Ever make an impulsive automotive purchase that filled an emergent need? That’s how this Buick came to be.
Let’s start about six months prior, back in mid-2011.
I had been privy to partial information about, plus provided input for, some monumental changes where I work. The situation was so secretive it was almost like what you might see in spy movies when messages will self-destruct after so many seconds.
The most secretive, and initially undisclosed, element was staff being cut by 20%.
I work in the public sector where many seem to think downsizing supposedly never happens. That notion is a fallacy. Downsizing does occur but is generally undertaken with more subtlety. To what extent was the downsizing? Three of ten regional offices were being closed as well as countless field facilities.
Was the process used to shrink staff unique? Beats me; I had never experienced such a thing. Simply put, everyone except non-supervisory field staff was fired and had to compete for a position. Job fills would start at the higher pay grades and trickle down from there. Anyone not landing a job in their old salary grade could compete for a job at a lower grade.
Adding to the overall merriment was being in a region that was now seriously overpopulated. The odds weren’t looking good for staying put.
This restructuring is what prompted our unplanned and unsought move to Jefferson City. While it was a lateral move I figured there had been some realization of success in the job lottery given the numbers of people who were either demoted or evaporated.
My job offer in Jefferson City came at noon on a Thursday while I was sitting in Hannibal. It was requested I start the following Monday. Mrs. Jason and I were both on the fence about moving as we had settled into Hannibal and really liked it. Given where I was in both life and career the prospect of starting over somewhere else, be it location or employer, did not excite me. It was quite a dilemma.
Having made my choice, I began commuting the 110 miles from Hannibal to Jefferson City (and back) every Monday and Friday. The hotel staff grew to know me so well they invited me to an employee dinner.
After three months of commuting, we officially moved to Jefferson City. Our real estate buyer’s agent in Jefferson City had found us a house to rent until our Hannibal house was sold. The whole proposition was weird and awkward as the owner was getting a divorce and needed money. Adding a layer of bizarre to this was our agent had grown up in this very house.
We were also needing to change our vehicle situation. The 2000 Econoline (covered in a prior COAL) was our better vehicle at that time. I still had my 2001 Crown Victoria, but rust had set into the rocker panels and it needed to go. The 1963 Galaxie was inert in my garage in Hannibal and the 1987 Dodge pickup had been sold several months prior.
We had test driven a new Dodge Charger right before the move. Mentioning this in passing, our buying agent heavily discouraged any automotive purchases.
By the time we moved to the rental house in Jefferson City we were already on Selling Agent #2 in Hannibal. Selling Agent #1 had presented herself well initially but soon after the house went on the market a real estate flyer in the Hannibal newspaper featured the house with an asking price that was 20% above actuality. We called Agent #1 to ask what had happened. Agent #1 laughed it off and merrily blamed the office secretary with no apology or offer to rectify the situation.
In turn, we merrily fired that agent.
While Selling Agent #2 started off okay, she quickly earned the nickname of Bobblehead…
While unable to quantify why, I knew we were at a figurative edge of night. Everything gave the impression this shit show was not going to be a short one. There are times when I really want to be wrong and this was one of those times. Sadly, I wasn’t wrong.
Sometime between acquiring the rental house and moving to Jefferson City, Mrs. Jason had a realization. The van would not fit in the rental house’s garage, so she suggested we buy a cheap, smaller car for the interim. This would give us the Crown Vic and an undefined car for our time in the rental house.
Enter one 1993 Buick Century, a one-owner car with merely 41,000 miles. The original owner was going to assisted living and I dealt with the son for its purchase. That Buick had had all sorts of carnauba wax love slathered all over it. There were signs of car wax in most crevices, even on the wiper arms. As a bonus the original window sticker was still in the glove compartment.
We paid $2100 for a Buick equipped with the 3.3 liter V6 and three-speed automatic transmission. The Buick had a salvage title due to a minor mishap in 2006, but it had been repaired quite well and drove great.
Score.
The Buick needed two new tires. Otherwise, I did nothing to it and we quickly put a bunch of miles on it.
We drove the Buick to Hannibal many times to check on our house. It was driven to Chicago. Going south, it took us to visit family near Cape Girardeau. This Buick consistently returned fuel mileage in the mid- to high-20s which made that Taurus look even worse as the Buick was eight years older with one less gear.
My quickly pressing the Buick into daily use did have a drawback. On Thanksgiving Day we were delivering meals to the homebound when the transmission started to slip. I had the fluid changed the next day. In retrospect I should have changed all the fluids upon purchasing it, but was a bit distracted during that time. Such is life sometimes.
