Is Car Wizard Taking American Cars Again? That's an Olds Bravada!

I haven't watched the video yet but this is my Bravada. My wife and and I had the little smart car featured on here with the Buick horns. My wife grew up in Australia and didn't drive much since they have good public transportation. She moved to the USA and had to learn to drive on the other side of the road and in slick conditions. I wanted something that was more robust than today's cheaply made junk but most importantly, stuff I can work on. I also wanted something with some automation in the 4wd sector so that my wife doesn't have to think about turning it off and on. Since we bought this out of Kingfisher, OK, with Car Wizard's permission we dropped it off and drove the Smart Car home. We like our old GM products with my wife driving our 1989 Buick 100 miles daily. For the money, we are getting something so much better than if we had a bought a modern AWD product loaded up with all the electronic malarkey. This suits our wallet and our driving style just fine and we don't regret investing money into something that will continue to outlast modern vehicles. Car Wizard shot us an estimate and we agreed to it. I asked him if he'd like to do a video on it and I didn't care if he bashed it and here we are. We are so pleased to have Omega working on it. I'll go watch the video now. Follow up: Couldn't be happier with the assessment. New tires will be put on in time for winter and it's our intention to just use it in the winter, but frequently have the underbody sprayed to keep the rust in check. This was a one-owner Bravada owned by an old hippie lady who liked special brownies. We are glad to be the new care-takers of this classic GM product.

In our area, if the body is solid and interior is in great shape, at today's prices, $3,000 is a bargain to get another 60,000 miles out of it.

Yes, it's worth it For the amount of work $3000 seems fair, you're a good mechanic.

I miss Pontiac a lot more than Oldsmobile, but I remember when the Cutlass Supreme was one of the most desirable cars to own.

I was in the retail business for a long time. I learned one irrefutable fact. No one is indispensable. When your employee gave you an ultimatum, rather than change your business model to satisfy him, you should have refused. Guys like that are prima donnas. You gave in, he still walked. Did he give you 2 weeks? I hope so. Lesson learned.

The thing is, the foreign only shops are pretty common. Why? Better revenue and less competition. There are many places that can work on domestic cars, and while Omega is a large shop, they still have limited space and human resources. If they accept everything, then foreign cars have to wait longer. If they have the business it is better to specialize in that situation. The mechanic in question? I would work with him and simply assign him work on foreign cars only. But him demanding that no domestic equipment be allowed into the shop? That's just plain unacceptable. Adios amigo~ Great video!

My best buddie who passed away few years ago. Bought one of these same exact color. I remember going to dealership with him to pick it up. Good times. Miss him and that car

Mechanic tells you that if you keeping bringing in this stuff he will quit. So you stop bringing in those cars and he quite anyway.

For what it’s worth, I also misunderstood that you would not work on American regular cars. I was happy to hear that I misunderstood because regular car videos are the most relevant, approachable, and engaging for me. Thanks for the great content Wizard!

The Regular Car Reviews video on the Bravada was so brutal. And funny

$3000.00 is a bargain when you consider what it cost now to replace it with a new vehicle.

I worked at chevy/0lds dealer at the turn of this century. These and blazers were my pay check every week. There were so many of these and blazers on the road.

My brother-in-law runs an independent garage that has been in his family since 1938. The business is about 70% European vehicles but they will work on any vehicle. Many of his long-term clients own both an import and a domestic so he has no problem servicing and repairing either because money is money and it keeps his shop and mechanics busy and the money coming in and it keeps his customers loyal.

I remember wizard saying in a previous video that he was so swamped that they were not going to work on anymore American cars except for hoovies.

I know it’s probably just a slip of the tongue, but they only come with V6 is and what was interesting about the Bravada was that instead of having four-wheel-drive it had all-wheel-drive which made it different than the blazer and the Jimmy that came in four-wheel-drive

It is, it's every Oldsmobile owners duty to keep it on the road as long as possible, I miss oldsmobile 😢

I used to build those at the Moraine, Ohio GM assembly plant. I may have put the front axle in that truck! I did that or front spring install on the 2wd versions of the GMT 330. It was one of the first jobs after the frames entered the factory from the railyard.

I had a 2001 Chevy Astro van with the 4.3 liter, Car Wizard is right, those old 4.3 votec engines are truly a reliable engine . That van had over 327,000 miles, and was still running when we sold it. The body was rusting out. It certainly wasn't a horsepower monster, but it just was a good durable engine. It's a shame they don't make them anymore.

"....except for Hoovie from Hoovie's Garage, we will no longer be working on domestic cars and trucks."

I have two older vehicles which are well-maintained and paid off. A repair of $600 is like one monthly payment on a new car. I've replaced other items in the past few years, so I know which parts are good. Why swap that for a used car that has problems I know nothing about? Paying $3,000 isn't cheap but if you like your vehicle, it's worth it.