2009 Buick Lucerne Super from North America - Comments

"I just passed a '77-'79 LeSabre coming home today. When was the last time you saw a Honda or Toyota from the '70's (junkyards excluded)."

We just sold a 1977 LeSabre last year with 277,000 miles on it. it was flawless and never had ANY repairs other than brake pads.

As for Honda and Toyota, that's a good point. The Camry didn't even come out until the Mid-80's, but there are ZERO first-generation Camrys out there... NONE. I haven't seen one in 10 years. Not even the bodies were built to last that long.

If I see an old car, it's usually a GM or a Ford. Chryslers do not age well, and neither do '70s Japanese, British, or Italian cars. Good luck finding parts for those older foreign cars also. Older Volkswagens are easy to find (but don't bother looking for 70's VWs except for Beetles and Buses). '60s, '70s, and '80s Mercedes-Benzes are common and tank like, and the same applies to Volvos.

A car is a car, but I'm liking my Buick more than I thought I would (2000 LeSabre), especially after my brother's not-so-good experience with a '95 Pontiac Grand Prix (probably not the best GM division, reliability-wise, anyhow).

Many people talk about the quality of the cars, but I think it's also important to talk about the quality of the service. I haven't had a bad dealer service from GM, but my family's Honda dealer visits have been good and bad, from "all fixed in record time and cheap" to "they broke our car not their fault". Toyota dealers, too, come across as less than the sum of their cars.

Good luck with your Buick. When it comes to cars, cross your fingers, and find a mechanic you can trust.

"Many people talk about the quality of the cars, but I think it's also important to talk about the quality of the service. I haven't had a bad dealer service from GM,"

I totally agree about the service. Our local Ford dealership has such a horrible service department that I drive my Mustang and Fusion an hour's drive to another dealership for servicing. We also own 2 GM vehicles, but luckily our local GM dealership is very good, competent and trustworthy. Ford service locally is so bad that I do all my own servicing once the warranty is up on them. Toyota here is also notorious for poor service and bilking customers. They lost a lawsuit for fraud a few years ago. They were charging people TWO TIMES what the sales tax was supposed to be.

"I totally agree about the service. Our local Ford dealership has such a horrible service department that I drive my Mustang and Fusion an hour's drive to another dealership for servicing. We also own 2 GM vehicles, but luckily our local GM dealership is very good, competent and trustworthy. Ford service locally is so bad that I do all my own servicing once the warranty is up on them. Toyota here is also notorious for poor service and bilking customers. They lost a lawsuit for fraud a few years ago. They were charging people TWO TIMES what the sales tax was supposed to be."

I have to agree as well. The dealer I bought my previous Ford from was awful for service. So much that I as well ended up servicing it at another dealer. However that dealer was even WORSE. Twice as expensive as the first one. Can't say much for the Honda service center since my Civic hasn't needed a single service yet! (I do all my own oil changes and so far that's all I've needed in the past 35,000 miles. My Ford didn't even make it that far before costing me over $3000 in repairs.)

After the warranty expires I do all my own servicing. The only vehicles we've ever owned that ever required any repairs at all were 2 Japanese and one German vehicle. Our two mileage champs are Ford (320,000+ miles) and Buick (270,000+ miles). Our Dodge was also very good. I sold it at 240,000+ miles and it's current owner now has over 300,000 on it. None of these vehicles ever had anything in the way of required repairs.

"After the warranty expires I do all my own servicing. The only vehicles we've ever owned that ever required any repairs at all were 2 Japanese and one German vehicle. Our two mileage champs are Ford (320,000+ miles) and Buick (270,000+ miles). Our Dodge was also very good. I sold it at 240,000+ miles and it's current owner now has over 300,000 on it. None of these vehicles ever had anything in the way of required repairs."

That what I do as well. However my experiences have been quite different. My Chrysler vehicles have all performed fairly well (the most mileage before a repair was 150,000) while my Fords have performed quite poorly (first Ford was owned for 10 miles and less than an hour before it had an engine failure) and my Chevy's have also been quite poor (connecting rod failure at 60,000 miles on my Lumina.) My "mileage champs" have been my first Honda, and Accord, that made 450,000 miles on basic maintenance alone (brakes, belts, fluids, etc.) It was sold to a teen looking for a car and he owned it for another 150,000 or so, at which point I believe it was stolen. And my 2nd Honda, another Accord that went 230,000 miles when I (foolishly) traded it in on a Ford Focus that needed repairs almost constantly.

A few years ago we test drove new SUV's. The Toyota Highlander we drove for a scant 5 miles had engine problems, brake problems and pieces of interior trim falling off. We managed to limp back to the Toyota dealer's lot, where we kissed the ground and offered thanks for making it back alive.

We next tried out another new Asian SUV. It made it less than 1/2 mile before the engine seized. We then drove as fast as we could to a GM dealer and bought a reliable, solid GM SUV. After 80,000 miles it has never had one repair. Not even the brake pads have required replacement yet. I can see why GM isn't afraid to offer a 100,000 mile warranty. It will never cost them a cent.