1997 Olds Aurora....anyone have any experience?

[Stanley Rockafeller]

My parents recently acquired one of these after their Ford Windstar was totalled by my younger brother who also totalled off his car the previous night, a few weeks back. Clearly the young pup still needs alot more education on how to drive given he is only 16 and has been in 2 accidents, in less than a 24 hour period.

Aside from that, my parents found a nicer 97 Aurora with the 4.0 v8 powerplant. They are totally excited by their new purchase, as they have always owned basic Volvo wagons and vans while the kids were at home.

Are these cars reliabile? i tseems as though the 275 hp engine is the same engine as offered in the Cadillac line.

thanks in advance

 

[Nick R]

It's a good car. But buy the kid a $200 junker for himself, and when he wrecks it the next car he will pay for himself.

 

[38sho]

this engine is a smaller northstar I believe


do not let your little brother or whoever trashes all the cars drive this one, cause its much more entertaining(faster) then a minivan!

if I had one gripe about these engines, ok lets make it two... is the oil leaks. These engines love to leak oil. Which leads to my second gripe, these engines/transmissions are hard as [censored] to work on, so expect a major butt whipping if you work on it yourself, or paying a lot to have a mechanic work on them. Some of the services on this engine are done faster by actually removing the entire drivetrain from the car. Also if its setup like the cadillac's with the northstar, pray to god your evaporator doesn't leak.

But they do seem like fairly reliable cars as far as the engine goes. They do run pretty good. The transmissions are robust but are prone to electrical problems and torque converter lock-up problems. The first problems is sometimes just fixed by dropping the pan so its not that bad. Aside from that its about on par with any other GM sedan........

even with all its problems, I'd still own one

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: 38sho
pray to god your evaporator doesn't leak.

I have never seen one in person. Does it have the same AC/heater fan put in such a place that you must remove the engine and trans to acess the motor when it burns out every couple of years?

 

[John_K]

Originally Posted By: rudolphna
It's a good car. But buy the kid a $200 junker for himself, and when he wrecks it the next car he will pay for himself.


Buy him a bus pass.

John

 

[JTK]

My brother had a 1996 Aurora 4.0L for a bunch of years. He bought it used with ~80Kmi and it had 140Kmi when his 17yr/old son totalled it. It was basically a trouble free car for him and the body was in excellent shape for living it's whole life in the Buffalo area. This is not a good car for an inexperienced driver IMO. Good power/speed/handling = bad for winter in the wrong hands.

Joel

 

[97tbird]

one of the best looking 4-dr sedans, esp from the back/side profile.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
one of the best looking 4-dr sedans, esp from the back/side profile.


Its not a bad looking car but I would sell it and buy a 4.6 panther...The maintenance costs will be a lot lower IMHO..

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Stanley Rockafeller
My parents recently acquired one of these after their Ford Windstar was totalled by my younger brother who also totalled off his car the previous night, a few weeks back. Clearly the young pup still needs alot more education on how to drive given he is only 16 and has been in 2 accidents, in less than a 24 hour period.

Aside from that, my parents found a nicer 97 Aurora with the 4.0 v8 powerplant. They are totally excited by their new purchase, as they have always owned basic Volvo wagons and vans while the kids were at home.

Are these cars reliabile? i tseems as though the 275 hp engine is the same engine as offered in the Cadillac line.

thanks in advance



Thats a 250hp engine and it is related to the 275 and 300hp Cadillac 4.6 Northstar but they are different Engines.

 

[FusilliJerry82]

Seriously, if someone wrecked 2 cars in as many days and they're not in a destruction derby, they don't deserve to drive yet.

 

[willix]

It is a N* engine. 20" less CID. It inherits all the advantages & disadvantages of a N* drive line and electronics. Including the head gasket curse. The car shares a lot in common with the Seville, Eldorado, Buick Riviera, as far as chassis & body controls.

 

[MrCritical]

In my experience, lots of problems with the electronics.

And oil leaks and replacing water pump no fun either.

 

[daves87rs]

Very fun car if you can find a cared for one.