Buick is reliable
 

When people ask me(down at the shop) what seems to be the least trouble car to buy, I tell them a Buick LeSabre, Park Avenue, or Regal.

We see many for a smog test, but few to do repairs on. And those repairs are small, and inexpensive.

My mom has a 1995 LeSabre, and my dad has a 2002.
1995 ...Oil pan leak, and trans pan leak. Fixed in 2 hrs. Not another problem all these years and miles.

Of course, you'll make everyone assume you're over 50 yrs old if you get one !!!

I'vee seen more fuel pumps bad in Chevy trucks than any other vehicle. And the parts & labor are high, like $300-$900 job, depending on the particular model.

Camaro pumps are high too, and I've seen a bunch.

THATS RIGHT..ANOTHER THING THAT IS LIKELY TO GO BAD ON BUICKS ARE THE LOWER INTAKE GASKETS....PRETTY EASY TO FIX BUT COSTLY TO THE CUSTOMERS..
jUST ABOUT ALL GM VEHICLES WITH 3.1 , 3.4 , 3.8 , AND ALL V8 ARE VERY RELIABLE ... ITS FUNNY ., i USED TO THINK VERY BAD OF GM PRODUCTS BEFORE I STARTED WORKING FOR THIS DEALERSHIP.

ANYWAYS.....

3.8K's are not as common with intake gaskets as 3.1J/M or 3.4E
I'd say 3.8's and 5.7's are about the same when it comes to intake gaskets, but they're the same engine(minus 2 on the v6 of course), so that's no surprise.

I wouldn't buy an F body for several reasons. The major of them being typical GM fit and finish. The quality is shit. Sure the running gear may be solid, but the rest is junk. The interior is all snap-together plastic, and it'll creak and rattle. Plastic everywhere, fenders, headlight lids, so on...

I wouldn't buy any GM for that matter... maybe trucks, but they've got bigger and badder problems... ick.

the 3.1, 2.8, 3.4 etc, etc are 60 degree v6s, and have pretty much the same block. Thye are "even fire" meaning the 2 cylinders go off at the same time, so they dont have the loopy idle like a v8. They do run into some problems and whatnot, but are very good motors. My dad and I had a 5 speed 86 s10 with a dohc 3.4 in it (lq1) from a lumina z34. It made about 220 hp, very fast truck lol. It was unfortunatley destroyed by a drunk driver going almost 60, pretty much destroyed every bit of work we did. Anyways, the 3.8, 4.3 v6s are 90 degree v6s, similar to the small block. Basically a 5.0 and a 5.7 - 2 cylinders as supra90turbo said. And that thing is true with gm vehicles. They wont break their motors or tranmissions but everything else will goto shit, especially little stuff inside that is annpying but not important enough to fix. But they are great motors if you dont like to work on your car, There just a little frugal with power. plenty of torque tho! Plus they make that eaton supercharger...