Faults:

With A/C on the car runs good, but will stop. Turn the A/C off and car will start and run fine. Later it will do the same. This does not happen all the time; I might run the car for 2 weeks before this happens again.

General Comments:

OK.

Faults:

Faulty/jittery fuel gauge. Known fault, and I bought it knowing the condition. Could use new wiper blades.

Apart that, nothing yet. Fingers crossed.

General Comments:

I picked this up for $2500 CAD with a fresh inspection from a local gent who was getting a new Lucerne. The car is in perfect shape. I spent 2 hours looking over it. Everything works.

The chap had it from brand new and has obviously cared for it. Waxoyl is in every nook and cranny. Brake lines look like brand new. Brand new disc rotors and pads all round. What a steal.

I bought the Buick after being amazed by how much folk want for their 2000 Corollas, Civics etc. If you are careful, you can pick up one of these cars for an absolute song. I expect this one to last a long time. The GM 3.8L and Buick brand have good reputations according to JD Power.

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/Buick/Regal/2001/Sedan/ratings

I'm even getting good mileage on the big V6. 33L of fuel just got me 450km on mostly highway. That's 7.3L per 100km at a steady 95kmh - dead on the EPA estimate from when it was built. That's around 38 miles per imperial gallon, and around 32 miles per US gallon. Amazing what cruise and a laid-back driving style can do with this solid car.

As a comparison, the EPA reckons a 2007 Corolla gets 6.4L/100km highway. So not bad at all.

More developments when they come in, but for now: Fingers crossed.

Faults:

Had to replace both inner tie rod ends.

The steering made annoying sounds, cracks & bangs, even though 2 different mechanics told me my front end was perfectly fine!??...???

The bottom of the muffler rusted out due to our salted roads in the winter.

When the Air Conditioning pump kicked in, everyone knew it! It made very loud metal-to-metal sounds, I took it to my mechanic and in was the bearing in the pump. The car worked fine as long as that was turned OFF!! Over $1000 to fix!

ABS wiring harness on the front broke, causing the ABS & Traction control to malfunction, turning the warning lights on in the dash.

The dash lights began to blink off and on in the night, causing me to be distracted, and toward the end of my ownership, I couldn't read any gages on my dash, the dash lights just stop working altogether!

General Comments:

Other that the few wear & tear things that had to be done with this car, I can't complain! It never let me down. This car is very comfortable to drive, very well laid out and smooth to drive.

I liked this car because of its reputable 3800 series II engine, which has lots of power to haul this car around. It truly is "The Corvette of Buick"!!

Faults:

Bought the car new. Under warranty, EGR valve replaced at 2,000 miles and replaced a rear window motor at 16,000 miles. Mechanically, the car treated me well. I changed the oil/filter every 3,000 - 3,500 miles and general fluids a little sooner then required.

As I said, mechanically the car was good. Electronically, it was a little troublesome. My biggest issue was that the ABS, traction control and a intermittently. At 5 years and about 42,000 miles, I took the car to my independent mechanic of 18 years. He told he couldn't troubleshoot the problem because only GM had the equipment able to do so (this coming from a well established independent mechanic in business for 38 years!).

Took the car to the dealer and was told the ABS module and pump was bad (hence the warning lights) and needed replacement... at $2,200!! I moaned that such a part shouldn't require replacement at only 42,000 miles.

Too make a long story short, I contact the Buick rep in the area and they agreed to reimburse me for the cost (kudos to Buick for stepping up OUTSIDE of the warranty period). On the other hand, 18,000 miles late, the same thing occurred with the same diagnosis. At 59,000 miles, I opted to sell the car to a dealer for $5,000 then put $2,500 into a 7 year old car (cost of the parts/labor went up 10%+ in 16 months!).

General Comments:

All in all, back in 2000 it was the best bang for the buck for a car purchase. Loaded, the GS cost me $24,500 + TTL. Aside from those electronic issues, the car was good. Seats could have used better lumbar and lateral support. The interior was ergonomically correct, good size trunk and could seat four in comfort; five for short trips. I now own a Lexus GS and wrote a report on that in the appropriate area.