2002 Oldsmobile Alero GLS review from North America

The particular package I wanted wasn't available at my dealer so the car was "dealer located" and shipped to me. Upon arrival, the door guard trim on the passenger door was lifting in the rear. This was replaced by the dealer. Soon after this, the driver's side door window "fell out" of the track resulting in the window shuddering when in use. There was a dealer recall for this and I hadn't yet received the bulletin; this was repaired and working fine since.

The overall performance of this car is very impressive. The 3.4L engine has plenty of horses for everyday and recreation purposes. The handling of this car is extremely comfortable and very much like simlar sized German performance vehicles. I must mention I have the "deluxe" model Alero which includes such upgrades as the "sports performance suspension" and a sunroof.

A nuisance at times is the "tire pressure monitoring" system. Often when driving on poorly laid asphalt or warped concrete, the tires will rotate at different rates which is expected. The on-board computer will misread this difference in rotation as that of a tire low on air and trip the system. I've had the "light" go on a few times now and upon checking my pressures all are fine. Luckily it's fairly convenient to re-set the computer.

I recommend that anyone interested in an Alero invest in the GLS model. Lesser models result in poor material and component quality as I've witnessed in my friend's 2003 Alero GX. You get what you pay for.