Overall looks, quick engine, leather seats, clear headlights, easy to read controls, stereo, nice size trunk, taking turns, and rims.

Engine looks ugly, tires seem to vibrate after I balanced the tires, rear visibility, gas mileage

Great car for the price. So many options that many other cars don't have. This car looks very cool. I've been trying to get rid of this slight vibration from the tires even after I had them balanced.

Similar Products Used:

beretta gt 91

Great V6 engine. Provides great acceleration, and sounds nice. Smooth shifting transmition. Very comfortable seats with a great dash layout. Long list of standard options (ABS brakes, traction control)

Horrible blind spots. Tight entrance to the rear seats in the coupe. The passenger seat latch is very questionable. It takes a lot of pressure for it to lock into position after you slide it forward.

GREAT car for the money. Filled with standard equipment. This car will definitely turn heads away from Japanese imports. I've only had it for 800 miles, but so far I am very pleased.

Similar Products Used:

93 Pontiac Grand Am: Outperforms it in EVERY aspect.
96 Mercedes C280: The seats are more comfortable in the Alero. They're much softer. But ofcourse, the suspension and handling doesn't compare to the C280

Powerful engine, handling

Rattles, brakes, visability, rear seat comfort, paint, engine noise

After a year and five months I am looking to get rid of this car. I paid $18,700 and now only a year later it's worth only $12,500 to $13,000. The rotors were replaced at 6,000 miles and now only 3,500 miles later they need to be replaced again. The paint has small rust spots on it and chips too easily. Sitting in the rear sat is like sitting in a hole and the visability out the rear window is almost nonexsistant. The car has numerous rattles and because Oldsmobile had so many requests to fix rattles they will not cover them under warranty after a year which means that you are stuck paying for the labor. I do not recommend this car at all.

Similar Products Used:

None

Great looking car. The car has been very comfortable for long trips. When working properly, the vehicle performance is excellent and it's a lot of fun to drive.

I'm having problems with engine misfiring after only 4000 miles. Going up hills it gets horrendous. I've taken it into the dealers for the 3rd time now after 2 unsuccessful repair attempts. The last time the power control module was replaced, but the problem actually seemed to degrade. I've been getting a lot of "service engine soon" warnings. Also, the gas mileage doesn't seem to be as good as I was expecting (although this may be related to my problems). Finally, the remote keyless entry system is terrible. In order to open all the doors, you have to hit unlock twice in succession. However, it usually takes a few attempts to get the car to read the signal once, so it usually takes 10 or 11 tries to get all the doors to open.

It seems that the Alero would be a great car if it wasn't for my engine problems. I think the options on the car probably maybe are a little too automatic. Everything seems to be done for you, which isn't always a good thing since it's nice to have some control. At least I figured out how to keep the car from honking every time I lock the door. Speaking of automatic, why aren't they offering a manual transmission on this car?

My biggest problems have come from dealing with the Olds dealerships. The Olds dealership where I bought it, in Ann Arbor, MI, was a bunch of pushy, slick salesmen. I really wanted the car and their highly overagressive sales tactics ruined my purchase experience and almost made me decide to get a different car. Now I'm dealing with a dealership for servicing my engine problems, and while the people at the dealership have been fine, the experience hasn't been very pleasant. Now that I've taken my car in for the 3rd time, I asked for a loaner car and since none of the car rental places have any available cars, I've been loaned a Mazda 626 with 140,000 miles on it. I thought Olds was supposed to be more of a luxury division. This certainly isn't luxury service. My car has been in the shop for a total of 8 days now, and I'm starting to think I may have gotten a big lemon.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Personally, I love the 4 cylinder engine. Very ergonomical inside and lots of features. Active Response System is very good. Disc brakes all around. Very good looking car too...

None, so far

I have had the Alero for a couple of days now, and I have one thing to say: Hats of to GM for making such a great car.
I know for sure that my car is not a lemon, since it has almost 30,000 miles on it. That was the only downfall, but oh well. The miles were a small tradeoff for what I got.

