The VIN C version, before GM started fitting crappy leaky plastic intakes and leaky crappy silicone o rings to the thing were the finest 3.8s they made. The 4T60E is better the the T440 auto, though.
@@jonmurr1 Yes the 1988-95 production run of the 3800s was the pinnacle of that engine. It was in '96 when they came out with the "Series II" that the used the garbage plastic intake manifold gaskets.
@Thystaff Thywill I've had my plates stolen too. I can't imagine why someone would want to have stolen plates on their car so I don't understand why people steal them.
jriley1992 really? I never see them. Unfortunately. Here I’m Miami, most people have a new model car. Mostly Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche....etc. I miss seeing these old American cars. If you’d go more south heading homestead, you’ll get more chances of spotting one of these.
@Potato Puffs Fox body has a solid rear axle and a driveshaft, 2 extra cylinders in a longer block with a large intake manifold (5.0. ) The Fox was the better deal, since it would still be here, running, and ridiculous values of them now.
@David Malinovsky The real culprit for the extra weight is the extremely high beltlines of most present day cars. High beltlines mean lots more metal and much less glass, which translates to poor visibility and lots of extra weight.
Today’s compacts are actually just short 3,000lbs (around 2,600lbs-2,800lbs) but this has a lot to do with safety. The A pillars are thicker and beefier as well as the C Pillars, this plays a very important part in frontal, side impact, reared and rollover protection. Most modern have a minimum of 4 airbags, some have 6 or more. These airbags have modules that monitor their status as well as seatbelts, seat occupancy sensors and crash sensors mounted behind the bumpers and doors even after the ignition switch is turned off. Virtually every car has a safety cage composed of high strength steel along with precision engineered crumple zones that allows the energy to be absorbed into these crumple zones while the frame remains intact. You also have modules that monitor your vehicle emissions/performance, tire pressure and security status. In the 80s they made cars more efficient by making them lighter which also compromised safety. In the 60s-70s the only way knew to make cars safer was to make them bigger with longer hoods and trunks with steel bumpers all around but they didn’t have crumples which meant you were more likely to die in a 55mph crash vs today. I love the older vehicles too but I’d much rather be surrounded by a modern safety cage housing 6 airbags than an old Buick with thin pillars, and unpredictable suspension and no airbags or active headrests. Safety comes at a cost..
I know..It's WEIRD. I lived thru BOTH the '73 and '79 gas crunches, Began driving in '78, DOWNSIZING was the THING. if anyone would have told be that a 2000s COMPACT would weigh more than a 1980s FULL SIZE car.. I would have questioned their sanity.
I had an '88 LeSabre T-type. It felt faster than it was. It was really nimble for being so big. The back seat had more space than the Ford Crown Vic! The H-bodies are definitely a top "under-rated" car.
While I prefer the older RWD models, these mid-to-late 80s "larger" FWD GM cars really are unique and stand out compared to just about anything else on the roads.
They sure didn't stand out back then. There were a billion of them on the road and unless you were within spitting distance, you couldn't tell if they were Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs or Chevrolets. Remember the August 1983 cover of Fortune Magazine?
@Joshua Jacob I used to drive my parents' 1985 Oldsmobile 98 and I know how fast that was... it blows the Buick LeSabre out of the water in acceleration
I was in the 3rd grade when these came out. My grandmother had a 1986 Olds 88. I really hated to see the big rwd models go even as a kid. 30 years later I see these were not as bad as I thought.
American cars from the 1980s quite often were not too attractive, but I do think this is a nice looking car. I like the flush mounted tail lights and it has some nice curves in an era when super square and boxy was the trend. I remember these late 80's FWD Buicks being very quiet, roomy, and plush. A far cry from today's Buicks.
I’m actually extremely impressed with how little body roll this had for the mid 1980s! Seriously, that wasn’t much more body roll than the Porsche they tested of the same vintage! And is about the same as some cars family cars today! Great job on this GM! But then you get to the acceleration part of the test and it quickly reminds you that it was 1986...when an over 12 seconds 0-60 was pretty quick for a midsize car Today’s equivalent to that time? A mid size 18 foot Uhaul lol And then you see the bar style speedometer and a fuel gauge, or the digital dash and you immediately feel the need to bust out some 80s Billboard hits Still, I’d love to have one of these Buicks today!
My mother owned a red Buick lesabre sedan. I think it was an 88 and it had a forward tilt hood. Thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Was our family car for almost 10 years before it rusted out :(
@@TickleFingers 220 lb/ft of torque though, available at low RPMs out of that OHV V6. The newer OHC engines really have to rev to get that. They scream when they're going but they just don't have that effortless torque on tap like the old ones. Just my observation from driving both.
If we built cars that took 12+ seconds to do 0-60 mph, we would have cars that could get 30+mpg. But, people want power, comfort, safety and acceleration. The car makers are delivering what the public wants and buys. s
They used different standards for mileage runs. 55mph national speed limit the biggest one. Most modern cars can easily exceed their highway mpg rating if just cruising at 55.
Donald Trump is Ghetto Trash, you are so right one of the only problems with that 98 was the terrible transmission. It was basically an 80 thousand miles transmission. It began slipping and I took it to the transmission shop, and the fellow said I bet you have about 82,000 miles on the odometer. The car had 82,500 miles on the odometer.
Donald Trump is Ghetto Trash, as you might imagine my Grandmother’s was well maintained, but it just fell victim to General Motors bringing out a new product where the bugs had not been entirely worked out. Sometimes I think the General was so eager to get things to market that the details lacked attention. When the transmission was working it was wonderfully smooth, but it was on of their first with electronic overdrive and they used plastic parts as well. Eventually they got the engineering well sorted.
