1986 Buick Riviera T-Type | Retro Review
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Familiar styling and a hefty price tag resulted in rare sightings of this generation Buick Riviera when new.
Show 512 | Originally Taped 02-04-1986
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Touch screen controls in a car from 1986 makes me wonder how many people thought "This will never catch on."
It was just ahead of it's time.
And now, almost every new car including my 2020 Honda CR-V has a touch screen now.
We never really thought of it as a touch screen. Just buttons on a screen. Looked cool though
I was thinking the same!
How far (or behind) we’ve come.
people are pretty resistant to change. i remember a lot of people thinking the all touchscreen iphone was going to fail.
I had the Oldsmobile version of this as my first car back in 1990. It was a 1987 Olds Toronado Trofeo, and it basically was the same without the CTR screen but instead, millions of little buttons in its place. It also had a horseshoe gear selector. It felt fast off the line, and for its day, it was fast enough.
GM knew how to gear a car low in 1st gear and these engines made great low end torque for what they were. They seemed really quick in 1st gear, but wheezed-out halfway through 2nd gear on a long hard pull. LOL
I love Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado. Confortable, solid and resistents cars. 1985-1988 is my favorites
In 1989 the Toronado got its version of a touch screen.
I remember riding in a Rivera of this era as a kid. The touchscreen and digital dash were unbelievable compared to any other car at the time. The refreshed Rivieras later in this generation looked better.
Thank you for featuiring a new GM video. It was great to see this downsized Riviera. I was so glad when they upsized the Riviera for 1989. That is the Riviera that should have arrived in 1986. It is interesting to note the technology that arrived in 1986 and just now being put in to cars in 2021. It was ahead of its time too. I have read many things or heard many things about the styling too. It was all informative. I wanted to say thank you again for posting this video. I hope to see more GM snd Lincoln videos in the future.
Correct. The Buick/Olds E-cars of 86-88 were just too stubby.
I like how GM spelled gauges "GAGES."
Imagine if the touch screen and keyless entry technologies weren't stopped and developed instead. Imagine how cars would be today...
Coded keyless entry is a Ford staple, they developed it and first offered it in 1979 in the Thunderbird and all Lincoln’s. Now it’s either standard or a cheap option on all Fords. Only other company to ever use it that I can recall is Nissan on the late-80s Maxima.
@@joe6096 I think Ford had a patent on it which is why most auto makers didn't use it. Ditto for the cruise buttons on the steering wheel
@@1983jblack Doubtful about the cruise thing - Honda had cruise on the wheel in the 70s and everyone puts it there now because it makes the most ergonomically correct sense.
This was a nice car.. Too bad they can't make interiors or drivetrains like this any longer. Those seats look glorious.
I'm glad they don't make a 160 hp 3.8 v6. I like the 300 hp 3.6 v6 better.
@@blackericdenice and 90 degree V6s with no balance shaft for extra smoothness. :)
It's clear everyone at GM who could design a decent interior retired a long, long time ago.
@@blackericdenice see if you feel that way in 200k miles also keep in mind that 3800 lived on into the late 90s to mid 00s with the series 3 with a supercharger, the GTP grand prix had nearly 300 reliable hp
@@rustbeltrobclassic2512 260 hp is not nearly 300 hp. You would never say the 460 hp Mustang GT make nearly 500 hp.
My family had a 1989 olds toronado. It had the talking VIC center. Car looked like it came from knight rider. It was all black.
My father had an Olds Toronado with VIC, which teenage me LOVED!
This is just before they started producing boring grandpa cars, which they haven't recovered from doing since. These were honestly great cars. Ive seen a lot of them still floating around in the modern era.
The first car ever to be equipped with a touchscreen as standard!!! Can't wait to see what 2022 brings for RR's!!!!
Wasn’t the Olds Troféo also equipped with a touchscreen?
@@TVHouseHistorian yes but didn't come till 89
@@TVHouseHistorian yes but didn't come till 89
And was a 1300.00 option
A screen like that wouldn't come back until 30 years later.
