Coming home with a Buickload

[Captainclock]

Speaking of Buicks I'm now the Proud owner of a 2003 Buick Regal LS which also has the 3800 Series II engine in it with only 107,000 I bought it after my 2000 Chrysler Cirrus LX got wrecked by ironically enough a 2000 Buick Century (which is basically the sister car to the Buick Regal)anyways I've been pretty happy with it so far except for the fact that the driver side heated seat didn't work when I got it because the switch was bad and when I finally replaced the switch assembly on it the seat works now but its not nearly as warm as the passenger seat is for some reason. also it was in a wreck at some point in time in its life and the previous owner had the front end completely replaced but whoever did the replacement didn't do it right as the grille wasn't attached properly (because they left the original fiberglass mounting bracket in place which was broken and because of that the grille wasn't mounted properly), also they replaced the driver side headlamp assembly with one that wasn't for the correct year or the correct car (it was a head lamp assembly from a 2000 Buick Century which was slightly different from the 2003 Buick Regal Headlamp assembly, even though they're technically the same car) and it didn't have the curblight in it which is what the orginal had because that's how it was originally ordered according to the original window sticker from the car that I found in the owner's manual packet) also when they installed the new front end on the car they didn't line up the passenger side fender properly so because of that the gap between the hood and the passenger side fender where they're supposed to meet is a lot larger than its supposed to be and also there's a large crease in the fender because the mounting brackets that mount the fender to the frame was pulled in too far (which is why there's too much of a gap in between the hood and the fender.) Anyways other than that its been a pretty good car it runs well and has disc brakes all around. Also I was wondering but how common is it for the console on these Buick Regals to get broken? I'm wondering because when I got my Regal the cup holder assembly was broken and the wood trim piece that goes around the shifter was broken off for some reason and also I've noticed that if you try to shift the car into 2nd or 1st gear the shifter is hard to get into those gears and it jerks the shifter box to the point that its almost like its going to come loose out of the console. Anyone on here had any experience with the Buick Regals and specifically with some of the issues I'm having with mine?

Also I just remembered, but how common is it for the catalytic converter to go out prematurely on a car? I'm wondering because right after I had bought my car the Service Engine Soon light came on and I checked it with a OBD II Test Tool at Auto Zone and it said that the Catalytic Converter was failing which to me doesn't seem right considering the car only has 107,000 miles on it and from what I've read the catalytic converters are supposed to last the lifetime of the vehicle, and I took the car to the mechanic and he said that sometimes the rear Oxygen sensor goes out and triggers the Service Engine Soon light but he said that the rear oxygen sensors are supposedly nearly impossible to get out and so because of that they have to replace the whole catalytic converter assembly which they quoted would be about $600 which I really am not ready to plunk down that kind of money on repairs yet for the car, although I think the car's fuel economy is kind of suffering because of that because I can only go about a week on a tank of gas on the car and I've kept track of the trip-odometer reading between fill ups and I'm only averaging about 215 miles on a tank of gas.

Anyways I would love to hear what you guys have to say about what I'm experiencing here, as this is only my second car I've owned that's had a V6 in it and both cars had the 3800 in it (my first car which was a 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which had a first Generation 3800 in it, and I know that was able to go about 2 weeks on a tank of gas and went about 300 miles on a tank) and now this Buick which has a 3800 Series II Engine.