Robert James, I started driving in 1993 so relatively speaking a seven year old well kept Oldsmobile was not a bad first car at the time. It had plenty of room for all my friends and got pretty good gas mileage. I maintained it well and I kept it in my Grandma’s garage at night.
My dad had an '86 sedan. It was spacious and comfortable and got close to 30 mpg in rural driving. Handling was surprisingly crisp. That crispness was gone in the '92 that replaced it. Transmission woes with that one sent him off to Toyota.
Big brother decided they were too unsafe for people here in our "free" country. Now all you can buy are $20k+ cars that have 12 airbags, a backup camera and whole other gaggle of nanny features. Standard of course, whether you like it or not.
Iron Panther yup, cant buy a good ol American luxury coupe anymore. Its all sedans and crossovers. Rather than cater to a market that practically begging for new coupes, they put a different touchscreen into, and update the front end, of their 4 year old crossovers. No thanks. Ill stick to the old school fwd cars. GM was truly at their absolute best in the late 80s and 90s.
There was a guy that posted a build on the LesabreT forums a while back that did that. He had a LeSabre T-Type and swapped the series 1 supercharged engine and transaxle from a 1995 Riviera. Turned out really sweet.
Great review! I like the conservative 80's styling of this Lesabre, and really like the space and accessibility of everything in the engine bay for a FWD car........having said that, this Lesabre would have been even cooler if GM kept it RWD!
I had an 89 Electra, such a beautiful car. Its bad that the heater core needed to be replaced, if did not cost an arm and leg to be fixed I would have had the car a little longer.
Thanks for the road test. I currently own 2 1986 LeSabres (a Limited coupe and a LeSabre Grand National) and years ago an '88 LeSabre T Type. They are excellent cars with the only issue being the lousy THM440T4 transaxle. The 3.8 engine is marvelous, the suspension is firm but not harsh, the 3.0 turn lock to lock steering is almost out of place in a Buick but you get used to it quickly. Getting over 200k miles is commonplace, except for the transaxle. Update the trans with the later bits and pieces and they are great cars. There are still a bunch of '86 to '91 H bodies running around here, but very few other cars from the same time frame.
@@vossler360 Not necessarily. 9-10 seconds was pretty much average. Anything slower was still kinda meh, but acceptable. Most small, not-so-powerful sports cars were in the 7-8 territory and the big performers were in the 5-6 range.
The 3.8 V6, or 3800 as it came to be know, is not only the best engine GM ever made, it's quite possibly one of the best engines ever made in the world, PERIOD. If you did just basic, absolute basic maintenance on them they would go well over 200,000 miles with no smoking, leaks or drop off in power. They had plenty of low end torque, and if they were a bit rough and loud in hard acceleration, they got smooth and super quiet when cruising. In 1988 GM updated fuel injection and cam design and boosted power to 165-170 hp. At that point these motors were better than any V8 that it replaced.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. I have loved the 85-90 Electra/98 and 86-91 LeSabre/Delta since they came out (and I was barely a teenager at the time). Of them, the LeSabre Limited Coupe was my pick (especially in 87 with the Lt. Teal paint and matching cloth interior, wire wheel discs were a must, too). I wasn't a sports car kid. Give me luxury or give me death.... think I heard that somewhere lol!!!!
I loved my 1988 Buick LeSabre T type 2 door, it was very reliable and it was a 2 tone gray and white inside an out. It was a 4 seater, the front and rear were all bucket seats and the center console ran the whole length of the interior.
Thank you for finding and posting this GM footage. I was pleased to see this one. I was like ouch on the Oldsmobile comments about what it did not have. I own a 1995 Oldsmobile 98 and a 1992 Oldsmobile Toronado. It is interesting you could get digital gauges in this car in 1986, but not after 1991. I know you could on Oldsmobile. My Ninety Eight and Toronado have them. It is interesting how Le Sabre grew in size in 1992 after the 1986 downsizing. I think the best looking ones were the 1990-1991 models and 1992 changed everything for the better. The 2000-2005 models were popular too. They were not athletic looking as the 1986-1999 models. This car catered to its clientele. The car lost the sporty stuff, T- Type, and T packages after 1989. One interesting note is just like Oldsmobile Eighty Eight these car were so close to the C Body Ninety Eight and Park Avenue in features and more. The wheelbases were the same. I think that is why they sold more of these. Le Sabre was very reliable for what was under the hood( 3800 V6) and the quality of materials used inside. It was great to see the story recently on the 1987 Buick Regal Limited T Package with the turbo 3.8 liter V6. I still want to see: Oldsmobile Ninety Eight for 1985, Ninety Eight Touring Sedan 1987-1990, Eighty Eight 1986, 1986 Toronado, and other GM footage and stories. I would like to see that GM Quad 4 story that had that Ninety Eight and Toronado with Quad 4's. I hope to see more GM footage and Lincoln footage. Thank you again.
Love these cars they were solid around that time. My favorite are 84-85 generation which were some beautiful cars grew up on Buicks. These cars were downsized front-wheel-drive but some beautiful cars arpund that era as Park Avenue sleek boxy style which had class and sweet engine sound take offs the seats looked real comfortable it seem Buick was ahead of their game doung the eightes with the hood open as see on sports car as Corvette, Lamborghini etc.
Back in the 80s anything less than 10 seconds for 0 to 60 was considered quick. A 12 second time was considered "very good" for a large car with a small engine, at least by the standards of its day.
