I’m shopping for a grandpa car to use as a daily driver. Specifically the Buick Lucerne. The older models come with the 3.8 L v6, the newer ones a 3.9 L.
Anything to watch out for with either of these two motors?
Thank you for all inputs.
I only changed oil & tires on my Lucerne. Nice cars.
Early Active fuel Management was on the early 3.9 V6’s (LZ8). I do not believe the Buick’s had them but the higher trim Monte Carlos and Impalas did and they are a disaster. A standard VVT 3.9 is a great engine.
Can’t go wrong with any of the gen 3 3800 engine family.
If you can find one with the 3.8 i would by it.We have not seen any real issues in our shop with 3.9,but the 3.8 was bullet proof.It’s just easier and cheaper to maintain the 3.8.
The 3.8, you had to try kill it. Seen several go 300 to 400k.
The 3.8 was pretty much a bullet proof engine
3.9 came out because of the need for vvt to meet new standards. As with everything when it first came out it still needed a little refinement. They are known like most newer gm engines to burn oil. The 3.8 can as well and a lot of it can be from the maintenance it had during it’s life. Even if it does consume oil they run fine, just need to check it once in a while. My vote is for the 3.8, that engine had 30+ years of improvements done to it.
I had a skylark with a 3.8 in it and that thing was a beast. Best engine I’ve ever had. I miss that car 
had a gen 2 3.8 in a 2003 pontiac bonneville that I had 322,000 on the clock when it finally died original motor and trans. It would have lasted longer but I neglected it as I was tired of the car (you will likely get tired of the vehicle before the motor goes bad). Currently dailying a 2008 impala with the 3.9 and is 1400 miles away from the 300k mark with original motor and trans. Both did burn a little oil, I added a quart between every oil change it seems, but the engines both ran strong (at least up until the day the 3.8 died but I am sure running it low on oil and coolant didn’t help that).
FWIW, my brother has a Regal GS with the SC3800. It has somewhere around 350k on the factory trans and engine. Car is rotted away to almost nothing, but it just keeps running.
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