this in preparation for a Caddy!

 

Oh yes,,,,,,Caddy's come with optional handicap stickers that can be displayed in non-handicap parking zones!,,,, Imagine the FREEDOM! As an added plus, the owners manual comes in LARGE PRINT!

 

Renne,,,

 

Hmmm, my car resembles those remarks...NOT

[gibvel]

3800 engine?? Change the oil and you will never have to worry about the engine. About time for a fuel pump.

 

And change the upper intake manifold and lower intake manifold gaskets!! Hmmm I wonder where that coolant went... No sign of a leak anywhere.

 

Plastic UIM has a bad, bad record on the 3800. EGR stove pipe going from the LIM through the UIM will melt/deteriorate the UIM and cause coolant leaking into the UIM.

 

Other than that, yeah, they go forever.

[Venturous Randy]

If I ever win the lottery, there will be a 1987 GNX Grand National in my garage.

RandyA

[Freebird]

I honestly think that the 3.8 is the best V6 that GM has ever produced. I had a Pontiac Bonneville years ago that I put about 140,000 miles on before selling it and never had a problem of any kind. Then a few years ago I had a Monte Carlo SS with the 3.8 and though I only put about 35,000 miles on it before trading it for a SUV, it seemed to be just as good.

[FJR Rider]

The 3.6 DI in the CTS isn't too bad .. a little over 300 hp.

[Freebird]

Yea, I admit that I know very little about that engine. I know the 3.8 wouldn't touch it in performance. I was basically just talking about reliability, gas mileage, etc. The 3.6 may be just as good or better, I just have no experience with it. I know that some of the small V6 engines made by GM had plenty of issues. Intake manifold and head gasket leaks were way too common. I'm talking about the 3.3 (or was it 3.1?) and smaller though.

 

As for the Buick, the only one I ever owned was a 1970 GSX with 455, Ram Air and posi-track rear. Now THAT car would GO.

[gibvel]

Yea, I admit that I know very little about that engine. I know the 3.8 wouldn't touch it in performance. I was basically just talking about reliability, gas mileage, etc. The 3.6 may be just as good or better, I just have no experience with it. I know that some of the small V6 engines made by GM had plenty of issues. Intake manifold and head gasket leaks were way too common. I'm talking about the 3.3 (or was it 3.1?) and smaller though.

 

As for the Buick, the only one I ever owned was a 1970 GSX with 455, Ram Air and posi-track rear. Now THAT car would GO.

 

All I can tell you is I've had 2 3800 series 2 engines... 1999 Pontiac Bonneville and 2001 Buick LeSabre, that had/have the same intake manifold/gasket problems. Getting ready to do the intake manifolds on the Bonneville sometime soon here (hopefully it will wait till it warms up).

 

Great engine if you can take care of that, don't get me wrong. Great power and great mileage.

[Yammer Dan]

My Buick that got totaled in last accident had a 3300 with over 200k and was running as good as it ever did. Had to replace one injector but I'm sure that was caused by dirty gas. Didn't use any oil and no issues. Just kept on ticking...

 

My 1st Buick was a 1962 Invicti. 445 Wildcat and it would Scoot. Looked like a overgrown SS Impala. Loved that car.

[OldBear]

In addition!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What's with all the hoopla hoping for 30mpg in a new auto? I remember auto ads in Popular Mech's, Field & Stream and a host of other "manly" rags in the late 40's and early 50's all advertising 30-32 mpg! Imagine, a Nash Ambassador 4 door auto/stick 18 ft long getting 32mph! With all the technology we have today, air bags, auto sensor wipers, anti skid, cruise control, fuel injection, electronic ignition, On Star computer whatever, lite weight 2 door short wheel base w/ radial tires etc etc...don't'cha think 30mpg is a sin?

 

Renne......... :think::think:

 

Yeah, A lot of progress there! I listen to channel 164 (old radio programs) on XM and a couple days ago I heard an ad for the new '46 Nash 400 that was equipped with a "more powerful 6 cylinder and gets 30 mpg"! Let's see, 64 years ago a 6 cylinder full size car getting 30 mpg.....now, with all our high tech, super fuel efficient technology we can do the same thing with a 4 cylinder Honda.... Weird huh?

[Sideoftheroad]

The engine that is in there now is a Jasper. Like what others are saying it had an issue in that it was leaking antifreeze but it wasn't going on the ground. Going right back into the engine, so dad had to replace it. I think that was around 35k miles.

 

At least from the piece covering the engine it seems to be the same as the 2001 or 2002 impala I used to own.