Best used 4 door full size car??

[drees1]

Well it looks like I'm getting into selling real estate! Big change from designing and servicing diesels!!



Whats the best, cheapest 4 door full size? Most reliable, etc? I'm looking at '90 - '93 or '94, $2500 - $3000, high miles, straight and clean. Caddy, Park ave, Town car? What else? Someone said the 3. 8 GM engine is bullet proof, true? Maybe Taurus or Sable?? Any other Realtors out there?? Thanks for replys.



Doug Rees

 

[illflem]

All the realtors I know show in SUVs

 

[mimprevento]

Used sedan

Find a clean 94 Impala SS- Black- you can show a lot real fast!!!

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Buick LeSabre

Olds 88



My daughter drives a 92 Olds 88 that we have put 150,000 miles on.



Wife has a 98 Olds 88 with 85,000 miles.



Both have the 'bullet proof' 3. 8.



The 3. 8 hauls the mail too and gets 30 mpg.

 

[Wayno]

or a good Police Package 94 - 96 Chevy Caprice. You can find them cheap a auction sometimes and sometimes with low mileage. If you can find a un-mark or a state license and weight unit it is sometimes better. They are the same as the Impala SS but with a heaver suspension and cooling package and believe it or not they get pretty good gas mileage too. Just make sure it has the LT-1 motor (5. 7 ) in it. Some agencies got the small motor in their cars.

 

[Eric Kahn]

ford crown vic or buick park ave or olds 88/98

the fwd caddies are not the most reliable and cost more to work on

 

[drees1]

Eric, I was considering one of the Sedan DeVilles, '94 or newer with the new body style. They have a lot of room in the back. What do you know as might be some of their problems? Getting one for the money I want is going to be tight though. what's the diff between the northstar and standard v8? Which is more relaible and long lived?



I like the park ave too. Even a 92 still looks fairly new and the 3. 8 seems a little simpler being a six. I like those accordian leather seats. They hide the cracks in the leather of the older hi mile vehicles. The leather is easier to clean up after a mess.



I'm not looking at SUVs because of price, but if I do well, I would consider trading up later. A lot of Realtors use them.

 

[Wayno]

Eric, if you think Ford Crown Vic's are good cars just ask a few Police Officers if they had their pick what would they rather drive a Caprice with a LT-1 or a Crown Vic, let me re-fraze that a junkie Crown Vic with a 4. 6 or better than that just go to any city, state or county garage and ask one of the mechanics which is the best. I have seen so many motor's lock up and transmission's go out in Crown Vic's it ain't funny and I have seen so many Crown Vic basket cases at auction it looks like a wrecking yards dream. Talk about slow and bad gas mileage, I have driven both and the Caprice wins hands down. A DPS Trooper that gets gas at the yard where I work has a new Police Package Chrysler Intrepid that is front wheel drive with a V 6 and he told me it will eat any Police Package Crown Vic for lunch. Ford quit building cars in 1978 when they quit putting 460 motors in them and they quit building Mustangs when they quit putting 302 (5. 0)in them. Each his own but you couldn't run fast enough to give a (fairly new) ford, well maybe, if you could get a Cummins in a 550 and no common rail thank you !!!

 

[Eric Kahn]

I have owned 3 crown vics (2 were police specials) and one caprice police special, a 94 version

he is not buying the car for performance, but to drive potential customers around

the caprice was the fastest of the lot and the new style crown vics won't set any records

the people I know that use crown vics as normal transportation say they are great cars and ford's switches are much better than chevy's

I just forgot to mention the chevy caprice because it is no longer made and the new impala is a pale comparison to the old one

 

[sdalton]

I have driven both the Crown Vics, and Caprices as patrol cars. For reliability, the Crown Vic. Basic police package engine power, the Crown Vic. Air conditioner, Crown Vic. transmission, Crown Vic. The suspension goes to the Caprice. The mechanics complained about the Crown Vics a lot, mainly because, when one had engine problems, the repair was harder to make, due to overhead cams. The Caprices we had were junk by 75-90,000 miles. The Crown Vics still had loads of power and felt tight at 120,000 miles. Very , Very hard miles. Come to think about it, the suspension on the Crown Vics were better than the Caprices at higher miles, but when new, the Caprice felt better. The Caprice did have more room though.

