Were GM's efforts, like this beefed up Calais, too little too late to compete with already very sporty Prelude and Celica? Episode 711. Original Airdate: 12/10/1987
Hands down the most annoying feature found on cars of that era! On the cars that are still around, I wonder how many of these systems are even operable (much less repairable) on these vehicles....??!!!
I wish there was a DVD set for each year. I love the 80s episodes. Also would be great if they would put full episodes on here. 30 min of 80s motorweek is outstanding
You are showing your age, but it's not only that. NO ONE views anything on DVD today. Why would they? I've been streaming or downloading everything since 2006. That's over a decade of not relying on DVDs. Where were you in the year 2004? You could download entire high quality movies off Limewire and Napster and Soulseek and WinMX. You were 15 years younger then, how did you entirely miss this digital revolution?
Miami SWL Radio Some people prefer physical media. I like having my movies and TV shows displayed on a shelf and readily accessible like books in a library
Had my license of one week. My buddies mom said I could take their car to the ski hill. We ended up doing 3 full 360 spins while passing cars on ice roads. Landed in the opposite ditch, no damage. Great car.
@@familyfirst7027 agreed. I believe it had an iron block. My wife had the quad 4 in her 99 z24 cavalier. That car ate ball joints and the water pump blew. Paled in comparison to my 97 Maxima se 5 speed.
Our 89 was the same we had a miss and it started losing water at 76 k, dealer looked at it and the warranty card and said it's a head gasket, better to do it now before warranty is up but our neighbor had a le barron turbo hatchback that cracked heads and gaskets twice as much and said we did good. It was good in snow and quick....power was amazing...but it lost a fuse every time you turned the radio on or went over a bump, turned out it was cigarette lighter housing burned a ground wire and got loose, after dealer had the interior was apart they asked us if we wanted to upgrade to the international gauge dash, warranty would cover all but parts and once the heads got hot it washed up and motor was wasted and that olds and buick should have never let the base car leave the factory with only a warning light...[Pontiac got that part of the right] we said no and lost the head gasket a year later but added an aftermarket one in the console. It was good until 180k on original transmission, the neighbors' turbo le barron had gone thru a transmission and another round of replacement heads and valves and electronic dash repair so given car quality at the time, we did ok but we did lose the brake lights due to a bad headlight switch later one night and it almost got us rear-ended. Dealer knew about this too looked and had two other ones with same issue. When it was good it was great but when it went bad it was really bad. It was a car you kept for 50-100k or as long as warranty was active then replace it and fun while you had it running good... It kept up with a 85 t-type regal until 45 mph and then it lost but not by as much as many would think. It looked nice too and great stereo in it. Great memories with it.
Nice. My parents had an 86' Calais with the regular four that was pretty slow (obviously!), then an '85 v6 that while not scalded cat fast, was maybe surprised cat fast. Both were frequently in the shop for repairs and it was a little surprising that they got either considering how so-so they were with reliability.
Back in the early 90s my 4th grade teacher had one just like this except it was silver. Plus I remember seeing these all over the road when the were brand new. I really miss those days.
@@davidp8627 A friend threw a rod in his due to extreme lack of maintenance. Huge hole in the block with the rod poking out. It still ran. 3800s are fantastic engines.
Probably very similar to the Buick line. Mercury cars were just dressed up Fords. Those brands did have unique designs in the early days but that was before the larger companies acquired them.
Everyone does. But one look at the aurora sedan and youd see we would be so much farther ahead in design had that brand been around in the last 15 years.
Rented a new 2020 Chevy cargo van the other week, its still the same dot matrix type thing in that truck. Tells you a bit more like tire pressure now days though.
The irony of it being named international when it wasn't sold outside the USA isn't lost on me..... But I guess its more to do with where the parts came from 😊
4:17 I like how the tester slid under those horrid seat belts like he’d just practiced doing so 20 times before they filmed this, so it wouldn’t look horribly awkward.
@@harrycallahan9733 It was to make them a "passive" step- through design, as required by law. It was that, or put in costly airbags. Super annoying and useless. I used to just operate it like a normal belt.
Had one with a 3,0 v6 ( basically a 3.8 with a shorter stroke ) it would fly . I ran it hard over 170 miles a day working a delivery service. It was a great little car!
Thank you for another GM/ Oldsmobile review. It is much appreciated. I enjoyed watching this video. The Quad 442 came later with more power. I hope there are more to come. Someone was asking for that Quad 8 video from Motorweek too. I think Beth Nardone did the segment too. It was a Quad 8. I know that other Quad four segment has been posted.
