Leaderboard

You are a huge inspiration for my own road trips. I have thought of an F150 hybrid for that very reason when I pay off the Ranger. Tesla will be outclassed and outgunned as EV's continue to take over. And Musk is a world class idiot by any measure. Very cool and not often seen vintage GM car Now to do TC Bob's road trips in this would be Epic!

Congrats to you! I like seeing GM cars make those journeys and making a statement at the same time. It is a better experience when it is in your own car. Glad to see the car is running well. The great American road belongs to Buick.

It made it! I did it! Never did I think this vehicle, delivered to me new some 15.75 years ago in a suburb of Portland, OR, would move out of the PacNw, or even California. Well, it did. On trips out of town, I usually rent a car, whether from a neighborhood location or from whatever airport I use. I wanted the car to "see" (LOL) the Atlantic Seaboard, and here it is, at Virginia Beach VA, doing just that (see photo - at Rudee Inlet, with Oceanfront district to the left and Croatan Beach to the right). The plan was to continue up along the coast and take it for the quick tour of NYC where it would quickly circle its 5 boroughs: I-278 across Staten Island, the Verrazano Bridge, aorund Brooklyn and Queens on the Belt Parkway (stop at beach at Far Rockaway near JFK airport), up through Queens on the Van Wyck Expwy or parallel route, the Whitestone or Throg's Neck Bridge into the Bronx, I-95 across the Bronx (stop in little Italy) and the skinny part of Manhattan (stop at the Cloisters for a view over the Hudson and the GW Bridge), and then, finally, cross the GW Bridge before heading into New Jersey. That circle tour is no more than 25 to 30 miles ... and 5 boroughs ... such a deal. Sadly, I did not continue north to NYC for some unforeseen developments. (The car has been running like a champ.) Oh well, as a consolation, never did I think I'd drive the car to Toronto 3x, including a visit to and photos of it at the GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, where it came off the line. Doing goofy and quirky things can make life interesting.

I get the appeal of CUVs compared to sedans, though. I prefer sedans and SUVs, but a CUV is low to the ground like a sedan, higher H-point so they are easy to get in and out of, more headroom, more cargo room than a sedan without the stigma of a minivan or heft of an SUV.. for example, comparing my sister's Equinox to a simiarly priced Malibu, it's more practical for her use case...easy to get in and out of, easy to drive around town, room to pack up 3 months worth of stuff when snowbirding in the winter. I don't want a CUV, but I understand why the general public like them--they are very practical vehicles.

Thanks for putting this up. It's interesting, but it definitely skews toward the early years. Yes, it was called the Fireball at first. Then, when it came back in the catalytic converter era (1975), it was just the 231 cubic inch. And, yes, 231 is 75% of the old small block Buick 310 V8, so they did shave off two cylinders. He's right in that the engine really got momentum when it became Series I, Series II, and Series III, but he doesn't focus much on the later and better years. And he's right that the 3.6 DOHC V6 has had problems here and there, despite becoming the new flagship V6 engine for GM. He mentions the addition of the balance shaft in 1988 and that's when it became the 3800. (I'm at a loss right now for what a balance shaft looks like.) However, I don't think he mentioned the transition from odd-firing to even-firing, which was a really big deal and a 1978 M.Y. occurrence. The funny thing is that the bigger colonnades of 1975-1977 ran with the odd-firing V6 and the downsized ones that went from about 4,000 lbs. to 3,500 lbs. ran with the even-firing V6, which they accomplished by offsetting the journals in the crankshaft. At idle, the difference was noticeable. I've put just about 400,000 miles on the Series I and Series III 3800s I've owned (combined). I love this engine. Throw in an odd-firing V6 '76 Regal coupe that my dad had, an '80 even-firing V6 Century Limited sedan (basically a Regal for those years) that my dad had after that, and a hand-me down Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe with this engine ... and add rentals (from late '80s Toros and Parks to mid-90s Regals to early 2000s so equipped Impalas) and I think I might get to 500,000 miles of driving some version of this engine! What a hoot. This was the loss leader for Buick mid-sizes ... the triangle rear window coupe '76/77 Century Special coupe ... stripped down and probably having an MSRP of $3,999. This has the rally wheels but they came with blackwalls and hubcaps. Here's an engine bay with the 231 c.i. V6 pushed all the way to the back and with no A/C That some didn't have A/C occurred enough and ensured the loss leader price, as well as a boring dashboard. But nothing to go wrong.

