In search of a COMPLETELY stock 87 GN!

[Matt37]

Hello,

You guys may think I am crazy, Sometimes I wonder myself. But I am buying my 19 year old son a 87 GN.

I want it to be in the price range of 5-10k and must be COMPLETELY stock!

He will be driving this back and forth from college 4-5 times a week and reliability is a must!

So please dont BS me on how realiable your machine is if it is not. I really need honesty here.

I would like to get one with minimal miles on it. Also must have NO mods whats so ever.

Everyone tells me first sign of a unreliable GN is the amount of mods it has. The only mod that would be good is tires and rims. Any engine mods are a big NO!

Also, Since all of you guys are experts on these cars, how reliable are these cars before they need work? How do the turbos hold up? Do turbos need rebuilds often?

Please help me out here I am not sure what I got myself into but me and my son made a bet when he was in 9th grade that if he got into Georgetown he got a GN! He won his part of the bet, I must live up to my part.

So I really need your help you guys!

Thank You.

 

[pacecarta]

i have an 16year old son and knowing what i do about gns i wouldnt put him behind the wheel of a gn . not till he worked his way up to it
,
gns are fun but they are not reliable nor should they be a first car
they are after all 18years old no matter what the mileage that fact wont change.
they require certain mods and parts to be replaced just to insure it will keep going (like valve springs,timing chain , fuelpump ) even the chip should be upgraded to something more suited for todays gas .

your kid will want to push this car and at 14lbs of boost they are quick so youll want to be sure the tires and brakes suspension and the powermaster are in excellent shape .

they require premuim unleaded , not the 87 a college kid will put in the tank with change he scraped up , boost it up on regular gas even in stock trim and it will be going to the repair shop.

stock turbos are reliable , problem is always be aware its a turbo car and will require good oil to stay healthy and that means frequent oil changes and allowing a warmup and a little cooldown time .

if its going to be used for traveling to college first thing youll want is a good appraisal and agreed value insurance as these cars attract theives and AAA for the little quirks these cars have

if your looking there are car for sale and wanted sections on the forums and you and he should both go to gnttype.org and read up all you can about the GN and read the buying guide there which should you find one you think is right .
dennis kirban has a couple low mileage near mint stock cars for sale
kirbanperformance.com , but realistically youll need 15-20 maybe lil more for a nice GN .

 

[jpratt]

i have an 16year old son and knowing what i do about gns i wouldnt put him behind the wheel of a gn . not till he worked his way up to it
,
gns are fun but they are not reliable nor should they be a first car
they are after all 18years old no matter what the mileage that fact wont change.
they require certain mods and parts to be replaced just to insure it will keep going (like valve springs,timing chain , fuelpump ) even the chip should be upgraded to something more suited for todays gas .

your kid will want to push this car and at 14lbs of boost they are quick so youll want to be sure the tires and brakes suspension and the powermaster are in excellent shape .

they require premuim unleaded , not the 87 a college kid will put in the tank with change he scraped up , boost it up on regular gas even in stock trim and it will be going to the repair shop.

stock turbos are reliable , problem is always be aware its a turbo car and will require good oil to stay healthy and that means frequent oil changes and allowing a warmup and a little cooldown time .

if its going to be used for traveling to college first thing youll want is a good appraisal and agreed value insurance as these cars attract theives and AAA for the little quirks these cars have

if your looking there are car for sale and wanted sections on the forums and you and he should both go to gnttype.org and read up all you can about the GN and read the buying guide there which should you find one you think is right .
dennis kirban has a couple low mileage near mint stock cars for sale
kirbanperformance.com , but realistically youll need 15-20 maybe lil more for a nice GN .

Ditto

 

[Matt37]

I would much rather have him in a GN than what he has now.. which is a 69 Camaro with a LS2 in it.

 

[1badGT]

I would much rather have him in a GN than what he has now.. which is a 69 Camaro with a LS2 in it.

A stock GN will make much more torque...... :wink:

 

[Matt37]

A stock GN will make much more torque...... :wink:

Yes, but top speed wise and reliability wise I would rather have him in a GN.

Even though a GN is not exactly a safe car! :tongue:

 

[ajt86]

first off i have yet to see alot of muscle cars with an LS2 conversion- lets see some pics of that

second, they arent all that reliable- some are some arent. a car with fuel system mods and a chip wouldnt be all that bad either since the factory fuel system just plain sucks

im 19 i got my GN when i was 18- my pops didnt buy it for me, i worked for it. he gave me a 91 cavalier when i got my lisence- i had a camaro but he wanted me to prove myself with the cavy for a little bit. so make sure hes a mature driver, and a catiouse driver as well befor he hops in one

also why isnt an LS2 reliable???? they are great engines as long as whatevers behind it is capable of handling the power of it.

