The Lost Reatta
allcarsrcool
Member Posts: 113
does anyone actually remember the reatta. I saw one this morning and realized it is one of the cars that i hardly see. Actually that is the fist one i have ever seen. I think it is the coolest car! it has power seats, power mirrors, digital speedometer, for 1990 this is like the coolest car... why arent there more of them???
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I think both the Reatta and Allante were only partly successful because of the price tags that they had. The Reatta was an experiment in a new building concept, where the parts came to the car, rather than using an assembly line.
I heard that touch screen in the center of the dash, which was shared with the Riviera, could be troublesome. Did all Reattas have it, or did they phase it out after a few years?
My 1991 model had a list priced over $30,000. My 1995 Riviera, with more stuff, was priced about the same.
As for GM's attitude since Lutz came on board, well I do think the products are better. Better fit and finish, body gaps, nicer looking materials (even if they're still just using hard plastics) and some improvement in engines. But I think the "it's good enough" attitude is about the same as before. Sure, the products themselves might be better, but they HAD to be! I remember when my Dad bought his used 2003 Regal. It was September of '03, and the '04 Malibu had only been out for a bit. We went back to the dealer the day after he bought it, because they had an '02 Intrepid R/T I wanted to look at. I remember an '04 Malibu parking next to my Dad's Regal, and at the time it just seemed a world apart. Even from a distance you could see the tighter gaps and better fit and finish. And on the inside, the difference was even more astounding.
But I don't think it's enough to make people switch from their Hondas and Toyotas. It's good enough, but it has to be better, if people are going to switch.
You can't even put a supercharger from a supercharged 3800 onto a NA 3800. Everything about the engine is different. THe SC 3800 motors used completly different heads.
Was 1995 when they finally got the 3.8 up to ~200 hp, or was that 1996?
Oh, this was just a few years ago, September of 2003. I would've been 33. My Dad was 57 at the time, and I remember joking with him that he was just barely old enough to buy a Buick!
Dad hadn't had a car since roughly 1984. He had been relying on public transportation for much of that time, but finally got tired of it. Especially since he could drive to work in about 15 minutes, but public transportation took about an hour!
We went out one Saturday, looking at cars. My Dad wanted me to go with him because I'm a bit more knowledgeable about modern cars, and I guess I have a bit more experience dealing with the buying process...since he had been out of the loop almost 20 years!
I initially wanted to go down to the same Dodge dealer where I bought my 2000 Intrepid, but he wanted to check out a couple other places first. But we ended up down at my dealer, anyway. When we saw this 2003 Regal LS on the lot, it just seemed too good of a deal to pass up. $10,995, for a car that probably stickered for about $26K new, and was still in the tail end of its model year. It did have about 19,500 miles on it, and had been a rental, but we couldn't find anything wrong with it. Heck, I told him that if he didn't buy the car, I would!
While we were down there though, I saw a black 2002 Intrepid R/T on the lot that I was interested in. It only had about 35,000 miles on it and was well equipped, whereas my base model 2000 was pushing 86,000 miles by then. I thought about upgrading, but we ended up running late buying the Regal that night, so we went back the next day to check out the Intrepid.
In the end, I passed on it and held on to my own. They offered to give me what I owed on my 2000, which at the time was about $4800, and they wanted $15,995 for the 2002. I wasn't that impressed with it once I drove it, and they couldn't give me a straight answer as to whether it had the 3/36 warranty on the powertrain or the 7/70. Chrysler offered both in 2002, depending on what time of the year the car was originally sold. They also said the previous owner was a mechanic who did all his own maintenance, but they couldn't produce any service records. And right around 30-40,000 miles is when a car can start needing stuff. New tires, transmission service, brake pads, etc. Plus, I liked the idea of knowing that in 14 months, my current car would be paid off.
Oh joy...we just love people who waste our time like you!
Besides, I'd imagine that no salesman in his right mind is going to let a father and his kid take an S2000 out by themselves, unsupervised! :surprise:
I like to go to certain lots and laugh at their second stickers.
How would you like to be a salesperson who waited two hours for a customer only to get a non-serious joyrider whose idea of entertainment is test driving cars he has no intension of buying?
You should have entitled your new topic.."Salesmen vs. Strokes"
and put into a topic on test driving in general which is similar but different.
can you actually do nothing for the hour long test drives people go on. Dont you have customers to call, cars to sell? Why cant you do somethin other than just sit and wait for us to return? You are wasting your own time, we are not wasting yours. You could be more preductive and stop complaining.
In 1989, the Reatta's base price went to $26,700, and 7009 were produced. For 1990, a convertible was also offered. 2132 were built, with a base price of $34,995, while the fixed-roof model was $28,335 and sold 6,383 units.
1991 was the Reatta's last year, and I'm guessing it was an abbreviated year as only 1,214 coupes and 305 convertibles were built. Prices wre up to $29,300 for the coupe, and a whopping $35,965 for the convertible.
Of course, measuring depreciation after 15 years isn't a very good indicator of the rate of drop during the first 5 years. You reach a point where just about any old car today that is clean and driving well is worth at least $2,500.
That's about what a Lexus LS400 went for at the time.
Sounds like a nice car though, if you can find that rare person who wants one that bad. If it were an Allante ragtop for that, it would sell.
And it will never appreciate any more either.
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Buick Engines - Original engine in Buick Performance Parts Catalog by TA Performance
Some cars, such as the Reatta and the Allante, interest me more when they're old than when they were new.