1996 Oldsmobile Achieva SC review from North America
"Over all this is a great car that can take a great deal of abuse and keep running"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
One of the gaskets blew, which caused anti-freeze to leak into the oil causing the crank to be tore up at 96,000 miles.
I had to send the heads off to be fixed at a machine shop and I did a temporary fix on the crank by replacing the bearings.
At 100,000 miles I drove my car off a cliff tearing up the suspension and the whole under-body of the car.
At 110,000, under constant abuse, the crank finaly gave out, where the anti-freeze tore it up earlier, and just went ahead and replaced the whole engine.
General comments?
The only reason this car has seen so many repairs is that I give the car a lot of abuse, by taking it to drag strips and the such.
I've got a lot of performance mods to this car, I have had the motor I just stuck in it bored out 40 over and had a supercharger put on.
The car is purple with 18in white racing rims, white graphics on its side, a performance Borla exhaust system, with strobes and neons all over it, I also replaced the original seats with momo racing buckets, I had a power moon-roof put in, and it has been lowered using the Eibach suspension lowering kit.
I have upgraded the stereo in it using a eclipse head unit, mtx 1500 watt amp, 2 Polk/Momo 12"s subs, some 6 1/2" Infiniti kappa series component speakers for the front, and two Infiniti 6x9s for the back.
Overall this car is very quick, especially with the mods I've done and handles very well on the 18's. The stereo ensures you don't get bored while driving, but that usually doesn't happen because this is a fun car to drive.
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| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Don't Know |
| Year of manufacture | 1996 |
| First year of ownership | 2001 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.1 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 10 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 10 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 8 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 76000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 114000 miles |
| Previous car | Mitsubishi Eclipse |
| Date of Entry | 7th July, 2003 |