1987 Chevrolet Caprice

Summary:

Unreliable piece of money sucking junk!

Faults:

What hasn't gone wrong with this piece of junk?! It's the worst car I ever owned.

Headlight bulbs had to be replaced. Driving in a bad lightning storm, and they just burned out, and nearly left me for road kill.

Seats are wearing in, don't feel like taking a needle and thread and sewing them back up.

Head gasket cracked - 145,000 miles. (Cha-ching!)

Water Pump - 156,000 miles. (Moola gone?)

Alternator, and new battery - 172,000 miles (Ugh!)

Tie rods - 173,000 miles (Enough!)

Brake pads - 12 times since owning the car.

Brake rotors - 175,000 miles.

Oil leaking problem. (Always have to add a quart of oil every few weeks.)

Transmission is slipping (Not sure how much that's gonna cost, but not worth it, gonna junk it.)

General Comments:

Over all this is the worth car I ever owned in my life. The repair bills sky-rocket faster than a speeding bullet, and it's a never ending cycle of constant head-aches and repairs. The car is junk, the previous owner didn't abuse it or anything, the car was just a piece of crap. No clue why the police used these as their daily vehicles for the past 15 or so years. Avoid.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 1st August, 2008

1st Aug 2008, 12:11

Your car was 14 years old and had 135,000 miles on it when you got it - What did you expect - Lexus reliability???

1st Aug 2008, 16:13

You do understand that it's a 21 year old car with high mileage?

2nd Aug 2008, 17:50

Why not buy a VW Jetta or Ford Taurus, and experience the lasting durability of these products? NOT!!!

Just be glad you bought a Chevy, it could have been a lot worse.

22nd Aug 2008, 13:42

It's a 20+ year old car, what do you expect? From the sounds of it, your car was neglected even before you got it.

16th Sep 2008, 03:27

I'm the original poster that commented this vehicle, and the car wasn't neglected or anything. It's just a piece of crap. Also I actually got rid of it last year, but couldn't select 2007 for some reason.

16th Sep 2008, 09:32

It was OLD and USED UP - what did you expect?

I'm amazed at these posts where reviewers buy old used up vehicles and then fault the manufacturer.

4th Oct 2009, 17:34

Lexus reliability is not great, and the Ford Taurus even worst, what a terrible car. I have never owned anything like a Taurus, yuk.

5th Oct 2009, 12:32

Lexus reliability is not great?

Perhaps not, but like everything else, it depends who you ask.

29th May 2011, 14:25

This is the worst car review I've ever read. Complaining of having to replace rotors at 175k miles? What you think this stuff just lasts forever? And if you're having brake pads replaced 13 times, I'd let up off that brake pedal my friend. You'd buy a Yugo with 100,000 miles and wonder why you have problems with it.

Get read. Oh and buy a Jeep Cherokee Sport. They go forever. ;)

30th Nov 2022, 18:56

The kind of owner who buys a 130k mile car and thinks it won't need anything because the paint is still shiny. Not to mention, is that really 12 sets of brake pads in only 60k miles? Even if he counted 6 front and 6 rear, still makes it to 1 brake pad every 10k miles. Is this San Francisco driving? Or maybe climbing Mt Washington every morning.

1987 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham 5.0 Olds 307

Summary:

Buy a Caprice, they're worth every cent!

Faults:

Well, when I bought the car, I bought it with the intentions of restoring it, so, of course, she needs a bit of work.

First of all, when I bought her, she was idling way too fast, due to a clogged vaccuum hose, which cost me about $40 dollars all together.

Now, for the bad, the motor is on it's way out, due to worn piston rings caused by the high mileage.

The car also needs a bit of frame work up front on the passenger side where the sway bar mounts to the frame, as it rusted out, causing the sway bar itself to drop about 3 1/2 inches. I checked the rest of the frame and it appears to be solid everywhere else except for that one spot.

She also has a bad grounding wire somewhere under the dash, as she keeps blowing the tail light and the dash light fuses (another typical older GM quirk).

Another big factor with this car is RUST, and she's got plenty of body rust, mainly surface rust, and a few bubbles here and there except for one bad spot, which is the worst spot on the entire car. About a quarter of my rear driver side door is missing, as it all rusted out, leaving my body panel sticking out about an inch.

So, as you can see, she's got her fair share of flaws and typical older GM quirks, but for an $800 dollar restoration project, it's not in that bad of shape (I've seen a LOT worse out of an '87).

I'll be taking the car off the road and beginning the restoration sometime soon, plus the plans for her are just about complete so it's just a matter of time and having the right funds for the project.

General Comments:

Chevy Caprices have been in my family for years, and have been very well loved cars with us, as they've proved to be one of the most reliable and good looking cars in it's class of that era.

To this day, the Chevy Caprice still serves it's purpose just as it did back then, and are becoming harder and harder to come by.

The Chevy Caprice was so reliable that the Government officials started using them on their fleets and didn't change until the mid '90's when Chevrolet retired the Caprice. Now granted, the Police Force still used the Ford Crown Victoria back then, but a majority of the cars on their fleets were Chevy Caprices back in the early '80's and up to the mid '90's.

I've loved the Chevy Caprice since I was a kid, for their reliability, comfort and stylish looks with a touch of old school muscle.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th May, 2006

30th May 2006, 23:33

Well written review! I own an '87 Caprice also, it's a great car. Good luck fixing yours up, it's worth it being a Brougham, especially if yours is solid and intact.

15th Aug 2006, 15:29

I have a 1987 Caprice 9C1, which I got in 1989. I couldn't be any happier- the car is wonderful. I have never had a mechanical repair bill of $1000. My car has been towed only twice in the last 9 years; both times were for an ignition coil. I am about to hit 275,000 miles, and I still take the car on long trips and use it to commute to work every day. I wouldn't trade my car for any other, and I don't let anybody else drive it.

Jerry

Queens, NY

21st Jan 2007, 18:47

My 87 Chevrolet classic has 84 000 miles on it, has original muffler-only resonator has been removed 10 years ago. both front door seals are fading away, automatic radio antenna broke down 10 years ago, the worst part is the paint, even kept in the garage... the Florida sun has its effect on...that's all I can complain about.. just love it. Arnold in Florida.

31st Oct 2007, 05:32

Good luck with your restoration, I reckon the caprice is headed for classic status in the same way as the original mustang. One of the last generation of full size,seperate frame V8 rear wheel drive land yachts.

I dearly wish I still had mine, but just couldnt afford the fuel in the UK.