 

[1badGT]

first off i have yet to see alot of muscle cars with an LS2 conversion- lets see some pics of that

second, they arent all that reliable- some are some arent. a car with fuel system mods and a chip wouldnt be all that bad either since the factory fuel system just plain sucks

im 19 i got my GN when i was 18- my pops didnt buy it for me, i worked for it. he gave me a 91 cavalier when i got my lisence- i had a camaro but he wanted me to prove myself with the cavy for a little bit. so make sure hes a mature driver, and a catiouse driver as well befor he hops in one

also why isnt an LS2 reliable???? they are great engines as long as whatevers behind it is capable of handling the power of it.

I agree with him....he can't spell worth a crap but you get the idea. :biggrin:

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Get him the GN by all means since he won the bet with you but also get him a lo-buck daily driver too. I cringe at the thought of a nice low mileage GN sitting in a college parking lot all day. Guaranteed it will go "missing" in a short amount of time.

 

[ajt86]

I agree with him....he can't spell worth a crap but you get the idea. :biggrin:

heyyyy im a mechanic- not an english teacher :biggrin: i do have an associates degree though- damn english comp 1 and 2 were hard to get through lol

and marks got another point- if you do get him a TR, get him a 500$ beater to drive around in. i hated having a grand national for a daily driver. it was fun, but definatly not practical

 

[strikeeagle]

Get you kid a new Civic...

strike

 

[TurboBuickSix]

WRX would be perfect.

 

[pontiac69fb]

or an srt 4 would be good. Those are pretty quick and are reasonably priced.

 

[DrkBluT-TyPe]

hehe.......

Well..........I am 16 and was raised by my mom because of a divorce. My first car was a Dodge Stratus R/T....currently at the time bought for me by my mom...I now make the payments for it. Drove that for 1 year...and then i decided I wanted a GN/TR. I now have owned a TR for about 2-3 months...mostly stock some minor mods. I can't say not for you to get your son a GN/TR, but it is wise to have a back up daily you drive all the time. And college with that car....not seeing that at all. Kids get jealous...vandelize or horribly....steal. I love my TR and take care of it well and love driveing it, but I also like the fact I don't have to drive it everyday. Buy him a old Bug....I'm about to get one for like 2000 bucks....talk about a gas/money saver! But yes, good luck on finding your Buick...your son WILL love it just as much as you will

 

[cwelk87gn]

If it were 10-15 yaers ago, I would say absolutly buy a GN, but nowadays, for a daily driver, I wouldn't think thats a wise choice. Among the things the other folks have said, you also have to consider how easy and desirable these cars are to steal. Not to mention they do require a lot of maintenance, and these cars are nearly 20 years old.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

Unless you can keep an eye on it, the car will get stolen!!! It will suck the gas in town, not too bad on the highway, but an ls2 with a 6 speed will get better milage on the highway. It will also get dinged up pretty good in a college parking lot. These cars are approching 20 years old and have a lot of electronics that are getting old. They can be pretty reliable, but I'd bet something strands him a couple of times a year. Especially if he's not versed in all the little things that can go wrong on these cars. I'd say get him one that has had the basics done - fuel pump, fuel pump hotwire kit, a modern chip, etc. - and then get him a beater to drive back and forth to college.

 

[turbot2496]

I think you have the right ideal on finding one that hasn't been modded for the sake of reliability. I've seen some pretty nice ones go for under 10k. Alot of people have over 200k on the stock motor and these motors are driven pretty hard so if you can find one with around 50-70k miles on it thats been taken care of, it would probably be an alright car. Mileage is not the greatest and the car does require premium fuel but if the kid won his bet and thats what he won, then hook him up. Congrats on getting him into a good college.... it seems thats more and more of a challenge these days... If I see anything good in this area in your price range, I'll let you know.

 

[bishir]

I have an 86 GN Hardtop that I basically bought for a Daily Driver, but now I have need to sell. It made the trip from Indiana to Florida w/o a problem and has 56k miles. It does have exhaust, but thats really a bonus considering stock exhaust would pretty much be falling off by now. If you're interested I may have it ready to sell soon. PM or email me.

 

[BigTurbo6]

In highschool i had an 84 regal and we did it up like a GN even had dual exhaust and the hood. Drove it from VA to WA to go to school and it was stolen within 3 months. Just because it looked liek a GN. Then I bought a 87GN and its been on the road about 8 months out of 5 years since I got it. I'm guessing I'm not the only GN owner that has a bad case of "what's that noise? Is the car vibrating to you? This thing is acting funny today!" Buy him GN because he won the bet, and because these are the coolest cars ever, but be prepared to be loaning him your car soon

 

[Matt37]

I think we figured out a good solution,

He has $5,500 from selling one of his four-wheelers. He was really into racing them all through HS. So he sold that and says he will get a daily beater to drive to and from college, And use the GN every so often.

Hopefully it all works out.