My wife and I are always looking for a cheap car to replace the more troublesome of our two 1996 Camaros and she found a 2002 Buick LeSabre just like this for sale a couple of weeks ago. On my test drive I found that the AC wouldn't blow cold, it needed brakes and tires and there was a weird squeaking sound out of the right rear; probably a wheel bearing. Save for a fairly large dent in the rear quarter panel I didn't think it a bad car - especially with an asking price of $1,900 and 79,000 miles on the odometer. If I could get it for a grand and put a grand into it I think that would have been money well spent.
Thing is I'd have to drop well more a grand on that right rear quarter panel and that killed the deal for me. I'm all about driving a cheap car but a cheap car that looks like it's been in an accident is not for me. Old? Fine. Little nicks here and there? Fine as well. But a bashed in fender I have no intent on fixing? Sorry. Pass. Kudos to the owner for telling me he slow speed sideswiped a telephone pole in a parking lot. Maybe the squeaking out of the rear was also because of his little accident. I'll never know.
Anyway, my biggest takeaway about that big old LeSabre was how pleasant a car it was to drive. Yes, I felt like an old man driving it and I've never liked the styling on these big, bulbous "G-body" LeSabres but it had a lot going for it. The 3800 V-6 it had was the same engine that's in my Monte Carlo and both of my Camaros so it wasn't surprising to me at how smooth and powerful it was. The ride was supple without being jarring and wasn't overly floaty. The car felt planted without the high strung "sportiness" of many of today's sedans and was as comfortable and familiar as the family couch. Comfort first and foremost - there's something to be said for that.
The interior was gigantic in ways that LeSabres of yore never were. Great visibility too; something else sorely missing from today's sedans and many cross overs. The seats looked awful but they were supportive much the same way the thrones in my 2006 Chevrolet Tahoe are. Again, comfort first; what a concept.
A big, comfortable six passenger sedan - to say they don't make 'em like this anymore is an understatement. And I say that running the risk of coming across like a "get off my lawn" old guy and trust me - I ain't that guy but that said, these are really good cars. The Buick LeSabre nameplate, incidentally, was as storied and long lived as any GM model nameplate. First introduced in 1959, General Motors built some sort of LeSabre up until as recently as 2005 and it was always a rung lower on the Buick pricing ladder than either the Electra through 1990 or the Park Avenue through 2012.
Like many a GM design from the last twenty-five years or so, though, these cars have aged as well as a VCR or a typewriter. They're just old and unhip looking whereas a 1962 or 1972 LeSabre, even an '82, are older but they're somehow cool. There's no market for these swoopy front wheel drivers which of course crushes their resale value. Again, that's too bad since these are really good, solid appliances. Sexy? Hardly. Ridiculously good value? Absolutely. That LeSabre I test drove appeared to have been sold less than a week after my test drive; someone able to see past the banged up quarter panel and no doubt got a hearty car that will run for years to come. Good for them.
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