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That '05 CTS-V is literally the perfect car for what you're looking for, and they're really not bad reliability wise. Snap it up, nao, if it's in good shape and clean title etc.
Aside from that, the G coupe/sedan is probably the next best option.
Speed 3 needs to come off the list because they're noisy and don't really ride well. Speed 6 is better but still not great in that regard.
Late 90s/eayl 00s Buick Regal/Rivera with the supercharged 3800 Series II. Dead nuts reliable, stupid comfy, super cheap, easyish to work on, easy to get parts for, quiet, comfy. My friend drove his 280k mile rust bucket non supercharged (salt belt!) example from NY to FL and back last year averaging 90mph and 28mpg.
Everyone I know with a GM from that platform has only ever had transmission problems, and even that, was not that common from what I have seen. Mentioned them in counterpoint to the crown vics.
My mother has an Avalon and it replaced a Crown Vic so I have driven both on road trips over the years. I also had a Grand Marq and a bubble Caprice back in the day for work. Avalon makes good power and has a huge amount of back seat legroom (and reclining rear seats). Overall length is surprisingly very close to the Crown Vic but the space is in the cabin and not the hood and trunk like the Vicky. I've seen them parked side by side and marveled at that because the Vic looks much longer when parked by itself. Avalon is quicker than the Vicky, too. Avalon gets ~26mpg mixed driving and has achieved 30+mpg highway when driven reasonably.
Same V6 from Avalon is found in the Camry, which is lighter. It is easy to break the all seasons loose in the Avalon so I wonder what the Camry may be like. I'm not a front wheel drive fan but I'm not in a place where it snows and might have more benefit.
Despite blowing up my Speed6, I would also recommend a Mazda6 for the comfort and interior. I've always been a big fan of Mazda leather and the seats in that car don't disappoint. All the controls feel very nice... bonus that you have auto-control of all 4-windows from the drivers seat... hvac fan blows like a tornado (in a good way) and other than the motor, every single part of that car worked perfectly until the end. For info... Intake/IC/catback and an Accessport gets you 300whp on the stock turbo, but it's max'd at that point, and so is the fuel system. Torque builds like a diesel though once you free up the breathing.
I've owned a car from that GM platform. '02 Monte Carlo SS, non-supercharged. I owned it in 2011 and it had 80k miles on it. Had an awful transmission issue with loud clunking and hard shifts. Had some ABS/TCS issues. Lost the IM gasket, which is a LOT of work on these due to a shitty design by GM. Only got 23-24 mpg highway at 75 mph. All this on a well-maintained very clean car.
Yep, no more GM cars for me after that. (course, I bought a GTO a year later, go figure)
There were more: '95 Pontiac Bonneville, non-SC. Had transmission and overdrive issues, along with the usual shitty interior parts falling apart. Lost the head gasket at like 140k, but I can give it a pass there because we beat that car... hard.
'95 Pontiac Trans Sport. What a piece of ****. Lifter issues, mostly, but all the other issues too.
My mother also has an Avalon. 1999/2000 or so. Fortunately it doesn't get driven very often since I bought her the new Camry last year.
I've driven it on trips of 4-5 hours. It's very comfortable. And it's been fairly reliable.
It also handles like ****.
I'm serious. It's as though, instead of tie-rods, there are semi-rigid rubber tubes joining the steering rack to the front hubs.
As in, you turn the wheel to change lanes, and the car decides to take a moment of pause to allow you to reflect upon your decision, and make quite certain that changing lanes is really going to bring you happiness and fulfillment, and you get the impression that if it really had a choice in the matter, the car would prefer to allow you to slip into a lavender-scented bathrobe and offer you a cup of chamomile tea while you pondered the matter of changing lanes at a metaphysical level while soothing new-age music played in the background.
And all you really want to do is to ******* CHANGE LANES!
Driving that car actually scares me. I hate it immensely.
I have a G37 sedan as a daily/baby seat hauler. It ticks all your boxes. The Uprev versions of the slightly older G35 have nearly the same power and are ridiculously cheap. VQ engines can sound amazing too!
I got to drive a 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC today. I loved it unironically, goofy interior and all. I might start actively looking for a '97-98 Mark VIII LSC. In black only, of course. That car should only have ever been made in black.
As a frequent Hertz user, I've driven a lot of Taurii over the years. I despise that car. Not especially comfortable for long distances, and everything in the interior buzzes and rattles...
Heh... Yeah, these are super popular with the Towncar / Grand Marquis crowd as well. The air suspension in those cars, as I believe I noted previously, is notoriously unreliable.
The one my Mom has is a later model with some kind of upgraded engine. Drove it once. Nice drive, lots of power. It's been reliable for her. She's a closet car nut.
Avalons have never had an optional engine except from the Hybrid option. So the later model one is a roughly 270hp 3.5L v6. They have plenty of power for a Japanese Buick.
To update an old thread, I ended up buying a 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. I am very happy with it, so of course I've begun to mod it right away. ECU programmer is on the way, next is headers, underdrive pulleys, full 2.5" exhaust, and maybe a Cobra intake. It's a bit like driving a bullet train. Good times.
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