Never seen reversible seats until now
There was a 1950's Buick that has reversible seat cushions 😊
It's great for all the old folks driving Buicks. You know, incontinence and such...
I said WTF out loud when I saw that part.
I was wowed at that feature. Today's cars with the cloth upholstery has fabric that looks like it has been with recycled sports gear by brands such as Under Armour, Champion, Nike and Adidas.
My 89 Riviera has reversible floor mats. Person who had it before me never knew so when i bought it and figured it out I had brand new looking floor mats. Had it almost 20 years still looks good.
6:30 Delightful appearance!!
Looks as good as his brother "86 oldsmobile toronado!
Even before I was born, the infotainment system in this car paved the way of cars in the past, present, and the future.
The touchscreens were a warranty nightmare. Todays electronics have had years of smartphone and automotive type testing, but back then if that screen failed you lost stereo, climate control etc. and it cost a fortune when out of warranty.
Talking about if they fail, look at the new Tesla touchscreens! It's like driving a laptop. Lose the screen and you aren't going anywhere!
@David Manasas: It was a basic CRT monitor. Surely lived well past the warranty.
@@TeeroyHammermill in fact, not that long at all. Many of these cars, and the Reatta, were scrapped early because of it.
The quality was abysmal on these cars, but the ride and feel of them was really nice.
I was surprised that after 10 winters of basically just sitting outside, everything on the CRT-screen worked as I started trying to see if I can revive this thing a month ago or so.
I had a 1988 loved it drove it for many trouble free miles
Very good looking car that looks modern even in 2022.
4:10 OMG, the flex in that center console when moving the shifter!
Yup I was thinking please don't move around people this generation would laugh ha ha.
I have a Reatta that does the same thing. I thought something was wrong with it. I guess not 😂
Man I remember that car so well! It was way ahead of its time for that time! And not too bad looking either.
You must be kidding. This thing looked like the much cheaper Olds Calais/Buick Somerset.
The 1989 Refresh was way better looking than the 86-88 Riviera.
Interesting fact: This test strip was i-795 before the highway was completed. They started construction in 1985.
General Motors took a real risk when they introduced the E body. There was almost as much space in a much smaller package.
Looks like the risk was a huge failure!
@@jasonroberts9357 This times 1000x
Not the beginning of the end, but a sad and foreshadowing turning point…in the wrong direction.
@Jay & Laong's World! 🤪²⁰²² I got plenty of head in the backseat of my 88’ Eldorado.
Before this car it seemed car designers were using household furniture ;-)
2:53 now that is a cool feature we will likely never see again due to heated cooled seats
Love the sticker on the glass next to the keyless entry pad. "Buick Engineering Prototype"
Far ahead of it time,...the ideas that were imagined then brought through to fruition back then were a forunner to today's luxury personal cars.
This is one of the rare care where I saw and said “oh! I love the interior. The outside is hideous.”
Thank you!!
Reversible velour seat cushions? Does it come with plastic too in case Grandma wants to preserve them for future generations?
GM's Buick and Oldsmobile was ahead of its time with innovations, like its touchscreen CRT systems and buttons galore. I think 1986-1991 was the great year of the GM vehicles, especially for Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac.
RIP Oldsmobile 4/2004. RIP Pontiac 4/2009
Doug Demuro is drooling over those reversible cushions.
This......
"This...is the 1986 Buick Riviera. And it's one of the most luxurious cars money could buy in the 80s. It featured a downsized V6 engine, an advanced electronic instrumentation display and reversible cushion for both driver and passenger seats. And today, I'm going to show you everything and drive it."
Who cares what he thinks.
@@bbb12345 "and then I'm going to give it a Doug Score"
@@toronado455 spot on!
I had absolutely no idea that some cars in the 80s came with a touch screen.
Tuve un 1986 T-type exactamente en ese color plata, hace algunos años. Increíble manejo.
