1995 Oldsmobile Achieva Polo Edition from North America - Comments

The power scissor arms on the driver door became bent over time and now the window won't roll up properly without 4 hands - 3 holding it in place while the 4th runs the power switch.

The lock on the driver side doesn't work unless I push down the manual lever for it. This makes the key turn hard when I unlock the door.

The service engine soon light comes on in hot weather, regardless of what I do.

I do not drive my car hard or over rough terrain yet the muffler pipe and long pipe - both factory originals - are falling off. I have them supported with wire coat hangers. I think the original brackets were inferior.

The oomph that I loved when I got the car, that 'accelerate and get into the moving traffic without nearly causing the diver coming up behind you to rearend you', disappeared a year after I bought the car.

The button on the console shifter is broken, but if it's not bumped, it stays in place.

The Achieva engine has the inherent Oldsmobile whine that diehard owners have learned to become deaf to. It's too bad that couldn't be silenced - or at least better muffled.

In general, this is a good car. It was/is inexpensive, sporty looking, reliable (always starts for me and always runs (even if it doesn't run as well as I'd like), handles well in bad weather if the tires aren't the cheap plastic kind, and doesn't require too much maintenance to keep it running.

The down side is that the repairs which do become necessary, many of which are required to pass the next inspection, are expensive.

I wish GM had made this car with higher quality materials and kept it in production. Making it with inferior materials caused enough problems to give the model a reputation negative enough to limit sales and warranty its discontinuance.

I have a '96 Achieva with 300,000km's on it, and have had no major concerns aside from numerous repairs to the front end - Ball joints, bearings and struts at 280k, but probably overdue with this kind of mileage. I find it to be quite a responsive car, and hope to drive it at least to 400k.