And . . . the era of the Great Gray Beast has at last come to an end.
Last Friday I traded it in on a CPO 2011 Buick Regal, not the turbo or GS, in the same granite gray/cream color combo as the PA. Though I'm excited about the new car, I was sad to see the big one go. It had begun to have little-to-big problems, a rattling seat belt retractor ($500 at the dealer), the intermittent transmission jerk that I've written about before, no rear defroster, etc. One of these things alone I could have shrugged off, but the combination was daunting. And I guess I was ready for something newer.
For 6.5 years, from 44K to 110K miles, the big beast served without complaint, riding smoothly, being economical and simple to maintain, and keeping me cool and warm as needed. Only twice did it ever fail: once when the battery died (but it did that when I was arriving at work!), and when the engine overheated in July of 2012 (but it did that as I got home from work!). So those were hardly real failures. And until the advent of the Regal, there was hardly a car I test drove that I liked as much, and none I liked more. As people have said here many times, the 3800 V6 was one of GM's best engines, and the Park Avenue a GM hidden gem.
I wish I could have sold it to someone who'd appreciate its virtues. In fact I did test the waters by posting an ad at
a local mechanic whose customers would have probably been the perfect demographic for it. Alas, no nibbles; and so, the dealer tells me, the Park Avenue has gone off to the wholesaler. Here's hoping a BITOG-type with a discerning eye will scoop it up before it ends its useful life languishing unkempt on some gravel lot in the rain.
Pics? I'm sure the link from 2003 isn't working any more, so here are pics taken by the dealer when it first went on sale:
http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/Benzadmiral/library/2003 Buick Park Avenue Except for the cell phone antenna, the car looked exactly the same the day I traded it. (Two pics in that album are from cool GM ads; I couldn't resist putting those in.)
Farewell, big car. We shall not see your like again!