Faults:

I bought this car in March 2001, in Alabama. Before moving to California in August, I had to replace the alternator.

I've replaced: starter, mass airflow intake something-or-other, injectors, heater core, blower motor, radiator, front and rear struts, had the driver's seat foam replaced, and lots of other stuff.

But as of this writing, I have no plans to get rid of it. Just wish I had a station wagon.

Beware if you want to change wheels. This had a bolt pattern of 5x100mm, and later Cieras had 5x115mm. I found this out after buying a set on eBay.

General Comments:

With few exceptions, this car has been great. I drove from Birmingham, AL, to San Jose, CA, with a luggage carrier on top, at speeds about 70-75 mph, and averaged about 24mpg. I think the 3.8L V6 is a great engine and find it to be the perfect size engine for this car.

With the FE3 suspension, this car does corner quite flatly.

It rides pretty well and I've driven between the Bay area and the Los Angeles area repeatedly with no problems.

We have just recently purchased a 1990 Toronado Trofeo because we love Oldsmobiles.

Faults:

The transmission went out about 3k miles ago. Had the engine rebuilt in the summer of '02 just to add performance pistons. CV Boots, battery, alternator.

General Comments:

It's funny to look at my car. It has 2 tone paint, limo tint windows, custom exhaust and "rice rocket" style rims. People look and think it's a dumb car, but they don't say that when they can't keep up with it. It's like a sleeper car b/c even with the exhaust, it's very quite at idle.

Faults:

I bought the car for $700. It had a bad radiator, but the dealer gave me a new one to put in. It takes about 15 minutes to change.

Two months later the alternator went bad. That cost about $70 and took maybe 10 minutes to replace.

Other than general maintenance, I'm driving for free.

The air conditioner still works even.

General Comments:

I have owned every variation of the GM A-body sedan, but this one is my favorite. It seems to ride a little better than the others and the interior, ie, the dash layout is better suited to me.

I have owned both 4 cylinders and V6 powered cars but the 2.5 Iron Duke seems the most reliable. Parts are cheap and it's an easy engine to work on. True, you don't win many races with it, but I can carry 5 passengers with lots of luggage in complete comfort and get 30MPG.

Any GM A-body is a reliable cheap set of wheels in my experience. I've had 6.