Why The Buick LeSabre Should Be On Your Bucket List

"DailyTurismo" (thedailyturismo) 01/03/2014 at 09:00 • Filed to: Daily Turismo

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The Buick LeSabre had the title of best selling full sized car in North America when it was discontinued in 2004. Why Buick discontinued a best seller or why a Buick would have been a best seller in 2004 is lost to us, but the fact remains that boat load of old folks bought and still buy new full sized Buicks.

The result is a regular supply of lightly used Buicks of recent vintage when the owners kick the bucket...hence the addition of this LeSabre to DT's bucket list. Find this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for sale in Richmond, VA currently bidding on ebay for $4,650 reserve-not-met with 3 days to go.

Daily Turismo's bucket list isn't a list of cars that we want to own before we kick the bucket...quite the opposite...it is a list of cars we want to own when the current owners kick the bucket. It is a morbid list and includes Buicks, Cadillacs, Mercede-Benzes and an occasional young celebrity vehicle because those kids seem to find a way to knock themselves off with a regular frequency. It would be really handy if the newspaper combined the obituaries with the classifieds: Mr X died yesterday natural causes and he is survived by his wife, kids, grandkids and a 2002 Buick LeSabre with 38k miles on the odometer....

The Buick LeSabre was LePowered by one and only one engine - the...wait for it... legendary Buick 3800 V6. This one is a series II engine and puts out an astounding 205 horsepower from its 3.8 liters (with those kind of power densities you can't help but understand why the LeSabre was a best seller...).

The inside of this Buick looks like a pair of lightly used sweatpants — comfy and ready for your butt. In a vehicle like this one, we prefer the cloth to leather, as the leather cracks and ages within months of leaving the factory but the cloth interior will survive unscathed for years. The only time you would prefer the leather is if the owner dies in the car, as leather is easy to wipe down while cloth will require considerable shampooing and special equipment to rid it of dead guy funk.

See a cooler low mile ride for cruising the dollar store parking lot for babes with walkers? email us here: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Originally published as !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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Nibbles > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:06

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I can tell you why they were the best selling car, because I was selling them. I was selling them in droves .

They were the best selling full size sedan in 2004 because they were discounted like crazy! What was stickered at about $26k, after rebates and incentives and loyalty programs and GM's secret "get this shit off our hands" cash back, I was watching these things leave the lot for about $19k. People were coming in looking for a Sunfire and leaving with a LeSabre because they were just so damned cheap.

timateo81 > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:07

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That stupid 3800 v6. Seriously did GM put that in every car they made between 1960 and 2010?

BoumboQC > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:07

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Sarcasm ?

davedave1111 > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:23

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You're lucky. In the UK the coffin-dodgers are much more likely to be driving something like this:

Not quite sure what they drive now, but for a while the Citroen C5 was probably the closest equivalent to the Buick, being a good seller to those for whom buying green bananas counts as a gamble.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:38

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as a former late 90's LeSabre owner I can assure you they are big, comfy, reliable, and surprisingly fuel efficient. if you dont mind driving a rolling snooze fest they are practicaly free to own and seat six without trouble, while still having room for three dead hookers in the trunk. i bought my '97 for $700 with 175k miles, the trans detonated at 320k and i sold it for $250 as scrap. i did brakes and one ball joint on it in that time (to be fair it badly needed rear shocks...), the parts for both of which were ludicrously cheap. the AC blew cold, the ABS worked, the cd player and the cassette deck worked fine, the seat heaters were lovely, and it got about 32 MPG on the highway with the cruise set at 70. that car owed me NOTHING.

Nibbles > timateo81 01/03/2014 at 09:46

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Almost, yeah. It was a pretty bullet-resistant engine

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > timateo81 01/03/2014 at 09:46

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Surprisingly, no. They had an attack of lunacy and made at least two other completely different V6s to share stable space with it in the 90s-2000s.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 09:48

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Only possible drawback: Series II plastic upper intake manifold. Can be replaced with an aluminum Series III one or an improved Series II design, but they're prone to weep coolant around the EGR pipe and even crack. Parts are pocket change at the asking price for the aluminum swap and the adapter/gaskets needed (around $300-$350), but still a nuisance. Very worth replacing the lower gasket as well, as it's rather crappy.

