Does this model car age well? Should I get a warranty plan on it or is it a reliable car as it ages?
Why are you asking ? Buying an extended warranty now on a 17 year old vehicle is a waste of money. That type of policy has so many loop holes it is rare that anyone actually benefits. Age well , who knows .
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As a long time GM owner I’m surprised a GM product lasted 17 years. At this point, the most important thing is how well the Buick was maintained by the previous owners. An pre-purchase inspection by an independent mechanic is a must. Any aftermarket warranty on a 17 year old vehicle probably isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
Currently I have a 2013 Equinox and I’ll be happy if it makes it to 10 years. I also have a 1993 Caprice that runs like a champ, but it’s not a daily driver and I do most of the wrenching.
Best of luck,
Ed B.
Unlike a fine wine, this car does not age well… but then, this is true for most cars that are 17 years old.
You’re well into the age where it’s all about what shape it’s in. GM products can hold up but some were made cheaply to begin with
The condition of this vehicle is key. Could have many more years of service or drop dead tomorrow.
+1
But, I would phrase it a bit differently. I think any company selling a warranty on a 17 year old vehicle is a fraud from square one.
After a few years of use, the most important factor with any make or model is how well it was maintained. Hopefully you can get access to hard copies of its maintenance records, but whether you can get that documentation or not, a 17 year old vehicle is screaming-out for a pre-purchase inspection by your mechanic.
I would probably still be driving my 03 trailblazer had it not gotten rear ended in Jan, messed up the hitch, and also had a cel for small evap leak. Now that evap leak might cost up to 2k$ so I said goodbye. There is not an easy answer.
It looks like 2002 and 2003 were pretty troublesome, intake manifold gaskets and head gaskets in particular:
I wonder how important that is on a 17 year old car. Those failures should have occurred already, and if they didn’t, it’s hard to believe that they will occur soon. This information is certainly vital for 5 year old cars, but maybe not for something that’s two decades old.
Well, those kind of failures (intake manifold gasket and head gasket) would seem to also crop up on older cars, too.
We have a lot of GM vehicles in our fleet that are older than that
I’m not saying they’re in fantastic shape, but they’re still working
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It sure would be nice if we had access to a database that shows failure for a models of vehicles based on age. I can’t imagine it exists outside actuary’s computers, but it still would be nice to see.
The last time I heard Consumer Reports still had the platform mate of this the Aztec and it was still working great at their test track, they couldn’t sell it at the time so they just gave it to the facilities manager.