New car

[countryford]

For the past year, we have been driving a 2001 Ford explorer. We got it mainly because it could haul other passangers in it, as well as our two lab dogs. It was also a good work rig for Steve(my partner). Well neither one of us really cared for it too much, so we had been looking for a station wagon. Well this past week I was looking on Craigslist and found this wagon. On Thursday we went down and took a look at it. Unfortuneatly we couldn't buy it until we sold the explorer. We hadn't even put the Explorer for sale. So Friday morning up it went on Craigslist. Within a half hour we had a call. He came by later that day paid cash for it, and off we went with cash in hand and bought this 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon. Fully loaded(missing only heated seats and cd player). Everything works in it, and it only has 102,000 miles on it(40,000 miles less then the explorer). It rides comfortably and the dogs even like riding in it.

 

[countryford]

The rear tailgate folds down.....

 

[countryford]

.... or swings out.

 

[countryford]

Plenty of room for the girls...

 

[countryford]

....and for us.

 

[frigilux]

Great! That's what we used to call a luxury ride back in the day. May you have many carefree miles ahead of you.

 

[washernoob]

Wow! Looks nice! Lots of room to haul all those appliances with!

I road in my first Buick saturday, Dan from Iowa drove Roger, Terry and I to NFM where the whole gang met up.

What a comfortable ride! Love the spacious interior, and quality build.

 

[petek]

I only see a half naked man

 

[cfz2882]

one of the last...

...of the body on frame,RWD,v8 dynasaurs...enjoy!
'96 was the last year of these.

 

[austinado16]

Truely the end of an era right there.....

Man, I love that! It's in great shape for the age and with some detailing will really come out nice.

Heck of a score!!

 

[112561]

And it's blue all over! There are three or four here, and they're white. I was looking at a '91 Grand Marquis Colony Park before my accident in '06.

All of those houses fascinate me, most of them are brick!

 

[rp2813]

Great Car!

A recent installment of Top Gear put the Roadmaster wagon and two smaller cars through some very abusive testing and the Roadmaster is the only car that made it through everything.

Enjoy it!

 

[nurdlinger]

I see one of these driving around down here in Tucson. The guy has that white lettering on the back window. It says "Throw Your Weight Around". Yours appears to be in better condition.

 

[xraytech]

LOVE it, I have always wanted one of these in either the color you got or burgandy.
It sure looks great, you'll have alot of fun in that car

 

[58limited]

Obviously, judging by my username, I'm a Buick fan. Nice wagon! Should provide many miles of enjoyment.

I also like the saguaro cacti in the yard across from you. I used to collect cacti, but now live in a climate too wet for them. My aunt and uncle have a very diverse cactus population on their ranch and I had one of each. As a teen, I even wrote Arizona to see what it would take to harvest a large saguaro (several feet tall, bigger than a potted one available in a nursery) and bring it to Texas. Lots of bureaucratic trouble, I'm sure it is worse now. Plus, my parents wouldn't drive me over to get one anyway.

 

[strongenough78]

Beautiful!!!

Wait til you open up the 350 cubic inch 260 horsepower V-8 in that baby too. The 335 lb ft of torque will haul it and anything you put in it with much confidence. It will definitely accelerate much better than the Explorer and believe it or not, it will also do much better on gas, especially on the freeway. Congratulations! You're going to get many many more miles and years out of that car. Take care of her and she'll take care of you. 

 

[hydralique]

I wouldn't be surprised either if the Roadmaster gets better highway fuel mileage than the Explorer. City mileage is hugely affected by weight, so neither the Buick nor the Ford will do well here as both are very heavy. However, once above 60 mph aerodynamics begins to play a larger part than weight in the energy it takes to run the car . While I doubt the Buick has great aerodynamics, it may very well be better than it looks as the wagon shape is conducive to low drag. The drag factor of the Explorer is guaranteed to be awful due to excessive height and ground clearance, which causes too much air to be forced under the vehicle where it creates lots of drag. So long as the road is flat (not hard to find near Phoenix!), big heavy cars with tall gearing can get surprisingly good mileage - a buddy of mine has pulled nearly 28 mpg out of a Lincoln Town Car in west Texas. Certainly the Buick will handle better, and be more comfortable and safer than the Explorer due to the much lower center of gravity. Looks better too IMO!

 

[strongenough78]

hydralique....

Yeah it's easy getting almost 30 mpg out of a Town Car. And you're right about the aerodynamics. The Roadmaster is the same exact shape as the Caprice, which is what I have. The coefficient of drag on the Caprice is .31 which is pretty low.  The Roadmaster Wagon would probably still be like .32 which is still very good. I agree though about city mileage, it does suffer in heavy cars, although with the amount of torque and horsepower that Buick has, it won't take much throttle to get it going. If driven right, the city mileage should be fairly decent. Plus the 22 gallon gas tank will give a long range city wise and even longer highway. Plus a few inexpensive things can be done to the air intake and using synthetic oil will bump up mileage a smidge.

 

[danmantn]

Enjoy that comfy ride--it will be a rarity to enjoy that in future cars.