1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme from North America - Comments

-160,000 Miles: Timing chain gear broke. Replaced water pump and thermostat while replacing chain. Also broke radiator from leaning over it, so replaced it also. $35 for timing set from gm, $40 for pump and $90 for radiator from advance.

-180,000 Miles: Transmission stopped going into reverse. Replaced it with tranny from junkyard, miles unknown, $125.

-250,000 Miles: Carb jets gummed up after car sat for 3 months; had to take apart and clean.

-280,000 Miles: Torque converter on junkyard tranny permanently locked, replaced with another $125 junkyard tranny, hopefully to last another 100k miles.

-Windshield fluid squirter doesn't work (don't know when stopped)

-Have replaced valve cover gaskets a few times, but the covers for this engine with only 4 bolts warp over time and don't seal very good. Just plain bad design not having bolts on front and back of cover, only on top and bottom.

I got this car from my grandma with 130k miles on it, she had bought it brand new. In the past 7 years, I have put maybe $500 of parts into it, which I consider great, compared to most people that have car payments that match that in just 2 months.

The comfort/ride quality of this car is what has convinced me to keep it for so long; it floats along the road. In the rain, it holds the road well and is very safe to drive (much much moreso than my mustang) which is why this car is my daily driver.

These cars are plentiful in auto trader/ebay and parts are very cheap. There is nothing cramped under the hood; anything can be accomplished by a shadetree mechanic in an afternoon, or at most a weekend (it only took me 2 hours to change the transmission!).

The interior shows proof of the quality that was built into this car; all metal door handles, metal locks and glove box; 20 years later, they still work and look great.

The only thing that I can gripe about is the model of transmission on mine, the TH200. Most mechanics have told me that transmission was a weak model, and that I should replace it with a TH350. Yet I have not taken their advice and replaced the 200 two times now with a used 200.

You should have replaced the TH200 with the TH350. I have heard that one of the reasons that the TH200 has such poor durability is because most of its internal parts are made of plastic.

Yes, I approve! This is the way people can keep these old cars going instead of worrying about getting a new loan as soon as their cupholder cracks. Drive that thing until the wheels fall off--and then put them back on and drive it some more!

Yeah, I just rebuilt my TH200 because the torque converter went and instead of snapping it just shaved metal shards throughout my transmission system. The transmission is weak by design and will consistently fail unless you make modificaions to the actual transmission to prevent overheating at higher speeds (50+). It was like that from the first day I bought the car, but I drove the car with a broken motor mount and messed transmission for three years and eventually allowed my brother to drive the car. The car never missed a beat and never broke down. Quality American design is something that can never be beat.

I acquired my 1985 Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham a couple of years ago when I couldn't find a Monte Carlo. It came from the factory with a Chevrolet 305 c.i. engine (lawn mowers and drills have motors) and a 2004R overdrive transmission. The last time I went on the highway I got 26 miles to a gallon which really surprised me considering the size of the car. That was before I stripped the air conditioning out of it (to make it easier to replace the valve seals and valve cover gaskets) and I expect to get even better mileage now.