"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89)
11/26/2014 at 21:44 • Filed to: oppositelock revue
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5|
"WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe" (wesbarton89)
11/26/2014 at 21:44 • Filed to: oppositelock revue | 1
| 5 |
So, I have my first review in awhile. This one is for my last DD, a 1998 Olds Cutlass GLS, which I had from May 2013, through January 2014, when some black ice did it in.
The Cutlass is a storied name for Oldsmobile. The name was first used in 1954 for a concept car, and the first production car to use the name was back in 1961. The name Cutlass applied to a multitude of Olds vehicles, and in multiple styles. The Oldsmobile Cutlass lasted up through 1999, that generation being what mine was, and was essentially a rebadged Malibu for that generation, although slightly fancier. Mine was almost completely fully-loaded, only missing the sunroof option I believe. All pictures included are of my car, the day I bought i
( Full disclosure: I needed a car quickly, and this one was only $500 down payment, with a total cost of $3,500)
Let's review!
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Now, this is not the prettiest looking car in the world. It's got a different grille and taillamp apperance from its Malibu twin, and is otherwise identical. However, beyond that, the body was in absolutely beautiful condition, especially for having 139k miles on it. It was very well taken care of, appearance-wise. The paint was still shiny. There were no dents, dings, or peeling paint to be seen anywhere on the car. The wheels also looked really good as well. This one did not have the crappy plastic hubcaps. It had real wheels.
Interior 7/10
Well, it's a pretty decent interior, except for a few minor things. The leather certainly wasn't the most comfortable I've ever had in a car, but it wasn't terrible either. It certainly was in excellent shape, with little signs of wear. Just a bit of butt wrinkle, but no cracking or fading, or any real tears. The driver's seat is power adjustable, which is nice. There's a cupholder in the center console there, and also a pullout one directly to the left of the steering wheel, which is the dumbest cupholder placement I have ever seen in a car. It's certainly not very deep at all, and a little too wide, so even the easiest of turns will make it spill all over you, unless you have a lid on it. Even if it's a bottle, it's gonna roll down on the floor and distract you. Use of that particular holder was limited. The rest of the interior was standard fare. You had your center stack with CD/cassette/AM/FM radio, then below that, your HVAC controls. All knobs, nothing digital with the HVAC. The air didn't work too well, but the heat did. There were some awkward strips of fake wood grain along the dash, that didn't need to be there. I like wood grain in a car, but the placement was very poor. Everything else was rather plastic-y overall.
There was decent room in the backseat, but the seats weren't as comfortable as the front.
Acceleration 6/10
Acceleration wasn't terrible, with GM's 3100 V6 engine. It was the only engine you could get with this car. It's not bad enough to where getting on the freeway is harrowing or anything like that, it's just not great either. It had 155hp, which was fine, though relatively underpowered. Passing power on the freeway was fine, overall, but left a bit to be desired.
Braking 6.5/10
Braking was alright. The car was set up with front discs and rear drums. They performed their job adequately enough. It stopped about as well as it should have, without any fight, but I've definitely had better braking cars.
Ride 6.5/10
The ride quality was ok. It wasn't silky smooth, or really rough either. Pretty much somewhere in the middle. It got a little uncomfortable after really long travels, but I don't think we took too many long trips in it. The one super long one we were going to take, the engine blew not long beforehand, and was in the shop, so we took a rental '04 Malibu Classic, which essentially drove identically, and was still a little uncomfortable for a long drive.
Handling 5/10
Well, it IS a FWD, midsize American-made sedan with a weak V6 and a slushbox, and wasn't exactly made for amazing handling. It didn't handle as well as it could have, honestly. It was average, I suppose.
Gearbox 4/10
It had a 4-speed automatic. Very lame transmission, and it shifted really rough when the TPS went out (twice), but was somewhat better after it was on its third sensor. Make sure you get those lifetime warranties on your engine parts, you may need them!
