Buick LeSabre

Model years: 19892005 ,Despite the best efforts of GM marketing departments to persuade car buyers otherwise, most people realized by the 1990s and 2000s that Buicks, Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles were all very similar under the skin. And yet, its the Buicks that got the love in this era, as reflected in the many, many awards the brand won from qualityrankers J.D. Power and Associates. The LeSabre won most troublefree domestic in 1990, and the brand as a whole was the top among domestics for initial quality. Fifteen years later, the LeSabre won most dependable fullsize car. There were more honors in between those years, and Buick continues to do well in these surveys. Another reason these cars endure? Experts point to who was buying them: seniors. Its a great littleoldman car, says Feral Cars Merlis. Theyre not pushing them hard, and theyre maintaining them well. This makes the LeSabre a prime car to pick up used, says Ivan Drury, an automotive analyst for Edmunds. If you need something cheap for [getting from] point A to point B, you cant go wrong with these. Other Buicks (Centurys, Regals and Park Avenues) also do quite well. As with many GM cars from that era that have V6 engines, watch out for leaky or degraded intake manifold gaskets, a potentially pricey fix.