Slave2anMG > davedave1111 01/03/2014 at 09:49

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"Coffin dodgers" - hah!

Slave2anMG > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 01/03/2014 at 09:51

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I'm a factory rep who works with distributor sales people...cars like this are the ones the guys love. They're what you said - cheap to buy, dirt cheap to run, great for eating up miles.

And +1 for the dead hookers reference

Milky > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 10:07

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So I should want to buy this just because its cheap? LOLNOPE, its another GM boat from their shitty days with zero qualities. You say comfortable, I say boring. Maybe I'll give it another look she I'm 55.

davedave1111 > Slave2anMG 01/03/2014 at 10:15

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That joke's probably older than they are :)

Slave2anMG > davedave1111 01/03/2014 at 10:22

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It sounds like an English expression to me...like calling Eastbourne "God's Waiting Room"...neither expression is common on this side of the Atlantic.

DatASSun > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 10:26

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I'd be mostly worried about falling asleep while driving this .. Secondly I would worry that I dont become single while owning this because there is no hope of finding a girl in this hoopty

Mazarin > Slave2anMG 01/03/2014 at 10:35

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"Lord knows I have."

parkrndl is enjoying his midlife crisis > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 17:21

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" It would be really handy if the newspaper combined the obituaries with the classifieds: Mr X died yesterday natural causes and he is survived by his wife, kids, grandkids and a 2002 Buick LeSabre with 38k miles on the odometer...."

You totally ripped this off from When Harry Met Sally. This is not to say that I don't approve, I think I'm just proud of myself for recognizing it.

(On second thought, should I be proud that I recognized a line from a 25 year old chick flick?)

mrbib > DailyTurismo 01/03/2014 at 21:48

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I bought a 2003 15 months ago, with 26k on the odometer. Paid $7k, which seemed a good deal in my area. Yeah, it's easy to make fun of it as a grandpa car, but it seats six, iS comfy and quiet, and gets 30 mpg highway. You'll never touch that with an SUV. Even better is that the car has pretty generous power, never struggling to keep up or get out of the way, from that throaty V6. The handling is superbly predictable, even in wet and snow, with good tires. It stops surprisingly well for such a large car. Finally, it's roomy under the hood. You won't need to disassemble half the engine to change the serpentine belt.

No, it's not sexy, but it's no cheap beater either. Really, it is a fine deal for those who want something decent without spending $30k or more.

TinFoil Knight > DatASSun 01/04/2014 at 05:25

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you have no idea how wrong your statement can be. just speaking from my own experience, it didn't attract girls in droves but mine did find 2. The amount of space in the backseat was amazing and made for an easy called shot over the wall. the most difficult part of that night was getting the clothes back on.

Dunnik > timateo81 01/06/2014 at 17:04

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Stupid because why?

The 3800 Series II is on Ward's "10 Best Engines of the 20th Century" list, and made their regular Best Engines lists all the time.

It has a pedigree dating all the way back to 1962 with the awesomely named Fireball Buick V6.

It has a well-deserved reputation for reliability - when GM cancelled it a few years ago, lots of customers were up in arms about it. It's replacement, the 3.7 V6, develops way more bhp but is nowhere near as bulletproof.

My DD has a 3800 SII in it, so I'm biased, but since I bought the car in July of this year, I've had no engine issues, and don't expect any for a couple hundred thousand kilometers.

timateo81 > Dunnik 01/06/2014 at 21:31

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i was making a bro-headed comment. they just never excited me, but no good reason to call "stupid"

devinb > DailyTurismo 01/07/2014 at 16:32

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Is this targeted towards me? I have a supercharged lesabre, but they never came that way.