Advice -- '87 GN as a daily driver? Good idea?

[strobhen]

Hey all,

So here's the deal. I've owned a v6 firebird for about 7 years. Was rear-ended a couple weeks ago, looks like the insurance company is going to call the car a total loss (will find out for certain tomorrow morning). I'm supposed to get about $8300 for the loss from the insurance company.

Was looking around craigslist and found a '87 buick GN that has been kept pretty much stock. It has 146k miles on the body, 15k on a rebuilt engine & transmission, t-tops that don't leak, good overall condition. Apparently its only known problems are a couple small rust spots, and some fading paint on the back. Asking price is $8500.

There are only three cars I put into the "dream" car category for myself -- '73 Trans Am, '86-'87 Grand National, and the Ultima GTR. However I also need the car to reliably get me from point A to point B for at least a couple years (before I could garage it & make it a project car).

So, what's your "seat of the pants" feeling on this one? Reliable & fun car for a couple years, or potential money sink? Obviously I'll be giving the car a thorough check over before I purchase it.

My other options boil down to picking up a used car w/ ~110k miles for 2-3k & banking the rest. Or going the new car route (ick).

Thanks!

 

[BlackMetal]

You can look the car over all you want but you'll never really know much about the motor/trans work, and that's what will get you from point A to B.

In my opinion they do not make good daily drivers. Maybe for no other reason than I wouldn't want mine on the road every day.

I'd also take your own mechanical skill into question. If you can keep it up and running on your own, good. If not, it's not a car that you can take to just any shop and expect them to fix it.

Also everyone has their own definition of "daily driving", it could be 5 miles or 50.

So my honest opinion is no. Get the GN if you really want it and scrape together another 3 grand for something to drive.

Other guys on this site do use them daily and they will have a different opinion than mine.

 

[Agent86]

bMy Opinion? Money pit. Don't do it if you're looking for a realiable daily driver. Trust me, you'll regret it. Plus you're going to have to worry about someone stealing it. Morso than that, unless you're really good at troubleshooting these cars, then it's now worth it. You just can't take these cars to any mechanic.

If I was You.... I'd buy a dependable used car for 3,000 and bank the rest. Get a good used toyota corolla, Honda civic, Ford Escort, or something very dependable and that was formerly owned by a mature person who took good care of it. Problem with the Japanese cars is, they're usually bringing in more money, and higher mileage for around 3,000. Stick with a Ford, Chevy, then you'll get something with much less mileage, and may end up getting really lucky. I had a Ford Escort which lasted me for YEARS and was CHEAP to ever fix when it finally started breaking. DEPENDABLE AND GREAT ON GAS!!! You can save your Money and finally get your Dreamcar!!!



So, what's your "seat of the pants" feeling on this one? Reliable & fun car for a couple years, or potential money sink? Obviously I'll be giving the car a thorough check over before I purchase it.

My other options boil down to picking up a used car w/ ~110k miles for 2-3k & banking the rest. Or going the new car route (ick).

 

[strobhen]

Brought up two good questions

Mechanical skill: Good, I don't like taking cars into a shop. It'd have to be a blown engine or badly damaged transmission for me to even consider it.

Daily Commute: Right now it is almost 40 miles per day, 3 days a week, on a highway w/ very little traffic. That will probably change into a 5 mile each day backroads drive into downtown in a few months.

 

[Agent86]

Brought up two good questions

Mechanical skill: Good, I don't like taking cars into a shop. It'd have to be a blown engine or badly damaged transmission for me to even consider it.

These cars aren't just mechanical, but there's lot of weird things that happen with them that just drives me ( and many of us) kind of crazy. For example, tuning, idling, blowing fuses for some strange reason, etc etc.

Daily Commute: Right now it is almost 40 miles per day, 3 days a week, on a highway w/ very little traffic. That will probably change into a 5 mile each day backroads drive into downtown in a few months.

Don't drive these cars into downtown everyday. I wouldn't. Unless it's behind a barbed wire fence, and security cameras, it's going to be a target for some thief.

These cars aren't good for primary transportation if you don't have a little scratch in the bank to fix them if and (when) they have issues. Turbobuicks are tempermental. Very....

 

[87grandnat]

Yeah dude, I would listen to the other guys. I used to drive my GN daily and I hated it, I was always worried about someone trying to steal it, plus the gas mileage isnt that great.....driving 40 miles even a couple days will add up. Do yourself a favor and get a commuter like mentioned above. I got a 03 jetta tdi when I decided to get another car for daily transportation. 50 mpg on the highway is pretty nice! plus with a GN you have the added bonus of worrying if it is gonna start every day.