Thank you for posting these throwback reviews of cars we once saw as a common place but now just a figment of our memories. Or perhaps scrap yards by 92’ like in this case haha. When I first moved to America with my family,’first vehicle was a green on green with poverty caps Oldsmobile 86’ calais. It was fairly clean and rust free owned by elderly couple bought in 96’. We drove it daily by 2001 it was scrapped. Honestly held together fairly solid motor wise, only broke down once but the car its-self was falling apart. I definitely watch these videos to see the reviews at the time for as how we have huge hindsight to wince or nod our heads.
Repaired these cars back then , timing chains would stretch and wear causing lots of noise , piston slap was another issue and the quad coil packs would short out csusing missfires and I saw many backfire and break the timing chains.
I always thought GM’s premium compacts (the Calais, Skylark/Somerset and Grand Am) were some of the best looking small cars on the road when I was a kid although I preferred the front end appearance of the 85-86 models (before GM switched to composite headlamp modules).
I feel the same way. I prefer the composite style lights more myself but i always thought they were handsome cars. They had nice lines and weren't like all the other round bubble machines on the road.
mcqueenfanman The Cavalier/Cimarron/Skyhawk/Firenza/Sunbird were older and meant to slot in below the Skylark/Calais/Grand Am although dimensionally they were similar. As such, Chevrolet did not get its own model on GM’s premium platform (different from the J car platform) but, ironically, neither did Cadillac which retained the Cimarron until finally exiting the compact car business (widely considered a huge mistake since the ‘marron’s introduction in ‘82) by the close of the decade. Yes, the Calais was a “premium” small car and definitely felt like it when it was introduced in 1985. Rather than a gussied up version of a cheap small car, it drove and rode like a scaled down version of a Detroit large car (think soft and comfortable). Unfortunately, GM priced these cars as though they were LeSabres and Delta 88s and when fuel prices began dropping, most Americans ran back to cars that didn’t just have the big car feel and style but actually WERE big.
Yes I had one too,very quick for the time,after a while gave it to my sis,and bought 4 misubishi's,cordia turbo,1991 eagle talon TSI,a Plymouth laser,and finally leased another eagle talon!
I remember the Quad 4 engine well. At the time it was a huge development for GM and it produced much more horsepower and torque than the competition. That's why i never understood why it didn't sell well. Most people opted for the optional 3.0 V6 instead. By today's standards, the Quad 4 is a great engine. I wish US manufacters would produce engines like that instead of this tiny 4 cylinders with turbo chargers. The Quad 4 is a much more durable engine, not blowing head gaskets like modern engines.
Amethyst Deceiver that was a rumor spread by bad mechanics. The good mechanics realized that it was a TSB about the pancake batter issue, fixed it with a genuine GM part, and sent it out the door.
Yeah my '87 Grand am had the 3.0 which is basically the same as the 3300 (batch fire mpi and no balance shaft) it had 147k when I bought it and around 180k when I sold it to my pot dealer. He was still driving it 2 years after I sold it to him before I moved away, I had no engine/trans problems whatsoever and neither did he
The second car I ever owned. Black with black interior, V6 and 5 speed. Bought it with around 45k miles and sold it with 170k, even delivered pizzas in it for a couple years. It was a good reliable fun car.
Got a 1988 Olds Calais from my parents at 17 after my 84 Ciera died, had about 50k miles on it. 1. It did get up and go from a stop and could jump from 50 to 75 pretty good for a pass, but it made a lot of noise. 2. Leaky sunroof, no matter what I did. Always dripped on your lap. 3. Loved that it had intermittent wipers! 4. I am 6-3 and there was just enough room for 2 of us in the back so I gave that a thumbs up. 5. I NEVER got 30 mpg even if I did all highway driving at a steady speed, most I got was 27. 6. At 80-90k miles it started to fall apart. Door handles, wiper blades stopped working, radio knobs fell off, etc. I was so proud when I rebuilt the electric window myself, the only thing that was wrong was the button worked backwards. 7. Oh yeah, head gaskets. I went through at least 5 of them. Every time you hit the gas you were afraid one would go. Since I started typing, another has gone. I traded it in for $500 when I bought a Nissan 200SX in 1997, and the Calais had 105k miles. Only $500? Trade in inspection revealed - you guessed it - a cracked head gasket.
4:10 it's nice to see that a new calais had the same tachometer float up as mine did. I always thought it was odd that the needle would go up when the car was shut off.
@@klwthe3rd yes. This cluster is from '85 itself, just updated in '88 to read an 8000rpm reading (Quad 4.) The Iron Lung stopped at 6000 (5k redline), the V6 stopped at 7000 (5500rpm redline.)
These were nice cars. Especially equipped in early 90's with the smoother 3.3 Ltr V6. In 1991 you could get a Calais equipped with the quad 4 with ABS.
Years ago, I had a chance to rent a Calais with an automatic transmission for the weekend, it was fun to drive. Power was good, visibility was good from the driver seat, and if I remember, the gauges were lit up in blue. Body style was nice too.
