1992 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Supercharged | Retro Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2020
- Well I'll tell ya, Park Avenue leads to...SKID ROW!
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Grandma won’t be late to bingo in this car!
gRanDmA WonT Be laTe TO binGO iN thIs caR!!! That's how you sound... beautiful!
@ Amy Lee.
This is writing, not speech.
Also, unless you were describing the sound [sic] as beautiful with a dramatic pause... don’t use an ellipsis in place of a comma.
she probably blew some dude in the back seat too... lol
@@Bartonovich52 I didn't understand a word you just said.
@@mikeatv yup, your dad.
Bring back the American land yacht. We want them over SUV's!
Just a Buy a Rolls Royce
Nobody want's land yacht's anymore, just a small niche' group of people, everything's trending towards SUV's now, that's why all the big car companies are moving toward them, they're in the business to make money above all else, so they'll engineer and sell what their bean counters tell them is moving.
Nathan McDonald
So a niche group of people is no one? Ops right we want land yachts and I think SUVs are gonna start trending down soon
@@Lion-dr7uv A niche group is small enough that Ford basically did away with Sedans completely in favor of trucks and SUV's, a decision I don't even fully agree with as an F-150 owner, but that's just how it is, people want cars that can corner as good as they can sprint, for everything else, they want an SUV, that's just a fact as it stands right now.
Lion1 Technically SUVs are trending down. Sedans and SUVs are being replaced with CUVs. Pickups are doing well right now, but will also trend down as fuel prices go up and parking becomes tighter.
A supercharged couch‼️ Buicks are so comfortable
I would drive that now
Oh definitely
I do drive it now. I love it
Me too! Had a ‘94 Ultra that I miss badly. Would take a clean one again in a heartbeat!
Is this Tyler Hoover's alt account?
Get one!
Nearly 30 years later and I am still seeing a good amount of these cars on the road in my area... :)
GM cars stay on the road.
@Roger Dodger how many almost 30 yesr old cars on the road are japanese? I used to see old hondas a lot, but hell, i barely see any older foreign metal still on the road.
Still see old GM cars though.
Roger Dodger I concur. You see a lot more older Hondas and Toyotas than GM cars. My Corolla is ten years old and runs like a champ.
@@thewaragainstcars i own an 03 honda. Still, here in buttraunch, NC, i see far more old GM metal going around than hondas or toyotas. I'm talking anything older than a 99.
@MOZZYTHE1ST not bullshit. The hondas around here got mostly ragged out by ricers. The gm cars, on the other hand, tended to be kept by grandmas and grandpas.
3800 is no joke, dude.
Grammy had one of these is the champagne color. What a sleeper. You could hear Grammys led foot from around the corner and that supercharger whine.
Imagining someone's granny giving it the beans is a hilarious sight
My grandmother had a lead foot even in her 80s. Remember riding with my mother after meeting for dinner with her and my grandmother. We were doing 120kmh in a 100 zone. Granny blew by us at 130-140
This was a good car. Buick did a good job bringing the Essence show car to production. And these were pretty reliable. You still see quite a few of these on the road
When the cars were still "classic," like the hood ornament still for the GM cars...Buick, Chevy Caprice, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac....the last of the classic years 😥😥
Leather racing gloves are a must for moving the shifter lever through its paces while parked.
Probably one of the best American cars of the 90s.
I loved my ‘94 Ultra that was my first car! Reliable, quick, and very comfortable.
I guess that partly explains why Buick is out of the actual car business. This car was abysmal.
Ml
This was a hideous POS. The sort of car you’d dread to even rent.
If this was one of the best American cars, the Japanese really had nothing to be worried about.
2:36 That was the first and only time someone has ever worn a helmet in a Buick Park Avenue
Probably for safety and liability reasons.