He tenido 4 rivieras en total. 2 de 1986, 1990 y actualmente tengo un 1992.
Beautiful car, I always thought these were magnificent machines. Wish I could have one.
This car adjusted for inflation would only be $51,367.78. Worth it.
That's still less expensive than today's pickups/SUVs GM sells..
For some reason this was always my
Favorite generation of the riviera, ever since I was a child i really liked the interior/exterior of this car
2:16 John: THE CRT TAKES CARE OF GAUGING EVERYTHING ELSE, EXCEPT OIL PRESSURE! LOL
Which is taken care by???
It's amazing that Buick has touchscreen technology back in the mid 80's!!!🤗
I wonder how many of these 1986 Rivieras are left. That digital display and touch screen were WAY ahead of their time. I wonder, though, how well they held up after, say, 10 years! (1/9/2022)
There left in junkyards theres a few by me in the local yards I used these surprisingly not rusted out muffler on a cheap flip car and it mounted right up
I have one in my yard in Finland, surprisingly everything on the screen worked when I put a battery in for the first time in 10 years earlier this month.
Still amazes me that apparently not a single person at GM in the early to mid 1980s saw a prototype Riviera and Somerset (or a Calais and Toronado) parked or pictured next to each other and thought, "Huh...this might be a problem..."
This was the first car I bought with my own money when I was 18 and 30 years later is still one of my favorite cars that I have owned. Too bad the timing chain let go one payment before it was paid off.
That reversible cushion idea stretches at least back to the '74 swivel bucket A body GMs.
Chrysler had them in '59.
This was my first car. In black .
It was kinda jacked though as far as repairs go:( still awesome and have good memories.
Handsome car.
It was a high tech wonder, people on the east coast couldn't figure the graphic control center, but I loved it, the body was hardly Riv but the the drivetrain was top notch, the interior comfy but small, overall a luxury vehicle that was a joy to drive but had a face only GM could love 💕.
I had no idea GM ever tried the keypad keyless entry. I remember Nissan did back then, and ford is the only company that stuck with it.
I got my drivers license in 1986 an my parents bought me a new Buick riviera in 1986 I used to think the crt system was ahead of it’s time it was a fun car to drive
I have an 89 Buick Reatta, the screen and gage cluster is the same as this Riviera
These are beautiful machines for cruising
John Davis lived more aged more legendary than this car. Truly the man of legend GOD status
That touchscreen control center will never catch on.
1986 Buick Riviera T Type 0-60mph: 10.2 seconds
2019 Toyota Prius Limited 0-60mph: 9.7 seconds
I've had the Olds Toronado version. Very similiar and a great car. The 3.8 is one of GM's great engines. The Electronics was space age :)
They should get John Davis to do the car commentary in video games for the regular cars 80's to current.
what games are those?
This was back when Buicks or most other cars had their own unique character of design, comfortable seats, etc. I mean Modern Buicks are looking more like BMWs every year.
Unique??? You call mass badge engineering unique??? The 80s were a terrible time for cars...gm the worst offender....let's not romanticize the past here..
That's because all modern Buicks are ugly garbage rebadged Opels from overseas. Nobody buys them anymore here in the US. You see many many more vintage Buicks even ones this old here in the states versus the newer Opel models.
@@jsciarri on the contrary the Buick encore is a very hot seller for reasons I still can't figure out....... I've driven several in my line of work and don't understand the appeal from my perspective ..... The Buick envision oh, and the Buick Enclave are pretty striking looking I have to admit they also Drive nicely
My sister bought a new 1991 Riviera. It was a great car and very comfortable.
It’s always funny to see those old odd-fire 3.8s jiggling away under the hood.
Not true. In 1977, GM redesigned the crankshaft to allow even firing.
I’m sold on the spinning fan on the crt!
It spins faster when it's on high 😀
@@amarsta Even better!!
