1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL review from North America

Digital dash functions intermittently.

Retro-fitted Air Conditioning the year after I bought car.

Replaced Exhaust Gas Recirculating valve June 2004.

Replaced power steering pump/housing Feb 2005.

Repaired broken drivers door linkage.

Replaced AM FM Tape player.

The car had the transmission rebuilt and the brakes redone by the previous owner just before I bought it.

It has four wheel anti-lock disc brakes. He had all four calipers and rotors replaced, with the pads. I know that he did not even get his money back on the transmission rebuild alone, let alone the brake job, in the selling price of the car.

I am the third owner of this car. I bought it for a reasonable price (I think) $1800. I knew that the Air Conditioner did not work and that the power steering leaked when I bought it. The car had no rust at all and still does not. It has been driven mostly highway from new. The paint is in reasonable shape, a little faded and numerous rock chips on the front half of the hood.

I had the A/C retro-fitted the following year of purchase. I cost about $1000 and still has to be looked at as it just does not keep the interior cool on hot days. The dealer says they fixed all leaks, but they may have missed something.

The climate control unit had to be replaced at the time of A/C repair as it was causing the heater motor control door to stay open and was unbearably hot, even in winter. That was about $100 and was included in the $1000 dollar cost.

The broken drivers door linkage was a $2 fix and an hour of my time.

I tried to repair the digital dash, but minimal success. By securing a small piece of plastic between the casing and the circuit board I managed to stop the flickering, but it still goes blank from time to time. The parts person at the dealer says that a rebuilt one is about $500 and I am hoping to find a lower price.

I just had the power steering unit changed. It cost$200 for the part and one and a half hours labor charges. It had a cracked fluid housing and leaked badly.

The EGR valve failed on a road trip and melted the vacuum lines that controlled the cruise control. The EGR cost $300 and I installed it myself. It was easy to do. Then replaced the cruise control vacuum lines and no troubles since.

A tape jammed in the deck and I had to remove the unit and take it apart to get it out. After I reinstalled the deck it did it again so I replaced the unit with another one from the wrecker for $75.

The car has lots of power. It accelerates smoothly and quickly. I can pull out and pass a B-train semi on highway with no trouble at all. It will climb from 90 kph to 130 kph to do so in very little time. It corners well for a large car and is very, very comfortable on long trips.

The car burns no oil. On a 3500 km road trip last summer it was only down half a liter of oil at the end of the trip.

The car always starts and has never left us stranded in two and a half years. Other than the above mentioned costs I have only done the usual things like new plugs and wires as well as a new set of tires. The car is very good on fuel. On one road trip with four passengers and a trunk full of luggage we averaged about 35 MPG and got as high as 37 MPG. Not too bad for a large car.

No one complained about comfort and the trip was about 1000 km. Even with this load the car would accelerate up the long Rocky Mountain highways easily.

I would definitely recommend this a s a good second car or even a first car for anyone who is ready to take care of things like the digital dash and radio problems.