I owned a 94 Park Ave Ultra - I still regret selling that car...smooth as skil, as luxurious as a Cadillac deVille but minus the headaches of the Northstar
Basically the Buick Park Ave was essentially Buick's version of the Deville because they were built on the same platform. I agree with u about the Northstar headache though. The 3800 was a damn good motor and GM needs to bring it back. If they do, they need to make a Series 4 without direct injection. Also love the way the 3800 sounds. Sounds truly like a Grandma car but I love Grandma cars though. I do like the early 90s Deville with the 4.9
@hitek9wittafulclip facts! However, the earlier Devilles came with the 4.9 V8. The 4.9 is a very good durable motor but it was just slower and heavier than the 4.6 Northstar. GM fucked up by wanting to compete so badly with the European makes. GM needs to stick to what they build best and that is pushrod V8s. Thats why the 4.9 was a better built engine. DOHC V8 are just too sophisticated and quick to break. At the end of the day, when it comes down to a 6 cylinder, GM's 3800 was the best of the best. The GM 3800 V6 was just as durable and reliable as Toyota's 1MZ V6 engines for the Camry.
I had an all black fully loaded ‘94 Ultra with the Gran Touring Suspension pack as my first car and regret selling it. Tried to get a car that could replace it and test drove a ‘97 STS with the Northstar at a dealer. Loved its power, but on the way back home after taking it for a day to get checked out the engine overheated and warped the cylinder head. I settled for a ‘99 Mercedes ML320 SUV, which served me well for the time I had it, but I missed that ‘94 Ultra badly. Had a ‘95 Ultra and ‘95 Riviera, both supercharged and with the Gran Touring Pack, but they didn’t quite hold a candle to that ‘94 Ultra. It didn’t help that the Riviera tried to kill me by losing almost all brake pressure and the ‘95 Ultra was a rust bucket lol! I’d love to find a clean ‘96 Ultra due to it having the Series 2 L67 3800 supercharged engine, as they have a lot more aftermarket options.
@@jtb1990419 Indeed they do. I owned a 2000 Buick Regal GS Joseph Abboud Edition. It was Supercharged. I fixed it up back to stock and sold it to my aunt with 140k miles because she needed a new daily driver (she owns a 2018 BMW X5 but its not a daily driver. Her old Altima was and it put her down). It was clean and immaculate in great mechanic shape. She still drives it and that was 2 years ago. I miss it alot but I still have the pleasure of detailing it when she wants both of her cars done.
@@SouthsideKidd550 The 3800 was a great motor initially, but of course GM had to tinker with it and find ways to "improve" it, making it a junk motor. They switch to a plastic intake manifold, resulting in oil and coolant mixing when the walls between the oil and coolant channels melted. I knew a guy with a '97 Park Ave who bought it new and had to have the engine rebuilt at 40k miles because of this issue. Then later on in the 3800's life, GM must have monkey'd around with it more because they became massive oil burners right off the showroom floor.
Tyler Hoover has joined the chat.
😅👍
😂😂😂
I BOUGHT THE CHEAPEST, BUICK SLEEPER IN THE COUNTRY
I still think it was stupid of him to get rid of that 😂
@@DrOldsmobile91 He did!? 😭
Wow... Compared to what the luxury brands are selling today, this is amazing. Real gages, real space, comfortable without all of the hyper expensive crap that fails just after the warranty expires, and at a price the someone might be able to afford....
Agree with you on everything but the pricing.
$30,000 in 1990 is roughly equivalent to $61,000 today, so about the same as the average upscale SUV.
@@GKMess42 What I was thinking was that the price listed from back then would be a great price for it brand new today, especially since you can't get anything in that class as stripped down as this one is. It's still got more equipment than I need, which shows just how bloated with garbage the current offerings are.....
@@7891ph I agree with this! I don't need all of the fancy gadgets that even base model cars have today. I'm all about gadgets, just not in my car.
I agree there! I wasn't sure if that was what you were getting at.
Too many cars these days have extra junk that isn't really needed.
