Very little information is provided by the ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Park Avenue; other than that, it runs smooth, has passed smog, and has a clean title. Let’s determine if its price tag says everything we need to know.
The consensus in the comments on yesterday’s 1976 Fiat 131 Abarth Rally replica was “do not want.” Homages are never as desirable as the real deal, and in the case of the Fiat, few people would likely even know what it was homaging. A $19,900 asking price proved the final nail in the 131’s coffin, taking home a massive 92 percent No Dice loss as a result.
I have a question: what is the best metric to gauge a vehicle’s value? Is it pounds per dollar? Cash calculated against stretch-out space? Maybe it’s the feature set weighed against purchase and running costs?
Here’s an interesting consideration: this 2000 Buick Park Avenue Ultra checks off each and every one of those boxes. It’s big, capable, reasonably frugal for its size, and an old-school sedan chock-full of luxury features with a torquey supercharged 3800 V6 under its ample hood. What’s not to love?
Buick first introduced the Park Avenue name for the 1975 model year as a trim level on the Electra 225. In 1991, Buick dropped the Electra nameplate altogether, leaving its newly designed replacement branded solely as the Park Avenue. This one is the top-of-the-line “Ultra” edition, and as befitting its place in the model hierarchy, it’s got accouterments and gizmos out the proverbial butt.
Power seats, locks, windows, and transmission make every interaction with the car finger-touch simple. It even has a heads-up display that splashes the speedo and turn signal indicators on the underside of the windscreen. One of the model’s stranger features is the seat-mounted seatbelts on the front buckets. Those are adjusted via rising and lowering pods on the outer corners of the backrests giving the seats the appearance of some sort of two-headed creature.
Exclusive to the Ultra is the L67 supercharged 3800 V6 that gives the driver 240 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque to play with. That’s all routed through a four-speed automatic transaxle to the front wheels. Independent suspension and ABS disc brakes can be found at each of the four corners, as can chrome-plated alloys in this car’s case.
These are big FWD sedans and, hence, aren’t going to be making anybody a hero on the Gymkhana track. They do make for excellent cruisers, though, and have a relatively benign reputation for durability and ease of maintenance.
This one has a mere 105,000 miles on the clock and shows some wear and tear for those modest miles and the years it’s been around. That’s most notable in some minor scuffing in the paint on the bumper lips and a tear in the leather on the driver’s seat. Everything else looks decent, and the rear window even has the mount for an old-school cell phone antenna still adhered to the glass. That’s a throwback.
It’s obvious that whoever wrote the ad for this car is a guy because the description isn’t very descriptive. Of course, the basics are there: the car runs smooth, has passed its smog test, and has a clean title. The final piece of the puzzle is the price and that’s there, too—$4,450.
What’s your take on this big Buick and that $4,450 asking? Is that a deal for a car that looks ready to head out on the highway? Or is that price tag just cruising for a bruising?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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