1997 Chevrolet Lumina Reviews - Page 7 of 7

Cup-holder in armrest and dash fell apart.

Poor air-conditioning.

Driver seat does not have good support.

Turn signals sometimes don't work. Dealer repaired them and said the terminals on the switch were dirty.

I haven't even had the car one month and not even 1,000 miles and the intake gasket has deteriorated, due to General Motors Dex-Cool orange engine coolant, letting coolant into the oil. Now I am having to replace the entire engine; $988 for a re-manufactured engine not including labor for replacing! Don't always blame engine temperature, it didn't run hot!

The car rides and handles well on the highway, but it is stiff on rough roads.

General Motors has done well on the sound system.

Air could use a little more effort as far as cooling.

General Motors and Ford need to go back to the old green antifreeze/coolant. The orange stuff is causing too many problems. This is not the only General Motors vehicle that has had problems due to this 5 year, 150,000 mile coolant.

V-Belt replaced 94K Miles (Normal)

Alternator Replaced (Mounted in a bad place, to much heat on it)

Battery Replaced (Normal)

All brakes replaced (Normal)

Wheel Cylinders rebuilt

Tranmission Serviced twice (Not normal)

This is the secound identical model I have owned. My wife drives the other. The car has great air-conditioning. The heat is screwy if the radiator is not kept flushed and full. When flushed make sure the tech purges the air out at the thermostate purging port. Weird design! The cooling system sucks as I think it is under sized or starved for air flow. If yours begin to over heat pull over without delay and turn it off. If the hi temp light comes on, that's it the head are warped and anti-freeze is injected into the oil. The engine is trashed. Piss poor design flaw. This was all due to a water pump failure. A real crapped up cooling design.

I have had this car for four years and have replaced only maintenance items, i.e. one ball joint, belts, tires.

This car is the most dependable and reliable car I have ever owned.

This car has been low maintenance over the time that I have owned it, and I have put 100,000 miles on it.

Aside from minor, regular repairs, the paint is peeling off of the car. I have seen at least fifty white Chevrolet Luminas with this same problem and General Motors is refusing to paint it at no cost to the consumer. This is obviously a factory defect and the company is not backing its product.

I am very disappointed in General Motors overall and will never purchase another vehicle from them due to the fact that they do not seem to stand behind their products when they have faults.

Alternator failure.

Water pump failure.

Moon roof failure.

This was the first US domestic automobile that I have purchased new. It's a good handling car in the Mid-West's winters. I also drove it across country from Alabama to California without a failure. I average 21 mpg city and 27 mpg on flat highways. On cold starts the engine always runs noisy (lifters?) for the first 2-3 minutes. So far the failures are what are common to other owners I have talked to - which are: alternator and water pump. Both of these failed on me without warning signs; i.e. noises, leaks, dashboard warning alarms. The only other failure not common to all is the optional moon roof which stopped working after 5 years and will cost over $1,000.00 to repair by the dealer. I'm on my second set of tires (Goodyear Eagle high performance) which I purchased at Wall-Mart and are identical to the original tires. I have driven over 1 million miles in my 30+ years on the road. So far, with 88,000 miles on this vehicle, I'd give it a B grade (A-F) and I plan to keep it another 2 years. This review was submitted on April 22, 2003.

When braking there was left front wheel noise, like the ABS needs adjusting.

Headlights do a poor job on low-beam.

Uses coolant and I can't find the leak.

Driver's seat seems to be getting mashed.

Like the style.

Engine pep is good.

Very easy to change the oil.