1993 Chevrolet Caprice Station Wagon review from North America

I had the following go bad on it:

Radiator

Starter

rear window mounts

One of the rear window defroster lines has always been bad

The rear door sometimes doesn't unlock

One of the horn buttons doesn't work.

There are a couple of other minor things wrong with it, like front passenger's window doesn't open from that side, only from the driver's side.

I have been pretty happy with this wagon over 80,000 miles I had it. Reliability has been good.

The main thing I got it for is the cargo space. It's incredible at 92 cubic feet. You can put lots and lots of stuff in it. It came with the towing package which is also a nice benefit. It has 3.23 rear axle, which makes a difference, albeit at some cost in terms of mileage (perhaps 1 or 2 mpg vs. stock 2.73 (?) end).

One of the huge benefits is the MPG. I used to get between 22-24 mpg. But you can only get that on the highway, without stop lights or anything, and set on cruise. I once got 24 mpg going 70, fully loaded. The overdrive in the transmission makes a huge difference. This is remarkable mileage for such a heavy station wagon. (4500 lbs or so).

Lately my mpg has dropped somewhat to about 17 and I replacing things on it to get it back. I hear that one of the first things you want to try is the O2 sensor. Mine has 156K miles on it, but you should replace it every 30-50K miles. I was happy that it's easily accessible.

It has that 5.7L engine, which only generated 180 hp, but lots of torque.

I have been somewhat disappointed that this car is not as easy to service as my 70's Dodge. The spark plugs are not easy to get to. This is just my opinion of course. But this car is as big as a whale and they could have made things more accessible in the engine bay. I haven't yet replaced the water pump and don't know how difficult that might be (but I fear a couple of hours of struggle).

I have been also disappointed that it doesn't come with a full set of gauges. Only speedo, temp. and fuel. I want a tach in it. I will eventually get a gauge cluster from Buick Roadmaster which has all that. The gauges it has look cheap, like on older 70's cars.

The other stupid thing is, the rear windshield wiper is hard to reach from the driver's side. You have to reach way to the right.

And, the horn buttons on the steering wheel are tiny. In a panic situation, you may try to sound you horn and miss them. This is compounded by the fact that one of them stopped working. Poor design.

It has a bench seat, which I like. You can have 3 passengers on the front seat and 3 in the back. Lots of comfy space.

Overall, I rate this vehicle highly, it's probably the nicest station wagon you can get from the 90's. It handles surprisingly good for a vehicle of that size. If you have a lot of passengers or carry a lot of cargo, or want to tow a small trailer of about 3-4K lbs, or just want reliable, frugal transportation from a 7-10-year old, V8, RWD domestic vehicle with cheap parts, this is what you want. It's a good deal.

(P.S.I think it is better than the post-'93 wagons which came with that LT1 motor, which is different with 260 horses. It has its optispark (distributor) under the water pump, and if the water pump leaks, will have major expenses. It 's a major pain to replace. I am happy with my older 5.7L engine.)