The Buick Park Avenue is the Buick that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 170 hp from 3800 V6 Series I L27 NA. It was built from 1990 to 2012, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. The shape is credited to Dave Holls (1988).
How it came about
The Buick Park Avenue is a full-size car built by Buick. The nameplate was first used in 1975 for an appearance option package on the Electra 225 Limited. It became an Electra trim level in 1978 and its own model starting in the 1991 model year after the Electra was discontinued.
There were two generations of the Park Avenue that were manufactured in the United States until 2005. In 2007, the nameplate was revived on a large Buick sedan built by Shanghai GM for the Chinese market based on the Holden Caprice from the WM/WN range. The nameplate is derived from Park Avenue, a boulevard in an affluent area of New York City.
The hardware
The engine is 3800 V6 Series I L27 NA; the output is 170 hp; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 3536 lbs. That is roughly 8 horsepower per tonne: leisurely, which for a car of its age and purpose is the point. Drive goes through a 4-speed 4T60-E automatic. The wheelbase is 110.8 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Buick line-up the Buick Park Avenue has a clear place: it replaced the Buick Electra / Buick Royaum (China); it handed the line to the Buick Lucerne; the factory was Wentzville, Missouri, United States (Wentzville Assembly) 1991-1994. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Daihatsu Opti. Its Buick stablemates include the Buick First Call and the Buick Funeral Car.
Buick1899
Buick Park Avenue (China)