!!! Got a NEW CAR !!!!!

Well Ladies the day is finally here. It wasn't as painful as I thought it be but I broke down and purchased my sixth car Monday afternoon. Picked it up Tuesday morning.

2005 Buick Park Avenue with 13,650 miles on it. You may wonder why it has 13,650 miles on it. Well its a rental car buy back from Alamo in Boca Raton, Florida.

I know we've had Mass Debation's on the pros & cons of buying fleet / rental cars as we all know how drivers tend to drive something that doesn't belong to them.

Let me start out buy saying I didn't set out to buy a rental car - it just ended up to be one. Its a base Park Ave with no option packages add

- but does have the radio upgrade to the AM- FM CD / Cassette.

Last week there was a very close threat that car # 6 was going to be a charcoal grey 03 Lincoln Town Car. If it wasn't for the fact it had the California emissions system I would of bought it. But I still had the General in mind - as I have been with General M since 1980.

A mechanic friend of mine works at the Buick Olds Caddy dealer I got the car at. Last year he gave me a salesmans card that might be able to give me a good deal. I still had the card here at home.

A Buick dealer in Villa Park IL had the same identical Park only it had

18,050 miles on it and had also been rear ended. The repairs were noticeable.

The I stopped at my friends work place two Sundays ago. When I saw it I thought oh chit not that f' in Bronzemist again. Reading the window sticker for 05 the came out with Cashmere Metallic. I looked at it, looked inside and noticed no Driver Info Center, no memory seat, buttons, no heated seat buttons and no OnStar Mirror. Uh Oh ! No options, must be a rental. Look further down the sticker and see the miles - 13, 644, yep, rental.

The RR quarter has four tiny scratches, two might rub out with compound, the rear bumper cover has the classic drag over scratches from suit cases being unloaded. Doors, fenders, hood, roof were perfect. Interior was spotless, no stains, tears or wear marks / creases in the leather.

This car was parked on a raised concrete platform along with other vehicles and backed up to the edge. I was able to almost stand under the back end of the car. No rust underneath, no damage from bottoming out, no evidence of it being rear ended, no color fading from salt, the wheel well liners were still bright black. This can't be a Chicago car.

Monday morning my buddy at the Chevy dealer run the Vin number.

Alamo Rental - Boca Raton, FLa. Built in June 2004

The only service record shown was replacement of the trunk latch striker. Maybe it got bent, possible a suit case strap hooked it & somebody pulled like hell on it?

For a rental car this one was the best looking one I've seen with virtually no damage, just cosmetic stuff. Even the matts are clean. This type of car usually is rented by older people, Parks are usually $99 a day cars and 20 year olds and young parents with kids want a cheaper sedan to rent.

I went to the dealer with this information, saw my mechanic friend first

- then he tells me the dude won't get in till 1pm, Arghhhhh. I go do lunch, go home and come back about 2 pm.

I tell him about how my buddy works here and he said you might be able to work out a better deal for me. Kind of like the Insiders deal Seinfelt got from Puddy at the Saab dealer.

Salesman let me drive the car alone, took it for about a 20 mile ride. Rode great, handled well, no wind noises, no troubles. Everything seemed to be functioning as it should. I forgot to bring a CD & tape to try, but oh well. Had the car up to 90 mph.

I pulled back the trunk trim looking for pull out marks on the inside of the quarter panels - there were none. No flooding evidence - though I wonder how the car did in the 4 hurricanes in FLA last summer. Of course the car might of been in Ohio at the time.

When I got back my buddy hoisted it up and we gave the bottom end a good looking over. Again - no undercarriage damage, there weren't even any jacking marks on the jack points. No leaks, Wow an oil filter free and clear of the frame rail - whatta yah know ! No more mess changing oil.

I wasn't to thrilled with the absence of the grease fittings on the ties rods and ball joints. My Mechanic leaned over & whispered its a good car. The 3800 V6 has all kinds of room around it to work on.

I mentioned the Villa Park twin to the salesman and told him it was $24,999 with 18,000 miles on it. His reply was they could knock some off of this one.

The window sticker said $27,999 I was also told it was advertised ( website ? ) for $29,999 I didn't see it advertised in the paper, but was shown a print out from their website with a picture of the car & options. When we got to his desk he come to me with a figure of $25,500, plus tax, title, license etc. SOLD !

So I bought the car, rather a pleasant experience, I told the sales man no extended warranty, Me or Phillip are the extended warranty, I also mentioned my Big Al discount on parts at Chevy dealer and the salesman replied, " You can't beat that".

The GM Certified Warranty extends it to JUne 2007 or 39,010 miles whichever comes first.

No telling how long I'll own it. Might be 3, 4, 5 years. Might be 14 years. I might go ga - ga over the 07 Impala SS, or the 07 425 horsepwer hemi Charger, who knows.

The salesman asked if I was trading in a vehicle-_____________________Oh let me tell you about that " vehicle " I currently drive. He sat there quietly , smiling, listening in amazement at the monumental accomplishments of the 300,000 mile Bonneville.

At this time I plan on keeping the Bonneville for awhile, just in case the Park decides it rather be parked than driveable.

Alot depends on whether I get tired of it hanging around. It might have to be jockeyed for position on the driveway, the garage, the street. All I know is its gonna be hard to part with when that time comes.

The new car is a base Park Avenue with cashmere metallic ( gold looking ) exterior with a cashmere leather interior, Power front seats, Elec Climate Control, AM FM CD Cass, power everything really, 19.0 cubic foot trunk. Two remotes, two keys, leather steering wheel with AC/ Radio controls built in. 16 inch Aluminum wheels.

