This is a review of the 1988 Buick Electra Park Avenue.

I purchased a 1988 Buick Park Avenue as a winter/work car on November 5, 2005. The car is a medium blue metallic sans vinyl roof, narrow white stripe Goodyear tires, and wire wheel covers.

It is powered by a 3.8 litre 165 hp V-6 mated to a 4-speed automatic transaxle. Despite a horsepower figure that seems anemic today, the engine provides decent acceleration due to the '88 Park Ave's relative light weight. My girlfriend has a 2005 Buick LaCrosse CX with a 3.8 V-6 that delivers 200 hp, but seems slow compared to the Park Ave mostly due to the greater weight of the LaCrosse. Despite the car's age and 83K miles, shifts are smooth and seamless.

The Park Ave's fuel economy is impressive. The car is happy on 87 Regular and delivers a decent 19 City and impressive 29 Highway. As a result of today's psychopathic fuel prices, I've been driving my '88 Park Avenue almost exclusively while leaving my rather thirsty 1999 Cadillac Seville STS and it's preference for Sunoco Ultra 94 at home.

I love the car's interior that is an awesome throwback to the not-so-distant past. Its medium blue is a nice relief from today's dull grays and beiges. It has plush blue velour "tuck and roll" upholstery with the name Park Avenue embroidered on the driver's and front passenger's seat backs. The door panels and instrument panel are trimmed in velour, chrome, imitation wood, and a splash of carpet at the bottoms of the door panels.

What is even more unusual about it is its full instrumentation - something very unusual about a 1980s domestic sedan. It has an ammeter, oil pressure gauge, coolant temperature gauge, and even a tachometer thrown in for good measure. If that isn't enough data for the driver, there is also a constellation of "idiot lights." One thing I'd have done different is swap the positions of the like-sized speedometer and tach. I'd have placed the speedo on the right and the tach on the left. The two gauges could be confused by the uninitiated. It has a little pod on top of the dash pad that displays six fiber-optic lights for the external lamps - orange for parking lights and turn indicators, green for low beam headlamps, and blue for high beams. A pod with two red indicators for tail lamps, stoplights, and rear turn indicators is above the rear window and visible via the rear view mirror.

It has a factory AM/FM stereo cassette with eight - count 'em - eight speakers. The cassette player still works flawlessly as does the power antenna that sprouts from the right rear quarter panel. The HVAC is controlled by a novel touch-sensitive panel that emits a little "beep" between settings illuminated with an orange indicator light. The inside/outside temperature is displayed via a blue LED. The heater works excellently, but I believe the A/C Freon is depleted. This repair can be costly as R-12 is now worth its weight in gold whereas it was 99 cents a can 18 years ago when the car was manufactured. A conversion to more eco-friendly R-134 can be performed for a few hundred dollars.

The interior is extremely roomy, especially in the rear compartment which almost seems limousine-like. This is probably due to the car's FWD configuration and high squared-off roofline. Visibility is excellent due to the car's rather low beltline and expansive glass area. Parking is a snap as the rear edge of the deck can be easily seen through the almost vertical rear window.

The car's trunk is roomy, but the modern convenience of a cargo net will be missed by those accustomed to newer cars. Unfortunately, a stupid, caster-sized donut tire resides in the spare compartment under the floor of the trunk. However, the jack is easily accessed in a box on the right wall of the trunk. The fuel filler lid is opened via a gray pushbutton inside the glove box, a rather inconvenient position in my opinion. The fuel door's manual override in the trunk is almost Teutonic in its over-engineering. No simple cable here - it looks like some complex hydraulic device activated via a large plunger.

The hood opens in reverse - it is hinged at the front and opens at the cowl. However, this provided plenty of space to service the engine.

Only one problem has occurred since I owned the car and I was able to repair it in 20 minutes: the driver's door window failed to raise. I removed the door panel and found a metal arm that raises the glass slipped from a nylon slider that travels along a metal track.

Overall, I am satisfied with the car. It has cool retro-80s styling that is uncommon among a sea of Camries and Accords. It appears to be mechanically reliable despite its age and delivers excellent fuel economy - something that never goes out of style.

Amount Paid (US$): 1,295.00
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1988