1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal Broughm review from North America

Bad battery connection.

Driver side windshield wiper was broken.

LOTS of short circuits (windows, door locks, radio, etc.)

Air conditioning never worked.

Main engine bearing broke dramatically decreasing acceleration and ultimately killed the car ($500 fix was too much for the long neglected car)

This was my first car and I loved it!!!

It only cost me $500 Canadian and it drove incredibly well. It went absolutely EVERYWHERE! I have so many great memories of it. It accelerated really well (0-60 in 12 seconds), had a top speed of 170km/h and it was the kind of car that you'd throw $20 of gas in it and it would go.

I got 26 miles per gallon which is pretty good and it was rusty so I never washed it.

It had oodles of legroom both in the front and back seats and it had a really rich velvet interior.

The best thing about the car was the fact that the factory premium stereo system always shorted out, but if you kicked it in the right place it would go on for another 5 minutes or so. My friends and I had lots of enjoyment kicking it!

One of my tires was badly bald so there was also an invigorating sense of danger of it exploding. Teenagers can find some really weird things amusing don't they?

I had the car for barely 2 months before the main bearing went in the engine. The $500 bill was too much so I sold it to some guy who wanted the transmission. I then got a $1,250 1980 Chrysler Cordoba that's been very reliable (you can see my review on that car too), but it still doesn't quite live up to the sheer fun of the Olds' 88.

Now that I look back at those times, I would've gladly taken that $500 repair bill to breathe life into that car to continue the fun memories.

Obviously it's a great first car if you don't have that same engine problem.