Late model Century with 3.1

[Thriller]

Greetings all,

Long time no babble.

Well, my daughter is now 16 and has her learner's license. We haven't had much of a winter, but we do have some snow around yet. I've begun looking for an additional car. I'd love to have a new Regal GS, and would consider a Verano, but I can't justify the price of a new car right now. I'm looking for something I can drive around the city when I don't need to haul stuff instead of the truck, so I'm looking for some half-decent fuel economy and something that will be a bit easier for Teresa to learn on. If all goes well, there will be another young driver in 2 years and another one 2 years after that.

In light of wanting to stay away from new (in part a trust issue with a new driver...I like to keep new vehicles nice for a while), I've been checking around. If I want to spend more money, I can go with an Allure, which is a bit bigger and has the 3800. Being more frugal takes us to the W platform cars - the Century and Regal. From what I've read, there are basically just trim differences and the engine. The Regal came with the 3.8 litre and the Century with the 3.1.

I don't have any experience / knowledge of the 3.1. Can anyone describe how it is overall? The Century is rated for better fuel economy than the Regal, and I don't mind it having less power. I'm more concerned about problem areas and longevity. There's a reasonable looking 2003 for sale with 140,000 km on it (90,000 mile range). One outfit has a 2001 and 2002, but they both have about 100,000 more km on them (so about 150,000 miles).

Thanks.

[BUICK RACER]

Derek, stay as far away from the 3100 or 3.1 as you can, read Dandy Dave's post about his century. I have 191K on the riviera with 3800, my brothers, have had over 240-260K on 3800s, the bodies went away before the engines did!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Skyking]

Derek, my wife's 2000 Century had 52,000 miles on it in 2003 when we bought it. It now has 110,000 and the only thing we did to this car was have a new sensor put in the transmission and I repaired the fuel gauge. That's it, other than tires and a battery. It has the 3100 engine that get's a little over 30 mpg on the highway. The car has plenty of pep and rides well.

[Larry Schramm]

If the cars have been maintained either will be a good vehicle. Dandy Daves car I believe is a simple repair. His challenge is trying to fix the car without a service manual or other information.

[TG57Roadmaster]

Last year I got this 2004 Century with 58K on the odo, but I've known the car since an elderly friend bought it in 2005. Other than tires, battery and normal maintenance, nothing has gone wrong with the car. A busted plastic A/C knob was replaced wth one the local Buick Deal had in stock.

I started noticing Regals with their bucket seat/consoles, but like the Century's 60/40 split front seats' ease-of-entry (especially after having both hips replaced). A 3800 in the former would be nice, but unnecessary, and I feel the console would just be an additional place for rattles. Just an opinion, not based on experience. I'm still amazed at the car's standard/option content, the keyless entry, twilight sentinel, PW, P-seat, rear defog, cruise, etc. It's the base model but has all the options of a Custom, and the only thing lamentable from the beginning was its cloth interior (shoulda bought a Limited!).

A few weeks ago I found a great NORS leather kit on ebay for $199 and have replaced the front seats, waiting to find the 2001-up Custom's split folding rear seat (with armrest) to complete the kit's installation. Now she feels like a new car, right down to the scent of the "new" seats, and still gets serviced every 3K miles.

A low-mileage Century seems like a great choice for yourself and to pass along to a college kid...fast enough to get out of its own way, but no speed demon or cop magnet. Unlike some newer iron with bulky headrests, you can see out of all 4 corners, and even though the design goes back to '97, it's still ovoid and contemporary. Stealthy too (in that nobody's stealing them), with parts and junkyard cars readily available.

The little car's near-Limited upgrade will be complete when I find the Custom's fairly elusive split rear seat ($50 at Pull-A-Part), and a nice set of alloy wheels. There's a modern Buick Forum for Centurys with a lot of info on the cars and their foibles for DIY types. So far, my experience with this Century has been golden...make that Cashmere Metallic.

TG

Edited March 2, 2012 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Guest Skyking]

It's the base model but has all the options of a Custom, and the only thing lamentable from the beginning was its cloth interior (shoulda bought a Limited!).