My first car, an 87 Olds Calais with the 3.0L V6 and 3-speed auto could do 0-60 in 8.8-9.3 seconds. Granted it only weighed 2700 lbs and could get 29mpg if you had a light foot.
@@Geforcefly The 87 Olds Calais with the 3.0L V6 only made 125 bhp. That same car with the 160 bhp Quad 4 was recorded to do the 0-60 run in 8.5 seconds, according to GM's press material of the time. Note that Popular Science magazine tested this car against the V6 car that you cited, and they stated: "And in an impromptu drag race with a Calais equipped with the current three liter V6, the car with the Quad 4 was two car lengths ahead at 60 mph."
My grandparents had a 1986 LeSabre and liked it so much they bought a 1992 one that I drove from 2008-2013 was a great car. Only sold it off cuz I lost my job so the hubby and I decided to go down to one car for our household.
1:28........."Can you put this in a good spot? "Cause all this shit happened last time I parked here." Did you test the Delta 88, as well? This is a car that will always be very special to me. For Christmas 1988, my grandparents bought a brand new white 1989 Buick LeSabre Custom From Lloyd Buick/Cadillac/BMW in Daytona Beach, Florida, & I used to LIVE for their visits from Palm Coast just so I could ride in this beautiful car. To this day, I will NEVER forget sitting in those beautiful blue velour seats & feeling the cloud-like ride from the DynaRide suspension with one of my James Taylor cassettes wafting from the Concert Sound System. AHHHHHHHH........THE MEMORIES!!!!! I will go on record as saying that the C/H-bodies were probably the best cars that GM ever built. Not only they have the secret NAILED on how to produce that classic feeling of big-car ride, smoothness, comfort, & quiet, they were the best in terms of build quality/dependability/reliability, at least the later models were. They truly showed what could happen when an American car manufacturer took their heads out of their collective asses & took the time building a car that could successfully go head-to-head with the imports, rather than just being obsessed with beating them at their own game. In fact, the Buick LeSabre was named the Most Trouble-Free Car Built/Sold In America from 1989-up. Now, THAT is saying something!!
That's funny that 12.8 sec 0 - 60 was considered brisk. Now if it's not under 7 sec. it's considered "sluggish" I had the 1986 Buick Electra which was basically the same as the LeSabre. It had the 3.8L and I thought it had plenty of power. It was a nice car for the time. I traded it on a 1988 Cadillac Sedan Deville, which, again, is basically the same car, but the Cadillac had a 4.1L V-8.
These cars were bulletproof, and so comfortable. I remember my grandmother’s neighbor bought a brand new 1989 Oldsmobile 88 royale. It was burgundy, and fully loaded.
Back in the day, I worked on tons of H cars. They weren't all that bad really. Some electronic problems, some brake wear issues, some rear ball joint and strut issues, but overall, quite good. The original GM 440T4 transaxle only got better in the upcoming yrs and the 3.0 was good, but the 3.8 Buick V6 still stands as 1 of the best American engines ever made. These cars were extremely comfortable and easy to drive. I kinda miss them. I had the opportunity to drive a very well worn 89 sedan a few yrs ago. It had somewhere in the neighborhood of 260k on it, and was on it's 2nd oil pump, 3rd timing chain, and 2nd trans, but other than that, the engine had never been apart. The interior needed a headliner. That was it. It had tons of chips, dings and dents on the exterior, but very little rust. It drove just fine, almost forgettably boring, which is what IMO that car was meant to do. I've never driven a T type. I'd love to know the difference!
One design quirk I have always liked on this LeSabre was its lack of corner lamps. That one thing alone made the LeSabre and the Park Avenue look like 2 totally different cars. Buicks were known for their good brakes, and this car was no exception.
My personal story with one of these cars. A few ago, we had a family friend who was thinking of selling her 1986 Buick Electra because of an unpredictable stalling issue. She was a senior widow who had already been to several mechanics and none of them could find the problem (but still charged here a few bills each visit!). While road testing the car, I was quite surprised at how well it accelerated and cornered. It pulled well and the steering was very tight with just the right amount of boost. Overall, I found it to be a very solid car, but the fit and finish did have flaws that you'd expect from an 80s car. The spot welds on that huge hood were clearly done by hand with plenty of spatter and even some hanging welding wire still in place. There were even grinder marks visible around the shock towers. Again, all done by hand, and all still protected by the factory metallic paint. No, it was not a body shop job car. I did eventually find the problem. After a new MAF sensor, the car gave her several more years of reliable operation until another shop told her the engine seized. She was planning to move overseas anyway, so she simply walked away at that point. There are some real crook mechanics out there...
My dad had the Olds Delta 88 of this same model year in the same color. He hated it and only kept it a couple years. Of course, he made the mistake of trading a really nice fully loaded '83 Cutlass Supreme Brougham for it, and ended up regretting it. His thought was the Delta was the higher model in the lineup, but it was bland compared to the sporty Cutlass. And few can argue the body style of that generation of Cutlass was one of the best of the 80's. And in a light silver-jade green color with matching mag wheels, even better. The Delta just looked like a fleet car.
I loved the 3.8 liter V6 I these cars it was a bulletproof engine design that was very reliable, I had a Buick LeSabre T Type 2 door with the front bucket seats, full length floor console and all the gauges. I loved that car and drove it for years without any real major problems, it was very comfortable, roomy and great on gas, this was back when GM still built great cars that didn't break the bank.