I got a car that handles very well, has very good brakes, lots of features, a powerful engine, and a really cool design. Everything seems to be working perfectly on the car too.

I'm glad that GM has been able to produce vehicles that are at least closer to the foreign competition. Overall, I haven't regreted my purchase on bit.

Similar Products Used:

Sunfire SE

The chassis seems to be ok.

Engine Twin CAM Four AKA renamed quad4: Hesitates and surges constantly. Gives very poor mileage - my v6 Stealth did much better.
Transmission: refuses to stay in overdrive. For no apparent reason jumps between 3 and 4 th constantly. Recently diagnosed as a torque converter problem. Will replace this week.
Steering: pump is making strange noises. Will be replaced this week.
Service: Horrible. Went to a dealer 4 times for engine/transmission related problems. Just got stone walled - there is no problem. Took to a dealer back home and will get some action.
Fuel economy is horrible.
Traction Control: What traction control? Does not work at all. Does nothing discernable when off or on save the little idiot light on the dash board. (where I live, its winter for 5 months of the year)

Would not recommend to my enemies. My car is a lemon.

Similar Products Used:

Stealth, Probe. The quality of the Stealth and Probe far exceeds the lemon I'm currently driving.

Lovely engine (3.4l V6); sweetly solid chassis, driver's seat is so comfortable I hate to get out of the car; a tremendous value in most respects. The sound of the engine thrills me.

Odd blind spot over the driver's left shoulder; gas mileage is unimpressive (evcen accounting for the way the engine tempts you to *mash* that pedal); center rear seat is only good for punishing your enemies; power steering response at lower speeds is typically GM-vague (though it gets better the faster you push it - "honest, officer, I can control it *better* at 90 MPH"); it keeps tempting my wife to take it to work and leave me her Camry.

I paid $14500 for my car. It's a rental fleet car and had 28000 miles on it at the time. It may be the best money I spent since my honeymoon. It's sweet, smooth, and fun. If I can resist temptation I can keep the in-town mileage to about 22MPG (what my Integra got), but even truly childish driving still has me no worse than 18 MPG. On the highway it gets 32. The stereo is surprisingly good for a stock item. I've read some comments that the engin's noisy. I'd say "musical." This car makes me wish I had someplace far, far away I needed to drive to.
If you like a car that feels light and immediate, it may not be for you, because it feels bigger than it is- one review I saw called it a compact that thinks it's a midsize, and that's about right. If you regularly need to haul more than three pasengers, give it a pass. If you've been looking at the Camry, Accord, Maxima, Stratus, Contour, or any other such cars in the large compact to small midsize area, it's definitely worth checking out. If your last car was a Camry or Accord that you bought because, darn it, there just wasn't an American car good enough -- you've found Nirvana.

Similar Products Used:

Toyota Camry: Alero is more fun, more comfortable, better looking and less fuel efficient.
Nissan Maxima: see Toyota Camry.
Acura Integra: The Integra feels like it's wired to your nervous system, the Alero Like it's a willing steed. ("You want me to do *what*? OK, I'll do it, boss...") The Integra feels sportier, but the Alero actually handles better, and even Honda can't make a four cylinder engine that compares to that six.
Dodge Stratus: The Stratus looks good, drives well, has almost the same dimensions, and isn't in the Alero's class on the road.

Value, price, comfort, features, styling, ride/handling, acceleration (V-6),fuel economy 32mpg highway, almost any applicable field this Olds has done very well in. Great alternative to lemming Accords, lets just hope Olds can match the reliability.

REAR VISIBILITY!!! oh my goodness it's horrible, this is the ONLY gripe I have about an otherwise FANTASTIC car well the engine is loud but I like it, I use to have a '94 Z28 so hearing the engine run is a must.

