At some point during the day, Saturday, February 4, 2006 when your out drinking at the neighborhood pub, restaurant or lounging at home, raise a glass of you favorite beverage in honor of 91 Bonneville's 15th Anniversary. The most reliable, trouble free vehicle I ever owned.
Oh, I see a LOT of 15 year old Toyotas, Hondas, and Nissians here in Nashville. I also see a bunch of Buicks like my 1990 Buick Century V6, which turned 166,666.6 miles when I pulled into the parking lot this afternoon. I'm the 3rd owner.
Kias, Subarus, and Mazdas haven't been sold in large numbers and I don't think that the Kias were imported 15 years ago.
Congrats, I will toast with an Old Dominion Ale. What was your maintenance schedule like ? Did you use a dealer, indie, or yourself for the maintenance and minor repairs? I have a new car and am strongly considering full indie service. However VW recently screwed me on a repair 1,300 after warranty expired, probably because I did not use dealer service. The problem was very likely caused by a faulty water pump that caused 2 overheats and 4 dealer visits to fix.
Oh come on - no wheel bearings? Certainly an alternator or two in that time. Not that I consider those to be an excessive repair for that kind of mileage, but I've owned enough GM's that I've taken to high mileage that I can't imagine one not having required these repairs. And... I just *know* that engine is leaking antifreeze. But even that problem - persistent as it is over the years of production, can be something that remains at the nusance level for a very long time... it sometimes never develops to the level of a real problem.
Is it an Ultra? I kept one up to 250,000 miles. Simply loved that car. Wonderful ride, great handling, the supercharged 3.8 was an unbeatable engine, classic Buick appointments inside - you just can't beat what Buick does inside a car, and not a bad maintenance record over that time. Did put in a wheel bearing or two, crankshaft sensor, crank pulley, and occasionally put air in the tires. Admirable in my book.
They make a lot that last a long time. It's just that there are some problems that they should have addressed years ago instead of foisting them off on the public. I think GM's reputation would not have been impacted nearly as much if they had simply addressed the intake gasket issue and a couple of other high-incident failures across their product lines. The cars are great in so many respects, but that sometimes gets lost in the blur of some of these high visibility problems.
"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:2835f$43e4ac02$452896b0$ snipped-for-privacy@ALLTEL.NET:
OK, I meant by 'most' as in the 'most expensive' Sure, I have done the bearings, alternators (probably 8 of those) and brakes and what nots, but like you say, show me ANY car with that kind of mileage that hasn't.
Nope, the fully loaded standard model, but quite nice nonetheless. A great deal at $600. I am surprised to hear that you enjoyed the superharged 3.8 as most folks I know that have it only get about 180K out of that motor. Plus, I just prefer a plain old naturally aspirated engine.
I'm not OP, but 3800 v-6 is the engine. Possibly (probably, in my opinion)the best engine GM EVER made. Best of 4 worlds: power, smoothness, economy, and longevity. s
Congrats Harry on the LE's 15th birthay celebration !
Not to barge in here, but the Supercharger thing struck a chord... I've got an 88 SSE with the series I - 3.8 L, for it's 20th birthday I thought ugrading the Engine with a factory Supercharger would be an awsome idea. Do you know anything about the process ? What's got to be changed out, and what's the same ? Will the intake / SC bolt onto the series I ? Additional wiring ? Brain ? Would I be better off just installing the whole series II w/SC ? Will it fit ?
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