mmarshall

Though a number of other vehicles are (rightly-so) represented here, It's interesting to see how many old Buicks and Cadillacs, from various posters, are mentioned here in this thread. Those cars, of course (among a few others), helped define the Golden Age of Comfort.

MedicalDoc

I miss much Duster. Sorry.

MattyG

It also reflects the average age of CL's Car Chat participants. Lexus, Buick folks are in their "Golden Age".

But we often find ourselves selling cars because maybe that car became "difficult" and we didn't want to deal with its issues. Then, years later we found out that it was a great car.

My personal guilt list, which will also age me to a certain extent. No original pics so these are web pics.

Triumph GT6+. A ridiculously unreliable car but still such an amazing car to drive. Just so much personality. Good handling and ride. Real wood dash. Mine was silver.



1970's era big block Pontiac Gran Prix. Yikes, what a beast! Yep, also a problematic car but a fun car too. 400 big block smogged up motor, but a heck of a lot of get up and go. Nice personality, brutish. I had the beautiful olive green.



My brother had a few Camaros/Trans Ams. I never got a hold of them but he sold them, sooo yeah. Regrets. This was one of the nicest, 1976 400 auto, which is a collectible today.

ArmyofOne

My 1992 Ford Escort LX. 3 door hatch, 5 speed manual, SOHC EFI. Crank windows and manual locks, no abs, no tracrion control, and ludicrously fuel efficient. It was all of 85hp, but was fun to kick around on country roads as it was feather light.

it was between that, and my 06 Civic EX. i loved that car too.

Aron9000

I've been lusting after a 1st gen MR2 for a while now. Still thinking of going Miata, as they are way easier to work on and a lot newer/more trouble free. I don't want a car that is nearing that phase of needing paint/body work or an engine out service like those 80's MR2's are getting to now.

Aron9000

That's one of my favorite GM products of the 80's, such a cool looking car. You could also get your Riveria with a 3.8 V6, turbocharged with sequential fuel injection. 200hp/300lb-ft torque, it would move that car along nicely. Still I think you were better off with the less complex 307 Olds V8 option, even with that stupid computer controlled carb. If you didn't have to pass emissions, swapping on a normal carburator isn't a big deal, or if you want replace the whole engine with a higher compression Olds 350 with good flowing heads, that would make 300hp and run/idle/drive like stock.

Johnhav430

Would that have been a slant 6? I remember a friend's dad belonged to the Slant 6 Club of America, and you'd see all kinds of Chryslers in his driveway (before the days when nosy neighbors reported people to the police for working on cars at their house, and suddenly cops are checking the reggies for cars in one's own driveway). I think he once got a used Diplomat with a 318 2-barrel, and was suspended from the club for 6 mos....

Johnhav430

Not sure what generation, but I once put a deposit on one, and realized no way could I afford the car, so I asked for my deposit back. STUPIDLY, I signed the paperwork with it saying non-refundable, and this was $5,000 (another stupid move, even on my 2007 BMW that was ordered, the deposit was $500). The sales manager laughed in my face and told me I just lost 5 thousand dollars. I left with my tail between my legs and went to the atty general's office in smAlbany. Some intern was working the desk and asked me what had happened. I said what a waste of time.

He got on the phone with the dealer, and said you can go in and pick up your refund check 3 days from today. The historical crookedness of this business is astounding, but I guess milennials have spelled the end for them...

mmarshall

Most of the Dusters were indeed done as a coupe (2-door) version of the old RWD Valiant/Dart platform, but there was also a smaller, FWD Turismo-Based Duster in the early 1980s that was not as successful.

Coleroad

I had forgotten all about that 80's duster. It shared platforms with the charger.

pbm317

We got one of the last 2000 Model Year Honda S2000's in the signature Silverstone Metallic.... I remember picking it up and the drive home from the dealership. I miss that one the most.

SW17LS

I don't think I've ever owned a car I *regret* selling. Perhaps my 2014 Jeep, just because I really liked it and although at that time in our family's lives it was (and still is) the right decision for us to trade it on a minivan, I still miss having it or that sort of vehicle in the garage.

I think all the cars I've had have been great at the time, but nothing lasts forever and if I still owned them today they'd be well worn out. Take a favorite like my 98 LS400, if I owned that car today it would have 400k miles?

I don't agree. Having had all 3, the LS430 was the best riding LS I ever had, but it was also my least favorite and the least enjoyable to drive. While my 460 may be a little stiffer, its more than made up for in the fact that you can enter an offramp or a country road with some level of confidence, which was also the case with my LS400.

mmarshall

I don't see how that differs from what I said. It's a matter of driver-priorities. You might place slightly more priority on handling than the average LS driver. I might be wrong, but I doubt that you ave ever actually cornered an LS at .73 G....most drivers haven't. As far as the difference in ride comfort between the 430 and 460, it's true that the 430 has slightly softer underpinnings and tires...but the regular 460 is so quiet (I haven't sampled an F-Sport version), with such effective noise-isolation, that it gives at least the impression of riding as smooth as the 430, even if in fact, it doesn't.

SW17LS

I question the amount of insight you have on the "average LS driver" vs me as I've had three, and you've had none. From having owned all 3, IMHO the 460 is truer to the notion of what the original LS was than the 430 was. The LS was never meant to be something along the lines of the Lincoln Town Car, a car that prioritized riding comfort over everything else. It was always meant to compete with european luxury sedans, such as an S Class. Those cars were never ultra cush, plush barges like the Town Car, they were very smooth, solid, and refined. The 430 is a lot closer to that Town Car than it is an S Class, and the 460 brings it back closer to that S Class. The "traditional LS ride" is not a soft, floaty pillowy ride. Its a flat, very refined, smooth and quiet ride that isn't floaty boaty. Remember we came to the LS in 1998 from my dad having had Lincolns and Cadillacs...the LS was different. Neither of us liked the 430 as much as the 400, and the 460 reminds me more of the 400 than the 430.

While no, I have not taken any LS to a skidpad, the cause of that low skidpad number was apparent every time you took an offramp on a highway, or drove down anything but a flat road. The 430 was enjoyable to drive on a straight highway or road. Anything other than that and it really could be a handful. The 400 and 460 were/are 95% as comfortable to drive on a straight highway, while not being a burden to drive on a winding road or when hitting an offramp too fast.

So no, I would not say the "typical LS buyer" doesn't care about skidpad numbers, as for only 5 years of its 27 year history was the LS a barge with that low a skidpad number. For 22 years its been what you find in the LS400 and LS460, a somewhat tauter more european car. The "LS smoothness" comes not from a soft floaty suspension like a Lincoln or Cadillac, but from incredible refinement and smoothness from everything it does.

mmarshall

Doesn't necessarily make you an average LS driver, any more than I am an average Buick driver. In fact, when I was a young man, age-wise, I was anything BUT an average Buick driver....yet owned two of them.

You talked about the LS430. I almost wish I had bought a new one (its road-manners would have suited me perfectly), though I didn't have the cash back then I have now....and I was still saving for retirement. Like Jill, I'm leery of used cars....even some CPOs.