wspohn
UltraDork
7/2/24 7:44 p.m.
I bought a GM minivan when the XLRs were new and they had one in the showroom. Of course the salesman wanted to shift me to an XLR (as if it suited the same sort of use!) so I looked at it and did bit of research. A more softly suspended Corvette with an inferior engine and as the salesman was pointing out things in the engine bay, I put a finger on the plastic shrouding on the engine and it went 'creak creak' and had already been cracked buy someone less careful than I was. I told the guy to just write up the van and if I was ever in the market for an overpriced underpowered poseur-mobile, I'd keep the XLR in mind.
The looks aren't bad but that's as good as it gets, IMHO.
volvoclearinghouse said:
Mndsm said:
So, if these things are worth their weight in unobtanium in pieces, is there a reason I shouldn't buy one and part it out? I found one for 21k just now and according to yall there's 20k in lights on the damn thing.
I found a couple dozen of these things on my local FBMP, which seems astounding considering their low production numbers. Maybe more of them were sold in the MD-DC-VA region? Prices range from low teens to low 20's depending mostly on mileage.
I mean, I guess you could drive it till something expensive breaks, then part it out, and not come out too badly off.
Like the 323 GTX about 15-18 years ago. Very small production numbers but they were always for sale. By that point, parts sourcing had become difficult...
I've driven an STS-V with the supercharged Northstar and it moved pretty well! I like the looks and concept of the XLR, but have 0 desire to own one!
John Welsh said:
I thought the problem on these was tail lights not headlights.
Yes, and everything else in between.
dculberson said:
The XLR-V was $109k in 2009, equivalent to $147,338 in 2023 dollars. The mind boggles.
The other thing that really puts numbers into perspective: Cadillac sold a total of 15,000 XLRs over the course of their 6 year production run.
GM sells that many pickup trucks in one week.
Keith Tanner said:
volvoclearinghouse said:
Mndsm said:
So, if these things are worth their weight in unobtanium in pieces, is there a reason I shouldn't buy one and part it out? I found one for 21k just now and according to yall there's 20k in lights on the damn thing.
I found a couple dozen of these things on my local FBMP, which seems astounding considering their low production numbers. Maybe more of them were sold in the MD-DC-VA region? Prices range from low teens to low 20's depending mostly on mileage.
I mean, I guess you could drive it till something expensive breaks, then part it out, and not come out too badly off.
Like the 323 GTX about 15-18 years ago. Very small production numbers but they were always for sale. By that point, parts sourcing had become difficult...
Or Volvo 1800ES, made only 8077 of them between 1972/73, but I can always find them for sale. Heck, there's two of them in my yard right now.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Parts for the 1800ES aren't too difficult to find since all mechanical parts are the same as the more common coupe, although some of the ES-specific parts can be pricey. The rear side glass seals for example, are worth more than the actual glass - because for decades breakers would cut the seals to get the glass out without knowing the seals would soon be NLA. So used side glass is relatively easy to find. The seals, not-so-much.
Have her get an insurance quote for it. Unobtainium parts can mean that insurance companies charge big bucks. When the F150 trucks started doing the aluminum bodies, there were no aftermarket parts for a while, and the insurance premiums went up for a while on them. It's also hard to find body shops with the knowledge on how to repair a simple dent in aluminum.
The situation has somewhat resolved, but for a while, insurance was high on F150s because of the associated costs to repair bodywork.
volvoclearinghouse said:
dculberson said:
The XLR-V was $109k in 2009, equivalent to $147,338 in 2023 dollars. The mind boggles.
The other thing that really puts numbers into perspective: Cadillac sold a total of 15,000 XLRs over the course of their 6 year production run.
GM sells that many pickup trucks in one week.
That's about the annual production rate of the S60R. It was about 3000-3500 the first year and dropped to about 1000 in 2007.
After 150,000mi of ownership, I have not needed to replace one of the R specific headlights 
The weird thing that I discovered about the XLR that there was a major electronics change halfway through the run. Like, even the engines are not interchangeable because they changed the sensor inputs.
Of course, HPT only supports the late engines, and the cheap XLR engines are the early ones. Like $1000 with accessories and harness and computer cheap. And you can't get a cheap engine and swap to the late, supported PCM.
I discovered this while contemplating a weird RWD swap.