I had an '86 Olds 88 -- same car as this, essentially. That 3.8L V6 was the best engine GM made back then. Good power (for the day) and great fuel economy for its size -- you could genuinely get 30 MPG on the highway and 20+ around town, but it would still get up and go quite well if you flogged it. And it was *very* luxurious -- *so* comfortable. The car's Achilles heel was that horrid 4-speed automatic-overdrive front-wheel-drive transmission. It was the first year they made that transmission and it was the most unreliable piece of junk ever! My Olds ate *FOUR* of them in 120,000 miles before I finally gave up and traded it for a T-Bird coupe.
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They were at their best in the 1990s when the base 3.8L was around 200 hp. The styling, comfort, and acceleration was just right.
HP was up in the 90s but the floor hump got larger and more intrusive on foot room. In my opinion this first generation was the best.
@@toronado455 So you like the 1959 best?
The VIN C version, before GM started fitting crappy leaky plastic intakes and leaky crappy silicone o rings to the thing were the finest 3.8s they made. The 4T60E is better the the T440 auto, though.
@@DTD110865 I had a '60, So I would go for a '59.
@@jonmurr1 Yes the 1988-95 production run of the 3800s was the pinnacle of that engine. It was in '96 when they came out with the "Series II" that the used the garbage plastic intake manifold gaskets.
@4:37 The drop in license plate holder is brilliant. I would like that feature in my car today!
Me too.
Yes!
@Thystaff Thywill I've had my plates stolen too. I can't imagine why someone would want to have stolen plates on their car so I don't understand why people steal them.
@Thystaff Thywill okay got it!
My 96 riviera had this type plate deal. It honestly took me a min to accept that it sat unfastened lol I dig it tho
Worked in Buick City which made these cars- thanks for the memories
Yes, me too! There from 1995 to 1999. Saw the last car roll off the line!!!
When a better car is built, Buick will build it!
Yeah, One of the MOST ADVANCED automobile production facilities in the US is now NOTHING. Enjoy your ChiCom iPhones Kids! SMH!
Great cars! Unbelievable reliability. Quality was excellent. Way better than today’s GM.
100% agree!
Same with Saab. Gm destroy everything.
These cars are very nice, still see them on the road today.
jriley1992 really? I never see them. Unfortunately. Here I’m Miami, most people have a new model car. Mostly Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche....etc. I miss seeing these old American cars. If you’d go more south heading homestead, you’ll get more chances of spotting one of these.
I live in Atlanta, and Miami is incredibly different lol
jriley1992 yeah definitely. The average here drive Corollas and Civics.
yea Miami is a different country lol. supercars everywhere. but I also have to say I still see these on the road regularly, Memphis TN
That's funny, I never see them and I drive all over 3/4 of the country.
A 1986 Lesabure weighs the same as todays compacts. Thanks motorweek love these cars.
@Potato Puffs Fox body has a solid rear axle and a driveshaft, 2 extra cylinders in a longer block with a large intake manifold (5.0. ) The Fox was the better deal, since it would still be here, running, and ridiculous values of them now.
LeSabre.
@David Malinovsky The real culprit for the extra weight is the extremely high beltlines of most present day cars. High beltlines mean lots more metal and much less glass, which translates to poor visibility and lots of extra weight.
Today’s compacts are actually just short 3,000lbs (around 2,600lbs-2,800lbs) but this has a lot to do with safety. The A pillars are thicker and beefier as well as the C Pillars, this plays a very important part in frontal, side impact, reared and rollover protection. Most modern have a minimum of 4 airbags, some have 6 or more. These airbags have modules that monitor their status as well as seatbelts, seat occupancy sensors and crash sensors mounted behind the bumpers and doors even after the ignition switch is turned off. Virtually every car has a safety cage composed of high strength steel along with precision engineered crumple zones that allows the energy to be absorbed into these crumple zones while the frame remains intact. You also have modules that monitor your vehicle emissions/performance, tire pressure and security status. In the 80s they made cars more efficient by making them lighter which also compromised safety. In the 60s-70s the only way knew to make cars safer was to make them bigger with longer hoods and trunks with steel bumpers all around but they didn’t have crumples which meant you were more likely to die in a 55mph crash vs today. I love the older vehicles too but I’d much rather be surrounded by a modern safety cage housing 6 airbags than an old Buick with thin pillars, and unpredictable suspension and no airbags or active headrests. Safety comes at a cost..
I know..It's WEIRD. I lived thru BOTH the '73 and '79 gas crunches, Began driving in '78, DOWNSIZING was the THING. if anyone would have told be that a 2000s COMPACT would weigh more than a 1980s FULL SIZE car.. I would have questioned their sanity.
I have a '89 Pontiac Bonneville. These cars were and still are good. Comfortable, gentle ride and cheap to fix.
Weren't the Olds 98 and Buick Electra/Park Avenue on the same platform as well.
I had an '88 LeSabre T-type. It felt faster than it was. It was really nimble for being so big. The back seat had more space than the Ford Crown Vic! The H-bodies are definitely a top "under-rated" car.
Buicks are sleepers... they look like gramma cars, but haul like sports cars.
I had a coupe, I WISH I had sprung the extra dough for the "T"-Type. Rare as hen's teeth today!
While I prefer the older RWD models, these mid-to-late 80s "larger" FWD GM cars really are unique and stand out compared to just about anything else on the roads.
They look like my Volvo 740! lol
They sure didn't stand out back then. There were a billion of them on the road and unless you were within spitting distance, you couldn't tell if they were Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs or Chevrolets. Remember the August 1983 cover of Fortune Magazine?
This is my thoughts exactly!
