daily driver Caprice?

by 74maroonmonte Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:48 pm

I post it here in the offtopic section since I'm revering to the 91-96 Caprice models. Specially the early ones.
I'm kinda looking for another daily driver, wich is a 1995 Volkwagen right now. A fine German automobile, but it doesn't do a whole lot for me, emotion wise. It's "transportation".

The last couple of days I'm thinking about Caprice models of the early 90's. I was just wondering if any of you guys own or owned one of those. How reliable are these things? Did you like it? Gas mileage?

I know a 1992 Caprice near me with the 5.0 TBI wich is pretty clean for it's age, inside and out. Sounds and drives fine too (went for a testdrive the other day). I can even trade-in my current daily driver. So, I'm seriously considering buying such a fine piece of Detroit Iron Cool

(one of the last 'real' Detroit dinosaurs if you ask me, big body style, RWD and V8 powered)

by yogreasygramma Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:28 pm

I would say definitely go for it, if you have the room. I've heard that the frames are exactly the same as on our cars, and handling can be improved immensely with aftermarket parts.

by JasonZ Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:37 pm

Good cars but they are not worth a damn if you try to sell them because they are labeled as clunkers. You would have to have the 96 Impala SS to be sitting on a gold mine. I found the cars you want for about $900 of course high miles with he 5.0 but the frames are clean and the body are in good shape.

by ant7377 Wed Dec 09, 2009 10:55 pm

Way cheaper to maintain than your VW thats for sure. I had an 82 real POS but it never left me and went threw snow like it had 4WD.

by JB2wheeler Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:14 pm

I have a ninety year old neighbor who has a 84 big Olds 2 door hardtop that looks like it just came out of the factory. She has money and all her kids are just sitting around waiting for her to pass. She has Altzheimers real bad and all her kids live all the way cross town in a half millon dollar house. Most of the time she never sees her kids and all of us old time neighbors help watch out for her. I have been here over 50 years and 3 differant ones have been here longer than I have. When she goes they probably just call a junkyard to come get the car. After all they would not be seen in something that costs less than $60,000. JB

by BlackChevelleSS Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:57 am

If you find one with the LT1 they are great motors with some torque but the optisparks cause problems and are a pain to change. Usually any water pump leak will take the opti with it

by ant7377 Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:43 am

JB2wheeler wrote:I have a ninety year old neighbor who has a 84 big Olds 2 door hardtop that looks like it just came out of the factory. She has money and all her kids are just sitting around waiting for her to pass. She has Altzheimers real bad and all her kids live all the way cross town in a half millon dollar house. Most of the time she never sees her kids and all of us old time neighbors help watch out for her. I have been here over 50 years and 3 differant ones have been here longer than I have. When she goes they probably just call a junkyard to come get the car. After all they would not be seen in something that costs less than $60,000. JB

Those are great cars. You should try and get it. I always wanted one like that, really nice looking.

by Limey SE Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:51 am

X2 on the olds there JB i would love a big family two door for and everyday driver

by 74MonteCarlo Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:53 am

I love those big ol' Oldsmobiles! Thumbs up

by JB2wheeler Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:48 pm

I've got too many cars now. I need to sell the 78 Elky and 73 Furd LTD. I am just a year or two from going in a nursing home, the way it looks. Maybe not tho, time has a way of passing. JB

by chevy76monteman Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:25 am

My brother owns a 1993 Caprice 9C1, ex-Oregon State Police unmarked car. Unmolested, very good condition for a police cruiser. He likes it. It has the 5.7-liter L05 V8 (year before the LT1). Gas mileage isn't good though, lol. He's getting 13mpg.

The LT1 sucks because of the Optispark ignition. Two of my friends had an LT1 in their cars... one was a 95 Impala SS and the other was a 95 Caprice. Both of them had problems after a few years of getting their cars. The factory GM distributor sucks because it does not have vent holes, which causes moisture to accumulate in it and cause failure. The aftermarket caps are good replacements because they have vents. There is a conversion kit on the market that converts the LT1 to coil packs and deletes the optispark.

by ant7377 Fri Dec 11, 2009 6:12 pm

Dustin,
MSD makes a setup too. Its expensive but it works well. We had it in my dads 95 Roadmaster LT1 .That car ran great all the time great on gas on the Highway too.

by novaderrik Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:46 am

i've had two of the later Caprices- a 92 with the TBI 350 and a 94 with the LT1. both were 9C1's and had over 200,000 miles on them.
both were great cars that were unstoppable in the deep snow and always started on even the coldest MN winter nights.
the 92 with the TBI 350 had 3.42 gears with a posi and would get 25mpg no matter how i drove it, and the 94 with the LT1 had an open rear with 3.08 gears but never got better than 17mpg for me in the 3 years i had it.
i parted both cars out- the motor from the '92 is currently still running strong and knocking down close to 20mpg in my cousin's 95 Suburban.
i took the LT1 out of the 94 apart to see how an LT1 with 227,000 miles looks- oddly enough, it looked brand new inside, with all the stock standard size GM bearings in it and even visible crosshatch in the cylinders and no sludge at all. it is on a stand out in my garage waiting for a new cam (the stock one got left on a shelf under a leak in the roof and turned to rust). i'm thinking a HOT cam kit would make it into an awesome motor for something.

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