Anyways, yes, it was an automatic. One of the poorer automatic transmissions I've driven with. It had to hunt a bit for gears. Plus, I couldn't even change my own transmission fluid. The reservoir was sealed, and to go to the dealer to be inspected or changed. Never needed it, thankfully, but that just seems like poor engineering, though I suppose much of this car's target demographic would go to a dealer for something like this anyways.
Coulda been better, coulda been worse.
Toys 5/10
Not really much in the way of toys. Nearly everything was power. Locks, windows, keyless entry, driver's seat (except recline). There was a power trunk release on the inside. Two 12V outlets. CD/cassette radio. It was, as I said, loaded with every option but the sunroof.
Audio 6.6/10
Audio was good. The CD player worked well enough. The cassette deck did not. If I wanted to play music through my phone, I had to get an FM transmitter, which I've never had great experience with. Sound was decent enough, and clear enough. It all sounded fine, I suppose.
Value 7.5/10
The car was a good value. A low down payment, and fairly low monthly payments for a buy-here/pay-here lot. It had an excellent warranty on it. I had to get the engine replaced after I had the car for three months. All the work, and rental car for three weeks totaled almost $3,000, and I was just out around $500 or so out of pocket, which I paid towards each month. The car ending up getting totaled later on, but it was a good value overall. Gas mileage wasn't stellar, especially with a gas gauge that read a quarter tank lower than it was, but it was alright. Not many problems with the car otherwise. Like I said, I did have to replace the throttle position sensor twice. I got the part for $40-ish from AutoZone with lifetime warranty, thankfully. It never acted up again after the second replacement. The engine did blow three months into ownership, as I said. It threw a rod. I think me driving 10,000 miles in that first three months contributed to a bit of wear and tear though. It lasted until it hit some black ice and plowed into another car head-on. No serious injuries, thankfully.
Overall 61.1/100
As I said, the car wasn't terrible. It wasn't a great driver's car, and it was super plain, but for 139k miles, it was in like-new condition, it really was. As I said above, very minor issues here and there. The blown engine had it in the shop for close to a month, though, but as I said, I wasn't much out of pocket for all of that, and it did drive better with the replaced engine, which only had about 80k miles. Not bad.
Engine : 3.1L L82 V6
Output : 155hp @ 5200 rpm/180 lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm
Transmission : 4-speed automatic
0-60 time : 8.5s
Top speed : Maybe around 110
Curb weight : 3,102lbs
Seating : 5
MPG : 20 city/29 hwy (observed far less)
thebigbossyboss
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
11/26/2014 at 22:23 |
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Such grain. Much wood.
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thebigbossyboss
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
11/26/2014 at 22:27 |
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Nice review and all. But I take issue with a car that blew an engine scoring higher than my GM product which did not blow an engine (knock's on every piece of wood in the house).
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WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> thebigbossyboss
11/26/2014 at 22:47 |
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That knocking on wood will cause a knocking on the engine lol jk. Sorry you take issue with it, but it wasn't bad, despite blowing. I just drove it hard, and didn't realize how many miles I stacked up on it that quickly, and forgot to do an oil change. Never made that mistake again.
sellphones2493
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
02/04/2015 at 18:03 |
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"There's a cupholder in the center console there, and also a pullout one directly to the left of the steering wheel, which is the dumbest cupholder placement I have ever seen in a car. It's certainly not very deep at all, and a little too wide, so even the easiest of turns will make it spill all over you, unless you have a lid on it. Even if it's a bottle, it's gonna roll down on the floor and distract you."
I LOL'ed when I read this. I took an '03 Malibu in on trade when I worked at Carmax. The woman who traded it for a 2011 Kia Forte seemed to have found a use for the cupholder.
Actual Picture:
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WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> sellphones2493
02/04/2015 at 18:15 |
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Hah! That's one way to do it. I had one of those Malibus as a rental, looked just like that one. It had the 4cyl and it got really good gas mileage.