Just give me vinyl floors, a good running motor and tranny, and a Bluetooth radio. Not all this "lane detection" and camera crap that's going to break down after 5-10 years.
@@GKMess42 Well, my new friend, you and I are in (generally) total agreement. Your list of preferred options perfectly describes my ideal pickup, which is why I said generally.
Don't get me wrong, I own a small, fairly stripped down car (Why, Oh Why couldn't the original owner be a member of the "Save The Manuals!!!" club????), which has been serving me well (2005 Ford Focus, 2.0L Z-Tech 4cyl. w/the ZX3 suspension package), but I prefer trucks. If they brought back actual compact trucks, with a price low enough that mere mortals could afford one, I'd be all over it. Especially if they brought back an actual long box model that could actually hold a 4'×8' sheet of plywood flat on the floor of the bed with the tailgate up. Like that's ever going to happen....
A friend of mine back in high school had a black 94. It was nice and pretty quick
I had an all black ‘94 as my first car right after I graduated. Miss it terribly!
As an Aussie, I've always loved the early nineties Buicks, particularly the Park Avenue and Roadmasters. Incidentally, our Holden Commodore gained the option of supercharging in the mid to late nineties, delivering plenty of oomph on top of the range Calais, S models and long wheelbase Statesman/Caprice models. 👍
Is this car sold in Australia?
Your Second Gen Holden Commodore shared the same platform as the GM W-body cars here in the US. Underneath the body, there wasn't much difference between the Buick Regal and the Commodore VS. On the plus side, you guys actually got a manual Getrag 5-speed as an option, while we were stuck with the automatic as our only option. Bob Lutz of GM was adamant that no Buick Regal would ever leave the factory with a manual tranny.
As an American, the Park Avenue and Roadmaster are my favorite Buicks too, of all time! In my eyes, the 1991-96 Park Avenue is the best looking front wheel drive car ever made.
@@RockandrollNegro Incorrect, the VS used the V platform which was more commonly used with GM's European brands Opel and Vauxhall, Holden actually used Opel's vehicles such as the Rekord, Senator, Opel Omega A, and lastly the Opel Omega B, as a basis for designing the commodore throughout the years, although the final product from Holden is very distant from it's german siblings.
This is true up until the VE where Holden designed their own platform dubbed the "Zeta platform", which GM were intending for it to be used globally but the 2008 GFC and new emissions regulations killed that, so the only car outside of Holden to actually use this platform was the fifth gen Camaro which Holden actually had a big hand in designing, which as an Australian I find to be pretty neat.
My favorite version of this car is the Oldsmobile LSS. I had a paper route when I was in middle school and I remember one of my customers had one
The really annoying thing about the lss is that not all had the sc engine, so the SC ones are super rare. The only ones that ever get listed are the normal 3800 ones
@@alexpetree2038 Right that is kind of disappointing when you see them for sale I like the tornado also, i but definitely the supercharged LSS there's one on TH-cam with like 60,000 mi
Yes it was! That's another hidden gem. Had bucket seats and a floor shifter too..
My mom had a Oldsmobile LSS. I think it was her favorite car ever
Back in 2012 I bought a 1992 Buick Park Avenue for $500, best car I've ever bought. After removing all the drugs from the car from the previous owner, it was a perfect daily driver. Was like driving a couch down the road
Wow! lol
Did you make your $500 back from the drugs you found? :D
@@jonathankleinow2073 haha no, vacuum ate them all
What kind of drugs? I'm curious...
@@gregorypappas766 what i believe to be roofies, but then again I'm not familiar with pills
The 3800 v6 was always an excellent motor. That guy's driving gloves, hasn't aged well.
Neither has Johns shirt
I grew up on Buicks this was the first car learned when was 2 years old used to have old Park Avenue brochure so many years ago. This car was beautiful the styling was ahead of its game. Those 3800 engines were bulletproof even Ultra edition was gorgeous.