In a prior entry I disclosed we were in the initial rental house for 59 days when the owner decided he wanted his house back. This necessitated moving to an apartment across town.
We were no longer on the edge of night, but well into it. The pleasantries in life were getting difficult to find.
During this time Agent Bobblehead was getting zero showings (we would sometimes go up to two months or more between showings) and was unresponsive to phone calls. If she did bother responding it was a text a day or so later that answered a question we hadn’t asked. Mrs. Jason and I are not difficult people yet seem to have this ability to bring out the worst in others. Having no indication why the house was gaining no traction, and highly concerned it was becoming a fixture on the market, it was time to change course.
So we fired Agent Bobblehead.
Also during this time our buyer’s agent in Jefferson City was again missing in action. We learned this when we found (yes, we had to find it, which was typical) a house we were curious about. To cover this absence her partner said she would meet us at the house. When we arrived, the secretary was waiting for us. The secretary showing us a house, and not being licensed to do so, was a gleefully flagrant violation of Missouri real estate law.
This behavior caused us to wonder if this was a reflection of their ethics. So after careful consideration we fired them. We did not want to be associated with such behavior.
As an aside, I am not disparaging any professions. Rather, I am disparaging people who earned disparagement. It is unfair to say the people with whom we dealt during this relocation are indicative of an entire profession as all professions have people who are duds. We were just lucky enough to encounter an abnormal number of them.
We quickly grew sick of being in that apartment. Mrs. Jason and I also grew tired of smelling the smoke emanating from the downstairs closet. It seemed this closet was the air vent for the marijuana connoisseurs directly below us. When either of us got aggravated, we joked about standing in the closet for a few minutes to help ease our mind and soothe our nerves.
Soon thereafter, we found a farmhouse for rent west of town. It was a two-story house that had been built in the late 1890s with the surrounding subdivision being part of the original homestead. The house and property had been bought by a family of investors and they had developed it into McMansions.
A few months after moving in, the family representative we had been working with was clearing out the pole barn adjacent to the house. We asked if we could rent a bay to put the van in. Instead, we were given access to the whole building and given the combination to open the door. The man then got emotional.
We discovered the bank had foreclosed on everything, including the house we were living in. Thus we were now tenants of the bank. Banks aren’t known for being landlords, they simply want to sell their property.
(Cue foreboding soap opera organ music…)
Was there any escaping the drama? Would a path to happiness ever be found? Might better luck with real estate agents be a possibility?
Tune in again next week for our next episode because the shit doesn’t end here.
In all but two instances the Buick was generally quite reliable during its time playing a supporting role in this soap opera. In addition to the transmission issue, it seems when I changed the plugs and wires, I had a wire that kissed something which caused an electrical spike that fried the computer. Those were the only real issues we ever had with the car and both were self-inflicted.
The Buick had 68,000 miles when sold. Twenty-seven thousand miles isn’t too bad for two and one-half years of use. We sold it for $1900, so one could argue it was nearly a free car.
The only demerit the Buick earned was it consumed front brakes. If memory serves, it required front brakes three times and we are gentle on the brake pedal. It would not surprise me if the brakes were undersized for the car, leading to their premature demise.
These A-bodies were popular for a very long time and it’s not hard to see why. Supremely comfortable, peppy (with the V6), and giving highly reliable service, there is a lot to like. I am very glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy all its goodness.
(Author’s Note: The Edge of Night aired on CBS from April 2, 1956, to November 28, 1975; it then moved to ABC where it ran from December 1, 1975, to December 28, 1984.)
Harrowing tale, so far. Good to know the Buick didn’t add to the sturm und drang.
I’m still driving my Covid special, a ’98 Olds 88 with the Buick 3800 Series II V-6, bought for the 600 mile roundtrip to get shot #2 as soon and as close as possible. The first shot had been done in one 13 1/2 hr. day in a buckboard-harsh Honda Civic Si hatch, which I determined to augment with cushier cheap wheels (always looking for an excuse to get a new old vehicle, to be truly honest).
Over the next year, I learned what we all know will happen, but gamble against anyway: old, low mileage cars’ accessories, electrics and seals crap out when the car suddenly gets regular use. Still, I remained cheerful with my purchase, since I had backup, and actually enjoyed the process of bringing an oldtimer back online. The “88” is now 98% reliable, and should get me through until prices of year-old cars that get 35 mpg level off.
