Buick Century 1982-1996

[MarkV]

My friend is looking to buy one (a 1993)! What do you guys know about them? I am into Lesabres but know nothing about these!

[john2dameron]

I bought a '92 Century Custom wagon sometime in the mid-nineties. Supposedly had 59,000 miles on it but there was a year-old inspection receipt in the dash that was dated a year prior to me buying it and the mileage was only about 200 miles more than the receipt showed and it showed that the brakes had been replaced at the time of the inspection. Guess what? The brakes were totally wornout so I assume the odometer got doctored somewhere along the line. Still I got good service with the car and put over 100,000 more miles on the car. I think we ran it up to 180 some thousand; possibly just over 200,000. Had a 3.3 V6 with good power and great gas mileage but I between my wife and me we wore it out.

[Guest Thomas Lord]

I didn't remember they employed 3.3 Buick V6 until I read dameron's post.

The 3.3 was discontinued at some point because of reliability issues.

3.1 is what is most commonly found in these cars, but they also used the 2.5 Iron Duke. Either of those two are fairly reliable. Just check carefully for 'milkshake' residue in the valve cover if it's a 3.1. The intake gasket has a limited lifespan if coolant isn't flushed before 100K.

That's about the only issue of that engine however. Sister had a '95 Achieva with that engine that went close to 250K. Transmission was getting clunky so she had to get something newer.

Overall they are a good car if you find one that has low miles and been taken care of.

[Larry Schramm]

I had a '92 Century that I finally sold with about 250,000 miles. Ran fine even then. Just wanted something different. The only things that I remember doing to it was maintenance items like brakes, tires, batteries, one wheel bearing 3 or 4 generators. Also replaced both front brake hoses because one was cracking and the other started to leak.