Good morning! Yesterday in the comments, among all the unkind remarks about Cadillac’s Northstar engine, someone brought up the undisputed king of the General Motors cheap used car powerplants: the legendary 3800 V6, which started out good and just got better. So today, you get a 3800! And you get a 3800! And… well, that’s it; we only have the two cars. Sorry.
Despite your dislike for the Caddy’s engine, which apparently is not one of the “good” years as I thought, Grandpa’s DeVille ended up winning the day, due to its significantly lower mileage and better styling. The Continental is sort of inoffensive but bland, but the Cadillac has presence, and that counts for a lot.
It also has a problem with the air conditioning, which is so common with used cars it’s practically a meme at this point. I think a lot of people equate it to checking and adding oil to the engine; if the AC doesn’t work, you go to the parts store, buy the little can of R134a with a nozzle attached, fill it up, and it works again – for a while. So the whole “needs freon” line of thinking makes sense; it’s just wrong.
General Motors gets a lot of bad press for debacles like the Northstar, but in the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, it’s the undisputed champion of perfecting an engine design over the course of decades. The 3800 V6 has its roots way back in the early ’60s, though GM foolishly sold off the design to Kaiser in 1967 but had the good sense to buy it all back in 1974.
It wasn’t until the late ’80s and early ’90s that this engine really started to hit its stride, and then it became GM’s go-to large engine for FWD cars and vans. With good power and torque, stalwart reliability, and frankly astonishing fuel economy for its size, the 3800 has earned a following that isn’t likely to go away any time soon, even though the newest example is now sixteen years old. Today we’ve got a pair of Buicks to look at, one with a Series I 3800, and one with a Series II. Here they are.
1995 Buick Regal Custom – $3,000
Engine/drivetrain: 3.8-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Heiskell, TN
Odometer reading: 134,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
For the first three years of the W-body Buick Regal, you couldn’t get a sedan. Like its Olds Cutlass and Pontiac Grand Prix platform-mates, only a two-door coupe was offered, with cool but troublesome door handles hidden in the B-pillars. Starting in 1991, a four-door sedan became available, and was very popular, despite having four utterly ordinary and boring door handles.
Buick was the only division to offer the 3800 V6 in its W-body, though the other divisions each got their own special engines as well. Pontiac offered a turbocharged version of the 3.1 liter V6, and Oldsmobile for a brief time offered its Quad 4 twin-cam four-cylinder in the Cutlass Supreme, along with a five-speed manual. I’ve never actually seen one in person. The 3800 in the Regal is a nice combination, torquey and smooth, and makes it feel like a bigger car than it is. This one runs great, and has been a daily driver for several years now.
W-bodies got a few different interiors over the years. The Regal started out pretty traditional, with a wide skinny dashboard and a column shifter, but it was later revised to this more driver-oriented design with a center console and a floor-mounted shifter. The seats in these are really comfy, and by the way, there are photos in the ad showing what the seats look like under those towels; they’re fine.
It’s rust-free, straight, and for the most part, shiny. I do see some dull or faded areas, but for a nearly thirty-year-old car, it looks really good. This is another one of those cars that you only see (or only notice) in certain colors; it seems like every four-door Regal I see is either black or green.
2001 Buick LeSabre Custom – $2,750
Engine/drivetrain: 3.8-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 104,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, I assume
Step up the ladder of Buick’s product line and you find the full-size LeSabre, which turned front-wheel-drive in 1986 and was the best-selling full-size sedan in the US when it was discontinued in 2005. These things are everywhere, still, and for a long time they were my go-to suggestion for a good cheap used car when someone asked for a recommendation. The secret is out, though, and clean low-mileage LeSabres are getting a bit harder to find. This one is low mileage, but it could be cleaner.
The 3800 Series II, along with an overdrive automatic, was the only powertrain available in this generation of LeSabre. Stepping up to its fancier sibling the Park Avenue allowed you to add a supercharger, but the standard engine was no slouch; 205 horsepower was a V8 number only a few years earlier. The Series II did, unfortunately, bring the 3800 into the Dumb Plastic Engine Cover Era, a trend that I have never understood and has always annoyed me. I know it’s usually to quiet things down, but I don’t want to open the hood and see a plastic monolith. I want to see a damn engine.
