great family or road trip car.
its very comfortable and rides smooth down the road even at high speeds, but one thing I don't like is no cup holders. other then that its a great car to keep around for long drives with the family.
Beware: Bad engine, wiring, & windows.
When my parents bought me this car used, in 2002, it had 70,000 miles and they were offered a $7,000 price (including all associated costs). The transmission started going out (but held on for dear life) almost as soon as I drove the car off the lot. Within a couple months, the driver's side interior door control panel had popped off of it's screws, and never was able to be screwed back down correctly, as the screws are proprietary, so no one had the right ones to fix that with. A few months after that, the windows started grinding or getting stuck, and eventually, I just quit using them unless absolutely necessary. Within a couple years, the cruise control went out (it wasn't just a contact-point problem, either), then the A/C wound up with some a leak that would have meant tearing out the whole engine just to get to the correct line to replace it. That would have been a $1,500 repair, so it never got done. About the same time, the paint started wearing off, and the "Regal" decal on the driver's side broke in half. Maybe 3 years after that, the lights on the dashboard went out, so I couldn't see my speed or my gear positions at night, and that would have also been expensive to replace, so I stuck some LED lights on the steering column, aimed at the speed indicator, and plugged into the cigarette lighter, because that only cost me about $5 or so. I don't smoke, so no biggie, but I find that utterly annoying, and have been learning that this is a common problem with Buicks - their dashboard wiring doesn't last long. The breaks were perpetually wearing down too soon even though I wasn't doing anything to cause that, and the car came without one of the parts that stabilizes the breaks (I no longer remember the name of that part, sorry). A couple years after that, something went wrong with the gas system - this car was leaking gas into the ventilation system, to the point where even taping down the vents and not using them at all wasn't enough - I had to keep all the windows rolled down, even though the weather was cold, rainy, and at times even snowing. I also had to wear a painter's mask, for all the good that did me. Had I done anything else, I would have been gassed to death while trying to drive this thing. The repair for that was several hundred dollars (I don't remember exactly how much anymore). Not long after that, the black plastic exterior driver's side door strip next to the window (upper half, straight up, not angled) blew off in the wind as I drove through a storm. There were always problems with the driver's side lock. The engine assembly under the hood (engine + other parts) is poorly designed so that, no matter what repair needs to be done to it, it requires everything being pulled apart to get to the part that needs fixing or replacement, so that's always highly expensive. There's a weird, needless "crossbar" over the battery that gets in the way even of that being used to do a jumpstart or getting replaced when needed. The steering fluid input (or whatever that's called) is hidden clear in the back and way deep down, next to a lot of hot items (if your engine has been running at all), and dangerous to use to refill that. About three years ago, the radiator blew when I was in a hospital parking lot, sick as a dog, and definitely not in a position to deal with a "sick car." About a year ago, there was some leak in the line for the steering fluid that, again, would have required much of the engine assembly to be pulled apart, just to replace that line. More money down the tubes that I didn't have - and then, almost as soon as that had happened, the head gasket blew, and that would have cost $6,500 to deal with, because the parts needed for that would have cost the same as a new engine, about $2,000, but to replace the engine meant also paying for a lot of other parts + labor + taxes, and altogether, it would have cost me the same as another used car or a downpayment on a new car. Still, I tried to get to a place where I could somehow pay for that anyway, but was unable to do so, and wound up selling it to a steel & salvage company, and getting $125 for it. I had this car for 17 years, which were long, hard years, and for all it's problems it was a long-time part of my life, and though I had to prioritize the repairs (some never got done due to low priority and high cost), I still dumped tons of money into it and feel like I did not get a good return on that investment in the end.
Was a very reliable car
This car was extremely reliable until after a short commute lately mmute lately. After arriving st home a fire self ignited in the engine bay. The fire destroyed the car.
