1989 Sterling 827 SLi review from North America

The dash lights started flickering after a few months and stopped working at one point. We had to dig into the dash to fix this, which was an arduous task.

The car had a lot of loose connections for the interior electrics. The power seat functions sometimes were intermittent and the seatbelt light came on one day when I hit a bump. Also, the passenger window switch was trying to die. The front passenger window was also in need of repair, because it was loose on its tracks and the motor gears were stripped.

The TIMING BELT! It never broke, but replacing it was an ordeal. Replacement was necessary because the Acura V6 is an interference design in which the valves will be damaged when the belt snaps.

Some of the gauges did not read entirely accurately.

The factory remote entry was completely dead. I think the infrared receiver in the roof of the car was the culprit.

This was a very neat car. The four-door fastback body style is very unique, useful, and sporty. As my cousin said: "it looks like a big Saab." She was right. It acted like one too.

The car handled very well and the engine was smooth and fast. It always started right up too.

Most everything still worked on the car such as the A/C, cruise control, and power moon roof. I think the front passenger window and after-market CD changer were the only non-working items.

It would be neat to have another Sterling one day. I will look for a much lower-mileage example. The car was a good idea spoiled by inept first owners, who thought they were buying a re-badged Acura, only to find out the car required even more knowledge and care. The 827 is the one to own. I think that the 825 was a good car, but not as good as the later 827.

I would own another one, especially if I had a tight budget, since they are cheap to buy now. Ours was $30,000 when new, and we bought it for less than $2,000. The only reason we sold it was because we found a late model Jaguar that stole our hearts.