I bought this car used, pretty much loaded, V6, power everything, it's missing a cd player, spoiler, sun roof, and leather but it's all good. So far so good the bluebook on it was almost 18k for this car, I saw one listed for $14,950 of course I thought something was wrong but I checked it with a mechanic, ran a VIN check, inspected it myself and I believe I found one of the greatest deals ever. The car had 6,311 on the odometer, not bad huh? I love this car, the build quality surpasses my old Camaro, the controls are placed where they should be, no rattles (unlike the Camaro) acceleration is of course slower then the Camaro but very much competant. Driving this car you would swear you were in an import. Brake pedal is firm but not numb like most GM products. Steering is nice but has a dead center not much to gripe about though, it's not really noticeable. It has power everything, as I mentioned, styling is stunning so all I can do is RECOMMEND this car!! I'm impressed, GM has turned out a superb vehicle if only it came in stick mmmm =). I heard this year does (DOH!) oh well, I just know my next vehicle is going to be an Olds, never thought you'd hear a 16 year old say that huh? Well you just did.

Similar Products Used:

Camaro, Civic, Prelude, Accord

Exterior and Interior styling. Acceleration with 3.4l V6.
Fog lamps. Position of control knobs for heat/ac and CD/radio very nicely situated for hand resting on shifter. Cruise control on steering wheel is convenient. Console storage for CDs. Efficient braking (4 wheel ABS) Quick steering. Nice fit and finish. Lumbar support in driver's seat is nice feature. Roomy trunk and drop down rear seat offer cargo moving possibilites. I slipped in a 26 Inch 15 speed bike with seats down. I find the large rear lights a real asset in today's close moving traffic. They really light up the back when you're stopping. I also like the position of the ignition key on the dashboard.

Mediocre gas mileage. Engine and road noise seem a bit loud, but not excesssive. Knee room to bottom of steering wheel seems tight, but I'm used to a van. My wife is short and gets too close to air bag; pedal extenders would be appropriate. There is no driver control for airbag. Center seat in rear only good for short people on short trips. The Alero is really better suited as a four seater. If you need to move five consider the Intrigue. Key needs to be in run position to operate windows--very annoying. Also the inability to turn off automatic headlights without switching off engine is very annoying. There should be a switch for this. These are easy fixes for the electrical engineers. Why can't GM make a comfortable headrest. They are always too far from the head. Take a clue from German and Japanese manufacturers. I always have to pin on a towel wrapped pillow to get some support. GM needs to go to 5yr/100k warrantee on drive train.

Some problems encountered: I have an engine vibration, most noticeable when shift is in Park when engine is cold or hot. It is intermittent. Gave the dealer a crack at diagnosis, but he was unable to find anything out of specs. I'll live with it for a while, but intend to bring it back if it continues. Like to hear from others with similar problem. Solved a rattle in exhaust pipe by tightening single bolt bracket in front of left rear wheel. A friend with a 99 Alero had a dash board crack that required complete replacement. Otherwise no problems in first 10k miles.
I like the car and it's fun to drive. My kids call it a "date-car." I think the larger Intrigue would be more practical for a family. I've had a 94 Lumina van with 140k that has been very reliable and hope for the same with the Alero. I paid a bit over $19k but was able to subtract a sizeable GM credit card rebate.

Similar Products Used:

Honda Accord

Powerful engine for the price. Very comfortable and a very quite engine. Nice handeling.

Blind spot

I paid 20,000 for the car fully loaded. I have fallen in love with my Alero. I was bit nervous buying it because it was the first year this model was out and I haven't read anything about. But it turned out to be a wonderful decsion. The 3.4 liter V6 with 170hp is great espically when passing on the highway. The traction control system worked great on ice and snow.

Couple of months ago I was reading car review magazine about the Alero and the review said this could be the best car GM has made since the '57 Chevy, and I have to agree. This is the first American car my family has owned in a while and I have to say this car has brought back the confidence of my family in American cars again.

Anyone looking for a car that is somewhat sporty but not wanting to pay the high insurance preimums of sport cars should defintely take a look at the oldsmoblie alero.