@@iluvcamaros1912Yeah buick been making 3800 since series 1 it used to be called a fireball engine and somehow the lesabre makes 5 more hp than the monte carlo ss, how is that possible?
These cars dominated the roads during my childhood, a staple of sorts. Neighbors had them, fellow members of my church drove them, you saw them at malls, restaurants, grocery stores. I never imagined a time when they would no longer exist but they do take me back to a time when life was a little sweeter and simpler.
I still see them in decent numbers here in Ohio, but they're nearly impossible to find for sale around here. Nobody wants to give up these big body old school gems! Gotta love the '00 LeSabre.
Still see a decent number of them kicking around in New Jersey. Typically in beige, normally driven by grannies at the supermarket. Always makes me smile to see them.
I have a 2000 with over 200,000. Great car and easy to repair thanks to RU-vid. I've replaced shocks, struts, alternator, all the emission control, fuel tank, a/c compressor, a/c manifold an now a new bumper( paid $125 for a new one), grill and headlights. And I had never I mean never repaired a car in my life.It had 76,000 miles on it I purchased it from my cousin's lot. The 3800 is really easy to work on. If I can't figure out how to repair it. I automatically go to RU-vid. About to get it painted. I'm 65 and it gets me everywhere I need to go. Thank you Buick
The Buick 3800 engine is a work of simplified genius. Well kept, they're as smooth as butter, and even if they're beat on, they just keep on chugging. Another great thing about the 90s and early 2000 LeSabres is they were so popular that original parts aren't hard to come by.
My 18 yr old son got a 2005 LeSabre Celebration Ed in diamond white, used 90K miles. He loved that car for the smoothness, quietness, comfy seats & he could fit 5 friends in it. He didn't have it long after a drunk driver totaled it & he walked away due to the 'catcher's mitt' front seats (why Buick discontinued those seats with the newer models? Beyond me). Afterwards he was bummed it couldn't be saved. He went to a 2005 LaCrosse instead, although it could still fit 5 friends, seats weren't as comfy and it wasn't as quiet. He traded that in for a new 2017 Honda Civic & he still mentions the 2005 LeSabre from time to time.
@@SportsMusicCars I installed a cold air intake on my 2005 model. I only had it installed for about 5 miles as I HATED the sound!! I went back to the stock air box and it's now nice and quiet like it should be.
Mamaw could do 8.0 seconds flat in that LeSabre with her house slippers and robe on - and still not drop her cigarette nor turn her bowl of potato salad over.
I will admit it, the 2000-05 Buick LeSabres are still some of the nicest looking cars of recent history. I could see this car becoming a classic in the future.
@@MistahJigglah I would argue the 90s lesabres and park aves are better looking than the 2000s cars. I have a 99 lesabre and the pin stripes, front little windows, and mostly flat rear window sills look better to me. The newer lesabres have better serviceability such as a drain plug on the transmission and the battery under the rear seats. The 2000s cars also have rear disk brakes instead of drums.
Agree, the final gen lesabre and park avenue are aging very well and still turn heads on the road if you have a nicer example. Previous gens although looked good at the time, look very dated now.
@@flipdry I won't argue, my dream car is a 93 LeSabre before they changed the manifold. Though if I got one, I'd expect to have to rebuild everything, repaint, and reupholster it, it'd still be cheaper than a new car, while looking infinitely better than anything made in over a decade.
@@ALEX173446 Bought my 2005 maroon metallic Custom about 1.5 years ago with 72K miles on it and paid $3800. It had some surface rust underneath ( which I took care of with Por15). The interior was near mint, especially the seats and top of the dash. No regrets.
I had a 2000 Lesabre Custom as my first car. With a front bench seat. Man I miss that car. If they were still making them I would buy one today. More comfortable and nicer on a road trip than the suv I have now.
