That ~.70:1 OD ratio has alot to do with it. At that time, the 700R4 was a great transmission, and TBI injection was pretty thrifty too for the time. Those are great highway cruisers. That was actually I'd say one of the last great GM vehicles.
Go ahead, drool all you want, you can't hurt that finish. Now rainwater, that will strip it right off, so - Aww, I shouldn't have said that!!!! Aww Gil
That was probably the most reliable fuel injection system ever made. It was like having the world's best tuned carburetor all the time under any conditions. Very few parts to fail.
These 305 Caprices smoked the 4.6 Crown Vics, mainly because the massive torque that the Caprice had. The Caprices with the 350 flat out killed the PI Crown Vics in every way.
Mary Barra needs to watch this video. It took a woman to ruin General Motors.... This is when car's were dependable not today's plastic fantastic car's.
These were great cars. Especially the 1994 to 1996 when Chevy put the LT1 350 in them. The Caprice's with LT1's were fast! I still mourn the fact these cars were dropped after 1996.
It was an unbelievably junky car, though. I remember the police force in my city got rid of their Caprices years before they had planned to because they were having so many problems with them and they were just costing too much to repair.
alfamonk I got more of an "American Psycho" feel from the gloves, like perhaps that individual was practicing using the car after killing his wife and dumping the body in a salt water marsh in Maryland.... Very disturbing.
Once the Caprice Wagon and Roadmaster Wagon were upgraded to the 260 HP LT1 engine in 1994, these cars instantly became TRUE classics. I owned a 1994 from 2008 to 2015 - purchased for $2800 at 61,000 miles. Best car I ever owned for the money, hands down.
The Caravan is actually coming back as a "historical vehicle" it's over 25 years old now, and some younger enthusiast grew up in one. So they are treating them like 32 Ford's or 65 mustangs
This is from back in the day when American cars weren't afraid to be American cars, with their split bench seating, column shift, and suspension tuning that emphasized ride over handling. Now, notice how most everything American is trying to look and drive like it came from Japan or Europe. I miss real American cars!
In my moms old Taurus wagon, my cousin and I were actually sitting back there facing rear when the car got rear-ended lol luckily I was sleep when it happened
In my country, the Netherlands, this Caprice and it's predecessor were the standard hearses in the 80's and 90's. Now it's lengthened and heightened E-Class Estates mostly
It's interesting to note that in 1991 this 4300 lb full-size wagon was one of the heaviest cars on the market, while today a Dodge Challenger Hellcat tips the scale at over 4400 lb, and very few seem to notice the mass.
A. Whiteman it kinda is, think off the top of your head a brand new traditional SUV that's not a full size that isn't a FWD crossover. The only thing I got is the 4Runner
A full size CUV has been introduced, and I have one. I think (not sure) it is the first and only "full sized" CUV. The Hyundai Santa Fe (not the Santa Fe Sport, it's shorter and only has a 4 cylinder) but the full version, 3rd row seating, 4wd 290 HP engine. The roof is lower than a traditional SUV making smaller, sportier windows, a little lower ground clearance than a traditional SUV (not a lot lower) so it handles like a car and has 19 inch sport wheels. It is classified a CUV. Correct me if I am wrong, but it is the only full sized CUV...at least I haven't seen another.
And they're coming back in style 25 years later. My 94 Buick wagon with the LT1 gets thumbs up all the time. Plus I've gotten several offers to buy it...
I miss the days when American car builders made these 4500 lb behemoths that you'd glide over roadways in while steering with 2 fingers. I still miss the Buick Roadmaster I totaled 10 years ago and I hope to own another someday.
No they don't! They stopped making them in 1996! The closest thing to a full-size 1970s land yacht or b-body would be the Ford Panther Cars, but even those will be getting rarer and rarer now that they are out of production. Everything is about Sport and big wheels now, but I still love the smooth ride of a true full size American luxury car.
Dan McCarthy I feel the same about the 1964 Galaxie I had in college. We all have that one car that got away. I have an '02 Town Car with 130,000 miles on it now and it's fairly similar in dimensions, ride, and steering feel to my old Galaxie. Gets 27 MPG on the highway, though, unlike the Galaxie, which averaged 12 on a good day.