(I never had a problem with my GN starting, I just used to worry about it because of it being a 20 year old car)

Joshua

 

[salvageV6]

I say go for it if you can scrape up an extra $1K for parts and tuning aids, and alarm stuff.

And of course the car checks out ok and the engine work is reliable.

That isn't always the case with rebuilds, sometimes you are better off with a Buick built stock motor at 146K miles than a rebuilt one.

Good new is it has run for 15K miles now so that's a big plus. :smile:

I can't think of a better car to drive daily.

 

[Pablo]

You will regret it.

It's 20 years old and a magnet for thieves. You will quickly see the car deteriorate if its not stolen beforehand.


Life got 1000 times better when I got a normal car to daily drive, a 98 oldsmobile intrigue. This is the sort of thing you should be looking for.

You don't want to F around with your primary transportation.

 

[strobhen]

Thanks for the advice everyone! That's enough nays to put me firmly on the "no buy" side.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

You will regret it.

It's 20 years old and a magnet for thieves. You will quickly see the car deteriorate if its not stolen beforehand.


Life got 1000 times better when I got a normal car to daily drive, a 98 oldsmobile intrigue. This is the sort of thing you should be looking for.

You don't want to F around with your primary transportation.

Agreed! Besides, having a GN that sits in the garage most of the time makes it more special when you DO take it for a drive.

 

[alittlev6]

I drove mine for 2 yrs as a daily...mechanical problems,people trying to steal it (heck they tried ) and stupid comments from public asking if it was a monte!!!!!!..

point is, keep it in the garage, cruise it in weekends!

 

[psycho6cyl]

Do you feel this is the only time you can get a GN???? If so then jump on it. Especially if its 1 of ure dream cars. But I would go w a hard top b4 a T top. Those are just problems waiting to happen, even if the dont leak now. I bought my GN w a rebuilt motor. I would have purchased a GN w an unopened motor. You dont know what and how things were done unless there is a reciept of a known TR builder. I have been DD my Gn for about 4 yrs. Couldnt be happier. Sure theyre tempermental and yea i was tempted to sell but I could never drive another slow car everyday again. I say do it but get away fron Ttop.. Life is too short. If ya got it you love it then get it.... Its only money. Im far from rich but we are only hee once. Might as well have fun doing it.

 

[salvageV6]

Let's see an 8K GN or a 3K beater.

Yep, you made the right choice, assuming you are a neutered male. :biggrin:

You do realize all those garaged GN's are only looked at on the weekends, the wives never let those neutered males work on them, let alone drive them. :wink:

Good luck with that 3K beater, at least you will have plenty of cash on hand to squander away repairing the slow azz POS.

But hey you will have plenty of time to keep on dreamin'.

Just something to ponder.

 

[zeus87gn]

Opinions will vary, so here's mine...

I drive ours daily during the week to save gas. It's much better than my 87 carb 4.2l Jeep that I would have to put 2 tanks of gas a week in. Not really fond of the idea but at 200k miles big deal. It will never be a trailer queen, it's reliable and we really enjoy driving it. It has taken a lot of work over the years to make it reliable and we don't abuse it.

Also keep in mind, I only live 6 miles from work, my parking lot isn't seen from the main road and I have the loudest alarm that I could possibly buy.
2 sirens and the horn at the same time.
I've scared my neighbors with it and it makes my dogs howl.

Z

 

[rileydawgg]

This is a very interesting thread, and actually quite surprising. I've been in teh market for a GN to use as a daily driver, and had no idea this is how a lot of you felt. I had a C5 Vette as my DD, then sold it and have been using my 72 Cutlass as my driver. And it's been great. Only one small electrical issue with the fan, but that's it. The only reason I'm looking at a GN is because with gas so crazy, I want somethign with overdrive and there's nothign better than driving around with ttops off in Los Angeles (I had a Nissan Z back in the day).

Were these built so horribly that everything goes wrong if you drive them? I knwo the 80s weren't the General's best years, but wow. One of the cars I was looking at was pretty heavily modded (turbos, alky, etc.), but now I'm thinking this is a bad idea according to the posts here.

 

[strobhen]

It would be a blast to drive every day!

But honestly, after thinking about it a bit more, in two years I'll be in a much better position to pick one up as a project car, and keep on using a beater for daily driving. That's a ton more appealing since I would be able to work on it at my leisure.