It looks nice but definitely not ahead of it's time
Julian Felipe Granados Flórez I think he might’ve meant engine reliability and maintenance. These things were awesome in terms of just the engine.
@@OggaDugga nope, they straight up said 'the styling was ahead of its time'
The Fuzzy Pickle tried to be optimistic until you came alone. Thanks a lot
You should of seen what my grandfather had....a 1958 Oldsmobile Fiesta 4 door wagon, V8....power windows, steering, brakes, am radio antenna, and front bench seat.....what a beast that car was!
Those 1990s Park Avenues and Lesabres were beautiful cars
Love watching retro reviews, when the cars were in their prime.
I love Motor Week Reviews. Buick Park Avenue is beautifull and confortable car
We have one. It is the sweetest ride. My husband is from queens ny and loves going fast. I got the giggles when he turned into a Sunday driver going down the winding road, looking behind an there is a line of cars following him!
Or when a young kid pulled up beside him at a stop light with a noisy jumped up engine. Lol it was funny to blow him away! Lol
Here in Australia, Holden used the supercharged 3800 into the early 2000s. However it was used in rear wheel drive configuration.
George's Channel GM used a supercharged 3800 all the way to year 2004 or 2005 in various models here in the states. The last was a Series 3 3800 (L32) factory rated at 260 horsepower.
I think the last car to have the supercharged 3800 was the Grand Prix, it was rated at 240 hp. The 3.6 L V6 that GM uses in the Colorado, Camaro, and Equinox etc makes more power without a supercharger now.
I don’t understand why manufacturers insist on “sporty” suspension tuning. My first car was an 88 Mazda 929 18v v6 and it was a fantastic riding car (in Australia I could only dream of having a Fleetwood!). Even my 97 Citroen XM with properly maintained spheres had a low speed jiggle that my mechanic said was intentionally designed so the car could compete with BMW and Mercedes sport sedans...... Just looking at these Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile vids with the floating ride and gentle roll is quite soothing! Even a softish car with good weight distribution can be coaxed into dancing around a twisty coastal road (and its significantly more fun as my formative driving years in the Mazda taught me).......
Sometimes they were too floaty. I took a lt1 powered '96 roadmaster (same platform as fleetwood) for a drive that a guy had for sale. He had sent the ecm for power tuning and the thing was way too quick for how it handled. I passed on buying it cause it probably would have ended up wrapped around a tree sideways.
I felt the same with a 2008 Toyota Avalon. Great powerful V6 but the suspension tuning didn’t match the engine. I tried the same engine in a V6 SE Camry and it felt more solid.
@juliogonzo2718 🤣 but you don’t have to do a Jeremy Clarkson everywhere. The accelerator pedal can be anywhere between zero and full throttle, not exclusive. The fun was in making the car gracefully dance when it really did not want to......
Sporty suspension actually means uncomfortable and harsch.
In this type of car you want the floaty feel. I had a Lexus LS 400 and it's the cushiest ride I have experienced. Love it.
I have to try a Park Avenue Ultra to see how it compares, but I can imagine I would love it too.
Such a beautiful car she is. Such a sleeper she's.
Hardly with a 8.4 second 0-60 and 16.4 1/4 mile, It was a few ticks quicker than your average full-size sedan of the day, but these days a full-size pickup will do the same measure's in under 6 seconds and 13 seconds respectively.
@@nathanmcdonald610 I agree. If we don't consider it's performance and just go by it's looks I believe it is still a good looking car. I wish I could own one of these today here in India because I love these big American cars.
Nathan McDonald It was a sleeper for it’s time, millennial boy. Nothing comparable could touch it. Another thing: MW is notorious for getting the slowest performance times out of their testers. This car should have been an easy sub 8 sec 0-60/high 15 sec et. Still not blazing quick, but not bad for this big beast.
@@Lucille69caddy you saying to me?🙄
RAHUL SINGH No, to Nathan McDonald.
