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Comments
I recall someone griping recently on the Honda Accord or Civic board about window problems. Typical Honda quality. Grin.
How many miles do you have on your 2000?
Good luck with getting a repair effected quickly. Do you have the service manuals from Helm, Inc.?
They help tremendously to do these kind of operations. If the thing is replaceable, it will help. The dealer many copy the information for you from their CD version to help you do the repair.
If it's a difficult task for do-it-yourself, a non dealer bodyshop may be cheaper on the repair. Working around the sheet metal in the door can be a cutting experience with all the sharp edges. I can check my 03 manual to see what the job looks like if you want.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My quip about quality (of materials and engineering more so than manufacture) is based on many years of driving GM vehicles. I find that most parts on the vehicle are pretty well engineered but there always seems to be an Achilles' heel -- a weak point -- that fails and renders the entire assembly useless. And the entire assembly has to be replaced. For the regulator, I have to replace the motor with it even though the motor is perfectly fine. GM designs their parts for ease of manufacture (lower cost) rather than cost of repair.
BTW, the car has only about 13,000 miles on it and that rear window is hardly ever opened. I find that a lot of things are breaking from lack of use. There have been a lot of complaints about the window regulators on these LeSabres and Bonnevilles (mostly the rear ones) so I sense that there is an issue!
I h ate to hear there is a repeating problem. I do use the rear windows on both cars. I put them down when in the garage to _air out_ the car. I'll make sure to do it more on the newer car; I like to keep the leather smell in so I don't run those down. Maybe using the windows will help keep them working longer.
I wonder if the problem is a supplier and quality they built that didn't last -- like the design and quality of the upper intake manifold AND seals on the 3800... I had that fail on my 98.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Ron
Down the page, the 2005 looks like a ford
taurus. Not impressive in picture.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Carry on!
I constantly see these cars in the street? Does anyone recommend it or will I have to end up buying an Avalon?
Please do share your experiences.
Neil
Buick is giving rebates and dealers probably are somewhat eager to sell Le Sabres left on their lots. My next car won't be an econobox (not that my is). Truth be that I don't need a large car but only for the safety of it. I really like this Buick. It's got be a comfortable car, quiet and powerful.
Some of our company cars are 2001 Sables. I prefer the Lesabre over those by a long shot. I think you will be happy with one.
I entered the Buick website to configure a Le Sabre of my liking. Not that I want it absolutely fully loaded, but nicely equipped I couldn't go below $25000 (with the $3000 rebate). Unless I added something which already comes standard. The packages confused me. I was figuring in my head to get a well appointed Le Sabre for around $22000 but no more than $23000. Is that something unreasonable?
What really jacks the price is leather, sunroof and a Celebration Edition which adds chrome wheels among other stuff.
I hate to beat this into the ground, but I think 16" aluminum wheels are the best bang for the buick buck.
Just make sure to check Edmunds for this info. I am just going by memory of what's on mine.
Do some printouts of the information on the Custom and then the Limiteds. Look at the rebates offered and then look at the dealer cost at invoice minus about 2 percent for the holdback amount. Leave some dealer profit.
Compare that with newspaper ads from several Buick dealers.
The Celebration includes Heads up display, nice, and chrome door handles, and chrome wheels, and michelin tires (check on cars on lot). And Celebration had its own rebate on the window sticker reducing that cost for the package.
After website shopping, go look at car's stickers on a dealer's lot on Sunday or just tell them you're browsing while your car's in service.
Happy shopping.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
There are 2 things that concern me about the Le Sabre: bumper strength, per IIHS's "Marginal" score. It did attained a generally "Best Pick" score however.
Also, this is a 200 inch long car and in NYC parking being as tight as it is it may pose a problem. My Merc. Sable station wagon is 2 to 3 inches shorter and I just can not park it in most spots. Maybe it's just not all that simple to parallel park or could be that I'm not that skilled in this area.
However, this car (Buick) has advantages and it caught my eye a while back.
question for this group?
I've got 12000 on my 03. It's a great driving road car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
a slight vibration problem at first. The dealer road force balanced the wheels.
Moved one tire on the wheel. That has fixed the vibration pattern 99%. It's very
pleasant to drive now. It is taut and follows the road much better than my 98 did before
I replaced the struts.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
What would I change on this car? Well, I should have looked a little closer before the purchase. The radio has great sound and it has a CD player but I did not notice that it did not have a tape player until after the purchase. The heater and air conditioning controls are the old type that use a slide switch for the temp. and fan speed controls. This is fine with me because the digital controls are just one more thing to go wrong. Some of these controls have a tendency to become dim after awhile and need to be replaced. One disadvantage, this presents, is that the car has no outside temp. read out.