This was such a great car back in the day that I would have (honestly) bought one new if I could have afforded it. My brother had the great good fortune of driving the Quad 4 show car, and I was totally sold on this tame production version.
I think I am the only one that loved the Quad 4 engine. I put 230,000 miles on my 89 Calais and never had any problems with it. Back then I thought it was so fast!!
Hey if you’re serious. There happens to be one in upstate NY at the moment. Obv I have no clue where you’re located, but I figured since your comment isn’t that old I’d throw it out there. The listing I came across is what brought me here. Cus I myself am currently looking for a new fun/older ride so I wanted to learn more about this. Anyway, it’s an ‘89 (red) & looks like it’s in excellent condition. Super clean w only 62k. I’m sure you’ll see the listing if you search for it on Marketplace. If u actually see this reply go check it out!
@@deescott4810 Wow, thanks for the tip. I'm actually in central PA, so even the farthest point in upstate NY is still pretty reasonable. I'll definitely check it out. Has to be a manual, though, since Oldsmobile + manual is the main thing that gets me all excited about this thing.
That is the sound of the window rattling in it's track because it's down and he slammed the door. The doors fit so nicely on these cars. They will shut with the push of 2 fingers. My Dad has had 2 Calais for 24+ years. Extremely fun and well built cars.
Agree, we had one for 20 years. Slow accelerating 2.5 but it always ran, never used oil, the car was smooth and quiet and everything worked. Took it on a trip out west and had it well over 100 mph for over an hour. Rode like a dream. Wife slept through it all.
My first ever new from the showroom car was a Cutlass Calais (can't recall if it was '89 or '90). I wanted a Grand Am, but the insurance was WAY lower on the Oldsmobile clone, and I had a spotty driving record. I still have a lot of nostalgia for that car.
Of all the US brands at that time, GM seemed to try the hardest in going after the younger buyers that were attracted to what was coming out of Germany and Japan. They would deliver stuff like this that although had nice style and hit many of the performance benchmarks, it just did not have fit finish, feel and reliability of their competition. At the time this car came out I owned an 88 Honda Prelude which was just a much better feeling and better designed car. There was no comparison on the reliability side, where in the Prelude all you ever had to do was replace basic items like oil and brake pads to keep the car going for 200,000 miles and it would still look brand new if you took care of it. I wonder how many of these made it that many miles without having a phone book of GM repair orders. I'm speaking only to this era as I think they have finally gotten it right over the years as for the last 6 years I have owned a Cadillac ATS and can say that it is an awesome car, overall, the best car I have had.
The Calais/GrandAM/Somerset was some cool cars around that era, the Somerset had cool digital dash as the Grand AM looked sportier even the Calais was a cool car all had of them looked nice back in the day now these cars just don't exist anymore.
This is, by far, the best 4 cylinder engine of the 80s and 90s. Say what you want about Olds, but they knew their stuff. And this car was an absolute delight. And if you can find one in decent shape, they still are.
Owned an 89 Calais with the quad 4 engine. Have to say that even tho the rear shock towers rusted out and the head cracked causing coolant to mix with the oil, it was a quick and fun little car.
I remember having to replace that part he removed from the top of the engine, I believe, 3 separate times with my old 1997 Sunfire GT. Quad 4 had some punch but lacked reliability. Those passive seatbelts were a giant pain in the neck - literally - back then, too.
More power than the Japanese engines....meanwhile in the scrap yard a couple years later, the Quad4 powered cars wonder what could've been if the head gaskets hadn't blown so early on, better luck next time...oh yeah, there wasn't a next time, while all those Japanese engines were racking up 250K++ going down the road!
Ive haven't seen a honda, toyota, subaru, or even suzuki from this era in over a decade. I just seen a calais about 2 weeks ago just cruising around. With a Quad 4. Head gasket issues were a myth.
Yes. There were two versions of the Quad442: '90/'91 W40 (regular High Output Quad 4) and the '91 W41 (W41 High Output Quad 4.) The regular W40 made 180hp, just like the regular High Output Quad 4s. There were 2,629 '90 W40s and 1,364 '91 W40s. The W41 added 10hp (racing camshafts and intake) and saw 204 '91 models built. The Quad442 was replaced by the Achieva SC/SCX in '92, before the W41 version disappeared entirely after '93 and the High Output Quad 4 disappeared entirely after '94.
Had one. 88 5 speed manual. This car hammered. I bought it with 80000 miles and put 35000 more on it before selling it. I did end up putting a new clutch in at 100000 miles. I miss that car.
Back in the early 90's i had two friends with Pontiac Grand Ams they got roughly around the same time. One had a quad four, and the other had a V6. Take a wild guess at who was getting a new car a year later?
