30th Oct 2007, 17:05

I've owned two Oldsmobile's and will never buy one again. I owned a 1990 Calias Quad 4 in '94-'95 and had an electrical problem that the dealership could never diagnose, so I sold it. Bought a '98 Olds Achieva SL in the fall of '98 with 25,000 miles on it and have had problem after problem ever since. Water pump, alternator, gaskets, radiator, cooling sensor, power window motor, power locks, funky coolant smell when use heater, hoses, trunk light, and not even 100k yet. Would sell it or trade, but have to replace the radiator and because of it's size and frame, letting teenager drive it for now, but tired of it nickel and dime-ing us to death.

5th May 2008, 20:48

I bought a 94 with the 3.1 driven by a old couple out of Wyoming that had 97,000 miles on it, it still looked so nice they had it in the showroom. Paid $1,000 under blue book then and now it has 206,000 miles on it. So far I have replaced.

Water pump, heater core, spark plugs, v-belt and tensioner, all hoses, fuel filters, upgraded brakes to Brembo drilled and slotted with ceramic pads, gram light mags and Pirelli P6000's for summer and a set of studded snow tires for the winter on a set of cheap mags. Windshield wipers, rear drums and shoes, thermostat and coolant, transmission fluid, engine oil and filters.

All things considered to be normal replacement parts.

I have beaten the crap out of the car and replaced the following for my abuse and wear.

ABS Module.

Exhaust 2ft drive VS muffler = Snow wins.

Alternator 800W AMP, High beams, A/C, etc... killed it.

Thermostat was changed to a 160Deg (Also fits Pontiac Grad Am with 3.1)

Intake gasket as I ported the upper plenum and port matched.

Air filter to K&N.

Brakes, a lot of brakes, remember to backup and adjust your rear brakes up!!!

Resistor modded a few sensors.

I use 0W40 synthetic engine oil and a larger oil filter and go to 10-12K oil changes. Synthetic ATF.

My biggest complaints are.

Blown off radiator hose. You can fix this with a bit of RTV black silicon and let it dry before you refill.

Overheating, but this was fixed with a better thermostat, and a cooling system overhaul and user waterwetter in your coolant.

Crappy A/C but this year I am going to get a dual pusher fan and replace the single crap puller fan.

And a gas smell when it is hot out, but I was told I damaged a return line with my snow plow maneuver.

9th Mar 2010, 16:52

I race a 97 Achieva with the quad 4. I love it. No other cars there can catch me.

Everything in the car was ripped out. Made it as light as possible. No windows. Roll cage. Aluminum racing seat and 4 point harness. Replaced a few CV joints. Wheel bearings. The body on it is used up,. dents all over from racing. The only main problem I have with the car is that it won't start hot. Cranks over good and fast, fuel pump is running, BUT won't start!!! I dunno what else to do! I would hate to DNF cause I stalled it.

25th Oct 2010, 12:21

I have a 1995 Oldsmobile Achieva S 4 door sedan with the quad 4, and it has 198,574 miles on it, and it still runs like a champ.

The interior is great, it feels great, it is comfortable.

The fact that the rear windows roll down all the way is good, so the people in the back seat don't whine about it only going half way down.

It gets good MPG, and the only problem I've had with it is the little rust it has on the top of the car.

It's one great car, and when this one goes, I will definitely be looking for another.

6th Apr 2014, 03:55

Going back to the original review here:

Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience with your Oldsmobile. However, somebody repeatedly calling their own car "ugly" says more about their level of standards than anything else. They were the one who didn't care that they hated the styling of a car they bought.