I have a soft spot for all the cars I had but gave up for one reason or another... even the rusty Eagle Summit Wagon which was like the runt of a minivan litter. But that Roadmaster... man, that was a beaut. Black with red leather seats... the rear visibility was horrible but it had the best horn... man, buying and driving that thing made me so proud. I found an old promotional video on RU-vid used by Buick dealers to sell the things and honest to God, I got choked up watching it.
No...a Motown Industries 454 small-block...dressed to look like a stock 305 down to throttle body injection (a 454 truck TB, on an Edelbrock Performer RPM TBI intake with the logos ground off). Add an extreme-duty TCI 6-speed automatic (based on the 4L85E) and a pair of drag tires. 11s, anyone? :D
Yeah, what a "great" advancement. So now if you want a midsize wagon, you have to pay the same price as a midsize sedan but you only end up with a compact crossover, and you get less cargo room and worse fuel economy added bonuses. What is wrong with people? Or what is wrong with manufacturers? I mean, how is it that Subaru, VW, and the German luxury brands still offer wagons but no one else does?
Maestro_T dodge did with the magnum, and not for nothing man wagons aren’t that appealing to people. I’d honestly rather drive a minivan then a wagon. Or a suv for that matter. Dodge only got away with the magnum because it was practically a muscle wagon
I remember when this generation Caprice premiered. I remember saying "It's about damn time Chevy updated the Caprice. While there's nothing wrong with the old-school Caprice and Caprice Classic, it was high time the Caprice got an upgrade. Given its size and weight, I would've ordered mine with the police pursuit package suspension upgrade.
the later lt1 version was a great car. Though the Road master wagon was better. Still neither are as awesome as the early 60s dodge Polara with a 413 425hp wedge hemi. It looks like a dog, and runs like a bitch.
My old man bought a new 1970 Plymouth Sport Suburban with fake wood slapped on the sides,roof rack, 383 Magnum engine, back facing seats in cargo space in the floor, flasher lights on the top of the front fenders, and fully equipped interior ... all for the stately sum of $4,600. It ran like a top for years, never a problem mechanically, and got resold for a bloody good price. What a beast!!
Even though I've seen this review about a million times by now, I still am so happy to see it uploaded here. I love the Caprice (and its B-body siblings), so keep them coming!
I always wished Chevy would have kept a larger V8 like a 400 sbc or 454 bbc in production with the modern technology to meet emissions requirements available in cars like this. The 305 was just adequate, even if they would have kept to 307 bore size(shared with the old 283) and used the stroke of the 350 as did the 305 it would have made for a MUCH better performing base/economy V8 engine. If the Vortec version of the 350 with say 270hp(or better yet a 400 with 300hp) and the Vortec 454 with say 300-320hp (the main advantage over the 350(or theoretical Vortec 400ci) would have been lower peak power rpms and a big boost of say 50-80ft/lbs of tq across the band. The 454 Vortec increases here compared to the HD truck application would come from a car cam and a free flowing intake and exhaust could have really made the top level B body sedans and wagons hot stuff from their debut in 1991 on making them highly desirable and popular than they were with the weak sauce L03 TBI 305 as the lone initial engine until the L05 350 with a measly 180hp came along a year or two later making the arrival of the LT1 350 with 260hp that came in 1994 after the line's fate had already been sealed and the car had already been written off by a public enamored with big dumb SUVs and increasingly using pickups with a back row of seats as a family car, figuring if they could only get an underpowered V8 they might as well have it in a big imposing tough looking 4x4 poser package and the only way to get a big block V8 required buying a 3/4-1ton truck that they would likely drive in 4 door configuration and short bed in the same role a properly powerful and styled B body could have fulfilled. The Impala SS was quite popular as a last gasp but, a 400 and 454 powered B body with a manual option could have gotten the muscle fanatics out of those trendy trucks and back into mean muscle sedans and wagons.
After 1972, wish all you want. We had to wait until many years later for Detroit to quit being afraid of it's own shadow. There was the GNX and Impala SS; but Detroit refused to take any chances before the rebirth of the Charger.