I owned a used, Olds Cutlass Calais 2 door, Quad 4 auto. Not sure which year it was, but it was around this test car - though not quite as loaded (though close). Just about everything they said here was exactly what I experienced owning the car. It was nice, reasonably comfortable, peppy and good value. But there was lots of torque steer and the motor got buzzy if you revved it up. ☮
I had the 1998 Pontiac Sunfire GT with the 2.4 Liter Quad 4. I still have a Early 90's Cavalier, both the the 2.2L and the 3.1L. The 3.1L Cavalier Still Runs very well, although body needs new paint job and some rust spots repaired. For the 2.2L Cavalier, I am going to put in the early 2000's Grand Am GT 3400 engine in it.
That part that they took off of with the cam cover needed replaced 3 times in 3 years on my old Sunfire GT. I know that Quad 4 had good output but from my experience at least, it was a maintenance problem.
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I'm so glad passive seat belts went away.
They were horrid
@@ahuehuete4703 Raise your hand if you were ever caught in one.
I_Eat_Meat they were there because the manufacturer was too cheap to install an airbag
Active seatbelts I believe. Or was the name a misnomer
Hands down the most annoying feature found on cars of that era! On the cars that are still around, I wonder how many of these systems are even operable (much less repairable) on these vehicles....??!!!
For some reason, I like watching these retro reviews... Shows how far we've come
Me too
Or how far we didn't. Fuel mileage today sucks in my opinion. It should be better 20 years later and not the same or less.
@@fokuz02 Exactly what i think everytime I check out retro reviews ..4 bangers then sometimes got over 40 mpg on the hwy mean come on!!
ALso takes one back to when manufacturers were trying to build unique and fun to drive cars, now they are all the same and economy focused.
How far we regressed*
Hey! It's a small, late 80's car with modern econo car performance specs. 150 HP out of a 4 cylinder at that time was pretty powerful.
...then you'd be shocked about two years later, when the High Output made about 30 more horsepower.
out of a 2.3! not bad.
Not bad even today.
@@TyEiraMarieMorrisonOsteen why am I not surprised to see you commenting on this video?! :-D
Only thing faster than this car is the ability to blow its headgaskets
So great to hear that Quad 4 singing loud, that was a hit for me, not a miss!
Same. Hence why I had to have a High Output '93 Grand Am GT Sedan.
Total junk.
It was a hit for everyone under the age of 60. If it wasnt for NVH, this motor would have been much louder later on in its life.
@@Jwdude123 agreed
John Ward Like your opinion
Is funny how they complain about rear seat room not being sufficient. But compared to today's coupes. The olds had great rear seats.
Yeah.... they should have taken that into account....
What coupes from today... hardly any left...
Yup, they should have looked 30+ years into the future before complaining about rear seat room in 1988.
DrewLSsix ... LoL 😂
The Olds roofline looks like it would be good for headroom. Doesn't do a thing for leg room, unfortunately.
I wish there was a DVD set for each year. I love the 80s episodes. Also would be great if they would put full episodes on here. 30 min of 80s motorweek is outstanding
I'd buy that DVD box-set in a heartbeat!
@@91Taurus Same!
This show _and_ Hometime. Those two shows meant/defined Saturday for me back then; when I wasn't working overtime on weekends
You are showing your age, but it's not only that. NO ONE views anything on DVD today. Why would they? I've been streaming or downloading everything since 2006. That's over a decade of not relying on DVDs. Where were you in the year 2004? You could download entire high quality movies off Limewire and Napster and Soulseek and WinMX. You were 15 years younger then, how did you entirely miss this digital revolution?
Miami SWL Radio Some people prefer physical media. I like having my movies and TV shows displayed on a shelf and readily accessible like books in a library
Right now a lot of us would like to magically go back to the 1980s.
Early to Mid 90's for me.
80's cars will still exist at that time.
If not just to warn people about 2020!!!
@@ENDTIMEsVideoLibrary they wouldn't believe if you did tell them. sheep that can't think for themselves
You mean everything you were wrong about?
You wrote that 3 years ago .....flash forward to now?
My parents had an '89 Calais with the Quad 4. It went like a scalded cat, when it wasn't in the shop for repairs.
Had my license of one week. My buddies mom said I could take their car to the ski hill. We ended up doing 3 full 360 spins while passing cars on ice roads. Landed in the opposite ditch, no damage. Great car.
That was a horrible motor.Always had issues with that one
@@familyfirst7027 agreed. I believe it had an iron block. My wife had the quad 4 in her 99 z24 cavalier. That car ate ball joints and the water pump blew. Paled in comparison to my 97 Maxima se 5 speed.
