Faults:

Transmission went out at 950 miles.

Water hose at 121,000 miles.

Starter went out at 134,000 miles.

General Comments:

I love driving this car. It has great pickup and even though it is 14 years old it runs better than my 2000 park avenue. I still drive this car on vacations to Florida, 600 miles, and have never been worried about it breaking down because it never has. Recently I drove this car to Miami when I was going on a cruise and didn't have any trouble. That trip was 2,400 miles each way. It is such a joy to drive.

Faults:

Driver and Passenger windows required some attention. I experienced no other problems with the car until it reached 125,000 miles. Between 125,000 and 210,000 miles I had to repair or replace the following items: 1 coil bank, 1 water pump, 2 power steering pumps, 1 alternator, 2 fan switches, 1 O-2 sensor, 1 vacuum hose on the cruise control unit, and all 4 struts. The air-conditioning unit has been recharged three times. Due to the high cost of Freon it will now be cheaper to replace the air-conditioning system instead of fixing the leak and recharging it with Freon. The front seats needed more lumbar support for long trips. I define a long trip to be at least 500 miles or more. I'm from Texas in case you were wondering!

General Comments:

When I purchased the car it would outrun any other American made car produced that year in its class. However, it could not outrun the 1989 Mustangs, Trans-Ams or Camaros, but it sure made them worry. The T-Type sure was a fun car to drive and with it's sport suspension it could really handle the curves. I'm really going to miss that car. The leather seats were very comfortable and the interior was as nice as any other car in it's class.

Faults:

Very hard if not impossible to start in the winter time. The car would flood very easily. We one time cranked a brand new battery dead trying to start this piece of crap on a cold winter day. It wasn't the fuel pump, spark plugs, or coolant temp sensor. We still don't know why it won't start in the winter.

Sometimes the seatbelt light stays on after someone enters through the front doors.

The E-brake doesn't even work. (It made me fail a driver's license test.)

There's a metal-with-metal rattle in the engine.

The car is ready to fall apart.

General Comments:

The accelerator is really sensitive. Tap it, and it goes... that is if we can get the thing to start (see above)

Smooth transmission.

Faults:

In the few months I've own this car, I have had no problems with it. Aside from a thumping noise coming from the rear that occurs when I make turns.

Part of seat belt cover missing.

General Comments:

This is the best all around car you can buy.

It looks respectable, and my version came all chromed up (A nice feature).

It does look like a slow heavy car, but it has a huge amount of power and torque.

The 3800 is a very reliable and powerful engine. It does like its gas, but it gets decent mileage if you don't rod it a lot (Like I do).

It was bought from a dealer, an old man bought it and never used the thing... quite a shame as this car begs to fly down the road.

Since it's still so new, I have no problems. There are a few tiny rust spots, in areas where all the H body cars rust out. But they are easily fixed with bondo and some work.

The best thing about this car is the comfort. Why oh why hasn't all the other car manufactures looked at Buicks for help in seat technology is beyond me. You could live in this thing if it only had a toilet.

The trunk is huge (to allow for a lot of luggage or maybe a couple of 12's), and to my surprise... the AC Delco sound system was of excellent quality (amazing bass). The head unit sucks, but that's can be fixed by getting a new one.

The car handles turns well, if you want to be able to handle high-speed turns then get the T-Type.

One of my favorite forgotten features is the hood. It opens from the back. One of my favorite things to do is open the hood for people who have never seen it. And under the hood is a lovely looking V-6 3800, which is a nice little gem.

Its quite speedy and powerful, the shifters a tad slow... but gets the job done. This thing always squeals when I pull out quickly. Not scared to shot out of parking lots in this thing.

All around, this is the best practical car you can get... and cheap. A great car for everything, I see at least 10 a day driving around.

If you need a cheap car that can handle just about anything well... get a '89 Buick.