Faults:
Every door handle broke and had to be replaced.
We replaced rear hatch door lock which also had broken.
Window fell out and had to be remounted.
Brake fluid went by-by with no explanation and no repeat of problem.
Hard plastic seat backs cracked.
General Comments:
We bought our ’91 Lumina minivan in 2002 at 180,000 miles. The van came with receipts for the wiper motor and regular maintenance. We were third owners.
Within a couple weeks of getting the van the brakes went out. Very scary. I discovered that ALL of the fluid was gone. We suspected there was a leak or the master cylinder was going out, but it only lost fluid that one time. We checked it a couple times a week thereafter and never had a repeat of the problem.
Over two years we replaced only door handles (all of them) and brake fluid. Hubby did some work on the driver side window when it fell out.
This van ran like a champ, got great gas mileage, and handled incredibly well. It always had great pick up for getting on the highway and even ran well at 80mph.
In the first year we went back and forth from Oklahoma to Michigan 5 times and never had a problem. The second year we went to Michigan once.
This was along with daily rural driving and driving it 200 miles round trip, 4 times a month.
We kept up this driving style over 2 years all while being terrible owners that did not maintain it. I changed the oil 3 times.
An interior plus is that the seats are easy to remove and put back in and without them the vehicle has lots of cargo room. They are also small and stay folded while removed, therefore take up less room in the shed.
The Lumina took everything I threw at it and kept going. Like a Timex. It ran great on snow and in rain. We never got stuck on the muddy back roads.
In the end we gave the van to another family. Six months later they had replaced a sensor and a door handle.
The van itself is super ugly.
I did not like the seating arrangements.
There is not much leg room and the passenger seats sit too close to the floor. If you can stretch out a bit by removing other seats it can be comfy.
1st Aug 2010, 14:33
Decent cars Luminas, though I preferred the Celebrity. However it is funny what we've come to - Luminas are considered 'big vehicles'!