TG

Ours is the Custom and the one thing I do like about it are the cloth seats. Warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Very comfortable car. They should have never did away with the Century. It was a huge seller.......

[g-g-g0]

Derek:

I don't have anything to offer on your question but it is sure GREAT to see you back on the forum!!! Hope all is well.

Gary

[Thriller]

Thanks all. I talked with the dealer with the 2003 Century today. Their hours and my schedule don't work particularly well. After that discussion, I called my mechanic since I knew they had something similar to get their take on the 3.1. As the discussion progressed, it turns out they still have a 2002 Regal in dealer inventory. The manager's father has been driving it for 4 years. While this car is higher mileage, and won't get the same fuel economy, there is a significant trust factor involved. When he offered to bring it by the house on Sunday for us to take a look, I think the deal was pretty well sealed. I spoke to Suzanne about it and she agreed the trust / loyalty factor is a big one.

So, a 3.8 with 195,000 km (over 120,000 miles) should still be good for us.

Gary - thanks for the sentiment. I occasionally get e-mails directing me to specific threads. All is well. I'm working on building a business that will get me out of my current job in a year or so. Of course, that means I have less time to spend places like here. Once I am out of the job, the business will take some, but not all, of that time, so I ought to be able to get back here a bit more regularly.

[NTX5467]

Glad to see you again, Derek!

Back when those cars were new, I rented many of them for weekend trips and such. As for performance, back then there was not too much difference in over-the-road performance between the Century 3.1 and the Regal 3.8. Fuel economy was pretty much the same, too. In other words, a good running 3.1 will be about as good as a mediocre 3.8 . . . be that as it may.

The first year of Century was what Car and Driver termed "Cloudmobile". For the first few model years, they had softer strut calibrations, but then shared them with the Regal after that. This made the main ride/drive difference to be the tires . . . 15s on the Century, P225/60R-16s on the Regals. Of course, the 15s would cost less to replace than the 16s.

BOTH the Chevy 3.1L and the Buick 3.8L V-6 had some issues with intake manifold coolant leaks . . . on particular model years of vehicles. I think the final TSB on the Buick was to just retighten some nuts or put Loctite on them to keep them tight? I DO believe that the more current Buick 3800s run better than the earlier ones, by observation. Most were rated at 200 horsepower, + or - a few. The later ones will run up to 5000rpm with no problem, whereas the earlier ones might get a little lazy past 4000rpm (in a WOT two-lane blacktop passing situation, for example).

Be sure to check out the referenced website. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it will prove that younger Buick owners ARE out there and DO drive 4-drs! And that they LIKE them!

Many people might want you to believe that the newer LaCrosse/Allure is the ONLY way to go, but after renting each the "new" and "prior" LaCrosse about two weekends apart, I can say that there are MANY redeeming values of the "prior" LaCrosse. Interior spaciousness is one thing I like about the "prior" car. Not to say that the new car is not a great car, just that that doesn't make the "prior" car a bad car at all.

I'd say purchase the one you're most comfortable with. "Trust" and knowing where it's been can count for a lot of piece of mind.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[Dandy Dave]

Actually, I'm sure my Century has a rare and uncommon problem. It ran very well until it just up and quit. I have a parts car in the yard of the same year with 300,000 miles on it, and I drove it on, and backed it off of the trailer. I haven't messed with it because the weather has not been kind and I do not have any inside space for it. I do have other vehicles to drive so fixing it is not a priority. I'm fairly sure that it is a wire, or sensor that I have not the ambition to track down. I just cannot fix stuff out in the cold. My brain freezes and then falls out and I have quite a time getting it back in so it works right again. Also, The older I get the worse it is. Dandy Dave!

Edited March 4, 2012 by Rawja
spelling (see edit history)

[Thriller]

Suzanne drove the Regal this afternoon and that is the route we are going to go. I have confidence there won't be any mechanical issues with the car and will get good service should anything fail.

[NTX5467]

Thanks for the update, Derek!

Enjoy!

NTX5467