Buick Owners... Would you recommend a LeSabre?

I have an oportunity to buy a '97 LeSabre Custom with 48K miles and wanted to know if this particular year of the make is a keeper or a looser.
Any major headaches I should avoid, are they reliable? Are there any weak spots, hows the power train?
The car looks clean from what I could tell, I doing a full inpection tommorrow. Owner asks $3200, it has a cracked windshield and needs two new tires. How much do you think is actually worth? Edmund.com quotes it at around $2600. I don't know how much a windshield replacement goes for. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

I have two 97 Lesabres and they have both been good, reliable cars. One has 190,000 miles and the other, around 160,000. Both have cracked windshields. They both cracked last winter when sitting in the driveway. One cracked and the other cracked 5 days later.

The price seems a bit high, but that is very low miles.

I have had problems with the speedometer cluster in both. Both have salvaged units. Also, the fuel gauge sending unit had to be replaced. In one, I had to replace/repair the upper plenum, which is a common problem. No major engine or transmission problems. Both have original engines and transmissions and both run well. I have had some odd electrical problems that have been difficult to figure out, but the repairs have been reasonable over all.

Thanks Smith1000
I'm glad to hear that you've gotten good service out of both vehicles.
I wonder what makes the windshields crack in that fashion. How much did it cost you to replace them?
Can you elaborate on what exactly goes wrong with the plenum that makes it a common problem?

Can you elaborate on what exactly goes wrong with the plenum that makes it a common problem?

The price seems too high to me as well. Especially considering replacing a windshield is easily in the $500+ range.

As for the upper intake, it eventually fails and leaks coolant into the intake and must be replaced.

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Buick/LeSabre/1997/engine/_intake_manifold_gasket_failure.shtml

If you are lucky, no damage to the engine will occur. If you are not lucky, you could ruin your engine. Really, if I were to buy this car I'd immediately scour the net for a recommended replacement upper intake manifold and I'd replace it myself (it is really not that hard.) You'd save a ton of cash. I'd use whatever gasket material they recommend but I've had good success with this stuff for metal to metal upper intake to intake connections (your replacements may be metal):

http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-51813-Anaerobic-Gasket-Maker/dp/B0002UEONM

I never pursued replacing the windshields. I called a discount windshield place and, over the phone, they told me the cost would run around $350. I heard that windshields are made of thinner glass nowadays to save on weight. There were probably small chips and the ice separated the glass. The cracks are below the field of vision, where ice had accumulated.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I'm thinking I would pass this offer as the car would need too much money to be invested, and that's just to put it in safe driving conditions. I don't think the owner will go down too much on the price. I think is worth $2200 max, the far extreme I would put is $2500 if everything else is pristine, don't think it would happen.

pass this car up. trust me.