What is the best year for the Buick Skylark?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Buick Skylark
which year?
Compare every Buick Skylark model year the EPA recorded, 1984 to 1998. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Buick Skylark year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Buick Skylark years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect1996
85 indexed complaint reports; air bags is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1996 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect199585 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1995 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect199779 indexed complaint reports; service brakes, hydraulic is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1997 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Buick Skylark model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
1997 Buick Skylark
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 79
- Combined EPA economy
- 21–23 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,650–2,950
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsservice brakes, hydraulic 19electrical system 16engine and engine cooling 14
Open the 1997 evidence dossier →1998 Buick Skylark
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 24
- Combined EPA economy
- 21–23 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,650–2,950
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 6vehicle speed control 6air bags 4
Open the 1998 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
1998 has 55 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 1997.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Buick Skylark by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 24 | electrical system 6vehicle speed control 6air bags 4 | 21–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1997 | 79 | service brakes, hydraulic 19electrical system 16engine and engine cooling 14 | 21–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1996 | 85 | air bags 18engine and engine cooling 17electrical system 16 | 21–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1995 | 85 | electrical system 35service brakes, hydraulic 21air bags 12 | 20–22 | 4 | $2,800–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1994 | 68 | engine and engine cooling 19service brakes, hydraulic 16electrical system 14 | 21–23 | 3 | $2,650–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1993 | 46 | service brakes, hydraulic 12engine and engine cooling 9power train 6 | 21–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 1992 | 32 | service brakes, hydraulic 9electrical system 8power train 6 | 20–23 | 2 | $2,650–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1991 | 38 | engine and engine cooling 11vehicle speed control 8electrical system 7 | 19–24 | 3 | $2,550–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 1990 | 19 | electrical system 8engine and engine cooling 5power train 4 | 20–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1989 | 4 | engine and engine cooling 7service brakes, hydraulic 3electrical system 2 | 20–24 | 3 | $2,550–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1988 | 14 | service brakes, hydraulic 3vehicle speed control 3engine and engine cooling 2 | 20–25 | 4 | $2,450–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 1985 | 6 | engine and engine cooling 4steering 3fuel system, gasoline 2 | 18–25 | 8 | $2,450–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 1984 | 8 | steering 6engine and engine cooling 5service brakes, hydraulic 4 | 19–23 | 8 | $2,650–3,250 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.