Buick built this gem from 1992 to 1996 and then it was over. For that brief, shining moment Detroit got it right. National Lampoon magazine first called cars like this "land yachts" in an article on American automotive excesses back in the 70s and they were right. But that doesn't mean such land yachts are necessarily bad.
Nowadays, with hulking S(tupid) U(seless V(ehicles) and their cell-phone-chatting, self-absorbed soccer moms sharing the roads with the dozing drivers of 18-wheelers, it only makes sense to want a car that can protect you a little better than, say, a Ford Focus.
Unlike SUVs, you don't feel like a truck driver in this classy automobile. There are no vaguely ridiculous steps to carefully climb, nothing to jump down from when you get out.
My white with 'wood' trim 1992 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon (and isn't that a grand name?!) weighs in at over two tons, is more than 18-feet long and is easily able to hold its own in a highway turf war.
Because it IS a Buick, this is no cheap-o wagon full of hard plastic and hopeless yearnings of hip. Rich leather and soft padding covers everything, even the THIRD row of seats far in the back. Quality appointments in chrome and wood (ersatz but still good looking) and careful interior design result in a beautifully comfortable cabin that fairly shouts luxury.
The vast and accommodating space behind the front seat is thickly carpeted and the folding seats are easy to get out of the way. Nice touches like twin cabin lights inside at the rear seat, the hidden storage areas, the clever rolling "window shade" cover to hide valuables (an "extra" that I got), and a rear bumper designed to be a step add to the desirability of this car. Not to mention the back window that pops open at the touch of a button on the dash and the tailgate that opens two different ways, swing-down or like a door.
Buick wisely gave this car a lot of power and you never feel like a deer-in-the-headlights as you enter freeways. However, the real advantage of this big, heavy car is when it's rolling down the road at the speed limit+. It's effortless, calm, secure and, indeed, a Road Master.
For some reason the Chevy version of this wagon is stone ugly but the Buick version is poetry in motion, even when it's parked in the driveway. While victims of fashion may cluck-cluck at your "antique" station wagon in a world of plastic-looking RAV-4s, you will be smiling quietly at your common sense and the secret knowledge that you are driving one of America's greatest vehicles ever.
(By the way, I got this car from a good friend who needed to make garage space for his 2001 Cadillac and offered to "get rid of it" to me for a mere grand. I promptly sold my elderly (but still beautiful) 1984 Cadillac to my son for a thousand dollars and got the Buick for, astonishingly, nothing. Such a deal!)
ADDENDUM: On May 1, 2003, a friend who had borrowed my Estate Wagon for an afternoon of antique shopping was making a left hand turn and got T-boned by a red-light runner. The car is totaled. I am bereft. I'm now back to regularly driving my 1979 Ford F150 pickup truck until the insurance pays off. Goodbye, Buick luxury and comfort. I will miss you.
Amount Paid (US$): 1,000.00
