1984 Buick LeSabre Limited review from North America

I plan to keep this car another 20 years so I keep everything working on it.

The maintenance performed has been 1 smog pump, one starter, 1 alternator, 1 motor mount, 1 choke release, 1 radiator, 1 door lock switch, 1 set of Sears lifetime shocks, 1 new front wheel spindle (from hitting curbs), some front-end parts, 1 power steering pump, 2 or 3 water pumps, 4 cruise control servos and the normal brake, battery, belts, tire and exhaust system maintenance and replacements.

When having a water pump installed at 160,000 miles I had them replace the timing gear and front seal.

At 196,000 I had a local shop put new friction plates and a rebuilt torque converter in the transmission and replace the rear seal as a preventative measure. That cost $300.

When I got my 1984 Buick I drove straight down to Sears and bought a lifetime alignment package for $35. They have now performed 27 front end alignments for $35!

The best part is that I've not made a single car payment in the past 16 years so I can afford to do some up-keep maintenance on this wonderful car.

I bought this gem of a car from the dealer that originally sold the car to the first owner. It had 30,400 miles on it when I got it. They had me call the little old retired lady who was the original owner. She said she loved the car, but always trades her old cars in on new ones every other year so she won't have to worry about maintenance problems.

It's a dark metallic blue 4 door model.

With 319,000 miles on the engine it doesn't use a drop of oil between oil changes.

The heads and pan have never been taken off the engine.

The secret is it's only seen Mobil 1 pure synthetic oil in it since I got this car 17 years ago.

I change the oil filter at 12,500 miles and the oil and the oil filter at 25,000 miles.

The cylinder compression is 165 pounds on every cylinder except number one cylinder which has 135 pounds compression.

The 307 engine is slow on the uptake, but with five passengers and all of our snowboards on the roof and trunk packed jam-full with gear for two weeks in the Rockies, it just cruises along at 85 miles per hour getting 17 miles per gallon.

The 307 engine also pulls my 4,000 pound ski boat and trailer up a steep launching ramp and down the Interstate at 75 miles per hour without

even breathing hard.

What I can say is that this is a car for all seasons. It has a great many amenities, as comfortable a ride as any car ever made, a cavernous trunk, seats 6 passengers and will pull any load fast enough to get one's self seriously arrested.

It will do all of that at around 20 miles per gallon.

It is also totally dependable. It has never left me stranded once in in over 289,000 miles of hard driving in floods, dozens of winter storms and 100 plus degree summer heat.

Of course it's not a car with 3003 technology, but I'd call it one fine and versatile car of which General Motors and Fisher Body can be proud.

If we want 2003 technology in a car with amenities equal to my 1984 Buick we'll just have to pony-up the $25,000 to $40,000 required to get one.