@@RockandrollNegroYeah, and the A body cars turned out to be some of the best cars ever made. I still see them running around town.
I’m not a GM guy but these were solid reliable and beautiful riding cars!
12.8 sec 0-60 is painfully slow tho
Ah yes when I think of quality and beauty I'm naturally thinking about 80s GM
@Joshua Jacob I used to drive my parents' 1985 Oldsmobile 98 and I know how fast that was... it blows the Buick LeSabre out of the water in acceleration
These were not reliable and they were complete crap compared to the rwd cars they replaced..
All American cars in the 80s were piles.
The rear license plate holder and hood on this car are great! Wish they did that now!
IKR?
I was in the 3rd grade when these came out. My grandmother had a 1986 Olds 88. I really hated to see the big rwd models go even as a kid. 30 years later I see these were not as bad as I thought.
2majortwinz compared to crossovers, these cars are a Godsend.
Don't you wish these cars were still around now?
If I could find one in good shape I would drive it right now.
We had an '84 delta 88 in the early-mid 90s
American cars from the 1980s quite often were not too attractive, but I do think this is a nice looking car. I like the flush mounted tail lights and it has some nice curves in an era when super square and boxy was the trend. I remember these late 80's FWD Buicks being very quiet, roomy, and plush. A far cry from today's Buicks.
I’m actually extremely impressed with how little body roll this had for the mid 1980s! Seriously, that wasn’t much more body roll than the Porsche they tested of the same vintage! And is about the same as some cars family cars today! Great job on this GM!
But then you get to the acceleration part of the test and it quickly reminds you that it was 1986...when an over 12 seconds 0-60 was pretty quick for a midsize car
Today’s equivalent to that time?
A mid size 18 foot Uhaul lol
And then you see the bar style speedometer and a fuel gauge, or the digital dash and you immediately feel the need to bust out some 80s Billboard hits
Still, I’d love to have one of these Buicks today!
My brother owned a 86’ park avenue, loved that car.
My mother owned a red Buick lesabre sedan. I think it was an 88 and it had a forward tilt hood. Thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Was our family car for almost 10 years before it rusted out :(
EVERY farm wife over 65 had one when I was growing up in the Midwest. :)
Miss these gentleman coupes. Even sedans are becoming rare
One of the best buicks made. The 89-91 lesabre were very reliable!
The quality went up big time from 1988 to 1991.
I love these retro reviews!!!
My dad had an ‘87 Park Avenue...takes me back!
A 96 Park Avenue was my first car sadly it was already old by time I owned it
Chad Bro Chill Those were my favorite style!
22mpg combined back for a V6 car in 1986. 2019 you'd expect something in the 30s but we're still in the 20s
@@TickleFingers 220 lb/ft of torque though, available at low RPMs out of that OHV V6. The newer OHC engines really have to rev to get that. They scream when they're going but they just don't have that effortless torque on tap like the old ones. Just my observation from driving both.
If we built cars that took 12+ seconds to do 0-60 mph, we would have cars that could get 30+mpg. But, people want power, comfort, safety and acceleration. The car makers are delivering what the public wants and buys. s
Megatron My sentiments exactly! My 2018 Taurus is rated 18/26. I average about 22 combined
They used different standards for mileage runs. 55mph national speed limit the biggest one. Most modern cars can easily exceed their highway mpg rating if just cruising at 55.
In America they are, not in Asia or Europe.
thanks Motorweek! you consistently make my Thursdays more tolerable. I love these cheese box, 80s car reviews
Reminds me of UXWBill's "Old Cold Forgotten Buick". RIP.
Those were the first of uxwbill's videos I ever watched back in 2008/9. They're still fun to watch.
I've owned several front wheel drive Oldsmobile Delta 88 and LeSabre, 1986-91 still love em both
Love these old reviews!
My dad gave me his 1989 Buick Lesabre as a hand me down for uni...it had a dream ride. The 3.8L engine was a workhorse too. Miss that car :(
My first car was my Grandmother’s 1986 Oldsmobile 98 Regency. It was maroon with maroon tufted velour interior
Donald Trump is Ghetto Trash, you are so right one of the only problems with that 98 was the terrible transmission. It was basically an 80 thousand miles transmission. It began slipping and I took it to the transmission shop, and the fellow said I bet you have about 82,000 miles on the odometer. The car had 82,500 miles on the odometer.
Donald Trump is Ghetto Trash, as you might imagine my Grandmother’s was well maintained, but it just fell victim to General Motors bringing out a new product where the bugs had not been entirely worked out. Sometimes I think the General was so eager to get things to market that the details lacked attention. When the transmission was working it was wonderfully smooth, but it was on of their first with electronic overdrive and they used plastic parts as well. Eventually they got the engineering well sorted.
Donald Trump is Ghetto Trash, for years my dream car was an 98 Touring Sedan with the FE 3 suspension package.
TKE Wrestler I'm jealous :)
Robert James, I started driving in 1993 so relatively speaking a seven year old well kept Oldsmobile was not a bad first car at the time. It had plenty of room for all my friends and got pretty good gas mileage. I maintained it well and I kept it in my Grandma’s garage at night.
What happened to two door sedans? I miss them
People started preferring 4 doors. That basically drove 2-door sedans to extinction.
My uncle had a 93 Lesabre. It was a great car.
A couple of years later they did a LeSabre T-type. There was a black one around my area back in the day and I must say it was a great looking car.
My Dad had an '88 Olds Delta 88 4-door. That was such a great car.
Thanks for sharing.