These great cars were the go-to sedan for livery drivers. Now they can be bought real cheap with a lot of life left in them. Got my 2000 limited in 2014 with 125K and a few cheap and easy to fix issues. Cost me a total of $1,800 after issues were repaired. 100K and 8 year later I sold it for $2,200. So comfortable and quiet, so I bought another LeSabre project car in a different color. It's usually risky buying an 18 year old car, but this 2nd one is working out great.
I guess it was meant to be. I own a 2000 Buick Lesabre Limited with 107k miles in white!. Im 21 and purposely bought it back in February. Have done quite a bit of preventative maintenance!. Honestly have loved driving it. A boat and smooth at that with its air ride suspension . And a bench seat. For somone whos 6 foot 6 its nice to have that space for my right leg!. Mpgs are honestly great still. 22 years later!. 30+ mpg on highway. About 20 ish + in the city. Not too bad at all. And that trunk!. Sheesh!. So much space. Hoping to keep it awhile.
Im Australian and lived in the US for a little while. Bought this car (‘01 LeSabre Custom w/ lots of options) and it never let me down. Absolutely loved that car and still miss it. Rust was getting to it though
It's not the Grand national, but Buick was the only car company who knows exactly how to make V6 engine, powered luxury cars, something the even the imports and domestic cars couldn't do.
Honda and Toyota make great v6s. So does Mercedes and Nissan. Ford had a great V6 too, the vulkan or whatever. There are plenty of great v6s motors out there. But the 3800 is one of the best.
Remember good back in 2000 was 11 years old loved this car was a huge Buick fan loved myself a Buick today prefer these older ones over the new ones see tons of Lesabre on the road. They were comfortable, beautiful and smoothest rides ever the 3800 engines were the best. I miss old Buicks so much getting depressed seeing the old Buicks now.
Probably one of the most reliable vehicles to ever come out of GM. The last generation LeSabre has a solid reputation of turning HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of miles with minimal service or repairs. 250-500k odometer readings is not uncommon.
oh bless that sweet 3800 V6... I swear I always say that was the best motor jam (i meant GM) ever made, and the supercharged version was a true gift also..
@@Ccyawn123 lol oops, But yes, as far as reliability and cost friendly maintenance I put this up there with the Toyota motors it's a shame that they basically replaced it with the awful 3.6
I have a 2001 it is of the custom flavor currently with 312,000 miles, the biggest flaw is the dashboard that shrinks and lifts up, as far as reliability she's never left me stranded, I do all my own work and regular maintenance, I had to replace the transmission shift solenoids a known problem which causes delayed shifting, not a bad job for the seasoned backyard mechanic but not for someone without some experience and automotive knowledge.
This lamb has a friend that had one in his 30s. It was his grandmothers car and his grandfather couldn’t drive, so it was given to him. He got it 2 years old with 11,000 miles, and drove it another 16 years.
My mom had one. Maybe a late 90’s model. I drove it from New Hampshire to New Jersey when she moved about 20 years ago and was blown away on how great it was to drive it!
My wife and I bought one of these, in the gold color like the one featured. It was a really nice car and we never had any problems with it. Eventually replaced it with a Lucerne and replaced that with a LaCrosse. All were good cars but then Buick stopped making sedans, so my wife now drives an Infiniti Q50. Would have bought her a caddy sedan but the dealership didn't have any.
I wonder why their MPG test was so low. I will admit these are terrible city cars MPG wise(18) but if you don't stop constantly 30mpg is possible on highway and my combined is closer to 25.
Finally got a chance to drag race my '05 LeSabre. On a cold night with POOR traction my best was 16.12 @ 86 mph. I'm confident it would do a 15.7 @ 87-88 mph pass under ideal conditions.
