1994 Oldsmobile Achieva S review from North America

Both door panels are falling off and the vents are coming out of the dashboard. The car uses oil like no other car I've ever owned. It always smells like antifreeze, and is losing some to an unknown cause. We have been having idle problems too. The idle air motor was replaced as the code and my mechanic said neccesary, but the idle problems continue. The check oil and check gauges lights have always blinked on and off. We've put front and rear brake pads on it once each (which should be expected after close to 50k miles). Only the drivers power window works properly. Right now it looks like the belt and belt tensioner need to be replaced.

When this car was built they used some very cheap materials. In 1994 they knew how to make door panels that stay on, and vents that don't pop out of the panels and dash. This was already happening to our car at 40k miles.

This car is challenging for me to work on. I don't like the cramped transverse configuration of the 3.1. You need to drop the motor off its top motor mount just to change the drive belt. Also, it is so close to the inner wheel well it looks like changing my greatly expanded belt tensioner will be nearly impossible. The spring has let out so far, I can't even get a breaker bar between the fender and tensioner.

This car does have nice power, and somehow it runs really well. I don't however like the great amount of torque steer when you really mash the gas. It takes some getting used to. Also, the air conditioning is really good.