The car came equipped with load levelers on the rear. This may be nice, but I do not really need this. Each time that you start the car a pump can be heard (rather loud) running to pump up the rear shocks. I just wonder how long it is going to take for these rear shock to fail!
I looked around in an attempt to find an after market exterior temp. Gauge. The parts houses do have them, which requires running a wire to a location in front of the radiator. I do not mind running the wire, but the read out head inside the car is large and has both inside and outside temp readings plus a clock. The heads are larger than I would be happy with and finding a place to mount the head is not easy.
I went to the dealer to check on a passenger compartment air filter, because the car did not have a filter installed. The compartment for the filter was easy to access. The dealer’s computer shows that these filters are never placed on a new car. It is something that you have to purchase separately. I did purchase the filter and plastic housing. The cost was about $35.00.
I understand about the outside temperature gauge. It's a nice feature. Is it true the 04s have a metal upper manifold, instead of the plastic ones used from 95 to 2003? Those had a tendency to leak at the gaskets or the internal EGR tube.
Have you talked to the dealer about a swap on the head unit for the radio for one with cassette? (haven't used the cassette in ours yet, but I understand.)
Congratulations on your purchase.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I did not try to have the dealer change the radio head. I doubt that they would consider this after the contract was signed. I can live without a cassette player.
My LeSabre, 2003, Limited, has been great. It get 32 or so on highway interstate driving. It's roomy. It hasn't leaked. It doesn't rattle. It has tires that the dealer rebalanced with force balancing and drive great. Michelins, with chrome wheels. Leather interior in soft, pleasant two-tone mauve.
Like the arm rest with cup holders on the bench seat. No center console to bump my leg against. I just sprawl out and enjoy the drive.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Oh and warranties and being a certified car sound comforting when buying car but remember they only as good as dealer behind them. Good luck
The air conditioning should go into recirculate mode within 45 seconds or so when the recirculate button is pushed. Turn the blower up to 4 or 5 in normal mode, then push the button. If the light doesn't come on, it probably is not getting a connection from that button through the "data link" and the unit is probably not working right. If dealer wants to sell the car, have them replace the unit with a new one and check the guarantee that it covers this for another failure later. Lots of warrantees have holes in them you can drive atruck through -- like the block that cracked is not covered because warranty covers only lubricated parts...
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The air conditioning should go into recirculate mode within 45 seconds or so when the recirculate button is pushed. Turn the blower up to 4 or 5 in normal mode, then push the button. If the light doesn't come on, it probably is not getting a connection from that button through the "data link" and the unit is probably not working right. If dealer wants to sell the car, have them replace the unit with a new one and check the guarantee that it covers this for another failure later. Lots of warrantees have holes in them you can drive atruck through -- like the block that cracked is not covered because warranty covers only lubricated parts...
Unless this is a Buick dealer with a good reputation, I'd look for another car...
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
He also had an issue iwth brakes making a nsaty ABS noise under normal circumstances. Typical?
It's possible the rear tires have worn from not being rotated at 6-8000. My 93, and 98 LeSabres both tend to do that. I find keeping high air pressure in the rears makes them more likely to wear that way. Lower pressure makes them more compliant.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The 225s that I have are wider than the standard tire. The tires should have about the same rolling diameter; so I would think the height of the tire for 15 inch rims is taller. The larger rim means less height for the tire itself and less room for flex.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Check that the tires are all at the same pressure and check that all tires are the SAME size and brand. A difference in rolling size can cause the antilock brake to kick in. It thinks one tire is locking up because it's rolling more slowly.
Had friends on 2000 LeSabre where a damaged tire was replace with a different size by Cincinnati tire store, 205 instead of 215 maybe. When going down driveway and putting on brakes, antilocks kicked in.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Now have 65K on this '00 Limited. Great road mileage (30-31), my wife loves the dual power front seats. Ride improved hugely when the original eqpt 15" Generals wore out and I replaced them with 88K-warranty Michelin XRadials.
I'd get another LeSabre Limited with dual power seats without a second thought.
BUT I did have concerns immediately with a slightly harsh, stuttery upshift from the cruising gear (about 1750 rpms) to the next lowest gear about 2300 rpms. Had to punch the gas harder than I should have to get the next upshift (to just under 3K rpms). The prob has become slowly but steadily worse, and is especially bad when I'm at about 45 or 50 mph and head up a very slight incline. The tranny immediately bucks and slurs. Have to hit the gas fairly hard to get a clean upshift to either of the two higher gears. I'd love to keep this car until it has about 120K on it. But the tranny is scaring me right now.
Any thoughts? Anybody else dealt with this? What will repairs cost? Am I looking at a major tranny overhaul?
Again, apologies to Stan13 about sound.
Giants515