12th Dec 2002, 20:30
Has the last guy who posted every had a car. It sounds like you just had bad luck buddy. Especially if the reason the car needed to get repaired was someone's else's fault. And if the repair was cheaper than what was paid, then that's just bad choices in finding a "good" mechanic. Don't add irrelevant information to a topic that is discussing the performance of the vehicle. Don't include stuff that's due to an accident, or how much the other person had to pay for the repairs.
9th Mar 2004, 08:09
I was the person who made this original review. I finally got rid of the car at 160,000 miles. Up until that point it ran fine with only a replacement of an idler pulley above normal maintenance.
It was starting to eat coolant and I didn't want pay for a intake gasket. After hitting this car with a lifetime of full throttle accelerations, pegging the 105 mph limiter on occasion, this car performed extremely well and economically. I would buy another one.
2nd Jun 2006, 11:11
I've got the 1997 Skylark Custom with 161,000 miles and nary a lick of maintenance issues until today when the compressor let go. In this case I'll get it fixed and continue with the plan to pass this puppy to my teenager in November for his first car. LOVE this car...
8th Jun 2006, 18:53
I have the same model with 170k and the compressor has gone out. What is the cost for a used one? GM wants 1000 to fix. Not worth it. Runs very well inspite of that. Replacing the drivers power window/regulator next week.
20th Aug 2006, 09:51
Well I had a 97 Buick Skylark. It was my first newer car that I paid monthly for.. I got the car in 2000. It had 59,000 miles on it. When it finely died in 2006, it had 240,000 miles on it. That car took me all over the United States as far as Missouri to Michigan, and back to New Hampshire where I live.. then the following year the same thing again. For 5 years we did this.
I thought the car was great.. it gave me the normal problems - I replaced the heater core, the water pump, alternator, of course the brakes a few times.. The gas mileage was great too.
It took us all over..if you take care of a car it will take care of you.. it was the best car I every had.. I wish they made a later Buick Skylark cuz I would buy another one..
13th Oct 2006, 10:40
Having a curious problem with my '97 Skylark. It was a Florida car before I obtained it in Summer '06- now residing in Virginia. Problem is that within a few weeks' span of time three of the power windows in the 4-door sedan began to exhibit the same failure symptom, to wit:
The windows, once rolled down, would stall while rolling up. Then they could be coaxed up a teeny bit at a time by letting a few seconds elapse before hitting the up button again. To roll up a window might take five minutes at this rate. It's as though a thermal circuit breaker in the motor had kicked out and needed time to reset. In the alternative, could it be that the motors themselves are heating up and shorting out, armature to winding, when expanding due to heat up, then when they cool they run again for a moment?
Don't know why change in climate would make three motors go bad. Would like to know what the problem is, how to prevent its recurrence, and whether it's best to buy replacement motor alone, or entire motor and regulator assembly. Wonder whether the motor is just a notoriously weak design, and whether a beefier model exists...
27th Nov 2006, 23:03
I have a '97 Skylark and both of my front power windows are dead. My permanent place of residence is New Jersey, but I go to school in Virginia. However, my windows were dead before coming down a year and a half ago. It started as mild stoppage and then eventually got to the point where they don't go down at all anymore.
I just recently got into an accident last week looking at $2400 worth of damage when Kelly Blue Book says it's worth $2200. I was waning as to whether or not it was worth putting the money in, but judging from the comment about putting over 200k miles on it, I may consider it as I just need it to last me another 18 months or so...
Thoughts?
21st Jan 2008, 07:48
97 skylark w/225,000. Lately, the engine dies after 10-20 miles either while driving or after stopping and will restart after 15 min. or so. Sometimes problem reoccurred before completing trip or errand. I had it in the shop for a month and the shop could not duplicate problem. Got the car back from the shop with no fix and drove it 10,000 miles or so with no problems until recently. Here we go again with the stalling issue. HELP!!!
8th Jul 2002, 16:43
My wife has a 95 Skylark Limited. Its one of the biggest plies of junk ever made. (Except for Chrysler & mitsubishi/Nissan stuff) Brakes constantly wear out. It won't roll straight down a road, even if the road was rails and it was on them. Everything is plastic and plastic is supposed to be so dependable, yet it doesn't hold up to anything. And being worth the money paid for it, or repairs, NO WAY, NO HOW!!! $178.00 for the motor mount, plus $130.00 to put it on. I'm glad the someones insurance paid for it, not me. I found out the real price was only $35.00 for the mount. Of course one good thing is that when the struts need to be replaced, you just change the washer looking cover on top of them and you're good as new. I can't begin to list all the problems wrong with this one. Maybe it was one of the test cars that the dummies drive into the walls and stuff. Only its not lemon yellow, its red.