There is definitely more to come in this tale. Perhaps this entry gives some insight into why a soap opera theme was used for this COAL series. 🙂
Your Olds sounds really nice and that 3800 is likely the best engine GM ever produced. That certainly don’t have anything like it these days – or, if so, it isn’t springing to mind.
It sounds like you and I share the joy of resurrecting old cars. Not restoration, but taking a solid one and making it better. Having a backup certainly helps with the enjoyment factor.
You are correct on all counts, Sir!
…although all buyers of Series II 3800s need to pre-disaster them by replacing the original intake plenum before the coolant channel within leaks into the cylinders and hydro-locks the engine. There are sharp looking ’93-’99 H-Bodies in junk yards all over that suddenly drowned in their own glycol.
Getting so much service out of free or near free vehicles must have saved so much money. Perhaps it was a good front to have when both the city you were leaving and the new place were in such economic collapse. As a government worker, your family was shielded, if still inconvenienced by what was going on around you. New shiny cars with warranty might have brought unfriendly attention.
John, help me out here…where did I say either place was in economic collapse?
While I seek no sympathy and only aim to convey events, it is indescribably encouraging to know my being a “government worker” shielded me and my family from this ordeal, with it really being only an “inconvenience”. I will be sure to inform my wife of this as we were talking about this “inconvenience” again last night and how its affects are still in our lives.
If I misunderstood, I apologize. The long line of real estate agents dealing with no buyers and bank complicated sellers which means no money coming in, the idle potheads selling the last thing she has to sell below you in the apartment, and especially the poor farmhouse guy about to lose all he has did not paint a picture of prosperity, but rather collapse.
There are times in life when you just have to keep reminding yourself to pull the nose up on this thing, and you know it’s one of those times when a nearly free Buick Century is the highlight. 🙂 Honestly, this was about the perfect car situation for you at the time, as GM obviously had the bugs worked out of their A-Bodies by 1993, but what was with GM brakes during the early ’90s?
My wife’s ’92 Cavalier ate brakes, too…not pads, but rotors. It would be fine for a while, and then the brakes would start pulsating, and then they’d REALLY start pulsating. In retrospect, there are a few more things I could have checked (such as making sure the rear brakes were pulling their weight, and perhaps hub runout, etc.). But I must have put three or four pairs of rotors on that thing in four or five years (at 36,000 miles a year at the time – she drove a lot).
That Century really did look mint though…look at that interior! You could probably still be driving it today, although you’d be at $1900 in brake repairs by now. 🙂
This was indeed the perfect car for that period.
Funny story…the son advertised the car has having 39,000 miles. When I met him for the test drive, he was apologetic for it having 41k and said he fully understood if I were upset about the false advertisement. Absolutely not! I was thinking the entire time I was ecstatic to find something that didn’t have 141k on it. The guy was great to work with.
By the third time I changed out the brakes, it was taking me about 30 minutes start to finish. Thankfully rotors were never involved.
A small part of me wishes I had kept it. That small part grew bigger when I saw it a few years later at a grocery store. It wasn’t as nice as seen in these pictures, by a long shot.
I also love your pot reference. I live in a city that has gone ALL in on dispensaries, and we can’t go for a walk without smelling weed at least a handful of times. If it’s so strong-smelling outside, what must the INSIDE smell like?
“Ever make an impulsive automotive purchase that filled an emergent need?” – Yes, there is a fairly long series running about this very situation on Sunday mornings. 🙂
It is very true that when life’s stresses hammering away at you, a drama-free (and payment-free) car is a blessing, even if it might not be the exact thing you might prefer. I have been fortunate to avoid the turmoil of long-distance moves and having to live in temporary situations while things shake out.
I remember riding in this one in Iowa, and recall it as an exceptionally clean old car. These were never my favorite cars, but that particular one hit the color/equipment/condition trifecta in a way that I could have seen myself choosing it just as you did.
This Buick hit all the sweet spots in what I was seeking and how it was built.
After purchasing any used vehicle I always start to play the “what would I change if ordered new” game.
The ’01 Taurus would have had the 24 valve V6, whereas the van would retain its 5.4 but be in almost any color other than white. The ’62 Galaxie would have had more than a 292 and it would have also had an automatic.
When playing that game with the Buick, there was nothing I would have changed. Accomplishing this on a used vehicle is a profound success.
Selling and buying real estate and balancing the financial bridging juggling act while contending with rising (or falling) interest rates, and dealing with children’s (and our own) insecurities, living out of suit cases, negotiating work schedules and long commutes (hopefully not permanent) are just some of the fun activities involved in the one simple word “move”.
