1999 Buick Park Avenue Ultra 3.8 series 2

Summary:

Great is all I can say

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong.

General Comments:

The car is great and reliable. I can trust this car to get me anywhere any time without worrying. Just keep up with general maintenance like any other car, and it will be fine.

The car is great in so many ways, and will last for years to come, and for a full size and nice powerful motor, it gets decent gas mileage; 16-19 city, 19-27 highway.

The only negative is when doing maintenance or buying parts, they are more expensive because of it being luxury. The 99 Park Avenue is a great buy for its size and its awesome reliability, and it even gets decent gas mileage.

It also held up good in the crash test. I would recommend this car for everyone with all its safety and everything, from ages 16-100 years old. Normally only old people drive these, but they're good for idiot kids who text and drive; in a crash your teen will probably have a lot better odds of surviving in this than their tiny tiny Cavaliers.

I say get a Buick Park Avenue today.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th June, 2010

1999 Buick Park Avenue Std. Sedan 3.8 V6

Summary:

Astonishingly Great Value, Comfort and Quality

Faults:

No faults at all.

The car was very low-miles (42,000) when purchased used (one owner), and has nothing wrong with it.

The interior looks brand new, & there is almost no wear or fade to any exterior surfaces.

General Comments:

I am so astonished at what a great value of a car my new-to-me 1999 Park Avenue is, I can hardly describe it. I was looking for a comfortable large car (I'm very tall), and narrowed my search (based on overall reliability and comfort) to the PA and the Lincoln Town Car.

The PA is almost a foot shorter, gets much better mileage, has a Jaguar-like swoop to its lines and handles remarkably well for such a large soft-riding car. Plus it seems to be easier to find a used one-owner PA that has been very well cared-for instead of a Town Car, very many of which seem to have been in livery service or look like they were.

Seats are living room comfortable, all options and accessories work well and the air conditioning system is one of the most capable/powerful I've ever seen.

Maintenance costs are predicted to be low & the only thing I've done so far is change the cabin air filter (a 20 minute job & not particularly difficult.)

My insurance costs dropped dramatically due to the Park Avenue's safety record and overall excellent insurance industry criteria.

It's wonderful to buy American and be totally happy with it!

Compared to my old Mercedes 560SEL, this car looks to have a cost-to-own of about 20% of what the MB cost, which is a substantial savings by any method of calculation.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st August, 2007

2nd Aug 2007, 16:53

Beware the intake manifold - it can destroy your car.

3rd Aug 2007, 10:21

Don't listen to the above poster. The intake manifold issue is very prevalent in the 1997 - 1999 LeSabre, but not the Park Avenue for some reason. They do have the exact same engine though as far as I know. I have a 1999 Park Avenue with over 130,000 miles and the original intake manifold. It would be a good idea to keep a close eye on your temp. (212 degrees Fahrenheit is boiling and could potentially melt plastic) gauge and look at your coolant level from time to time. Don't let an import lover scare you, Buicks are one of the best makes out there and your car will afford you with years of reliable, comfortable transportation. I love mine so much I plan to trade it eventually for one of the last 2005 models. In fact I plan to drive Buicks for the rest of my life!

4th Aug 2007, 10:41

Regarding the intake manifold on Park Avenues & various recalls: according to GM this affected PA's with a production date from 1997 through October of 1998. Mine has a build date of April, 1999. So I'm not worried. :-)

Also, that is another reason I gave up on Town Cars: Ford had rather a huge problem with intake manifolds on a wide range of cars. I got tired of trying to find one with the repair already done.

And finally, a one-liner won't scare me away from Buicks. This is one amazingly overall great car.

10th Oct 2010, 11:32

I agree. All 3800 cars will have the intake problem. The later 3800 versions had a smaller EGR tube going into the intake manifold. It just takes longer for it to fail. But I can promise you, the lower intake gaskets are failing along with it; just it consumes a smaller amount of coolant over time, so it's not as noticeable. I replaced my intake manifold and gaskets early this year. The lower intake gaskets were bad and the UIM was probably months away from failing. I poked a hole thru the EGR area with my finger. Also within the last year, I know of two people who have hydro-locked their engines from failed manifolds.

I would get the gaskets and UIM changed as preventive maintenance. Once you do this, you'll be OK. My Park Avenue has 170k on it, and can still lay rubber on ground, and has the original engine and transmission as far as I know, and I still get compliments on how nice my car rides and feels.