Our 89 was the same we had a miss and it started losing water at 76 k, dealer looked at it and the warranty card and said it's a head gasket, better to do it now before warranty is up but our neighbor had a le barron turbo hatchback that cracked heads and gaskets twice as much and said we did good. It was good in snow and quick....power was amazing...but it lost a fuse every time you turned the radio on or went over a bump, turned out it was cigarette lighter housing burned a ground wire and got loose, after dealer had the interior was apart they asked us if we wanted to upgrade to the international gauge dash, warranty would cover all but parts and once the heads got hot it washed up and motor was wasted and that olds and buick should have never let the base car leave the factory with only a warning light...[Pontiac got that part of the right] we said no and lost the head gasket a year later but added an aftermarket one in the console. It was good until 180k on original transmission, the neighbors' turbo le barron had gone thru a transmission and another round of replacement heads and valves and electronic dash repair so given car quality at the time, we did ok but we did lose the brake lights due to a bad headlight switch later one night and it almost got us rear-ended. Dealer knew about this too looked and had two other ones with same issue. When it was good it was great but when it went bad it was really bad. It was a car you kept for 50-100k or as long as warranty was active then replace it and fun while you had it running good... It kept up with a 85 t-type regal until 45 mph and then it lost but not by as much as many would think. It looked nice too and great stereo in it. Great memories with it.
Nice. My parents had an 86' Calais with the regular four that was pretty slow (obviously!), then an '85 v6 that while not scalded cat fast, was maybe surprised cat fast. Both were frequently in the shop for repairs and it was a little surprising that they got either considering how so-so they were with reliability.
Back in the early 90s my 4th grade teacher had one just like this except it was silver. Plus I remember seeing these all over the road when the were brand new. I really miss those days.
Probably blew the head gasket before the end of the test.
My 87 Quad 4 blew the head gasket at around 70k miles.
I did love that car though.
Not many of these on the road after 1989, ha.
D B my sister had one and her certified mechanic husband had it in the shop regularly for blown head gaskets until she replaced the car.
@deezomaxima I would argue the 3800 V6 was the most durable GM engine made.
@@davidp8627 A friend threw a rod in his due to extreme lack of maintenance. Huge hole in the block with the rod poking out.
It still ran. 3800s are fantastic engines.
I love that John is not yelling like he does now. Sound equipment is much improved but he thinks he has to scream at the viewers.
Wish Olds were still around, wonder what their cars would look like, the same with Plymouth, Mercury and Pontiac
Yeah i miss Oldsmobile so much too.
@@klwthe3rd I miss them, too.
Probably very similar to the Buick line. Mercury cars were just dressed up Fords. Those brands did have unique designs in the early days but that was before the larger companies acquired them.
Everyone does. But one look at the aurora sedan and youd see we would be so much farther ahead in design had that brand been around in the last 15 years.
Brad White they would look like somewhat more modern piles of shit
That quad 4 was a definite sleeper back in its day
definitely!
The 2.0 Turbo in the Grand Am would outrun it.
@@MidnightinSavannah You think so, even though the Quad was half a second faster overall without the High Output option? 🤷🏿♀️
It still is. People shit their pants when i outrun them
For a week...then it blew up.
GM used that same basic trip computer display for the next 30 years.
Ha I was thinking the same thing, the dot matrix VF is almost identical to the one in my '08 HHR and even the verbage of the messages is the same
Rented a new 2020 Chevy cargo van the other week, its still the same dot matrix type thing in that truck. Tells you a bit more like tire pressure now days though.
The irony of it being named international when it wasn't sold outside the USA isn't lost on me.....
But I guess its more to do with where the parts came from 😊
You answered my question. I wondered whether or not these were sold in the international markets displayed on the flag emblem.
4:17 I like how the tester slid under those horrid seat belts like he’d just practiced doing so 20 times before they filmed this, so it wouldn’t look horribly awkward.
Let's see how Jimmy does it in the snow and ice!
And they used to say they were easier to use...
That tester looks a little like Larry Bird
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod americans were not land whales in the 80's , thats why its was easier
I drove a 180hp Quad 4 in later years, surprisingly powerful.
....that clatter when he closes the door. 👀😱
That was the window rattling around inside the door. Lol. Junk. Rust out in a year.
Like sh..
It was horrible! And I am one of those guys that doesn't get the "quality feel closing the doors" scene
For some reason back then they loved to mount seat belt on the door instead of the B pillar :)
@@harrycallahan9733 It was to make them a "passive" step- through design, as required by law. It was that, or put in costly airbags. Super annoying and useless. I used to just operate it like a normal belt.
Had one with a 3,0 v6 ( basically a 3.8 with a shorter stroke ) it would fly . I ran it hard over 170 miles a day working a delivery service. It was a great little car!
My friend had a Buick Somorset, with the uncommon 5 speed manual!
Super rare! love it.
I wonder how many were made with the manual trans?!
I loved the Somersets with the digital dash even as a teenager. The 80s were great.
Was that a Skylark option?
The sound of that door closing was horrible
I literally cringed..... But hey it shows how far they have come.
Probably built on a Friday, with a handful of bolts thrown in the door panel.
I dont see what's so bad about it. Ive closed doors on modern cars that make this seem like top notch quality.
