1992 Pontiac LeMans SE review from North America

Gas line was snapped when purchased.

Head Gasket was blown when purchased.

Hatch light electrical problems at 73000 miles. (Would not turn off)

Fog Lights were missing.

All heater hoses for breather systems disintegrated.

Leaked oil from head bolts and valve cover seal on purchase.

Driver side rear brake cylinder leaked, while fixing this one and testing the other side the passenger side went as well.

Snapped exhaust manifold bolt during removal. (Mainly human error)

Broke two water outlets do to torque (yet there are no torque specifications.)

Exhaust system went at 70000.

I love this car.

The car handles like a racer, I can hit a 90 degree turn at 40+ and still be in control of the vehicle.

Not a lot of power off the starting line, but does well with long hauls.

When I purchased the vehicle there were quite a few things wrong with it, but they were all fixed very easily, not a lot of fuss and muss, great car to learn how to fix.

The aluminum pieces on the vehichle are very low grade, I snapped two water outlets with very little torque, and I've heard from a few people that the heads have a tendency to crack easily if not taken proper care of. I also broke two brake cylinders in half, not really an easy thing to do in most cases.

The parts are not so easy to find, you can always get one form the local dealer, but they charge out the nose (92.73 for a new water outlet). If you go to a junk yard to find your parts you'll be lucky to find one or two of these cars there. If the situation ever arises however you can transfer a lot of the parts from a Pontiac Firefly to this, as well as an Optima.

The gas mileage is pretty good, right now I'm getting around the area of 270 miles a tank, but I don't know if the fuel filter has ever even been changed on the vehicle, I'm going to be doing that within the next few days.

I've heard from a few people that the valve cover gasket tends to leak oil, I know mine did. Its not too bad though, for a whole gasket set it only cost me 67.00 dollars.

I payed $1,100.00 dollars for the vehicle when I first bought it. I've put around $500.00 in the vehicle and expect to put about $100.00 more into it before I'm finished with what needs to be done. So at a grand total of 1,800.00 (so far) for a car with a mint condition body and only 68,000 miles, I got a great deal.

I would definitely buy another one, in fact I've already given someone an offer on one to fix up (1 of the only 3 I've ever seen in person and its actually a 91).