Blower motor.
Hood release.
EGR valve.
Weird unknown electrical problem that causes the car not to start sometimes.
Rusty behind the rear wheel wells.
Against my gut feeling I bought this puppy anyway. I needed a car that could make the two hour trek to work the next day. I had another Caprice a few years back, an ex police cruiser that had enough power to melt the rear tires and do endless donuts on pavement. While doing a brake stand, the car would shift into every gear including overdrive. But this isn't a review about that car.
Coming back to this car the previous owner claimed to have swapped in a "Corvette" LT1 350 into it. Well for all his hype the car isn't really all that fast. Quick, but not on the same level as my old Caprice. From a dead stop it will just let out a little chirp from the rear tires and be on its way.
The brakes are so so, car wallows like a whale in corners, the dash is too low. One thing it does well is cruise. It'll cruise at 90 mph all day and still get 20 mpg. But that is all the more I have been able to get is 20 mpg regardless of how I drive it. In town or pounding it on some highway it gets the same.
Car was reliable up until a month ago. Besides a few annoying problems like a broken hood release, non-functioning blower motor, and a partially plugged heater core, it never failed to start on the coldest winter days. Now it is hit and miss. Sometimes it'll start, sometimes you can crank on it all day and it won't do anything.
I guess the biggest thing isn't even that the car only starts when it feels like, it is that I got ripped off by paying 2300 dollars for basically rusty car (underneath mainly) with high miles. I knew when I bought it that it wasn't even worth half the price, but I got backed into a corner when no one else would answer on the other ads, and it was a Sunday too. I guess what are you gonna do when you need a car like right now.
One thing is for sure, I am not buying another civilian Caprice. The police cruiser is way more fun and handles like a totally different car.
Big deal. Swap in some 9C1 springs and sway bars. Replace the mushy worn out shocks with some aftermarket heavy duty ones like Bilstein or KYB. Put some decent tires on it.
You already got the LT1, apparently.
Now you got 90% of what driving the cop car version is like, without any of the cop car nastiness like rubber floor mats and holes drilled all over the trunk lid and roof.
Well you rushed to buy a car so you can make a 2hr trek to work? I understand your previous car was a PI, but come on, what did you expect with the civilian model? You basically paid top dollar for a rustbucket. Chevy Caprices are very reliable, rugged, tough and BIG. But the previous owner didn't take care of this car. If I'm going to buy a car, I'm buying to drive till the wheels fall off, but hey the car served its purpose. It got you to work.
The original poster here, yeah it isn't the car's fault that I paid too much for it. Honestly if I paid 1200 bucks for it I wouldn't have felt bad at all. I just wish it wasn't so danged rusty. Lesson learned, listen to the gut.
Caprice is a good tough car and saved my life in a pretty serious accident. Maintain them and they will last forever. I also owned a '96 Buick Roadmaster (last year made and same exact car as Caprice but with Buick styling) and that one came STOCK with the LT1 'vette engine. The engine may not be that great on takeoff but on the freeway it struts its stuff when you can blow past just about anything on the road, great passing power. I'd love a '95-96 Caprice Impala SS someday because they look so cool and are already a collectors item.
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