 

[mimprevento]

Crown Vics

Crown Vics catch on fire when hit from behind at foreseeable highway speeds. Several cops across the country dead or horribly burned. Ford has implemented a fix to reduce invasion and rupture of the fuel tank. We lamented the passing of the Caprice police package with the LT-1 because of its speed and size/comfort. There are only a few left but going strong. There is also a dealer I believe Shaheen Motors that reconditions and sells police cars at a great price- Crown Vics and Caprices.

 

[Wayno]

Yea I forgot to bring up the fire thing on the Crown Vic. I guess when someone say Man those Crown Vic's are Hot they know what they are talking about !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mimprevento, down here in Texas its like pulling teeth to get a Trooper to turn in his Caprice because of its mileage limit. Buy the time they turn them in the car has about 130 to 140 thousand on it. There is quite a few of them that come to the yard where I work(to fuel up) from all over the state at times and they all complain about those Crowns. You are right there is a company that restores the Caprices. I was told a few years back that the place only did Caprices, don't know(can't remember) if it is the same one you are talking about. I went up to the State auction here a while back and help a Police friend of mine pick a few out with the LT 1 and he bought one. He and his wife had to go see kin further up north from Austin and I didn't know he was going to do that . He handed me the keys and told me to drive it home and that he would pick it up later, three weeks later. It had a over 130 thousand on it (never drove one with that many miles on it)and I drove the dog out of it(he knows me well,he knew I would)it drove and ran fine and it got very good gas mileage too. As much as I hate to admit it I think the Caprices are better than any big block Dodge, Plymouth police package car that I have ever own. People cant believe GM quit building them.

 

[merryman]

We bought a really clean, low mileag '88 Cad. It was a beauty, with every option known to man.

At about 55K miles, we started being low on coolant, and I could not find any sign of a leak.

When I got frustrated enough, I took it to Cad. to see if they had and explaination; service mgr. right away said those engines blow head gaskets and the coolant gets into the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. I asked how much to do a new head gasket. His reply was that "those are throw away engines, they are not worth the cost of a head gasket replacement". I checked with other non-cad. mechanics and got the same story. They all said sell. I went to the Buick dealer to trade it in and the sales guy immediatly said that they could not allow much for it because of the head gasket problem.

We now have a Buick anyway.

I don't know when if ever Caddy solved the problem

Vaughn

 

[RBrunson]

We have had a 93 DeVille for the past 6 years. 128000mi and still runs and looks greate. I wouldn't get anything older. the 4. 9L V8 in mine gets good milage. There are alot of them out there that older people have, and with low milage. Find one of them and you have a good car for your work.

 

[TPCDrafting]

Too bad you're looking for a 4-door, I have an aunt who's trying to sell an '82 Caddy two-door (Coupe DeVille, not sure). Uncle paid cash for it new and they only drove it to weddings and funerals. Well Uncle Cliff passed on about 7 years ago and she hasn't used it much since then. She does however take it out of the garage and for a drive of at least 1/2 an hour once a month just to keep the moths out. It only has around 16k on it and it's in new condition.

 

[Eric Kahn]

I wish WY was not so far away and that I did not spend all my money on the Dodge

 

[WadePatton]

I'm partial to the 7-series BMW's



Especially the 735 'cause it's an I6 that goes like stink.



Too bad that doesn't fit your criteria.



Good luck moving properties!

 

[sdalton]

My biases in favor of the Crowns are probably because I had never driven a Caprice with the LT-1 engine. The patrol cars we have here are basic ones, and they are driven very very hard, almost 24hrs a day, until they are retired. The Fords we have hold up better to this abuse than did the Chevy's.