Fabulous! Would love to see more Cadillac reviews from this era too.
That thing bounced around after the brake test like a wave in the YMCA pool during Grandma's aquacize class.
Old gm abs really sucked ass
I love these MotorWeek retro reviews, I usually keep it on in the background because I find it really calming
My dad was raised on American V8s of the pre-emissions era. His favorites were the small ones (Chevy 283, Ford 289...) One of his buddies bought a supercharged Park Ave when they came out and he got to drive his friends car. At one point he stopped the test drive and pulled over. His friend asked: "What's wrong?" My Dad said: "I'm popping the hood and I'm going to go searching for that V8 that you claim isn't there."
The Gen I 3800 starting in 1988 even WITHOUT the supercharger was a pretty peppy motor.
90's luxury! The driving gloves seen @2:10 were a nice touch 🧤👍
Just bought one from a friend recently because my other car died.
(It's a 1998 Park Avenue Ultra)
They are surprisingly a lot of fun to drive. I'm planning on throwing in a few minor upgrades to spice it up a bit more.
Put a smaller pulley on the blower and open up that intake..let her breath ya kno
You must be REALLY hurting for mullah if in 2020 you purchased a 1998 whip.
@@jrawlins5246 nah not really
@@jrawlins5246 It ain't all about model years..
@@outthewaydre6450 oh mos def!
Is it only me, or *this car's elegance just doesn't fade?*
WHAT A BEAUTY!
1992 Buick Park Avenue Supercharged. For when grandpa needs a little more get up and go!
I would gladly drive that car today. I love big 4 door sedans. This one was handsome and had adequate power.
Bought a '92 Ultra because of Tyler Hoover... and then had to sell it a bit later. Worst auto-related mistake I've ever made... I miss that beast so much! (I need another one)
Look at the body moving under hard braking. Back when American luxury stood for soft suspension lol
that old school nosedive lol
I'm kind of stunned at how well that barge took the slalom.
Modern day front wheel drive V6 class and technology and luxury,1985-96 ,was Buick's pennacle for flagship luxurious sedans, something you will never see again in the industry.😢😢😮😢😮😮
I had one of these PA ultras and to this day it was one of my favorite cars I have ever owned. In its day, it was quicker off the line than many of its counterparts and could pretty easily break its tires loose which brought a smile to my face every time I decided to punch the throttle.
That car has some crazy soft suspension. I still see this generation of Park Avenue running around. Probably not 1992's but more like 95's and 6's.
man i love the car community gives me hope people can respect what others like and compliment everything because cars are beautiful like life
I love watching these though it makes me realize I’m old. Thanks MW
My first car was a 1996 model, with the more powerful 240 HP engine. I wish I still had it.
but the supercharged ultra was an extremely beautiful,comfortable car
Thank you for posting this GM footage. It was good to see this test. It was a good car. I still prefer my Oldsmobile 98 over the Buick, but they share a lot and had so much in common. I guess it comes down to personal taste. I thank you for sharing the video as it was a nice comfortable reliable car. Sadly, there are no more Buicks like this anymore as Buick is now an all suv crossover brand.
*OMG thank you guys!!! I've been waiting for the 90's GM gold!*
My grandparents had one. Was comfortable and pretty quick for the time.
Love sleepers
That’s a car!
@Tyler of HOOVIESGARAGE would enjoy this video more than most...
My best friends granfather growing up had one. Such a classy ride
These cars were perfectly balanced in performance, usability, quality and value. I made the mistake of getting an LHS because I thought the Buick styling was outdated and the LHS looked sharp.
Holden gave you that same engine but in a RWD. It was fabulous!
Uhhhh , ever heard of the gnx?
@@jamesrobinson9176 the GNX had a Garrett Turborcharger, not the supercharger in this video. The Holden Commodore had essentially the same engine as in this video. The GNX was great; so too was 3.8 Supercharged Commodore, in its day!
