Junkyard Find: 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue GLS, Phoenix Open Edition

The Oldsmobile Division had just six years to live when the Intrigue appeared in the 1998 model year, and this car was Oldsmobile’s final version of the long-lived GM W platform. I see thousands of W-bodies every year, during my junkyard travels, but it takes a special one to make me reach for my camera. Say, a supercharged Daytona 500 Edition Grand Prix, or a Lumina Euro, or a genuine Phoenix Open-badged Intrigue.

Here’s an example of the latter car that I found languishing in a Phoenix wrecking yard, just 30 miles from the Phoenix Open’s high-zoot venue.

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Piston Slap: Because You Don't Sell Your First!

TTAC Commentator Matador writes:

Dear Sajeev/Sanjeev,

I own two cars (and two older pickup trucks): a 1995 LeSabre with 223,000 miles and a 2001 Audi A6 Avant with 165,000 miles on the clock. I drive 80-100 miles per day for work. Between work and personal miles, I drive about 45,000 miles per year. The trucks aren’t daily driven too often and are only used when I need to move something that won’t fit in the wagon. Gas isn’t that cheap!

The Buick isn’t going anywhere. It was my first car and I am a firm believer that you don’t sell your first. I would like to drive it a little less, though, keeping it for special occasions. Since the Audi is my main car, the Buick only receives about 35 percent of my overall miles. I love the way that the Buick handles and I am a huge fan of the 3800’s reliability.

I would really like a Buick wagon, but the Century wagon doesn’t appeal to me at all and the Roadmaster is out of my price range (I could have two Rivieras for the price of a decent Roadmaster wagon). I’m not partial to any brand, or against any brand, though I do find Hondas kind of boring.

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  • IBx1 “Dare to live more”-company that went from making the Countach and Diablo to an Audi crossover with an Audi engine and only pathetic automatic garabge ”live mas”-taco bell
  • Pianoboy57 Not buying one of these new when I was a young guy was a big regret. I hated the job I had then so didn't want to commit to payments. I did own a '74 Corona SR later for a short time.
  • FreedMike This wasn’t unpredictable. Despite what the eV HaTerZ kLuBB would like you to believe, EV sales are still going up, just not as quickly as they had been, but Tesla’s market share is down dramatically. That’s the result of what I’ve been saying for a long time: that the competition would eventually start catching up, and that’s exactly what’s happening. How did this happen? It boils down to this: we’re not back in 2019 anymore. Back then, if you wanted an EV that wasn’t a dorky looking ecomobile like a Leaf or Bolt, it was pretty much Tesla or bust, and buyers had to deal with all the endemic Tesla issues (build quality problems, bizarre ergonomics, weird styling, and so forth). That’s not the case today – there is a ton of competition, and while these newer models aren’t quite there when it comes to EV tech, they’re getting closer, and most of the Tesla weirdness just doesn’t apply. And then there’s this: stale product is the kiss of death in the car biz, and aside from the vanity project known as Cybertruck, all of Tesla’s stuff is old now. It’s not as “bleeding edge” as it used to be. For a company that made its’ bones on being on the forefront of tech, that’s a big problem.I don’t think Tesla is out of the game – not by a long shot. They’re still the market leader by a very wide margin, and their EV tech is the best in the game. But they need to stop focusing on stuff like the Cybertruck (technically fascinating, but it’s clearly an Elon Musk ego trip), the money/talent suck that is FSD, and the whole robotaxi thing, and put product first. At a minimum, everything they sell needs a very heavy refresh, and the entry level EV is a must.
  • OA5599 Been there, done that--Fordlandia.
  • MaintenanceCosts I love urban condos, but the idea of sharing an association with 50 Aston owners makes me break out in hives.