I wish they still did the hits & miss segment on this show, I always watched it and took that in to consideration when buying my cars. 🤷🏼♀️
I still see a lot of these 4 doors with less than 100k! The coupe has aged gracefully tho!
My dad had an '86 sedan. It was spacious and comfortable and got close to 30 mpg in rural driving. Handling was surprisingly crisp. That crispness was gone in the '92 that replaced it. Transmission woes with that one sent him off to Toyota.
These were well made cars
I worked as a line technician at a Buick dealer during these years. These were not well made cars. Abysmal, actually.
Absolutely fantastic cars! They sold a blue million of those, especially in the 4 door version. I don’t recall seeing too many 2 doors.
They should start making 80s cars again
Excessive EPA and safety regulations get in the way.
Big brother decided they were too unsafe for people here in our "free" country. Now all you can buy are $20k+ cars that have 12 airbags, a backup camera and whole other gaggle of nanny features. Standard of course, whether you like it or not.
Iron Panther yup, cant buy a good ol American luxury coupe anymore. Its all sedans and crossovers. Rather than cater to a market that practically begging for new coupes, they put a different touchscreen into, and update the front end, of their 4 year old crossovers. No thanks. Ill stick to the old school fwd cars. GM was truly at their absolute best in the late 80s and 90s.
don't worry they won't but you can always buy one and fix it up restore it back to 80s new
Make 80s cars great again
*Aw man. You guys listened to my request! Thank you so much!*
Absolutely love that Lesabre coupe sport. Wish I can find a white or black one
I always liked these, especially the coupe.
"SLIGHTLY SOUPED UP VERSION..." LOL LOL LOL!
My favorite of the new H-Cars was the Pontiac Bonneville, which came in '87.
Rob Mock yessir. And the later SSE and SSEI were works of art. Absolutely wonderful cars.
"Its 0 to 60 is very good...at 12.8 seconds." How far we have come!
Those passengers sure were jittery. I guess the coffee was stronger back then.
It's the 80's
It must be something more than coffee...
Lol good one 😂😂😂they moved very funny inside the car
@cockyhemi now Coke is less white :-)
"Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?"
One of my dream builds is one of these couples with an SC/manual swap, rear disc brakes and upgraded suspension.
Dream higher.
There was a guy that posted a build on the LesabreT forums a while back that did that. He had a LeSabre T-Type and swapped the series 1 supercharged engine and transaxle from a 1995 Riviera. Turned out really sweet.
Great review! I like the conservative 80's styling of this Lesabre, and really like the space and accessibility of everything in the engine bay for a FWD car........having said that, this Lesabre would have been even cooler if GM kept it RWD!
I had an 89 Electra, such a beautiful car. Its bad that the heater core needed to be replaced, if did not cost an arm and leg to be fixed I would have had the car a little longer.
Thanks for the road test. I currently own 2 1986 LeSabres (a Limited coupe and a LeSabre Grand National) and years ago an '88 LeSabre T Type. They are excellent cars with the only issue being the lousy THM440T4 transaxle. The 3.8 engine is marvelous, the suspension is firm but not harsh, the 3.0 turn lock to lock steering is almost out of place in a Buick but you get used to it quickly. Getting over 200k miles is commonplace, except for the transaxle. Update the trans with the later bits and pieces and they are great cars. There are still a bunch of '86 to '91 H bodies running around here, but very few other cars from the same time frame.
2:17 John: Kickier start and firmer shifts! LOL
We are truly in a different era. 12.8 second 0-60 is GOOD?
Back in those days, 0-60 in under 10 seconds was considered quick.
@@vossler360 Not necessarily. 9-10 seconds was pretty much average. Anything slower was still kinda meh, but acceptable. Most small, not-so-powerful sports cars were in the 7-8 territory and the big performers were in the 5-6 range.
@@adafrost6276 uhhhhh, fuck no lol.
@@adafrost6276 I had a 1986 Dodge Omni GLH and that did 0-60 mph in 8.5 secs. Seeing this test it's no wonder it was considered quick back then.
Travis Watson well that’s close to a 2019 Nissan Sentra with the CVT
The 3.8 V6, or 3800 as it came to be know, is not only the best engine GM ever made, it's quite possibly one of the best engines ever made in the world, PERIOD. If you did just basic, absolute basic maintenance on them they would go well over 200,000 miles with no smoking, leaks or drop off in power. They had plenty of low end torque, and if they were a bit rough and loud in hard acceleration, they got smooth and super quiet when cruising.
In 1988 GM updated fuel injection and cam design and boosted power to 165-170 hp. At that point these motors were better than any V8 that it replaced.
It may be the best engine GM ever made, but the Ford 4.6L V8 is by far the most durable engine in the world and most powerful for its size.
@@davidp8627 lol you should be a comedian
@@moejr1974 you're right I'm even a Ford guy and the 4.6 is a dog. Nowhere near as good as the 5.0's that came before and after it.
That V6 descended from the aluminum 215 V8 of 1961. That same aluminum V8 lived on into the early 2000's in Rover vehicles.
And the 3800 still had better performance. The 4.6 ran forever, sure, but it was slow as molasses.
These were such well built cars that stood the test of time.
4:12 I like how the 55 on the speedometer is highlighted. The US was still in the 55 MPH era in 1986.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. I have loved the 85-90 Electra/98 and 86-91 LeSabre/Delta since they came out (and I was barely a teenager at the time). Of them, the LeSabre Limited Coupe was my pick (especially in 87 with the Lt. Teal paint and matching cloth interior, wire wheel discs were a must, too). I wasn't a sports car kid. Give me luxury or give me death.... think I heard that somewhere lol!!!!