The brutal employment RIF environment sounds familiar. And yet somehow, less than competent co-workers with “friends” in high places usually did OK while others, often in the field and out of sight, fared less well.
If you can get through all of this without having a heart attack, well, it will feel so much better when it is over.
This COAL entry reminded me of all those difficult times.
I’m not sure you should beat yourself up on the transmission fluid change. Engine oil yes – but an operating tranny in a low mileage car? Some common wisdom says if it an’t broke, don’t fix it. When it broke, you fixed it.
I liked these GM models, especially the wagons. They were seen locally for many many years, outlasting contemporary Taurui and Mopars.
And lest we get comfortable, layoffs are starting in various businesses.
https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-sweeping-the-us-these-are-the-companies-making-cuts-2022-5?op=1
This move got tough, quickly. When we moved from St. Joseph to Hannibal, we bought before we sold. We did not care to repeat that, so this time we waited to sell before purchasing. It did elongate the ordeal but still simplified things…somewhat.
A year or two after this downsizing endeavor concluded, someone asked me how I thought it all turned out. My statement was the correct answer rate was around 75%. Some who should have been shown the door remained and the bulk of the good ones who departed did so voluntarily. The voluntary departures was one factor that was utterly overlooked in the planning process I later learned.
That Buick was the bright spot in a pretty bleak time.
Right now we are downsized but it is due to other factors, primarily the job market in this state. Yesterday I heard a radio interview with the governor in which he stated unemployment here is 2.5% with 100,000 jobs in all sectors around the state that need to be filled but for which there are no applicants.
Conversely (and I started this comment before reading your link) some friends of ours in Kansas City may be facing a downsizing due to a corporate merger where he works.
Yikes. I can feel the tension surging across the wires out here half way across the country 😉 Changing jobs and changing houses simultaneously…two of my greatest stressors combined together. I’ve done it too, but one of the things I’ve learned in later life is to do everything I can to avoid that confluence. Sometimes though you just can’t.
Your line about how people assume that downsizing never happens in the public sector…yeah, I’ve heard that one too and I roll my eyes. In fact, one of the reasons why I essentially changed careers about 10 years into my first one was that I could not deal with the constant downsizing and general threat to my financial existence brought about by “working for the state”. My opinion (and I acknowledge that’s all it is) is that the state (any state) is pretty much constantly downsizing and threatening its workers with termination…it’s just handled worse by the public sector than the private. If I’m going to be fired, I want someone like George Clooney and Anna Kendrick (Up In the Air) to do it versus having it happen by memo, newspaper article, and some vague legislative act.
That Buick though…That’s a fine-looking vehicle IMO, and another great find. $2100! That’s the deal of the century (so to speak).
Looking forward to next week’s resolution of the real estate crisis. (I hope)
If you thought this was full of tension, just wait until next week! Or not. I can’t play all my cards right now. 🙂
While I have never directly said where I work, I have dropped various Easter eggs about it in both this series and over time at CC. That said, the organization is well insulated, by the state constitution, from the various political whims of both the governor and the legislature. It provides a certain degree of stability that is quite welcomed. Big picture, if what I have started to outline in this entry is the only time I have to deal with such things during my career, I will have done well.
Terminations…I have dealt with plenty of those, sadly, but have been on the happier side of the table. The critique I have about the public sector and terminations is the amount of time it often takes. I am not talking time for making the case but the time needed for putting the case together.
Conversely, the public sector seems (I emphasize seems) to have the ability to terminate much quicker but the criteria often used to make the determination for termination seem to be a bit more nebulous. But that is the outsider looking in take on it.
I do plan to change up my career in a few years. It will be interesting to see in which sector I land.
My experience is that state governments offer the least job security of any level of government (local, state or federal). In many states, they offer the least generous compensation as well.
I work for a local government partly because my last private-sector employer went out of business, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that again. So far, local government employment has been steady and reliable – no layoffs, but salary/benefits lag behind the private sector. There’s always tradeoffs…
Jason,
It’s good to see photos of your Century again. I’m always jealous of these ’93 and older models, as they had the best engine, the 3.3 V6. I am still driving my 96 Century sedan, which still looks like new and only has 95,000 miles. I bought it 7 and 1/2 years ago and it had 78,000 miles at the time. It was a one-owner that was originally sold in Penington Gap Virginia. This is the fifth Century I’ve owned, and I LOVE these cars. I owned a 93 wagon back in ’05 (I only had it for about 8 months), but I foolishly traded for another Century sedan because it was in better condition. I still regret not keeping that wagon. They are so rare now, that I will probably never find another one.