I get the appeal of CUVs as well. I really do. No! I absolutely do! Really. Sedans...our beloved American sedans have been downsized, shrunk, made smaller in EVERY metric that CUVs HAVE become the defacto quintessential American land yacht. Well...pick-up trucks have almost taken that role in some parts of both of our countries, but in most areas, 'tis the CUV. Ingrees, Egress, headroom and everything else you described... and our beloved American land yacht ALL had those qualities but were taken away. What I lament is the loss of the unique styling those old barges had between the brands of the time DESPITE them being ancient 3 box designs. What I also lament is the loss of what cars used to be to people and why cars like coupes and convertibles existed and what cars have become to people and whay expendable CUVs exist today. I think THAT is what is ailing me more than the CUV itself.

Wife and I have been talking about EV or Hybrid for this very reason, the ability to run the house when we lose power. Last year's snowstorm with power out for 3 days really sucked. I REALLY wish the F150 hybrid was a plug-in hybrid. It would be really nice if it could get just like 15-20 miles on electricity alone. That's literally the only downside I see in the F150 hybrid, because that's high on my list right now, as well.

Those are AT4 only

The hood proportions and height are probably wrong on that. The new platform is taller and has a stubby nose because it's built for a 4-cylinder.

If this https://burlappcar.com/2023/06/2024-buick-enclave.html is accurate to what the new Enclave will be, it can just get in my belly right now perfect step up for me from the TourX but I might as well dream because can’t likely afford anything anymore

I need to look it up, but I think the Traverse and Acadia are back to being the same size again. It looks like the Traverse shrank. This leads me to wonder what will happen to Enclave and XT6. Enclave always had the larger body while XT6 is on a very slightly lengthened Acadia wheelbase, but longer overall length.

Interesting as the German Environmentalist take action against Tesla, Porsche, etc. for hurting the planet and ignoring the problems in the world. 10 Tesla Model Y EVs Burn In Frankfurt, Anonymous Letter Claims Responsibility (insideevs.com) Very cool Tech, have a Level 2 Bidirectional charger in your home so your Kia EV9 SUV can power your house for up to 4 days if you lose power. 2024 Kia EV9 bidirectional charging: Here’s how it will work (greencarreports.com)

Interesting read and I agree with much of the comments that Tesla will never reach 10 million let alone 20 million yearly auto sales with Musk as the CEO. Report: Tesla Next-Gen EVs To Initially Be Produced In Texas Instead Of Mexico (insideevs.com) Mexico GF is on hold indefinitely as Tesla has admitted they will have to have Engineers on site 24/7 to make sure the Robotaxi and 25K EV if it really happens will get built right and as of right now, Tesla Engineers have said NO to relocating to Mexico. Seems when a cheaper EV and taxis from Tesla happen, production at Austin is where it will be and scalling up at China and Germany where Tesla is laying off people due to low sales of their autos.

You know when she's running hard. Had no issues cruising at 120km/hr on the highways in New Brunswick when I was bringing her home, though the front end was a little harsh as the previous owner had over inflated the tires for storage.. It needs better tires. That's a task for the future as it'll need a minimum of USD$1500 for new wheels (hubcentric 16" Ions if I can't find a set of hub centric 16" Alcoas at the right price). The current 16.5" steel wheels are really set up for cross plys, though it is running LT radials.

Educational...