2001 Buick Century Limited review from North America

We purchased the car used from a reliable dealer in Houston. We had the Carfax report, maintenance records and even had the car professionally inspected at our expense. The cruise control was not working at the time, but this did not concern us as it was an it town "grandma's" car.

Soon the ashtray began rattling and would slide out on its own.

The instrument cluster plastic cover rattles.

The instrument cluster is erratic in operation, dimming and unreadable at times.

The A/C vents louvers broke on two of them, the little piece that broke off is loose behind the panel and therefore you cannot open and close the louvers.

The A/C knob was broken, but I fixed it with some epoxy putty, still both knobs operate in a clunky fashion.

Right front windshield wiper does not fit correctly in the resting or off position and rattles.

Left rear passenger side window motor went out at 41,000 miles.

Transmission went out at 28,000 miles at a cost of 3,200 dollars.

ABS/ trac off /service vehicle soon / light began going on and off, took it (many times) in and can't find anything mechanically wrong. Codes says excessive wheel speed variation and sensor short or open circuit. Did repairs as per Buick service bulletins to no avail.

Noisy engine at start up.

Clunk in right rear brake, when braking at low speed, had inspected find nothing out of the ordinary.

Radiator build up of gunky brown foamy substance, car is infamous for dex-cool problems. I have to flush and replace coolant yearly as a preventative measure.

Cabin air filter is not a good filter system at all, as instead it simply stores and recirculates whatever it has collected. There was a musty smell that came from it when we purchased the car so we had it replaced and within a month the same smell was back. I began driving with the windows open and the "vent" setting to blow out the smell before I turned on the A/C or heater. Now with the window problems I'm trapped.

The car drives smoothly enough, but has way too many serious as well as annoying nagging problems. Many seem to be electrical in nature, such as short in ABS system and Instrument cluster. All are expensive to diagnose and repair.

We bought this car to replace a 1997 Buick Century that was totaled in a wreck. Whatever the next car we buy is it will not be a Buick or a GM product, they deserve to go bankrupt for building poor quality products and dumping them on (once but no longer) loyal customers.