Thanks. I knew these and the Olds counterpart were really good cars but I never realized quite how good until I had this one. Then, when learning about the 3.3 being the engine to have, that was even better.
These were still thick on the ground when we moved here nearly 11 years ago. Time has taken a toll on their numbers but one can still find them.
Don’t worry – there will be another wagon come your way. They are out there but it will just take a little more looking.
Interesting that a reorganization/downsizing would be handled in the way you described. Hard to believe any union would go along with that. Where I worked in the public sector, you could be represented by the union even if you weren’t a member. Only exception was management employees.
Civil service has a myriad of rules to determine who goes in a reduction-in-force. Performance ratings play into it by assigning years of service credit to one’s actual time of service. In the early 90s, my service date was 1960 vs the actual date of 1977. I was 7 years old in 1960.
The GM A bodies are in my Rodney Dangerfield Car Club, along with the early Saturns. They keep on soldiering on, but often “don’t get no respect.”
One thing I have noticed among the comments from various people over the years at CC is public sector entities have a multitude of differences among them.
As an example, where I work there is no significant union involvement. Plus, the organization is an employment-at-will type. Service time gets one a dinner every few years, respect from others, and a multiplier upon retirement. That’s about it.
That said, the flexibility in schedule and other items is a huge benefit the private sector cannot touch. As Eric703 said, there are trade-offs with everything.
Jason, I am thoroughly enjoying your “Real World” entries here!
More than once, looking back in retrospect, I have wondered “wot da hale” was going thru my abby-normal mind when I purchased a certain car.
As my observant Father had to tell me more than once: “Hindsight is 20/20. Foresight is seldom that clear and accurate.”
Looking forward to your next installment here.
Thank you.
Your father is / was a wise man. There is a lot of speculation and wild extrapolation involved in predicting the future.
This series is winding down but there are several more installments to go with a mystery entry at the end.
I remember this car well from our Iowa meet-up. It was a cream puff. Yes, these were everywhere here too, and now there’s just a few survivors.
Fun times, Jason! Nothing like being at the whims of an employer (and real estate agents). Sucks. But you survived, and thrived.
During that time I told my wife a person is never dealt more than they can handle. And I told her it is obvious we can handle a lot.
Whether that is good or bad is the real question!
A reliable and undramatic car is exactly what folks need during turbulent periods in life. One can always count on an A-body for filling that need.
You realtor troubles are probably not unique. When we were looking for a house, we went through two lousy realtors before finding a good one. We found a house we liked with the first realtor – it had been on the market for a few months, likely because it was priced too high. Unfortunately, our realtor struck up a friendship with homeowner, they even went out to lunch together after we toured the house – and then our realtor pressured us to buy it for the asking price. When we said no, he wrote us a disparaging email and called us immature. That experience prompted us to keep renting for another 5 years.
Our second realtor was just plain lazy. With every house, she’d plop down on the couch, proclaim it the perfect house for us, and tell us that now was a great time to buy. The final straw came when we looked at a house that had a sewage leak in the front yard, and she told us to buy it anyway.
Our third realtor was awesome. They were a husband-and-wife team, and were outstanding professionals. If we’d done business with them at first, we would have bought a house years earlier.
But I digress. Purchasing a car like that Century for $2,100 was an outstanding move.
Incidentally, I bet the average age for new-car buyers of Buick Centurys with these basic wheel covers was about 85. When new, the frugal Centurys like this seemed to appeal to an even older demographic than the fancier models. In fact, I recall, my sister’s former piano teacher bought a car just like this when she was about 90. Several years later, she mentioned that her car had about 2,000 miles on it.
The real estate market seems to be populated with people who are either quite good or not, with nothing in between. It’s obvious which I kept encountering.
When editing this I scrubbed the section about a relocation company we had to work with when moving to Hannibal. Our contact with the company got pissy with Mrs. Jason when she would not forge my signature on documents. That’s when I had to intervene and have a brutally candid conversation with this person’s manager.
About that wonderful Buick…you hit upon the one thing that always puzzled me about that car. It was relatively well equipped inside but had those hubcaps. I never could figure that one out. I do remember the sticker price was $17k and change.
Relocation companies are often horrible to work with for the potential buyers and buyer’s agent too.
