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Buick Century

482 messages,  Last post on Jun 05, 2012 at 7:22 AM

You are in the Buick Century Forum.

What is this discussion about? Buick Century, Sedan

Messages Page 30 of 49

#282 of 482 1999 Buick Century Limited by bsapp

Jul 09, 2002 (7:08 pm)

I purchased a 1999 Century Limited new in Feb of 99 that had every factory option, leather,sunroof,dual power seats,electronic climate control, cd/cassette, concert 111, Onstar,self dimming rear view mirror and outside left mirror, well, everything and it was a major disappointment. The dashboard squeaked and rattled as well as the sunroof. One day going to work another car pulled in front of me and I braked hard enough to engage the ABS and from that day forward, the rear brakes made a clicking noise at low speeds. I could never use the passenger side windows on both right side doors because either they wouldn't work at all at times, or would go down and not come back up. I never took the car back to the dealer to repair the windows because I didn't want my pristine leather upholstery and door panels possibly damaged during the repair. I finally became fed up with the car when it started leaking oil quite heavily. The dealership told me the head would have to come off and it was a major repair. The car had 19,000 miles on it and was almost at the end of its 3 year warranty. Not wanting to be stuck with a car with problems, I traded it for a new 2002 Impala LS. So far, I'm very pleased with the Impala. A little disappointed in the Century, it was a beautiful car, gray with light gray leather. It always stayed garaged, the cd/cassette player had hardly been used and nobody had ever sat in the back seat and the right front seat didn't even have 2 hours of riding time. This was MY car and no one else rode in it if I could help it. Seeing it on the used car lot, somebody must have thought they were getting a very nice car.......................
 
Bill Sapp

#283 of 482 bsapp by lngtonge18

Jul 09, 2002 (9:11 pm)

That was just silly to not fix something that annoyed you throughout the ownership of the car. Nothing worse then to have power equipment you are afraid to use. You should have just had the dealer fix it. If they damaged the leather, they would have been liable to replace it. Is your pristine leather and door panels really worth more to you then having to deal with an aggravating and disappointing ownership experience? Next time you have problems, at least use your warranty. That's what it's for! I hope the Impala serves you better.

#284 of 482 response to Ingtonge 18 by bsapp

Jul 10, 2002 (4:24 pm)

I suppose it was more important to have a "pristine" interior since I didn't take the car in for repairs. I let it ride mainly because I never lowered those windows anyhow. If it had of been the drivers side then I definitely would have done so. I understood with the sunroof that to repair it the headliner and most of the assembly would have to come out and there would always be the chance of leaking. I've been that route before with the dealership damaging something and trying to get them to repair it. I'm not someone who allows themself to be taken advantage of, just didn't want the bother of going back to the dealer possibly time and time again in case something went wrong. Now, I will say that I didn't like the tone of your message (not that you care) and it is no sillier than other statements/actions of others I've read in this forum. I would have been a little more restrained and not have said that to you.
 
Bill

#285 of 482 bsapp by lngtonge18

Jul 10, 2002 (8:09 pm)

The problem with these forums is you can't tell the actual tone of a message too well. My tone was not meant to be rude. I guess what I was trying to say was maybe your ownership wouldn't have been quite so disappointing if you had simply trusted the dealer to fix a factory defect and give it a chance to work properly instead of dealing with a problem for however long it didn't work. If it had been fixed, you probably would have forgotten all about it. But sitting on the problem over a period of time just keeps bringing back up that there is a problem and annoys you more and more. Listing that problem as a major reason why you were disappointed was the silly part to me since you wouldn't take the time and instill trust in the warranty that is there to fix those kind of problems. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you are dumb. I'm just suggesting the car could have been more enjoyable to you if you fixed one of the main problems you had with it. However, taking apart the engine at 19,000 miles is uncalled for and a good reason for you to get rid of it since the warranty was almost up. Don't take offense to this either, but I can tell you are of an older generation which tends to be less trusting. I had to have the transmission taken off my car at 21k to replace a noisy bearing and the dealer also replaced the clutch. I could have dealt with the noise and I didn't like the idea of taking my tranny off, but since it was a new car under warranty, I expected it to work right and not annoy me, therefore I put my trust in the dealer to fix it. They did the repair just fine with no repercussions and I was much happier with the car working properly. What was potentially a problem that would have led me to hating the car was quickly forgotten. Do you follow what I was trying to get across better now?

#286 of 482 Buick Brakes by cocrawfo

Sep 14, 2002 (3:36 pm)

I thought I would add my experience with brakes while not on the buick in question it was a buick. I had a squeal that would not go away. Everything was replaced with factory parts both front and back. It was still there. Finally one brake mechanic had me use the e brake to stop and asked if I could still hear the problem, I said yes but not as loud. He miked the rotors and low and behold one was out slightly even though they were factory fresh. Well once this was corrected my annoying squeak went away. He couldn't explain it but it worked. Just my two cents.

#287 of 482 Reply to : Buick Brakes by masonmi

Sep 27, 2002 (7:20 pm)

What exactly is Miked the rotors? i've had my Buick Century in the dealership several times for brake noises and they tell me its normal and that if I wanted brakes without noise I should buy some ceramic ones?

#288 of 482 Miked by gmlover1

Sep 28, 2002 (6:22 am)

Miked is slang for micrometer a measurement tool.

#289 of 482 03 Century by jiamin

Oct 30, 2002 (5:51 pm)

I never bought a new Buick or any new domestic cars. I got a retal Century today and found it very quiet compared to my previous 96 Maxima and current 02 Infiniti QX4. Century's ride is very soft, a little too soft to my taste. No idea what reliability is.

#290 of 482 03 Century by johnlw

Nov 05, 2002 (12:08 pm)

I have an 02 Century, and we have had no problems. I am a fan of GM cars, I have had good luck with them. My '93 olds has 121,000 miles, and few problems.
 
To me, the Buick offers good power, handling, safety, and features at a fair price. If you want to have some fun, test drive a Buick Regal with the supercharged engine. It might kick your Infinity's you know what.

#291 of 482 major repair because radiater not flushed by rose321

Nov 08, 2002 (8:17 am)

car manual says you don,to need to change radiator fluid for 5yrs. or 150,000 m.-- my car has 60,ooo miles
and now I have a small leak from engine gasket because of the type of long lasting fluid gm uses plus I have to have radiator taken out and cleaned thoroughly and blue anti-freeze put in all these repairs are going to cost me$800 my car is a 99 century. Has anyone else had this problem?

Messages Page 30 of 49

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