2002 Buick Rendezvous CX review from North America

Spare tire cable bound beyond repair at <40,000 miles.

Center "stack" switch and steering wheel back-lighting inop at 50,000 miles.

Passenger front wheel bearings went bad at 60,000 miles.

Head Gasket leak at 75,000 miles.

Brake pedal rubber is peeling off pedal raggedly; has been doing to since 40,000 miles.

AC condenser bad at 80,000 miles.

Heater/AC blower resistor assembly (happens all the time according to dealer) inop on low fan speeds after 40,000 miles.

Fuel sender switch was inoperable at 70,000 miles. Could not tell how much gas in tank as fuel gage not working. That cost another $300+ to get repaired.

Brakes themselves are not "tight" enough. System (including rotors) replaced 3 times over 100,000 miles (pads twice more). This is a bit excessive for rotor wear.

See problems from above. Head Gasket IS a problem. Buick would not help at all, despite the fact I had been a GM customer buying new cars every 2 to 3 years since 1993. Best the "could" do was offer an $800 certificate for the purchase of a new car within 4 months. This would be fine if they would buy my car back for a reasonable price. They will not.

Back lighting issue with interior switches seems to be chronic as a light goes out; 10k miles later, another...; cannot see those switches at night. For the center stack switch assembly (probably $10 to make), dealer wanted >$80 just for the part.

Resistor pack for Heater/AC blower speeds - charged $100 to replace this $10 part.

This car was simply specified to build with CHEAP parts, and was poorly validated. Buick and GM should be ashamed of themselves. As this is one of the first cars I have bought with the intention to own for many years, I have a new respect for the word "quality". I will do my homework next time. I do not like to buy foreign, as I work in the automotive industry, but the Japanese are unbelievably disciplined with their design, testing, and documentation/recovery of all issues found during the development cycle of their vehicles and sub-components. I will be considering all automakers for my next vehicle purchase.