I’ve sold a ton of Buick’s over the nearly 13 years I was with that dealership. Many of the Century’s. In fact, my own home has owned exactly 3 of them (1996, 1999 and 2003). We had the 1999 that was a special order and my wife at that time loved it. Then I purchased a 2002 VW Passat that was a very nice car too. She ended up liking the VW and wanted it for her, so I took the 99 Century and drove it for a few months to make sure she really liked the VW. Since she did, I traded the Buick on a brand new 2000 Lincoln LS V8 Sport. Sadly, about a month after trading in the Buick, the nearly new VW developed several issues, one of which was a severe drivability issue. The dealer was terrible and lied about the issues, and after a few more months of putting up with the issues on this car, she told me she wanted her Buick back. Since that wasn’t going to happen, I traded in the 2002 Passat on another brand new 2003 Century and she was one happy camper.
Buick’s are great cars.
I had a 1984 Buick Century 3.0 Custom (or was it Limited?). It was endearingly crap. It ran and didn´t complain and did nothing worse than lose a muffler on a long trip from Boston to DC. I had a look at ones for sale in Europe. They are all surprisingly costly as in 8,000 euros. Even if it was comfy and harmles it is also a pretty mediocre car. Why are they then so dear? Is it a cartel?
Another great installment of “As The World Turns”. Unreliable and untrustworthy Realtors are the worst – and I work in the industry. I’m glad that your story doesn’t end here and that the Century was a bright spot. I always liked these for their reliability and size. They seemed to be the perfect “not too big, not too small, not too slow, and not too ugly” which made for good rentals.
I expect that there’s light at the end of this tunnel of woe, but I’m not holding my breath…
Thanks. Your description of these Buicks is perhaps the best one I’ve ever seen.
This ordeal isn’t yet fully covered. There are a few more twists and turns along the way.
What gems. Your article and the car. I had little idea of how much drama there was behind your life story until the world of this series began turning. More fun to read about than experience, I’m sure.
I worked for a public university for almost 40 years and relaxed only when I retired as we were constantly reorganizing and downsizing for the last 20 of those years. I too was mostly on the best side of the table when people were let go but it wasn’t pretty. People who make easy assumptions and glib comments about public employment today have little knowledge of which they speak. And my old employer also is now crying for employees, a situation I could not have imagined when first beginning my career.
Those Buicks were popular even here in SoCal. Every person I knew who had one loved it. Attractive, reliable, and comfortable cars. Looking forward to more stories!
Thank you.
While I am not a drama person, it keeps finding me. It is rather like the statement Michael Corleone made in Godfather III – it just keeps sucking me back in. So much of the drama I keep seeing is based upon so much stupid, it has rather drained by wells of empathy and sympathy.
When the pandemic hit, and everyone was encouraged to stay at home, that was a happy time. Not having to be around others for an extended period? I’d been waiting for that for over 45 years.
“People who make easy assumptions and glib comments about public employment today have little knowledge of which they speak. And my old employer also is now crying for employees, a situation I could not have imagined when first beginning my career”
Amen, good sir. You are profoundly correct and I can identify with every letter of this.
Yikes, so much adversity and it gets worse?
My stress-o-meter went off the scale when we had to move to a new city for my first professional job just a couple of weeks after having our first child, less than a year after we got married. At least we were renting at the time, so no home buying or selling.
Those A-body GMs are definitely the Rodney Dangerfields of the car world. My wife’s parents had an ’86 Ciera with the V6 and a woman I carpooled with also had one of the same year. Fine riding cars with plenty of passenger space. I also had the good luck of getting an ’88 Ciera as an almost brand-new rental on a business trip to Kansas City.
We had two of these (’92 Cutlass Ciera and ’93 Century) and they both had the 3300 engine, one with 3 speed auto, one with the 4 speed. They both served us well until they succumbed to structural rust. Otherwise, beside a balky converter lock-up solenoid they had no mechanical issues or noteworthy problems. I don’t recall front brake pad replacement intervals being abnormally short. I wish I had one of these now. After suffering with two later model LeSabres, both with infuriating issues, no more American cars for me. Subaru and Toyotas are my Forte now.
All cars can and do have issues. And I’d suggest you take a look at the JD Powers and even Consumer Reports. Buick does quite well in CR and outshines the two Japanese brands by far in JD Power.
More good story telling, sorry you had all that drama .
I’ve owned more than one house and the realtors were all like used car salespeople .
I’m not grasping the why of selling that Buick .
-Nate