@@pullformore you're totally correct, I was more saying that the gnx is the grand daddy
I miss these days. I’m only 31 so I was too young to drive one but these are incredible
One of the few GM success stories from the era. Beginnings of a legendary powertrain around this time, and the platform itself proved mostly reliable in the long term. You don't really see many Bonneville or 88/98 anymore, I guess Buick owners are less likely to run their cars into the ground
Had a ‘94 Ultra as my first car. It was all black and fully loaded. Miss it terribly!
Possibly the finest looking example of the Park Avenue of that era! That paint looks DEEP! 🕶
Now i see why our parents and grandparents loved Buicks!! Comfortable to drive and reliable!!!
Loved the white valve covers on the 3800, so much cooler than the sea of black plastic nowadays.
Gotta give this one a thumbs up just for the awesome 80's hair band reference!
These cars are Buicks finest, they took Buicks traditional luxury and combined with technology, their 3800 was living proof of that.
The 92-99 H-body and C-body cars with the 3800 were the best built cars of that era from GM. I miss my 97 Bonneville to this day. 281,100 miles before I loaned it to a friend who totaled it out
very solid cars. A friend was given one by his dad. We had fun.
Had one of these - bought it off my Dad when he was getting rid of it at 110k miles (thought it'd make a better driver at the time than my '69 Nova). It was a fun car - super plush roomy leather interior, with the supercharger had great 60-90mph passing power and got decent mpg at the time. Problem I had with it was all the stupid things that started to break and cost too much $$ to keep the car going. It had air adjustable shocks to adjust ride height when trunk was loaded with luggage - great until $700 to replace (well over $1k in todays cash). The blower started clicking at around 115K miles so I swapped out for a rebuilt one (at $1500 for the part - installed myself) .. the transmission return fitting decided to break one day on the freeway and had to coast to the shoulder and get a tow - thermal plastic part - my old chevy used brass - that $1 'savings' cost me a lot more in reliability. For the cost of maint, it just wasn't worth it - too bad. Picked up a very used Honda instead and that thing wouldn't die (and still have the chevy). Prob no worse than most luxury cars of the time but just unfortunate things aren't built to last beyond the warrantee. Not long ago picked up a cheap used chrysler - worked well enough until the engine spun a bearing at around 120K miles (engineering fault - sludge blocked oil lines on that engine - well documented). Will be happy to see poorly engineered ICE cars go the way of the dino - no reason a car should 'die' or be prohibitively costly to keep going after 100K miles with solid maintenance. (the 3800 Buick was a great engine though - was halve tempted to keep the Ultra til the car was dead and transplant the motor into something fun haha)
There is a NICE early 90's Black/two tone gray/grey leather supercharged Ultra Park Ave sitting in a driveway on my delivery route in Spring Hill TN. Has the sunroof and bowling ball wheels. Been so damn tempted to put a note on their windshield to buy that car, it is absolutely mint, not a scratch or grandma dent on it, black paint is nice.
If this is the "firm" suspension option I'd love to see the standard car go around the test track lol
This car is the EPITOME of '90's Broughamness, in my view!!!!!! I mean, really, who could EVER believe that people don't want a comfortable, elegant, luxurious, stylish, & spacious car to just take a nice relaxing drive with the cruise set at 65 & your favorite music wafting from the stereo?!!!!! Just because executives at the Big Three are so immature that they would not be caught dead driving these cars because they are "old geezer's cars", why should we traditional Brougham lovers suffer for it?!!!
I wish these were still made!
Another stunner of a wardrobe choice by John Davis! I want that polo!!!
I think Sting🐝 would like it!! :-)
Had a buddy who's car was in the shop for some bodywork. Insurance company gave him one of these for a few weeks. By the time his car was ready, he didn't want it, he loved the Ultra. Very good car with a strong following thanks to the 3800SC engine
Hoovies Garage had one of these. They look cool! Although I really only see the Lesabre variant.
