1987 Oldsmobile 98 Royale brougham review from North America

The power antenna has stopped working.

This is the second Olds that I have owned, the first being 1989 delta 88. This car compared to the 88 is pretty much one sided. I bought my car off ebay with 94k. I've put on 10k on it in three months. Every other weekend I make a 1000 mile round trip. That's what I bought this car for. It runs great and always starts. I average 28 mpg running 80 mph, and about 21 in the city.

Power is not so great, nothing compared to the 1988 and newer. pre-1988 model is rated at 150 hp, and post 1988 is 165 hp. It is very noticable, this car just does not have the torque to it. Off the line its not that fast, then it pulls pretty hard, then dies out at higher rpm. My only requirement for power is that it gets up to interstate speed on the onramp, its proven itself it can do that.

This car is an electrical nightmare. I have the all digital dash with is that tackiest gauges I have ever seen. This car also talks to you, at first I thought it was somewhat funny, now I absolute hate it. My computer has sensed that I have low brake pressure, so the guy talks and tells me I have low brake press and it goes on and on, about a 30 second message. At first I thought it was really funny, now I have my front left speaker unplugged so I don't have to listen to it. I tried to solve the problem by removing the fuse for the dash warning lights, but that resulted in the alternator not charging a bit, If you are having alternator troubles in these cars I would advise you of doing a fuse check, I take out one fuse and my car will start to surge, the stereo will die, you push the gas it does nothing, then the car eventually dies, all because one fuse is out. The alternators are very heavy duty, 108 amps works well to run my stereo.

All in all these cars are really great, I bought it just to put a lot of miles on. If you are thinking of buying one I would recommend buying a 1988 or newer, since they have much more power, and I would advise to stay away from the electronic dash.