I loved my 1988 Buick LeSabre T type 2 door, it was very reliable and it was a 2 tone gray and white inside an out. It was a 4 seater, the front and rear were all bucket seats and the center console ran the whole length of the interior.
Thank you for finding and posting this GM footage. I was pleased to see this one. I was like ouch on the Oldsmobile comments about what it did not have. I own a 1995 Oldsmobile 98 and a 1992 Oldsmobile Toronado. It is interesting you could get digital gauges in this car in 1986, but not after 1991. I know you could on Oldsmobile. My Ninety Eight and Toronado have them. It is interesting how Le Sabre grew in size in 1992 after the 1986 downsizing. I think the best looking ones were the 1990-1991 models and 1992 changed everything for the better. The 2000-2005 models were popular too. They were not athletic looking as the 1986-1999 models. This car catered to its clientele. The car lost the sporty stuff, T- Type, and T packages after 1989. One interesting note is just like Oldsmobile Eighty Eight these car were so close to the C Body Ninety Eight and Park Avenue in features and more. The wheelbases were the same. I think that is why they sold more of these. Le Sabre was very reliable for what was under the hood( 3800 V6) and the quality of materials used inside. It was great to see the story recently on the 1987 Buick Regal Limited T Package with the turbo 3.8 liter V6. I still want to see: Oldsmobile Ninety Eight for 1985, Ninety Eight Touring Sedan 1987-1990, Eighty Eight 1986, 1986 Toronado, and other GM footage and stories. I would like to see that GM Quad 4 story that had that Ninety Eight and Toronado with Quad 4's. I hope to see more GM footage and Lincoln footage. Thank you again.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Love these cars they were solid around that time. My favorite are 84-85 generation which were some beautiful cars grew up on Buicks. These cars were downsized front-wheel-drive but some beautiful cars arpund that era as Park Avenue sleek boxy style which had class and sweet engine sound take offs the seats looked real comfortable it seem Buick was ahead of their game doung the eightes with the hood open as see on sports car as Corvette, Lamborghini etc.
3:11 0 to 60 is very good 🤣🤣🤣
A V8 Cutlass did 13.5 seconds mind you
The 1986 Buick LaSabre accelerates like old 4 Cylinder/V6 Chrysler minivans.
Back in the 80s anything less than 10 seconds for 0 to 60 was considered quick. A 12 second time was considered "very good" for a large car with a small engine, at least by the standards of its day.
My first car, an 87 Olds Calais with the 3.0L V6 and 3-speed auto could do 0-60 in 8.8-9.3 seconds. Granted it only weighed 2700 lbs and could get 29mpg if you had a light foot.
@@Geforcefly The 87 Olds Calais with the 3.0L V6 only made 125 bhp. That same car with the 160 bhp Quad 4 was recorded to do the 0-60 run in 8.5 seconds, according to GM's press material of the time. Note that Popular Science magazine tested this car against the V6 car that you cited, and they stated: "And in an impromptu drag race with a Calais equipped with the current three liter V6, the car with the Quad 4 was two car lengths ahead at 60 mph."
That red coupe with the red velour interior is absolutely **chef's kiss**
Isn't that the "turbo" symbol we see when they show the engine at :55?
Amazing how 12 seconds 0 to 60 was considered good for an reasonably expensive car, we forget how far things have advanced
Yet most cars the same size don't get any better fuel economy. A lot has advanced but fuel economy has remained the same for over 30 years.
Yeah it's slow by modern standards but modern society is in a constant rushing manic state so what's the point?
I thought the car wallowed as if the suspension used marshmallows, but it handled the slalom course, so well done Le Sabre!
My grandparents had a 1986 LeSabre and liked it so much they bought a 1992 one that I drove from 2008-2013 was a great car. Only sold it off cuz I lost my job so the hubby and I decided to go down to one car for our household.
I have an 89 LeSabre. Mint, 101k miles, still runs great!
1:28........."Can you put this in a good spot? "Cause all this shit happened last time I parked here." Did you test the Delta 88, as well? This is a car that will always be very special to me. For Christmas 1988, my grandparents bought a brand new white 1989 Buick LeSabre Custom From Lloyd Buick/Cadillac/BMW in Daytona Beach, Florida, & I used to LIVE for their visits from Palm Coast just so I could ride in this beautiful car. To this day, I will NEVER forget sitting in those beautiful blue velour seats & feeling the cloud-like ride from the DynaRide suspension with one of my James Taylor cassettes wafting from the Concert Sound System. AHHHHHHHH........THE MEMORIES!!!!! I will go on record as saying that the C/H-bodies were probably the best cars that GM ever built. Not only they have the secret NAILED on how to produce that classic feeling of big-car ride, smoothness, comfort, & quiet, they were the best in terms of build quality/dependability/reliability, at least the later models were. They truly showed what could happen when an American car manufacturer took their heads out of their collective asses & took the time building a car that could successfully go head-to-head with the imports, rather than just being obsessed with beating them at their own game. In fact, the Buick LeSabre was named the Most Trouble-Free Car Built/Sold In America from 1989-up. Now, THAT is saying something!!
I remember my mom bought the Lesabre coupe limited and had the weirdest way to open the hood.
The days when 0-60 of 12.8 were considered good lol. Exactly why I got an 87 GN
One of the best cars I’ve ever owned and I’ve had 4. 3 olds Eighty Eights and 1 Ninety Eight
That's funny that 12.8 sec 0 - 60 was considered brisk. Now if it's not under 7 sec. it's considered "sluggish" I had the 1986 Buick Electra which was basically the same as the LeSabre. It had the 3.8L and I thought it had plenty of power. It was a nice car for the time. I traded it on a 1988 Cadillac Sedan Deville, which, again, is basically the same car, but the Cadillac had a 4.1L V-8.