I'm going to stick with the beater idea I believe, it is just a lot easier to see the finances working out favorably on that route. Plus, there is something to be said about driving around a car you don't care about every day.

However, I encourage everyone to keep chiming in! I think this is a great thread for anyone looking to make the same decision as I (huzzah for search!)

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Pablo]

This is a very interesting thread, and actually quite surprising. I've been in teh market for a GN to use as a daily driver, and had no idea this is how a lot of you felt. I had a C5 Vette as my DD, then sold it and have been using my 72 Cutlass as my driver. And it's been great. Only one small electrical issue with the fan, but that's it. The only reason I'm looking at a GN is because with gas so crazy, I want somethign with overdrive and there's nothign better than driving around with ttops off in Los Angeles (I had a Nissan Z back in the day).

Were these built so horribly that everything goes wrong if you drive them? I knwo the 80s weren't the General's best years, but wow. One of the cars I was looking at was pretty heavily modded (turbos, alky, etc.), but now I'm thinking this is a bad idea according to the posts here.

Besides the things I brought up in my previous post, in my case, I own a turbo buick because I like to race and mod the car. If you do this, you are bound to break something.
I daily drove my Buick for about 2 years and destroyed the factory transmission, and a replacement in that time frame.

The design and build quality of GM cars in the 80s (and perhaps all cars in the 80s) is so unbelievably behind cars just 10-15 years newer that it's almost unfathomable.

Lets take my 1998 Oldsmobile intrigue for instance. If you didn't know anything about cars, just engineering, you would think this car was 30 years newer than my 86 T type. Everything is so much more well designed and solid.

That said, the olds has its share of problems and the Buick did serve me well for most of those 2 years. The most significant difference between the two cars is that I hop in the Oldsmobile and don't even think twice about whether or not I'm going to be left stranded on the road or if I'm going to get pulled over (olds flies under the radar of most cops) or if someone is going to try to steal it.
The entire time I drive the Buick I've got an eye on all gauges, ears open for funny sounds, the other eye looking for cops, and my mind on where I can park it so it doesn't get stolen.

The Buick is pretty good though compared to some other 80s GM cars. I used to be a thirdgen F body guy.. and man.... oh man... the interior quality on those cars is horrendous.

 

[ngc414]

I would have to agree that you need a realistic daily driver. Especially if you have winters like us here in Ohio. A 20 year old car is going to have issues at some point. Its nice to be able to park the car and take your time making repairs rather than stressing out trying fix it fast so you can show up to work on Monday. You need to have the dependable daily driver first, then as income permits have your toys. Not the other way around.

 

[alittlev6]

Besides the things I brought up in my previous post, in my case, I own a turbo buick because I like to race and mod the car. If you do this, you are bound to break something.
I daily drove my Buick for about 2 years and destroyed the factory transmission, and a replacement in that time frame.

The design and build quality of GM cars in the 80s (and perhaps all cars in the 80s) is so unbelievably behind cars just 10-15 years newer that it's almost unfathomable.

Lets take my 1998 Oldsmobile intrigue for instance. If you didn't know anything about cars, just engineering, you would think this car was 30 years newer than my 86 T type. Everything is so much more well designed and solid.

That said, the olds has its share of problems and the Buick did serve me well for most of those 2 years. The most significant difference between the two cars is that I hop in the Oldsmobile and don't even think twice about whether or not I'm going to be left stranded on the road or if I'm going to get pulled over (olds flies under the radar of most cops) or if someone is going to try to steal it.
The entire time I drive the Buick I've got an eye on all gauges, ears open for funny sounds, the other eye looking for cops, and my mind on where I can park it so it doesn't get stolen.

The Buick is pretty good though compared to some other 80s GM cars. I used to be a thirdgen F body guy.. and man.... oh man... the interior quality on those cars is horrendous.

could not have said it BETTER

 

[turbofish38]

I use my GN for a DD. Lots of good points brought up. Personally I think $8500 for a car with T-Tops and a little rust isn't a good canidate for a DD. Aint no such thing as T-tops that dont leak! What makes a good DD is a car that has no problems. Just get in it and drive. Change the oil every other month and maybe fresh plugs once a year.The first rain storm and you are going to be wishing you never bought it. And the more you drive the car the less it will be worth. You are paying to much for that car. Buy one more in tune to your budget. Also it's an old car. And they do wear out. Make sure you have back up transportation. I might be able to fix the car in my garage but it's the downtime waiting for parts that keeps it off the road. Most of those parts fit only 86-87 TRs.