It sounded like the complete opposite of a Mercedes from that era.
@@Lrules364 Yeah, because modern cars are built like crap. Build quality was much higher on cars back in the 80s than today
Omg, I love all these little flags on the trunk!
Same here. It has my country's (Portugal's) flag on it. It's a cool touch, I'll give it that.
I forgot to add that this car was never available to buy in Portugal.
Notice how the flag of Japan is missing???
A common Oldsmobile styling cue, particularly on the Cutlass Ciera.
My mom's 78 Cutlass Salon had them.
I had one of these when I was in high school. I though I was soooo cool!
Tim Johnson what year was that???? Haha
They were cool back then. A few of my friends had the Z24 with the 3.1L.
Thank you for another GM/ Oldsmobile review. It is much appreciated. I enjoyed watching this video. The Quad 442 came later with more power. I hope there are more to come. Someone was asking for that Quad 8 video from Motorweek too. I think Beth Nardone did the segment too. It was a Quad 8. I know that other Quad four segment has been posted.
OLDS98 They cost a lot, but some of these Quad 442s are still rolling around.
Thank you for posting these throwback reviews of cars we once saw as a common place but now just a figment of our memories. Or perhaps scrap yards by 92’ like in this case haha. When I first moved to America with my family,’first vehicle was a green on green with poverty caps Oldsmobile 86’ calais. It was fairly clean and rust free owned by elderly couple bought in 96’. We drove it daily by 2001 it was scrapped. Honestly held together fairly solid motor wise, only broke down once but the car its-self was falling apart. I definitely watch these videos to see the reviews at the time for as how we have huge hindsight to wince or nod our heads.
So we're just going to ignore the fact that the tachometer is broken.
LOL!! That's so Oldsmobile!
Alot of 80s tachs were like that. They didn't return to zero until after you turned the key back on. Definitely not an issue specific to Oldsmobile/GM
Repaired these cars back then , timing chains would stretch and wear causing lots of noise , piston slap was another issue and the quad coil packs would short out csusing missfires and I saw many backfire and break the timing chains.
I always thought GM’s premium compacts (the Calais, Skylark/Somerset and Grand Am) were some of the best looking small cars on the road when I was a kid although I preferred the front end appearance of the 85-86 models (before GM switched to composite headlamp modules).
premium compacts?
I feel the same way. I prefer the composite style lights more myself but i always thought they were handsome cars. They had nice lines and weren't like all the other round bubble machines on the road.
I always wanted one of the 85-87 models
mcqueenfanman The Cavalier/Cimarron/Skyhawk/Firenza/Sunbird were older and meant to slot in below the Skylark/Calais/Grand Am although dimensionally they were similar. As such, Chevrolet did not get its own model on GM’s premium platform (different from the J car platform) but, ironically, neither did Cadillac which retained the Cimarron until finally exiting the compact car business (widely considered a huge mistake since the ‘marron’s introduction in ‘82) by the close of the decade.
Yes, the Calais was a “premium” small car and definitely felt like it when it was introduced in 1985. Rather than a gussied up version of a cheap small car, it drove and rode like a scaled down version of a Detroit large car (think soft and comfortable). Unfortunately, GM priced these cars as though they were LeSabres and Delta 88s and when fuel prices began dropping, most Americans ran back to cars that didn’t just have the big car feel and style but actually WERE big.
The quad head lamps look better on the Pontiac Grand Am.
Thanks again-MW. An interesting reminder of the attempt by the U.S. market to catch up with the rapidly progressing foreign competition.
Yes I had one too,very quick for the time,after a while gave it to my sis,and bought 4 misubishi's,cordia turbo,1991 eagle talon TSI,a Plymouth laser,and finally leased another eagle talon!
I remember the Quad 4 engine well. At the time it was a huge development for GM and it produced much more horsepower and torque than the competition. That's why i never understood why it didn't sell well. Most people opted for the optional 3.0 V6 instead. By today's standards, the Quad 4 is a great engine. I wish US manufacters would produce engines like that instead of this tiny 4 cylinders with turbo chargers. The Quad 4 is a much more durable engine, not blowing head gaskets like modern engines.
Because people cried so much about the noise this engine made and it's lack of refinement. I second your feelings of hatred for modern turbo 4s
...yeah, people kept saying it's "too harsh" for a 4-cylinder. But they never talked about how harsh all the other 4s were at idle. 🤷🏿♀️
Kenneth.. I'm not so sure about your last sentence. Blowing head gaskets is something the quad 4 is very well known for and associated with.
Amethyst Deceiver that was a rumor spread by bad mechanics. The good mechanics realized that it was a TSB about the pancake batter issue, fixed it with a genuine GM part, and sent it out the door.
Once you replace the factory head gasket with a Fel-Pro gasket, you don't have any more head gasket issues.