Being less expensive, The LeSabre out sold the Park Ave by a wide margin. In fact the LeSabre was the top selling full size US car for years!
They are almost the same car. I think the Park Avenues and 98s were just stretches of the Le Sabre and 88.
@@Bartonovich52 I'm unsure of the length difference between the Park Are and LeSabre of this generation, But yes the 88,98 LeSabre and Park Ave were basically the same under the "skin". The main difference between a LeSabre and Park Ave is that the Park Ave, being higher priced, has a bit "fancier" interior and more standard equipment.
I bought one of these for my parents back in 94. A beautiful green with gray leather. When they passed it had only 12k miles on it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on it in the will, despite me purchasing it.
Replace intake gaskets, secure camshaft interruptor magnet in place, and proper oil changes and maintenance. These old buicks will run beyond 300,000 miles.
Thanks for posting this video! This was an awesome engine. Would love to know what the MPG would be if today this engine was married to new computers and a 8 speed transmission.
These cars are amazing.
So comfortable and last forever.
So quiet too!
I Got to Ride in one of these, a Time or Two.
(It was My Friends GrandParents "Ride" to Church on Sundays!)
I had the same engine in a 98 Pontiac Grand Prix gtp. It had 240 HP and 260 tq. Such a nice comfortable fun and quick car. The engine was so smooth and quiet WITH good gas mileage.
My family had a purple ‘97 GTP four door as a family car back in the day. I loved how quick that car was and how nice it was to ride in. Sadly, we had to sell it. I’d buy a good one again in a heartbeat, though!
2021 i drive a park Ave 92 ,they run fast , the power is thier 💥💥
My first car in 2000, this car had pickup! It was my grandfathers who passed the year before
I gotta say, that outfit couldn't be more perfect for this car 🤣
I got to drive one of these for awhile back in the early 2000s. It was definitely old American luxury vibe with its sofa-like split bench seating, column shifter and abundance of suspension float. It was a very handsome traditional American luxury look. I really liked it. The build quality felt kind of flimsy though. It didn't have that rock solid feel of Fords at the time. The standard 3.8L V6 was adequate, if maybe a bit lethargic. It was enough though in a car like this and the powertrain was silky smooth. I miss this type of American car.
Buick peaked in the 90s. The last reliable model was the 08 Lacrosse with 3800 right before it was replaced. The 3.6 engines and 6 speed autos had a ton of issues and still do. Not saying every Buick currently being sold is a lemon but there’s a noticeable difference in the reliability. Really GM as a company has declined. It’s pretty sad because they really made solid cars in the early 2000s.
love to see more of 92 lesabres
I got two of them ,,, Ultras rule!
Was that OJ working the shift lever at 2:20?
lol
Top 5 most comfortable cars on the road, it’s time to start collecting a car for old age and this is the one for me
Love the looks, love this V6 (i know it in N/A form from Boneville) but still it is a charged 3.8L and only 205hp.
BMW in the early 90s had ~340hp out of the same displacement, naturally aspirated.
That's because it wasn't tuned for top end power but for low end torque and to be quiet.
I'd be will to guess as a percentage of vehicles made, there are more Buicks still running
340hp for 3 times the price. Not worth it.
@@Lianpe98 ...surprisingly BMW had 400Nm of torque and Buick only 350Nm!
@@VARITHMS somehow in Europe BMW cars (of this period) hold themselfs better than cars form GM.
That thing is everything but a European Luxury car
And that’s fine except they try to push it as such.
Youre right. Its wildly more comfortable than that.
@@TermBallistics It's too large and reliable to be european.
Mercedes of the same year were tight in the cabin. This Buick was far more comfortable.