CLEAN DEX COOL - so far! Hello Intake gaskets, how are we today?

$120 for the Service Manual - Currently studing the Owners Manual, which I was given a new one to replace the missing one.

One click of the parking brake does NOT turn off the DRL's !!

To J C REEVES - Help me man ! How do I disable the DRL's ? , the automatic headlights ?.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I'm not touching nothing. LOL.

Wish me luck.

Harryface

2005 Buick Park Avenue 13,672 miles 1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 303,030 miles
Reply to
Harry Face
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Cool, Hary, nice car, I've driven a few of these in my repair shop, mostly

Reply to
Shep

Congrats on the car HarryFace! I like the Buicks.

I can't help with your request for help in disabling the DRLs and auto headlamps though. If I could have gotten *anyone* to help me get rid of those annoying features, I'd probably still have that Malibu I once owned. But, no big deal, really. I'm extremely pleased with the Sebring I replaced it with (coming up on 2-years now...not a single problem with it so far and all systems function like a "normal" car should).

Reply to
James C. Reeves

Congratulations Harry. I thought for sure you would purchase a brand new car since you keep your cars a long time. You are taking a risk buying a car with the 3800 Series II. My 01 impala with the Series II had the leaking at only 20K miles and they did nothing but replace the cooler gasket (that's what it said on the invoice) and later installed the walnut shells as a sealant with the recall. You would have been a lot safer with the Series II engines that have the aluminum intake manifold. You never know you might get lucky and the issues will be resolved when under warranty. Vince

Reply to
vince

Hi Harry!

I read your very interesting dissertation on your new used car.

IMHO there is nothing wrong with buying a former rental car.

Seems to me they are usually checked over very well each time turned back in to Rental Source.

Reply to
Panos Popadopalous

Congrats Harry! Good car. My 92 Grand Am is an ex-rental, 6 months old, 27k miles. It now has between 185k and 225k (I ruined the odo once with carb cleaner and had to get a new one). Son's new car is a 04 Dodge Stratus ex-rental. My last Buick was an ex-rental, 6 months, 23k miles, got rid of it at 257k miles, still running good but was beginning to show a little wear. Paul.

Reply to
« Paul =?is

HF, congrats on the '05 PA. I, for one, look forward to reading about your exploits with the new wheels as I have for the past while about the '91 Bonney. Glad you stayed with the General, despite the naysayers around us!!

Regards, Al.

'99 Malibu

168,262 km (104,553 miles & counting)
Reply to
Al Haunts

Typo. I should have typed Series III engines with the aluminum intake manifold.

Reply to
vince

$35,555 car and theres no under hood light !

What will I discover tomorrow?

Harryface

2005 Buick Park Avenue 13,672 miles 1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 303,030 miles
Reply to
Harry Face

On a car costing that much money GM figures that the machine is of such good quality the buyer won't ever need to open the hood anyway, or else will be paying someone else to do it if necessary.

Reply to
Silver Surfer

Good luck! If you drive it 300,000 miles, those scratches probably won't make much difference in the trade-in..... Funny thing is, it's almost the same car as your bonneville was.

Reply to
Joe

What?? HF has a car with less than 300,000 miles on it? Now you have to start all over again. You're a long way from topping the mileage of the old Bonnie.

Have fun

Jay S

Reply to
Jay S

Congrats HF!!!

I send you my best wishes that you shall see 300k miles out of this PA just like your current Bonne!

BTW, please let us know what the Bonne's fate eventually is! I hope it goes to a good home! :)

Again, best wishes!

Rick

Reply to
Rutger6559

steering

Congrats HF, I may be mistaken but usually the leather wrapped steering means you have the grand touring suspension. Look for a rear sway bar? This was true for my 02 PA.

Reply to
LeBuick

Congrats on one of the few decent GM products. These are every bit as reliable as a Camry V6, as far as the engine and drivetrain are concerned. The rest, well, it's pretty good too, since the options are what always break first.

The only thing I really recommend is when it comes time to get the radiator replaced at about 4-6 years, replace it with a good three-row all metal oversized one. This is a huge trick to getting the engine to last 250K or more if you tend to carry peolpe or things around.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

He could always replace the intake manifold, you know.

The car does have the new OBD III on it, which is finally halfway competant at figuring out problems. The DRLS can be defeated I think by setting the twilight sentinal and essentially making the lights go on all the time. (ie - swap the half-power highbeam DRLs for always on lowbeams)

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

Le Buick,

No Grand Touring on this car.

The Grand Touring Package on the later Parks required you to have the

1SE Option Package ( $2140 ) and in order to get the 1SE the car also had to have the Prestigue Package ( $2150 ). The Grand Touring Suspension added another $285

The Prestigue Package was on every base Park Avenue the dealers would stock. That is the reason I never could go in & buy off the lot.

The 1SE & Prestigue Package were actually one grouping in 03 & 04 then split into two different packages for 05.

Harryface

2005 Buick Park Avenue 13,672 miles 1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 303,030 miles
Reply to
Harry Face

Joe O

I would hope the original radiator would last longer than the 4-6 years.

The radiator in the Bonneville was replaced in 2003 ( 12 yrs old ) when the side tanks developed cracks up at the top end.

Harryface

2005 Buick Park Avenue 13,672 miles 1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 303,030 miles
Reply to
Harry Face

Reply to
Johnny Action

Replace the radiator at 4-6 years? I've owned cars as long as 15 years and keep most at least 10 and haven't replaced a radiator yet. What's up with that?

Reply to
James C. Reeves

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