do you trust your turbo car?

[booth1]

im thinking about finding a cold air gn or t-type to drive home (louisiana to massachusetts) and back since they are fast american full frame cars that get decent mpg's. but i just wanted to know if anyone has any experiance driving a turbo buick that far, is there anything i should know/ be aware of? and what kind of mileage do they get from stock to highly modded?

 

[MeanBuicks]

I bought the GN I have now off eBay in 2006. Flew to NJ and drove it right back to Memphis, TN. Great trip so, in general, yeah, I trust them.

That being said, when you're talking about 20+ year old used (muscle) cars, anything goes. Every car has it's own story so you'll find everything from rusted & ragged out pigs to low mile gems and everything in between.

When embarking on a longer journey, it helps to be knowledgeable about the cars and what makes them tick. Putting a few hand tools, a scan tool (with a list of error codes) and possibly a couple spare electronic parts in the trunk can be a good idea.

Also, before you do anything after you buy one, put one or more anti-theft devices on it. About the worst problem you could have on a trip is losing the car.

 

[Little6pack]

All I can say is watch where you park it overnight. Try to avoid the high theft areas.

 

[GNBRETT]

i would remove the chip from the ecm if ur gonna leave it overnight somewhere. wont prevent it from getten towed by thats unlikely

 

[86george]

I wouldn't be afraid to drive my GN on a long drive but I won't.I have other rides for that.If the TR has been well maintained it can be just as reliable as anyother car.Would you make that drive in any car that wasn't well maintained?I wouldn't.So don't buy a beater and expect it to be a reliable long hauler.You can't go wot full boost from every stop and not expect to have some breakage now and again.Buy the best you can afford and try to take care of it.Thats how I roll.

 

[novaderrik]

the turbo 3.8 had to go thru all the same durability tests that GM put all of their other engines thru..
so they are at least as reliable as any other GM car from the era, for whatever that is worth..

 

[turboc87gn]

Sleep in it with your pistol......and carry some specialty electronic parts that will leave you on the side of the road with you that and your road service card just in case..Mine only left me stranded once and it was the maf..in my case i unplugged it and drove home....

 

[GNeric]

Mileage depends on tune and foot pressure on the pedal. I have 83# injectors in mine and can get 25mpg repeatedly. MaxEffort system in the car and can cut "cruise fuel" down to where I can get that without any tip-in stumble or surging.

... and what kind of mileage do they get from stock to highly modded?

 

[slow305]

I drove mine from Norfolk, VA to Albuquerque, NM via Alabama and Dallas, TX during 4th of July weekend this year. Drove it at 75 for the majority of the trip which was around 2000 miles. The only thing that gave me a problem was the AC and that was definitely not a trip ender. 130,000 miles on it and it never even ate any oil.

 

[Dabigguy]

Now THAT'S a drive !!! Did you drive it to Australia too?

 

[TurboTnZ06]

I've driven mine from Texas to FL and back, to Denver, etc, back in FL now. It's just a car, they should be driven. My T has 210,000 miles and the GN has 137,000 miles.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Drove mine from North Carolina to Missouri (over 1,000 miles), and from Missouri to Indiana and back. (450 miles one way) Only issue I ever had was coming back from Indiana....when the field sending wire for the alternator started only working occasionally due to a bad connecting in the lamp circuit, which caused the alternator to quit charging...but a Caspers field fix harness cured that problem. I still was able to drive the car home 80 miles from Kingdom City MO with the alternator not charging, just stayed out of the boost for my headgaskets sake.

 

[slow305]

Now THAT'S a drive !!! Did you drive it to Australia too?

I was thinking about bringing it here, but I don't think I'm going to. It would be awfully hard to pass people on all the two lane highways they have here without a passenger to see around the car in front of you.