1993 Oldsmobile Ciera S 3.3 from North America
Summary:
Cheap to maintain / easy to fix
Faults:
Front brake pads, rotors, rear brake pads, rear brake springs, brake fluid flush, and starter motor.
Also the electric windows go down, but drivers side will only inch up every twenty minutes or so, and the others are kind of slow, which makes me think they're on their way out.
General Comments:
The main advantage to this car is that it is EXTREMELY simple to work on. I'm too poor to take whatever car I happen to own to the mechanic, so I value this pretty highly.
For example; if you need to replace the rotors, they just slide right off after you remove the wheel. I've owned Toyota and Honda before this, and neither are this simple.
The other good thing is that this car looks like something grandma would own; slap one of those cheesy american flag stickers on it and you will not get even a second glance from the cops.
Also, it is comfortable in the sense that with the V6 3.3, the engine can pull longer in the gear that it is in. This translates into a smoother acceleration, albeit pretty slow with this car.
The stereo is still crackling away. I actually hooked up my laptop through a cassette adapter.
Huge trunk space, lots of room for all my tools.
Parts are dirt cheap, as well as insurance.
The major problem I have with this car though is that after all the brake work I did to it, I still have an issue with the rear drum brakes. For some reason, if I go through a lot of stop and go traffic, it seems that my rear brakes will lock up and then my car shuts off. It turns back on, but will immediately shut itself off again when put into drive. After about an hour of cooling off, the car seems fine again.
It is a mysterious problem that I suspect is possibly electrical. However I've simply adapted my driving style, so that most of my slowing down is simply coasting, and I try to be as easy on the brakes as possible. This seems to be the cheapest fix LOL, although not the safest.
If anyone has had a similar problem, I'd love to hear how/if you've been able to fix it.
Also, do not get this car if you like to drive fast and slalom through on ramps/ exit ramps. Definitely a take it easy, no worries kind of car.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 23rd June, 2007
18th Nov 2007, 19:46
This is an update on my initial review. It turned out that the brake problem had to do with the rear brake cylinder that made the rear pads contact with the drum. I replaced both since they're pretty cheap anyway and now the brakes work fine. They still need to be pumped a couple times at first, but at least now it is acceptable. Once you get decent brake pressure these brakes work great. This has turned out to be nice second car for taking the dog to the dog park and hauling stuff around in :) Also, I don't know why they gave my initial review a frowny face, its really not a bad car with all the mileage it has on it.