1989 Chevrolet Celebrity 4-door review from North America

Ignition coils burned out once, still ran on 4 cylinders!

That was the only thing I remember going wrong.

Seats would have been perfect if they reclined.

Nothing else out of the ordinary wear/tear stuff.

This was the car I learned to drive in and after acquiring it from my mom when she bought a Grand Prix, I put over 20K miles on it just that year.

The 2.8 V6 gets a bad rap from the rear wheel drive crowd, but that same engine really moves in a front wheel car.

I did have to replace the shocks, struts, some suspension bushings, brakes, tires, plugs/wires, but that stuff goes on any vehicle. After doing those items it was like new all over again, save for the rust spots below the locks and on the rear of the trunklid.

It always got 26-27mpg on the highway and was a really smooth ride. Even the factory cassette player sounded good, for a factory unit.

But, being a stupid kid at the time, I jumped it over a steep railroad crossing and smashed the tranny pretty good when I landed -- the impact cracked the case. A used tranny was $400 and I didn't think it would be reliable, yet after trading the car in at a loss for an '88 Dodge D50 pickup (BIG pile of crap, BTW) I still saw the Celebrity's new owners driving around in it for years later, allegedly on a used tranny. Should have hung on to it.

Maybe I'll find a low mileage 2-door V6 5speed someday, would enjoy having one again. I'll take it slower over the train tracks, though.