'New' cheap daily driver... not a Mopar but I love it!

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MopaR&D

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Back in May after I finished grad school I decided I was done using my '93 Jeep Cherokee as a daily driver and started looking at newer cars, particularly Acura TL/TLX. Well as some of you may know the used car market really started to go crazy over the summer and I watched the prices just climb and climb with no end in sight. I decided screw that, prices had gone up over $5000 since the previous year and I wasn't going just throw money in the trash because of inflated prices. So I went with what is currently regarded as one of the best choices for cheap, reliable transportation... the 1990s and early-2000s GM cars with the Buick 3800 V6. I came across this excellent 2000 Buick Park Avenue Ultra (SUPERCHARGED!!) and the seller was in a bind so he sold it to me for a steal, only $1200 and even included a bunch of replacement parts he didn't have the physical capacity to install (was recently injured). Car had 148k miles which is about half of what 3800s can run up to with regular maintenance.

I caught up on all the maintenance and did a ton of research on the supercharged 3800 engines. I bought the car back in September already with a 180-degree thermostat and since then put in one step colder NGK plugs, Taylor 8.2mm plug wires, gutted the baffles and drilled extra holes in the factory air box and installed a 3" downpipe and high-flow resonator from ZZPerformance. Also put on 4 new Sumitomo all-season tires and had a 4-wheel alignment done, changed the supercharger oil and replaced a few motor/trans mounts. I then bought an HPTuners accessport and took some logs of the car while driving, started modifying the tune and here in a few weeks will pay the couple hundred dollars for credits to be able to upload tunes to my car. We'll see how it performs after that and if I feel like I need more I'll drop the blower pulley from stock 3.8" to 3.5".

This thing has quite a bit more power than you'd expect and rides like a cloud. Isn't much to look at but it's sure a lot easier on the eyes than newer cars with all the misplaced sharp edges and big ugly grilles.

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It is kind of a bummer it's FWD but it's not that bad. The car overall is built tighter and more solid than I expected from a grandma car by GM from the time. I also looked into Ford Crown Victorias a while back but these are a bit smaller and lighter, and cheaper; I really wanted a Regal GS since I didn't need a full-size car but this was a deal I couldn't pass up. The 3800 engine is a further development of the 3.8L V6 used in the 1980s turbo Buicks like the Grand National and that engine design goes back to the 1960s. Some guys here in the U.S. swap them into Pontiac Fieros, engine/transaxle setup fits nicely and it's an interesting alternative to the LS4. Australia is lucky, Holden offered the supercharged 3800 in RWD configuration including Ute models.
 
What a great deal!! Looks like a great daily driver. You have all the maintenance done so just enjoy it!

I have a 2008 Acura TL, it’s a GREAT car, never any issues in 230K.

Congratulations on your graduation from grad school and Merry Christmas!!
 
Back in May after I finished grad school I decided I was done using my '93 Jeep Cherokee as a daily driver and started looking at newer cars, particularly Acura TL/TLX. Well as some of you may know the used car market really started to go crazy over the summer and I watched the prices just climb and climb with no end in sight. I decided screw that, prices had gone up over $5000 since the previous year and I wasn't going just throw money in the trash because of inflated prices. So I went with what is currently regarded as one of the best choices for cheap, reliable transportation... the 1990s and early-2000s GM cars with the Buick 3800 V6. I came across this excellent 2000 Buick Park Avenue Ultra (SUPERCHARGED!!) and the seller was in a bind so he sold it to me for a steal, only $1200 and even included a bunch of replacement parts he didn't have the physical capacity to install (was recently injured). Car had 148k miles which is about half of what 3800s can run up to with regular maintenance.

I caught up on all the maintenance and did a ton of research on the supercharged 3800 engines. I bought the car back in September already with a 180-degree thermostat and since then put in one step colder NGK plugs, Taylor 8.2mm plug wires, gutted the baffles and drilled extra holes in the factory air box and installed a 3" downpipe and high-flow resonator from ZZPerformance. Also put on 4 new Sumitomo all-season tires and had a 4-wheel alignment done, changed the supercharger oil and replaced a few motor/trans mounts. I then bought an HPTuners accessport and took some logs of the car while driving, started modifying the tune and here in a few weeks will pay the couple hundred dollars for credits to be able to upload tunes to my car. We'll see how it performs after that and if I feel like I need more I'll drop the blower pulley from stock 3.8" to 3.5".

This thing has quite a bit more power than you'd expect and rides like a cloud. Isn't much to look at but it's sure a lot easier on the eyes than newer cars with all the misplaced sharp edges and big ugly grilles.

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My buddy is a huge fan of those uicks he's had about 4 of them all with 3.8l engine, he had one with the supercharger and yeah that thing ripped!
 
One thing to keep an eye on is the Trans, I think that was it's demise.
That & stay on top of coolant consumption, those intake gaskets(upper & lower) can kill an otherwise perfectly fine engine, can leak internally & has hydro-locked a few.
 
Agreed about the intake gaskets and transmission, both are currently fine but I'm keeping an eye on them. I did drop the pan and put in a new filter and refilled with Dexron VI, old fluid looked and smelled fine. I believe the car has spent most if not all its life in Colorado so the reduced power from the thinner air probably helped keep it alive. First thing I'm gonna change with the tuner is increasing shift pressures and changing some of the shift scheduling so it doesn't shift as much. They also did have torque management built in which I'll modify a bit but I'm definitely keeping it functional at least during shifts. It kind of sucks, at WOT it'll pull out 10-12° of timing to reduce the wear on the clutch packs and you can definitely feel it. Same goes for kickdown, you feel a momentary loss of power before it shifts then it comes back. Annoying.
 
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