I always loved the N body cars. When in college I had a 1990 Buick skylark with the 3300 v6. Put 200,000 trouble free miles on it.
Yeah my '87 Grand am had the 3.0 which is basically the same as the 3300 (batch fire mpi and no balance shaft) it had 147k when I bought it and around 180k when I sold it to my pot dealer. He was still driving it 2 years after I sold it to him before I moved away, I had no engine/trans problems whatsoever and neither did he
This reminds me of my 94 Cavalier V6. I regret ever selling it. I would do anything to find another one.
The second car I ever owned. Black with black interior, V6 and 5 speed. Bought it with around 45k miles and sold it with 170k, even delivered pizzas in it for a couple years. It was a good reliable fun car.
Man that door shutter when they close the door is typical GM quality.. wonder if any of them survived till now
Hey MotorWeek, do you have Season 7, Episode 1 from 1987, and the first episode to be taped outdoors, where the show was renamed "MotorWeek'88"?
4:08 tach is at 2500 with no key in the ignition
Typical GM interior quality for the era
As soon as you turn the key it will go pthpthpth back down to 0.
@@willbill808 Why does it park there?
Whats up with that lol
@@bilalahmed2123 It's a GM
Got a 1988 Olds Calais from my parents at 17 after my 84 Ciera died, had about 50k miles on it.
1. It did get up and go from a stop and could jump from 50 to 75 pretty good for a pass, but it made a lot of noise.
2. Leaky sunroof, no matter what I did. Always dripped on your lap.
3. Loved that it had intermittent wipers!
4. I am 6-3 and there was just enough room for 2 of us in the back so I gave that a thumbs up.
5. I NEVER got 30 mpg even if I did all highway driving at a steady speed, most I got was 27.
6. At 80-90k miles it started to fall apart. Door handles, wiper blades stopped working, radio knobs fell off, etc. I was so proud when I rebuilt the electric window myself, the only thing that was wrong was the button worked backwards.
7. Oh yeah, head gaskets. I went through at least 5 of them. Every time you hit the gas you were afraid one would go. Since I started typing, another has gone.
I traded it in for $500 when I bought a Nissan 200SX in 1997, and the Calais had 105k miles. Only $500? Trade in inspection revealed - you guessed it - a cracked head gasket.
Very good looking car.
Let's not compare a Celica GT-S to a Mercury Topaz.
Scotty Kilmer agrees👍📣
My father had a Grand Am with the quad four. One of the best engines in its day.
4:10 it's nice to see that a new calais had the same tachometer float up as mine did. I always thought it was odd that the needle would go up when the car was shut off.
Yup it seems the N Bodies had this.
I had a 1987 Buick Skyhawk that had the same quirk.
...stepper motor issue.
It was a very common thing in the Ns before '92, specifically the Calais with the Rallye gauges.
SO it was supposed to be that way? I have heard about this but i never knew if it was considered normal?
@@klwthe3rd yes. This cluster is from '85 itself, just updated in '88 to read an 8000rpm reading (Quad 4.)
The Iron Lung stopped at 6000 (5k redline), the V6 stopped at 7000 (5500rpm redline.)
These were nice cars. Especially equipped in early 90's with the smoother 3.3 Ltr V6. In 1991 you could get a Calais equipped with the quad 4 with ABS.
Years ago, I had a chance to rent a Calais with an automatic transmission for the weekend, it was fun to drive. Power was good, visibility was good from the driver seat, and if I remember, the gauges were lit up in blue. Body style was nice too.
This was such a great car back in the day that I would have (honestly) bought one new if I could have afforded it. My brother had the great good fortune of driving the Quad 4 show car, and I was totally sold on this tame production version.
5:07 John: THERE ARE ALSO NO REAR SHOULDER BELTS! LOL
Commonplace in the 80s to not have rear shoulder belts at least in the USDM cars I've seen/owned
butchtropic maybe American cars. Most Japanese and German cars had them
Most if not all GM cars received rear shoulder belts for the 1989 model year.
@butchtropic bullshit. Hell, my 1989 Olds wagon had 3-point belts in back!
@butchtropic My '85 Volvo had rear shoulder belts. GM tended to be behind on anything safety tech related.
I think I am the only one that loved the Quad 4 engine. I put 230,000 miles on my 89 Calais and never had any problems with it. Back then I thought it was so fast!!
An Oldsmobile with a manual, and a good looker, too. I'd love to find one of these in decent condition.
Hey if you’re serious. There happens to be one in upstate NY at the moment. Obv I have no clue where you’re located, but I figured since your comment isn’t that old I’d throw it out there. The listing I came across is what brought me here. Cus I myself am currently looking for a new fun/older ride so I wanted to learn more about this. Anyway, it’s an ‘89 (red) & looks like it’s in excellent condition. Super clean w only 62k. I’m sure you’ll see the listing if you search for it on Marketplace. If u actually see this reply go check it out!