I have an 88 and 91, I love these cars! Thanks for the awesome upload!
I had an 86 delta 88 for my first car. Those were very well built vehicles.
We had an 87 and as a kid I loved that hood I use to say it has an 18 wheeler hood, I NVR knew they had an optional digital dash
We've come a long way
It's quite entertaining to see these kind of cars being flogged around curves, something i never saw as an 80s kid and definitely not now lol
PURE LUXURY.😂😂😂
These cars were bulletproof, and so comfortable. I remember my grandmother’s neighbor bought a brand new 1989 Oldsmobile 88 royale. It was burgundy, and fully loaded.
Back in the day, I worked on tons of H cars. They weren't all that bad really. Some electronic problems, some brake wear issues, some rear ball joint and strut issues, but overall, quite good. The original GM 440T4 transaxle only got better in the upcoming yrs and the 3.0 was good, but the 3.8 Buick V6 still stands as 1 of the best American engines ever made. These cars were extremely comfortable and easy to drive. I kinda miss them. I had the opportunity to drive a very well worn 89 sedan a few yrs ago. It had somewhere in the neighborhood of 260k on it, and was on it's 2nd oil pump, 3rd timing chain, and 2nd trans, but other than that, the engine had never been apart. The interior needed a headliner. That was it. It had tons of chips, dings and dents on the exterior, but very little rust. It drove just fine, almost forgettably boring, which is what IMO that car was meant to do. I've never driven a T type. I'd love to know the difference!
How does one figure out that an engine needs a new oil pump before the engine blows up? The oil light was staying on for extended periods at idle?
One design quirk I have always liked on this LeSabre was its lack of corner lamps. That one thing alone made the LeSabre and the Park Avenue look like 2 totally different cars. Buicks were known for their good brakes, and this car was no exception.
I love that drop-in license plate holder at 4:36, which is a very interesting cool feature!!!!
All motorweek clips should have a billion likes
BUICK AT ITS BEST
Very beautifull Buick LeSabre 1986, i love this car
All the octogenarians in my neighborhood had these growing up.
Joseph Whiskey Beale they still do
My personal story with one of these cars.
A few ago, we had a family friend who was thinking of selling her 1986 Buick Electra because of an unpredictable stalling issue. She was a senior widow who had already been to several mechanics and none of them could find the problem (but still charged here a few bills each visit!). While road testing the car, I was quite surprised at how well it accelerated and cornered. It pulled well and the steering was very tight with just the right amount of boost.
Overall, I found it to be a very solid car, but the fit and finish did have flaws that you'd expect from an 80s car. The spot welds on that huge hood were clearly done by hand with plenty of spatter and even some hanging welding wire still in place. There were even grinder marks visible around the shock towers. Again, all done by hand, and all still protected by the factory metallic paint. No, it was not a body shop job car.
I did eventually find the problem. After a new MAF sensor, the car gave her several more years of reliable operation until another shop told her the engine seized. She was planning to move overseas anyway, so she simply walked away at that point. There are some real crook mechanics out there...
I've seen a LeSabre sedan occasionally lately. What stands out in the modern context is how low it is.
My Dad had a blue one...nice car
My god 3 liters and v6... good luck!!!
These and the Le Sabre were very popular. You still see some of these on the road today
"I have a 12 second car" has a whole different meaning with the 86 LeSabre.
Awesome. I want one.
My dad had the Olds Delta 88 of this same model year in the same color. He hated it and only kept it a couple years. Of course, he made the mistake of trading a really nice fully loaded '83 Cutlass Supreme Brougham for it, and ended up regretting it. His thought was the Delta was the higher model in the lineup, but it was bland compared to the sporty Cutlass. And few can argue the body style of that generation of Cutlass was one of the best of the 80's. And in a light silver-jade green color with matching mag wheels, even better. The Delta just looked like a fleet car.
I loved the 3.8 liter V6 I these cars it was a bulletproof engine design that was very reliable, I had a Buick LeSabre T Type 2 door with the front bucket seats, full length floor console and all the gauges. I loved that car and drove it for years without any real major problems, it was very comfortable, roomy and great on gas, this was back when GM still built great cars that didn't break the bank.
Good lord the sound of that door closing at 1:40 really shows how shoddy the assembly build was.
I have been looking at these W bodies since lately!
Thanks for reading my mind!
These are H bodies but they don't seem to be that different. I think Hs are nicer as a rule but they share many engines/transaxles.
My mom had an 84 LaSabre
Late 80's T type Lesabre + L67 supercharged 3800 swap = A match made in heaven.
I had an '86 Olds 88 -- same car as this, essentially. That 3.8L V6 was the best engine GM made back then. Good power (for the day) and great fuel economy for its size -- you could genuinely get 30 MPG on the highway and 20+ around town, but it would still get up and go quite well if you flogged it. And it was *very* luxurious -- *so* comfortable. The car's Achilles heel was that horrid 4-speed automatic-overdrive front-wheel-drive transmission. It was the first year they made that transmission and it was the most unreliable piece of junk ever! My Olds ate *FOUR* of them in 120,000 miles before I finally gave up and traded it for a T-Bird coupe.
Loved that front hinged hood!
My first car was a Buick, now I love Buicks‼️
Better like crossovers; that's all Buick has now.