Amazing wtching this "old video" brings back love of older cars. The one problem they did with this design.... got rid of the classic Riviera rear slope.
That car was very comfortable. The seats are pure luxury even it comes to comfortable car seats.
Pretty ahead of its time with that head unit
Holy crap I'm a car guy but never knew about some of the features in this video.
Good times.
This guy is driving the hell out of this Buick.
Woww,,,In 1986 in India we drove cars from 60s. Anytime we saw a foreign car the traffic stood still just to see what that is 🙄
I wonder how many of those CRT display/control systems still work?
Mine works perfectly after all of these years ... hope I did it just jinx myself lol
@@traderdan85 Yeah, do they still have replacement parts.?
Look at all that TECHNOLOGY
That dashboard would have been a dealbreaker.
Did MotorWeek have a test drive video for the 84 or 85 Buick Riviera ttype with the grand national motor?
They did a review of the 1985 Riveria with the touch screen installed but I forget what engine was installed. Very few late 1985 models had the touch screen option.
This T-Type is the only Riviera I would buy. The styling is much sportier, less grandmotherly than the others, and it doesn't have a blind spot at the rear pillar
I have a 92 Riviera it's a great car. A living room on wheels.
I was waiting for this one
Wow. Leaf springs on the rear!
Can y’all post the videos where y’all review the 1996 minivans, would be interesting
Esse carro da década de 90 são uma maravilha 👍😁😁
Does anyone knows what concept car is on display at 0:35 behind on the table? It looks really cool and id love to learn about it!
I now have this craving to watch Bladerunner again..
i like the crt touch display better than the lcd ones in "modern" cars no matter how convenient they try to be.
Tough sell. The 79-85 cars had presence
Yes, they were much more stately and elegant.
Couldn’t agree more. The General shat the bed on this one and never recovered.
@@scottlevine7646 The whole line of them: Toronado, Eldorado, Riviera. My Grandfather had one of the last '85 Eldorados built, it rolled off the line in New Jersey in September of 1985. If it wasn't stolen in 1993 it would be in my garage now because it was the car he taught me to drive in, and both my Mom and Uncle always said they'd have given it directly to me when he passed because they knew how sentimental it was to me. After it was stolen my Grandfather gave me the owners manual, never-used gold key set, and title all of which I still have.
@@joe6096 I hate that it was stolen. My grandfather had a 1965 Pontiac Catalina convertible that was to be mine. I don’t remember what happened, but I’d sure love to have it today. I’m a huge Eldo fan,
Especially the 70s convertibles, but the 79-85 model was just so much more refined. At a terrible time for Cadillac (140 HP base V6 in a DeVille) the Eldo was a star.
@@scottlevine7646 the 79-85 cars were uniquely American luxury cars. I feel like the downsized personal luxo cars from gm post 86 tried to be too much like the imports. Of course this is said with 40 years hindsight.
Had seen these cars in many years. It looks weird like can laughable but loved the touch screen. If I was an adult back in the mid-80s would bought this or the Toronado which looked more modern this car looks similar as at that time Somerset Regal that was based off two door Skylark. Being back in '86 was old fashioned now with new technology of today looks so outdated, miss Buicks so much that was when they had it going on now got are SUVS bring back these good old sedans again. Until mid-90s it looked better the 95-99 models are nicer used to be a huge diehard Buick fan grew up on this brand think like the 80-85 Riviera better these FWD cars had issues.
1985: Welcome to your Buick Riviera.
1986: bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Imagine having to get those electronics serviced on any of these cars that actually survived.
A new screen plugs in. I had similar gauges in a 300ZX and wasn't a big deal.
A technological break through that was sadly underappreciated by the technology compromised.
53k in today's money, Strong acceleration 0-60, 10.2 sec lol crazy times.
I worked on a car with the same kind of touch screen. When the touch screen fails, a bunch of stuff stops working as well. For example, no cold A/C? Good luck.
I think if you wanted 2 doors and a bunch of digital gimmicks at the time, a Nissan 300ZX would have done the job well, maybe even better.
