This Buick Grand National-Swapped Geo Tracker Can Outrun Your Problems for $15K
One of the best performance car drivetrains of the ’80s in one of the lightest SUVs of the ’90s is an impeccable pairing.
Sure, you can make a car quick by dropping a V8 into it, but that's exactly what they expect you to do. Instead, you can take a leaf out of the Buick Grand National's book and use a turbo V6—or just rebind the whole dang book into a new cover, like the owner of one Buick-powered Geo Tracker has done.
Listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Portsmouth, Virginia is a 1994 Geo Tracker with the 3.8-liter, single-turbo V6 from a Buick Regal Grand National. It's a best-of combo of General Motors oddities: the Geo Tracker was a captive import Suzuki Sidekick (or Escudo), while the Grand National was one of the coolest performance cars GM ever sold. Not just because it was a blacked-out, squared-off coupe that embarrassed the Chevrolet Corvette (the biggest no-no at GM), but because it did so with just a V6.
The Grand National's single-turbo engine made up to 245 horsepower and 345 pound-feet of torque from the factory, which is enough to outrun a C4 Corvette. That was at the GN's stock weight of over 3,400 pounds, and at factory power levels. Neither apply in this Geo, whose V6 the seller claims to have "fully built." They don't elaborate on what that means, but the added power is evidently enough to justify upgrading to a Ford nine-inch rear axle—a favorite among drag racers. Considering stock Trackers could weigh under 2,100 pounds, however much power this one's making can be called more than enough.
For all its likely performance, though, this Geo's pricing seems quite reasonable. Its seller asks $15,000, which is about half what you'd pay for even the cheapest Grand National these days. Plus, between the Buick V6's power and a drop-top, '90s teal package many of us find evocative of easier times, this may be one of the easiest cars to outrun your problems in.
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