At the end of the ownership the car had more replaced parts than the original ones. Air flow sensors, oxygen sensors, water pumps and fuel injectors were replaced on annual or semi-annual basis. The inflatable shocks died at 55,000 and the cost of replacing them was 1/4 of the car's value. If the car would be services at a dealer, out of the 115,000K 100K would be spent on trips between the repair shop and the house. The oil pump started acting up at 60,000 leading to sudden death at 115,000K. Until today, the family gathers yearly to celebrate the day this car was towed away.
One big GM misfit. Unfortunately, GM hasn't learned much from this mistake since Corsica's and Lumina's were made until 1999 with similar engineering solutions (and similar problems)!
You just had a bad seed. The A-body cars (Chevy Celeb, Pont 6000, Buick Century) were based on the same design since the early 80's until they quit making them in '91. I've found that the later models ('87-'91) are for the most part extremely reliable since by then GM had worked the "bugs" out. I've owned several of them, all high-mileage and had no major problems or bad experiences with these cars.
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