Your username gave your biased self away😆
@@Lucille69caddy I worked on both. I agree, my passion for Nissans did have an effect on my statement.
Oh well, at least they weren't going for a Chrysler LeBaron. I don't remember if they had that head gasket leaking turbo 4, or that oil burning Mitsubishi V6.
The V6 in this Buick had advantages over the Nissan.
1. No timing belt
2. No distributor
A dead distributor was often the cause of a no crank no start on a Nissan VG30E/VG30ET. On many of these GM3800 engines, the coil pack would misfire on some cylinders before it was over. You could limp to a repair shop rather than be towed in. Also, ignition coil packs for GM cars tended to be less expensive to buy and less labor intensive to replace than a distributor on any EFI Nissan.
You could imagine the touch screen on a Tesla going bad. The newer Tesla's touch screen pretty much operates everything and when it goes out, the Tesla is pretty much undriveable.
I had a 86 Nissan 300ZX, it had lots of cool gadgets but no touch screen CRT. I would've like to have had this Buick Riviera T-Type.
@@vertanux1 Yes, the 300ZXT had no touch screen. However, when the gadgetry stopped working, it didn't make half the functions of the car useless. Having that screen module go out was often the end of those cars. When working modules were no longer readily found in junkyards, there was a mass extinction of those cars.
I wonder how many of those screens are still operational.
It was a predictable sales flop. They charged 20k for it and it looked like the $10k Regal. Whereas the previous generation was a gorgeous car this one looked like a left over.
GM: Let's give it a high tech screen while designing it like a crappy N Body Calais! Yay!
It looked quite modern next to the 60's and 70's buckets sitting in most folks driveways back in 86.
Ohh, those good ol'days 😟
What is a tape player?
Cassettes
@@tonyneal3266 You don't look broke
Sensacional só carrões da hora 👍👍👍👍
Cars back then were slow but they were comfy and you could sit in them for days in couch like seats
It's an attractive personal luxury coupe with some very impressive features for the time, but the bean counters went to town on that interior. It looks awfully cheap quality, especially for a luxury vehicle. The way the console wiggles when he changes gears made my skin crawl.
indeed, I felt the interior materials and quality didn't do the car any justice.
💥💥💥3800 baby😎
I want one!
The first touchscreen on a car
I wish I could take this car to a drive in movie theater and watch War Games.
Interesting that the touch area for gauges was spelled as “Gages.”
Hard to believe the difference 20 years made for the Riviera. The mid 60s versions were so much nicer and stylish. The Riv was unique and really looked like nothing else out. By the time the mid 80s rolled around, styling was really bad and it looked like just about every other Buick or Oldsmobile. Sad.
Buick also offered the Century. The reason being the average driver was 100yrs old.
Basically a corvette rear suspension....
That rear suspension was also used on the new for 1988 FWD GM W body models(Buick Regal, Chevy Lumina, Olds Cutlass Supreme, Pontiac Grand Prix).
Yikes, this car was expensive. For the sticker prices quoted you could buy a well equipped Audi or BMW at the time. Also its clear that GM was unprepared for the DOT to approve composite headlamps in 1984. This car should have had them!
God, you can see the cheapness in the plastics clearly in this thing on 40 year old tape. I aways wondered why on earth GM bothered with the CRT when they knew full well that when they failed none of their dealers could service the things and did anyone catch how quickly the reversible seat cushion flipped? The same chintzy foam rubber used in those giant foam stadium fingers.
Replacing the CRT was a ten minute job. Zenith made the CRTs. I purchased an '87 in the late 90s and replaced the screen once with a used one.
I have never seen a GM car with the number pad keyless entry like Ford still uses. Did any other GM vehicles offer that feature?
I don't remember another GM vehicle using that number pad(possibly the Riviera's E body siblings) but my mother's 1987 Nissan Maxima also had that feature.
The EV1 has it even for starting it up.