Jalopnik: In Praise Of The Ultimate Grandpa Car, The LeSabre

[kevm14]

http://jalopnik.com/in-praise-of-the-ul ... socialflow

Pretty much right.

[Bob]

I thought of you when I read that article. I could see you defending the LeSabre. I saw several praises for the A/C performance in the article and the comments section.

[kevm14]

The Buick LeSabre is an excellent car. It is not a fast car. It is not a well-handling car. It is not the epitome of German Build Quality (tm) and Engineering (r). But it is very good at one thing.

It will get you from one side of the country to the other coddled in overstuffed sofas, ice cold A/C, surprisingly good fuel economy, with very little drama for next to no money. And it will do it with 250,000+ miles on it all day long.

The Buick 3800 Series II is an engine. It is the epitome of engine, and it is very good at being engine for a very long time. It’s not revvy, it’s not a mountain of torque, but at 10% throttle or 100% throttle it’s equally happy to move you along... adequately, and in a method that oddly never feels stressed or “broken”. Get in a Chevy Cruze turbo and floor it up an onramp. Shit sounds like you’re pushing it TO DA LIMIT and it’ll break at any moment. Now do that in a LeSabre. You get a moan as the tachometer climbs ever so much quicker and the speedometer creeps up to the speed limit and the 4-speed 4T65e slushes its way through the gears. Then you arrive at the determined speed, hit “set” on the cruise control, pop “The Nylon’s Greatest Hits” into the tape deck and settle back into the burgandy leather interior for your trip from Tulsa to Seattle, stopping off at Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, etc. along the way.

Then, when you’re done traveling the country you can hand it down to your kid for their first car, knowing its legendarily strong chassis and crash test scores will keep them safe, the “grandpa car” factor will keep them virgins, and the 3800 Series II will keep them going.

Source: Grew up and traveled the country with my parents in a 2000 Buick LeSabre which was then my first car in highschool which I modified, autocrossed, and wrenched on. Several cars have come and gone but now I have a Miata and a 1997 Buick Riviera and that Riv with 200k miles was bought for $650 and is one of the best cars I’ve ever owned.

*drops mic*

I do disagree about the Cruze engine. That is a bad example. I think the first gen 1.4 turbo made its HP peak at like 4,900 RPM or something. And being a 1.4L, it spun up there pretty effortlessly.

You tell ‘em, Jake.

If a car is something that you can trust, and love, and drive until the tires shred, it’s worth appreciation.

If a car is something that keeps this country humming, providing solid transportation across our endless floaty highways, it’s worthy of appreciation.

If a car is something that absolutely refuses to die, no matter what, even if you secretly wish it would just give up the ghost and crap out already, it’s worthy of appreciation.

And that includes this soggy, lovely Buick.

[kevm14]

I’ll say here what I said in Tavarish’s thread.

I actually had a ‘95 LeSabre (same exact car, except with less power than the ‘96 because it was still rocking the Series I 3800). Paid for it with my own money I saved working summers and nights during my undergrad years (early 2000s).

I loved that car, and I cried when I crashed it (I was part of a five-car pileup during a lovely Michigan winter). It was good for 30 mpg when I went home for break from college. It got me through my internship and into my own place. It wasn’t a racer, but it had plenty enough power to pass people and otherwise get out of its own way. It was anonymous enough to save me the time I accidentally passed the state trooper doing nearly 20 over on the freeway (as in he was at the front of the line of annoying slow traffic that I cut around and passed at extralegal speeds). It was incredibly comfortable both on the road and around the pothole-ridden hellscape that is Michigan.

And most importantly: It saved my life from the aforementioned five-car pileup, which I entered at 60 mph thanks to the same black ice that spun the van, which hit the Spirit, which was rear-ended by the BMW, which I hit. All the airbags blew, and all I had was a puffy nose from hitting the airbag.

I loved that Buick! It was a fantastic car, even if it wasn’t an “enthusiast’s” car. Some cars are just really good at what they do, even if what they do isn’t all speed and handling. This “every car has to handle like I’m going to the track” bullshit is the reason there aren’t comfortable cruiser cars on the market these days, and the people peddling it can take a long walk off a short pier.

To add to that, I have a dear friend (we’ve been friends since Junior High. I stood in his wedding. He lets me store my Continental in his garage. And, there’s not a higher-quality person on this planet.) that, if they started the 1995 LeSabre again, would go to the dealership tomorrow and give them his money. He had a ‘94 that got stolen, and he loved it enough to buy it back from the insurance (with 197,000 miles and a caved-in roof) and fix it up. After that one got a bit too sketchy, he got a ‘98 LeSabre. He got rid of that one when he found out the reason the airbag light was blinking was because there was no airbag (car had been crashed, as it turned out) and went for a ‘97 next. That one took him from Michigan to California without stopping, and then got him from California to Florida, then back to Michigan.

The LeSabre was a lot of car for the money. They were safe, reliable, comfortable, and capable. Personally, I thought the styling was pretty good, especially as 1990s styling went.

And, I was happy to see I wasn’t the only one calling out Tavarish for adding LeSabre to his list in the first place.

[kevm14]

Some cars are just really good at what they do, even if what they do isn’t all speed and handling. This “every car has to handle like I’m going to the track” bullshit is the reason there aren’t comfortable cruiser cars on the market these days

Bill, is that you?

That said, I appreciate comfortable barges. I miss my Fleetwood. But my current lineup reflects some kind of performance preference, aside from the Ranger. The Ranger falls squarely into the LeSabre argument.

And if I were to do the Fleetwood again, I'd probably want to do some kind of FTS-flavored thing. Some de-chroming, improve handling, improve speed.

[Bob]

I had an interesting conversation on a related topic with a few coworkers who are into cars. The premise of the conversation was that if all luxury brands are trying to be the sportiest in the segment, then does that open the door for someone to become the new old Cadillac? I guess that could be Lincoln, except for that their lineup is just rebadged Ford stuff. Maybe the Kia K900 and Hyundai Equus are the modern day luxury barges.

[kevm14]

I think the practical answer is that many cars, which handle far better than any old school American luxury car, already have what people consider to be a comfortable ride. More comfortable than that would be like Lexus LS or Mercedes S territory.

As space for the money goes, a car like the Impala makes a pretty good argument. Rides well.

Maybe I'd argue we already have these cars. It doesn't need to be specialized.

[bill25]

I think only the most expensive cars are really getting it. I agree with the S series and 7 series. I believe the CT8/9 has the chance to really nail it. Chevy doesn't really need one, but Buick does.

I am also performance orientated, but I really liked the 85 Regal 3.8 non turbo. There was zero performance but the seat was awesome, the ride was super smooth and you could steer the car with your pinkie. It was awesome. The ultimate cruiser.

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[Fast_Ed]

I almost picked up a Lesable several years back. Sadly, the 4T65E was not happy, and I wasn't going to gamble the whole $1700 she wanted for it.

Ended up buying the correct Buick later.

Sorry I just wanted to say LeSable. But a Park Ave Ultra would have been even better/cooler.