@MOZZYTHE1ST They're everywhere here, anecdotally. The only people here with 190e's or whatever are absolute massochists who do all the work on them shade tree or sell their soul to specialists. We got the good mercedes though they are very rare to see outside shows, you don't see any buicks in europe because we never really exported them. That said, the buick 3.8 is one of the most reliable engines ever built, OM617 tier, in the United States. The same engine dragging around thousands of dingy commodores down under, unkillable.
The reason europe doesn't get Buicks to drive because they never wanted them, too big for the windy horse paths euros drive on. They're made for the long straights you just don't have and the curves make them flounder like fish. They're made for north american and most won't ever leave there.
That said, the buick 3.8 is one of the most reliable engines ever built, OM617 tier, in the United States. The same engine dragging around thousands of dingy commodores down under, unkillable. I'd absolutely take one over a merc of a similar vintage as a daily driver because the car would be just as comfortable but won't have something as insane complications to repair or any oversights as insane as a biodegradable wiring harness to deal with.
Old Buicks are so underappreciated, namely the supercharged trims and the Roadmaster (especially the estate)
I have a 94 Park Avenue with 38,000 miles. It's not an Ultra but it does have the touring suspension package ad other features mentioned here. A trumpet horn and power pull down trunk lid give it a Cadillac flair. They're great cars. I love the full instrumentation. My Park Avenue is not driven in bad weather. We also have a 90 LeSabre, owned since new and a 2005 LeSabre with only 18,000 miles. It's in like new condition. All 3800s.
The only thing that didnt leak in my Series II L67 where the front and rear main seals, and head gaskets! Great engine and super reliable, and great gas mileage, 30 mpg on the highway!
3:37 John: AND A YEAR LATER, WE STILL DON'T CARE FOR THE OVERWEIGHT TAIL LAMPS! LOL
This car is amazing still driving 30 years later and fast to boot changed the spark makers 180,000
I have a 94 Park Avenue Ultra with around 74,000 orig miles. Green with Graphite interior. In 94, hp and tq were bumped up even higher to 225 / 275 which resulted in an even better 0-60 time. I wish had I had the gran touring suspension but oh well. To this day, I get plenty of stares in my car which tells me that people really miss these types of cars. The SUVs are a snorefest by comparison
My 91 T-Bird Supercoupe had a supercharged 3.8L V-6 like this one, but it made 210 hp and 315 lbs/ft of torque! Stock it was 0-60 in 7.2 seconds with the 4 spd Auto
The Addams Family:
'I believe they own..."
"Gomez, no!!!"
"A Buick!!!"
😄
Those Old Buicks And Oldsmobile Have A Special Place In My ❤. And My Grandparents Pockets!
These were surprisingly good cars!
Man the guy running through the gears was dressed up like an action movie baddie lol
Buick deserves credit for taking the large, front-wheel-drive C-body cars to a new level of performance and refinement since the front-drive Electra was introduced in 1985. Still, it took GM 6 to 7 years before the C's were worth any attention. It took Buick until 1992 to start using mechanical supercharging to make one of those boring C-cars semi-interesting. That "blown" engine is the only thing that made it worth looking at. (NOTE: Motorweek's otherwise excellent reporting was marred by insisting that no V8 was available in a GM sedan of this type, but Cadillac's C, the Sedan De Ville, had a V8 standard from 1985.) The cherry on top of GM's cookie-cutter soap opera was that the front-drive C's were part of GM's so-called "downsizing" program, switching all of their passenger cars away from rear-drive and V8s to score better fuel mileage. And so what does GM turn around and do? (1: Shoe-horn an exclusive V8 into every large front-drive Cadillac, and (2: Supercharge the Buick's 3.8-liter V6, causing it to loose 2 miles per gallon. One wonders why GM didn't simply redesign the older rear-drive pre-1985 C-cars with better V6s in the first place. They could've achieved the same mileage and offered their customers better sedans. And imagine this: a rear-drive Buick Park Avenue T-type with the Regal Grand National's more powerful turbocharged 3.8 V6 from 1987 under the hood.