1987 Oldsmobile Calais 2-door supreme review from North America
"If you like and respect cars, don't buy this catastrophe"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Since I was the 3rd owner of this car, I cannot tell you everything, although I can tell you what went wrong when it was mine.
Alternator broke 3 times.
Alternator belt snapped every 500 miles.
A ridiculously loud obnoxious squealing from somewhere in the engine compartment every time it was fired up.
Shocks went totally flat.
When cold, the car needed extreme force to turn to the left.
When turned to the right, more squealing.
A/C stopped working.
Ugly.
Paint and clear-coat began to chip away and bubble on the hood.
Rust underneath the doors.
Ceiling lining fell so far that it covered the rear window visibility from the driver's seat.
Engine would lock up and stall if forced to travel for more than 50 miles a day (Trust me, this was bad)
Stalled at stoplights after driving for more than 50 miles a total of 68 times in 1 year.
Engine needed turning for at least 10 seconds before the fuel reached the cylinders every time the car was started, I believe it was a fuel pump problem.
General comments?
This car certainly had character. It was legendary in the high school parking lot. I tried to keep it running, but the car was so bad to me that I just kind of gave up on it. Hear is a run-down:
The Good:
* Car was fairly comfortable for $500 dollars, yeah that's correct.
* Never had any serious problems going to and from work, which was 2 miles away
* Hard metal bumpers could resist bumps while new plastic ones cannot
* Nice exhaust note thanks to the Flow-Master bolted on.
* 140 horsepower in a GM 4 cylinder beat a Volvo 4 cylinder in a race once. Upon the second try it stalled of course.
The Bad:
* Car sucks
* It's ugly
* Engine is poor
* In 1987, GM supposedly attempted to convert to the metric system, but apparently, the factory workers only heard about this after this car's production began. There are bolts in the engine compartment which use standard U.S. measurements, and then there are some which require metric system tools. A stupid, pointless, time consuming lack of engineering skill.
* 0-60 time of approximately 10 seconds
* Topped out at 76 mph on Rt. 91 on a slight downgrade.
Recommended Reviews:
  | 1987 - Calais 4-door base model 2.5 4-Tech 3-sp Decent, economic, small-sized car, with great performance |
| 1987 - Calais 2.5 4-cylinder 151 Cost effective, comfortable, deathtrap in disguise |
All 1987 Oldsmobile Calais reviews
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| First year of ownership | 2002 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.5 Liter Gasoline I-4 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 4/10 |
| Reliability marks | 3/10 |
| Comfort marks | 4/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 8/10 |
| Distance when acquired | 127000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 132500 miles |
| Date of Entry | 5th March, 2003 |