Typical GM.....

Where should I start with the 88? I guess I'll start out by giving a little bit of background. My first car was a 1991 Oldsmobile 98. It was one great car. The seats were like a Caddy, the ride was tight, the car was fantastic in snow. The entire car just felt solid. It also got about 26 mpg, not bad for a car weighing almost 2 tons. Did I mention that we managed to rack up 150,000 miles on it, and it still runs well? Alas, it seems that once GM gets something right, it discontinues it. The 98 was discontinued in 1996.

The same thing happened with the 1994-96 Impala SS. GM finally works out all of the bugs, creates a terrific product for the last 2 years, and then discontinues it. And now, in 2001, GM announced that the entire Olds line will be phased out. One can only hope that the 4.0 Liter V8 from the Aurora ends up powering a Bonneville sometime soon. Or how about dumping it into the new Impala, making it rear wheel drive, and giving us a new SS?

Enough about GM. What about this car? From the outside, the styling is inoffensive and restrained. No radical styling cues, although the matching solid color bumpers and lack of chrome do suggest a modern influence. A little stout looking, but it is a handsome car nonetheless. One complaint about the exterior is that the alloy wheels look cheap. When I first saw the car I thought they were hubcaps. Upon closer inspection we see that, yup, they're alloys.

Step inside the car. a 60/40 split front bench with a shifter on the steering column. The seats are power on the driver's side, and with some experimentation, I was able to find a comfortable seating position. I know that one of the chief complaints about this car is the seats. I didn't find this with the front seats. I guess the best indicator is to take a long drive and see what you think. The back seats, however are another story. By my feel, the seats are too short. In the 98, the rear seats were obviously designed for a full sized adult, and long trips were comfortable for all those involved. Nobody complained about having to sit in the back. Not so in the 88, where the seats are about 3" too short. They were designed to be comfortable for about a 10 or 11 year old. The bottom line is that this is a family car, and the seat design reflects that. Controls are logical , well placed, and with large enough buttons so they passed the "Can I operate these controls wearing gloves?" test. One minor annoyance is the stereo. It sounds fine, it works fine, etc. BUT! It is a weird, non-standard size. This means that options to upgrade the stereo are extremely limited.

Now onto under the hood. The 3.8 Liter V6 produces 205 HP, and 240 ft-lb of torque. This is a respectable amount of power, and moves the 3400 lb. car pretty swiftly. 0-60 times are in the order of 8 seconds. The car loafs along on the highway at 70, with the engine turning about 1900 rpm. It is an old pushrod design, and starts to sound pretty raunchy at about 4000 rpm. Not the most refined design, but it is very durable, and effective. It also does a good job on gas, getting about 25 mpg mixed conditions so far. With 48,000 miles in 2 years, everything seems to be holding up pretty well. (Points to watch are the alternator and the AC compressor, as these were the 2 problem areas on the 98. Both went at about 110,000 miles, and weren't a major problem to fix.

Take it out for a drive. The engine performs nicely. You barely notice the hum until you break about 4,000 rpm. Olds has done a nice job on noise isolation in this car. It is very quiet. The suspension is a bit soft, but that is what it is designed to be. Setup is an SLA system, and there is a sway bar between the front Towers. The car is relatively free of creaks and squeaks. The ride is very plush, even over rough roads. The handling is not superb, but passable. This car likes wide open road and highways. The traction control seems to kick in a little early, and is basically an acceleration cutoff. I found it to be more of a nuisance than a help. Every time the tires started to spin a little, it would kick in, and cut back on the throttle. Luckily, there is a button to turn it off. My one major qualm with this car is the steering. It takes very little effort to turn the wheel, and very little road feel is transmitted to the driver. The 98 ranked considerably better in this department. The 88 still has that solid feel. A lot of cars feel sort of tinny when driving them. This one does not.

Bottom line, this car has no major faults, only minor ones that don't affect the important things. It is dependable, it is a good deal, it is safe, it has adequate power, it is comfortable. I got mine with 30,000 miles on it a year ago for a little under $13,000. For this reason, it gets five stars. The value cannot be beat.