This car’s ad, from a buy-here-pay-here lot, is a little light on details. We get a list of options, and that’s about it. I assume it starts and runs since they’re offering financing on it, but you’d be wise to check it out before buying or have someone check it out for you. It does look pretty nice inside, so that’s something.
Outside, it’s a little beat-up, and it rides on aftermarket wheels that don’t suit it. But the paint is shiny, and a few bumps and bruises just mean you don’t have to worry about it as much. Park it right next to the shopping cart corral; to hell with the consequences.
Obviously, even though the engines in both of these cars are solid, the rest of the cars could very well not be. A known reliable engine is a good reason to consider a car, not to dive into it head-first. But it’s as good a place to start as any. Which one are you test-driving?
(Image credits: sellers)
The LeSabre’s aftermarket wheels seem inoffensive to me, interior is fine, I see no reason not to opt for a 16-year-younger ride. Pretty easy choice.
If both are 3800 engines I’d just go with the newer, better presenting, lower mileage specimen.
Since the Lesabre meets 2 out of my 3 criteria, that’d be my pick. The lower entry fee is a nice bonus and I’d use the difference towards a decent set of OEM wheels and call it a day.
Oh the Regal all the way. It’s a lot more interesting as a survivor, which helps. But that LeSabre being from a BHPH seals the deal, not to mention the obvious signs of doofus teen ownership (the wheels).
I’m taking the Regal since I used to own a ’94 Regal GS coupe, and it was a great car. But either would be a good buy. That LeSabre with the Series II 3800 will keep running until the last oil well runs dry.
Both are great cars. Both will run until the end of time. Regal wins by an inch for being smaller. I’m at the age now though the LeSabre (Le Saab Ray for you VGG guys) is nearly there though for shear comfort.
I used to have this LeSabre! Same color and everything except the wheels. This could very well have been the exact one I owned.
I got mine from my grandfather when he got too old to drive (super cool, I know). I was a broke college kid at the time, some 15 years ago, but like some sort of odd couple, I fell in love with this car. Easily in the top 5 cars I’ve ever owned. Every time we drove more than 30 minutes somewhere, one of my friends fell asleep in the back.
LeSabre FTW.
If my grandpa and grandma get to the point where they can’t drive. It would be cool to get their 2014 Subaru Forester. It would probably go to my parents though.
Your grandparents sound cooler and more active than mine.
Rented a LaSabre in the early 00’s. It was the best rental car ever. So comfortable and smooth. I want to relive that, even if it means dealing with a used dealer.
Buy here, pay here = No sale. Who knows what kind of shenanigans has happened in that LeSabre. I’ll take the Regal.
100% this. That and the cheap black wheels are a dead giveaway. When you’re looking at cars like this, you need to get one directly from the grandma. Not one that’s been thrashed to death for a year or three by the grandkid who got it from grandma.
One of my favorite typos of all time was in a dealer ad for a used Buick touting its “world renounced 3800 V-6 engine.”
that’s marketing 101 right there
I owned an 01 Lesabre that I bought for the Gambler 500 a few years ago. Best $100 I ever spent. 32 MPG highway, incredible comfort, heated leather seats, dual zone climate control, and got the absolute shit beat out of it, happily drove the 300 miles home. I even briefly considered selling my Grand Marquis and picking up a really nice LeSabre or Park Avenue.
Series II and larger size. They’re both gonna run forever, even if the BHPH car is sketch.
I don’t want a Bu-ick and I don’t think I’m old enough for one anyway. Both are relatively clean and low mileage enough but If I had to choose, I’d go for the one-family owned vehicle (with receipts I hope) and not the Buy Here Pay Here lot where sketchiness reigns supreme! So Regal it is.
Going for the Series II in the LeSabre. I have one in my 2004 Impala and it’s bulletproof, except for the little plastic coolant pipes around the water pump that inevitably fail. Not a hard job though and stainless ones are readily available.
That 3.8 is packed in there though and a bitch to do front end stuff like swap out a radiator. I’m swearing off transverse mounted V6s after this car is gone, which may be awhile
Going with the Regal for one thing: That is a grandma-mobile. That thing is the “Last car I will ever buy” and probably well maintained despite the 6-digit odometer.
I can unfortunately tell because of the towels on the seats…
LeSabre. The H-body is far easier to work on than the W-body. The 40 hp bump is also nice.