I have a 2000 Buick LeSabre custom I bought for $2400 in September 2021 at 94,000 miles on it I did replace the tires cause I’ve been on her for 16 years and rear shocks and a few months ago had to replace the catalytic converter but I’ll tell you what I’m not afraid to go anywhere in that car it’s a comfortable nice car only trouble is the dashboard in front of the instrument panel is buckled which I think must be I think that happens quite a bit because I see a lot of him like that and the headliner but other than that it’s a beautiful car
Don't forget about the Buick Regal. Of course back then people couldn't tell the difference between a Buick Regal and a Buick Century because of how much they looked alike. However you could tell the difference between a Buick Lesabre and a Buick Park Avenue Ultra.
@4:40 “everyone liked the big rear seat with more adult sized room than before…” what are they talking about? It was downsized from 1999 on the interior and that guy’s knees are into the back of the front seat.
Last year I bought a 2005 Custom model with just 72K miles. Best riding car ever owned by far! Motorweek's 1/4mile results are ALWAYS on the slow side. With 205 hp. I think realistically it should be capable of mid 15s at about 87-89 mph through the traps. I'll likely test that this Summer.
@@timmypstyle I posted that info 3 weeks ago. I had a brand new at the time, 2007 Monte Carlo SS I ran at the drag strip. Bone stock I got a 13.992 @ 98.14 mph. My LeSabre was dramatically hampered by a cold track surface with no prep. With the tires lowered to 26 psi and the traction control fuse pulled, it spun it's ass off leaving rubber splatter encompassing the wheel well and down the entire right side of the car! Took me the better part of 3 days to remove it all! I have ZERO doubt the car is capable of 15.7s @ 88+ mph with ideal conditions.
I disagree with calling the interior huge. So much bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside than the 92-99 models. The backseat especially. It was terribly cramped. I had a 93 I was going to replace with a 2000. I remember having an argument with a salesman about size, so I pulled my car right up to the 2000 I was considering and showed the skeptical dealer (who said, no, they’re exactly the same size inside and out) and he couldn’t believe it either. The longer hood and longer trunk of the of the 2000 ate away the interior space. The 92-99 had a shorter hood and smaller trunk which gave tons of interior room. This was a bad move on GM’s part. They gave it large car proportions on the exterior and midsize car proportions on the interior. The roominess of the outgoing models was the whole reason I was considering a Lesabre again. Instead, I had to move up to a Park Avenue Ultra to get the same level of spaciousness as the outgoing Lesabre.
@@Vekurus that’s exactly what it was like and I could have handled that if I actually were stepping down to a Century, but with the outside of the car being huge and the inside being so much smaller it was ridiculous. I’m also sure the nice salesman didn’t mind selling me up to flagship model so it worked out for us both lol.
Only good thing about these and the Park Avenues were their engines. The interiors fell apart over time, the power door lock switches and actuators failing was a sure bet and power window regulator failures were too common. The leather seats didn’t age very well, they were prone to cracking and splitting. Aside from the plastic plenum leaking, those 3800 engines were decent. It was everything else that fell apparently on the car.
These are solid cars. Reliable engine/trans/electrical system, smooth ride, comfortable, roomy as all get out. Yet still ugly as hell, not a damn straight line on the whole car. Mom bought the Toyota version, the Avalon, which IMO was screwed together a lot better, much nicer interior both in design and materials, styling was kind of bland but I liked the slab sides and straight/creased lines of that car. Served us well for 10 years as the primary car, then another 9 as a backup. Had 280k when an idiot skidded into it on a wet road. Interior looked almost new, paint was still decent and hadn't flaked off.
@@aayonce4 I personally have never been a fan of leather seating surfaces or sunroofs. My '99 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP has both. Leather is too high maintenance. Oh yeah, a leather interior sure looks the part, but the way they crack and get baggy where your butt sits, pass. As for a sun/moon roof, I use them almost never and if the drains are not kept clear they will leak even if the seals are still good.
Coming from the UK, we had one of these as a rental for our family holiday in 2005 and what an absolute pile of garbage! Hideously ugly and wallowed about all over the place with the steering accuracy of a cargo ship
