1995 Buick LeSabre Custom from North America - Comments

Everything has gone wrong with this piece of junk.

I have had to twice replace the brakes in two years.

I have replaced all four struts. Very expensive!

I have replaced all engine gaskets and the oil pan gaskets due to leaks.

I have replaced the master cylinders.

I have replaced the engine cooler coil.

I have replaced the turn signal mechanism.

This is a typical GM. Things break. Things stop working for no apparent reason. Things wear out. And typically, the dealers don't ever know how to fix anything. Once this piece of garbage is gone, they will never see me again. I am going back to Toyota and back to being a happy driver.

My back will never be the same either from driving around on this poorly built couch.

This cannot be more far from the truth than have ever seen, The Buick LeSabre is one of the most dependable cars out there, I own one and it has over 100,000, and has not had any problems thus far at all, and by the way, brakes are supposed to be replaced annually, that is what is called maintenance! You can go back to your little jap scrap though, every part is very expensive to replace and brakes will STILL need to be replaced every year!

I have owned Automobiles manufactured by Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Volvo, Subaru, Dodge, and Volkswagen. The 1993 Toyota Corolla I purchased new from the dealer was one of the worst cars I ever owned. The thermostat got stuck and overheated at 12,000 miles. The transmission failed at 36,000 miles. The alternator failed at 40,000 miles. The factory tires only lasted one year along with the brakes, and it had electrical problems with the turn signals, and headlights.

The little car would only go 67 miles per hour up a grade near my home with the 3-speed automatic (2nd gear would top out around 60). My 1994 Diesel pickup went up at 95 mph when my wife was in labor.

In addition to all the problems, the Toyota had poor handling, and felt wobbly at highway speeds. The spark plugs were embedded deep below the valve cover, which make them harder to change than my 1991 Jetta.

The worst part about some of the foreign cars including my Corolla is they are priced higher than a comparable American car, and the repair costs are higher. In addition, the Corolla only averaged about 24 MPG, about the same as most six-cylinder Buick's. In my opinion, most new automobiles have good reliability regardless if they are Japanese or American. Of course a percentage of all cars will be lemons.

Given the type of work that you've had done, I would assert that you drive the car very hard, and any car will have the same problems if you drive very hard. I drove my '95 for 30,000 miles per year and replaced the brakes ONCE. I could get in when it was -10 F and it'd start as though it were 90 F. I never had any engine or transmission problems, and I'd still be driving it if I hadn't smashed it. Bottom line is I don't think I'll find a better, more reliable car.

Excellent Car all the way around with one exception. THEY LEAK OIL!

This is the best car that I have ever owned. You must have gotten one of the bad ones I have never had any problems mine has almost 200 thousand miles on the engine and it runs as well as the day I got it. Original engine and suspension and everything. BEST CAR GM EVER MADE!!!

These are just about the most reliable cars out there, however remember that 1995 was THE LAST GOOD YEAR of the LeSabre! After that they were completely ruined by the plastic intake manifold. I have a 1992 Park Avenue - great - but the Park Avenues were ruined with the new engine in 1995, one year before the LeSabres.

I agree that the Buick Lesabre is one of the best cars that is on the road today. My only paid $700 for my Buick Lesabre Limited with only 134,000 miles on it and the only thing that I had to replace was the master cylinder. My car is an 1995 and my father also had an 1994 Buick Lesabre Custom and his car was running until it was hit really bad when parked.

Looking at your review I think you got a pretty good to average maintenance log after driving a 12-year-old car for 80,000 miles. Brakes, for instance, will only last you 30k-40k miles if you get the cheap stuff; and in a car made very close to a time when many people were happy to even get 100k before the car was over and done with, the other issues you noted seem minimal.

The car does burn oil; I don't know if it has a tendency to leak but I know that it definitely does burn a little; however I'd rather put a half-quart in every 5000 miles and know that the tops of the cylinders are getting well oiled than have no oil burnage and find out later that no oil was touching the tops of the cylinders (as happened on my wife's Taurus before it threw a rod through the engine block on the interstate).

The mid-90's luxury sedans were made to run a lot longer than a lot of the cheaper cars that came out at the same time, which is why they have such a high still-on-the-road percentage today. But if you're going to put any car through 80,000 miles of abuse then you have to be willing to pay the repair bills. Seeing as many cars need new transmissions, motors, starters, head gaskets, timing chains, and other similar repairs at that mileage (even your cheap foreign cars), I think you may have made out easier than you think.

I have noticed that all the negative reviews were written by people who own the LeSabre Custom, whereas the Limited owners mostly report positive experiences. Also one person commented that "You'll be sorry" if you opt for the Custom without specifying why. But perhaps there is a real qualitative difference between the Custom and the Limited editions?

Whether you have a Custom or Limited would not make any difference in reliability. The only difference in the two are small differences in trim, seat designs, and available options. Both cars are mechanically identical. You just pay more for the Limited.