Problem is that they had to meet a certain mpg or face having people pay a gas guzzlers tax in an already waning market. They did what they needed to try to save the car a little longer so they could get money back from the tooling costs. Now you could always motor swap it and not worry about the taxes after or bore out the engine and get some vortec heads and make a stroker engine out of it.
I'm glad I owned a 93 Roadmaster for 3 months. I have a great ideal of how this wagon ride and handle. The RM had a 350 and got 20 mpg n the city and 23 mpg on the hwy doing 80 mph. That 5.7 would lay down some rubber.
Motorweek rocks, but my oh my do I long for these no-nonsense-type reviews of the earlier days. There's no hipster nightclub music in the background, John isn't trying to hold your attention by shouting at you, it's simply a superb, well-thought-out presentation of the vehicle delivered to a mature audience. There's no need for those other distracting elements because the review itself stands on its own. Look, any television program that's been around for over 30 years must be doing something right, but this is just my $.02. Not hatin, just statin :)
Lol in my country (The Netherlands) this car was excusively used as a hearse. Literally nobody bought one as a private car, even back when gas was cheap in europe....
My dad used to have this very model, this very year (But the color was ultra silver metallic.) and it was awesome. Not only was it like sitting in a drivable luxury couch, the rear seats that you could sit in that faced backwards were cool. every kid in my school wanted to carpool with us because we had those.
I had a 1993 Caprice. Loved it. It had 225,000 miles on it when I got rid of it. My only main complaint was the headlights. The beam was scattered and not well focused. I wonder if Motorweek ever drove theirs at night, I bet they would have mentioned that in the review.
My Granny still has her 95 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon with the 5.7 and it's a sleeper for all the kids at the red light who don't know any better!🤣 Plus it'll tow a boat, turn on a dime and it's like riding on a cloud.
This was the epitome of america for me as a child in England. I still want one and it’s perfect for me and my kids! Trouble is there aren’t any here ☹️
I am a car enthusiast who absolutely loves wagons but the issue is being broke, been looking at possibly replacing my money pit of a Toyota with a station wagon though I'd love something that gets decent gas mileage since I have no money
The sedan version of this cruiser was awesome. I challenge anyone to beat the overall balance of ride and handling these cars had even today. GM was starting to get its sh#t back together by 1991.
So many car enthusiasts claim to "love wagons," yet very few actually buy them. No doubt, these V8 RWD Chevys are well on their way to becoming collector's items!
You've gotta put the 2nd gen lebaron on there! You mentioned it in the first episode ever! I have one and I would really love to see what you guys had to say about it!
5.0L V8 making 170 HP. LOL. I use to have a 96 Impala SS with the LT-1 in it and even that thing only made 260 HP. I'm so glad these days are behind us now.
Dewoine Hamilton Probably in 20 years I'll be reminiscing back to when we had 700+ HP V8s in family sedans while everyone around me is driving an electric people mover. I don't really think things are going to get much better than they are now. We've got 2.0L 4 bangers that pump out 355 HP. We're living in the golden age of HP right now.
That was adequate power for normal everyday driving. My 91 Caprice ran through a set of 3.08 gears and a 700R4 trans. It had a brisk take-off, great acceleration, and plenty of passing power. Not an underpowered car at all.
I forgot how booster-y this program was. They are always throwing the manufacturers a bone, even when the vehicle is outmoded and clearly on it's way out. The line about "station wagons being on their way back" is precious! LOL!
I really like these wagons from GM. I would like to own one or the sedan counterparts but put a nice sound dual exhaust and a more modern LS motor in it.
Guy says we see the caprice wagon being around for many years to come....wrong ...the inferior mini-vans knocked the wagons out unfortunately. I don't own this particular wagon but i do have a mint condition 1986 Buick electra wagon with 75k miles that i paid top dollar for in 2016.
Thank you for posting another GM video. I forgot about this vehicle. Thank you for pulling this video out for us to view. As I said before, I appreciate when you upload these GM and Lincoln videos from the past. Thank you once again. I look forward to what else you may have. Do you have the 1987-1990 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Touring Sedan? Thank you.
05:42 there definitely is a market for this car..... 28years later as a..........?........___________the sheet of plywood is c o o l (wing windows too)>>>>! 04:30
