Share Your Love of Cadillacs!
Who would have thought that the most popular video on our site is actually a Chevy? Not even a classic! It is the 1999 Chevy Suburban that was used in the first few years of the tv show the Sopranos. I took this back at the Auto Collection show at what it was called back then the Imperial Palace casino.
I miss that place, it had some cool cars. Make sure ou subscribe to our YouTube channel.
I want to introduce you to a new member of our family. I just picked up a 2016 Buick Enclave. Her name is “Betty” named after Betty White who recently passed away. She is replacing the 2003 Buick Rendezvous which I picked up to bring stuff across the country as we moved to Arizona. I put almost 200k miles on “Annabelle” and she was starting to require more maintenance than I was prepared to spend. In the last few months she got new tires, new thermostat and hoses, and new brakes. She is almost new at this point. I just can’t trust her anymore to get me safely across the country. She is going to become my nephews first car.
I bought Betty at Cactus auto in Tucson, the same place I bought Annabelle from years ago. While I am still a Cadillac guy they are just not building the car I need for a daily driver. I need storage and the ability to tow something. Yes I hear ou that I could get an Escalade but I find it too big and too much to spend for gas.
I have already driven Betty from Tucson to NYC. Now I am preparing to drive her back in a few weeks along with whatever we have left and our pets. I may tow a small cargo trailer if it is needed but now I am doubting it. I made some videos for Betty’s new YouTube channel of the drive. I hope you subscribe and watch a few videos so Youtube sees that people like the channel and show it to more people.
I know it has been a while since you have heard from me. With the Holidays and all it has been total confusion around here. We had to move out of the house in Phoenix after the owner decided he wanted to sell it. We scrambled for a place and we settled on an area in Tucson. I spent the month of December driving back and forth moving stuff.
I did finally pick up a SUV to help with the move (Because renting a truck would have been easier). After looking at 10 or so Cadillac SRX’s I couldn’t find one that didn’t have issues. I was only looking for 2004 and 2005 models since they are larger and I like the look of them.
I saw a dealership that had one in Tucson and went there to test drive it but it had been sold the day before. While I was there I test drove a Tahoe and it was not the best ride ever. It had something wrong with the steering and had too much play. It reminded me of driving my neighbors old cabin cruiser. I then looked over and a gold car caught my eye.
It is a 2003 Buick Rendezvous CXL. It has 119,000 miles on it and I paid 4800. As soon as I drove it I knew it was mine. It drives smooth like a 1980 Cadillac. It is large enough to move anything I want. It was a one owner car. I am planning on driving to NYC sometime this week with it. The never ending paperwork never seems to stop with the flood insurance. I have to have the NY house empty by Jan 31st so the Govt can come in and raise it.
Since it is only me and Deb I have removed the second row of seats and will be removing the 3rd row as soon as I go to the store for a 1/2 inch deep socket. If we need to move people around we will use her car instead. I took it to my mechanic and they looked it over and said I got a good deal.
My plan for driving to NY is to take I-10 to I-20 To I-30 To I-40 and then 81 up through the east coast states. Since the car is empty I have a blow up bed and sleeping bag for the back so if I get tired I can take a nap. It is 36 hours and 2500 miles.
Fill up the cooler and get some snacks and I should be good to go. I get about 400 miles to a tank of gas so I am thinking I empty 2 tanks a day for about 800 miles. We will see how that goes. I am open to any tips you may have.