@@deescott4810 Wow, thanks for the tip. I'm actually in central PA, so even the farthest point in upstate NY is still pretty reasonable. I'll definitely check it out. Has to be a manual, though, since Oldsmobile + manual is the main thing that gets me all excited about this thing.
4:30 Hearing the door shut made me cringe.
That is the sound of the window rattling in it's track because it's down and he slammed the door. The doors fit so nicely on these cars. They will shut with the push of 2 fingers. My Dad has had 2 Calais for 24+ years. Extremely fun and well built cars.
Agree, we had one for 20 years. Slow accelerating 2.5 but it always ran, never used oil, the car was smooth and quiet and everything worked. Took it on a trip out west and had it well over 100 mph for over an hour. Rode like a dream. Wife slept through it all.
@@robertbell525 "Had it well over 100 for over an hour." 😂
John Davis quit trying to church it up son, it’s was junk new. 😂
My first ever new from the showroom car was a Cutlass Calais (can't recall if it was '89 or '90). I wanted a Grand Am, but the insurance was WAY lower on the Oldsmobile clone, and I had a spotty driving record. I still have a lot of nostalgia for that car.
Mercury Topaz XR5. Did they make that for like 6 months? I never knew that even existed!
Had 2 of them, neat lil cars for the times...
I'm reliving my youth via MW-Retro and LOVING it!!! cant wait to find my 93 Altima or 85 T-Bird 5.0
Cool car, I alway's liked these 😀
I wish I was new car buying age in 1988. The wide array of cools cars to pick from was incredible. Just from Oldsmobile alone.
Of all the US brands at that time, GM seemed to try the hardest in going after the younger buyers that were attracted to what was coming out of Germany and Japan. They would deliver stuff like this that although had nice style and hit many of the performance benchmarks, it just did not have fit finish, feel and reliability of their competition.
At the time this car came out I owned an 88 Honda Prelude which was just a much better feeling and better designed car. There was no comparison on the reliability side, where in the Prelude all you ever had to do was replace basic items like oil and brake pads to keep the car going for 200,000 miles and it would still look brand new if you took care of it. I wonder how many of these made it that many miles without having a phone book of GM repair orders.
I'm speaking only to this era as I think they have finally gotten it right over the years as for the last 6 years I have owned a Cadillac ATS and can say that it is an awesome car, overall, the best car I have had.
There's a video somewhere where the Quad 4 was used in an Oldsmobile sedan, with a turbo. GM was cool back then, now they sell plastics.
The Calais/GrandAM/Somerset was some cool cars around that era, the Somerset had cool digital dash as the Grand AM looked sportier even the Calais was a cool car all had of them looked nice back in the day now these cars just don't exist anymore.
I don't remember ever seeing the Buick version of this.
@@dontelindsey5846 had a friend whose mom drove the Buick Somerset version.
I still see a whole bunch. Maybe you're looking in the wrong place?
I went through two head gaskets in the time I had my 89 but I still wish I had her!!! I miss that car a lot!!!!
When I first saw this car in 1988, I wish I had waited a year when I bought my Grand Am after sinking and totaling my Fiero
I love the pre-buckled seat belt option. 🤣
These were VERY nice back in their day. Those seatbelts though. That would be a dealbreaker for me.
2:31 this shift boots always caught all the crumbs
This is, by far, the best 4 cylinder engine of the 80s and 90s. Say what you want about Olds, but they knew their stuff. And this car was an absolute delight. And if you can find one in decent shape, they still are.
No, actually, it's one of the WORST. 50K without barfing up the head gasket was pretty good.
Then a year later Honda introduced VTEC and blew this out of the water.
The engine and setup looks similar to the 98 Sunfire GT with 2.4 Liters.
Quad 4, with boot on ignition coils, that's attached to a lid style cover.
That seatbelt arrangement is like a spider web.
Owned an 89 Calais with the quad 4 engine. Have to say that even tho the rear shock towers rusted out and the head cracked causing coolant to mix with the oil, it was a quick and fun little car.
My dad had this car when I was a kid
Gotta love that incredibly cheap-sounding door "clang" @ 4:32!
I remember having to replace that part he removed from the top of the engine, I believe, 3 separate times with my old 1997 Sunfire GT. Quad 4 had some punch but lacked reliability. Those passive seatbelts were a giant pain in the neck - literally - back then, too.
More power than the Japanese engines....meanwhile in the scrap yard a couple years later, the Quad4 powered cars wonder what could've been if the head gaskets hadn't blown so early on, better luck next time...oh yeah, there wasn't a next time, while all those Japanese engines were racking up 250K++ going down the road!
~stares in 140k mile '93 High Output Quad 4 with OEM head gasket~
Now what had happened with head gaskets? 🤔
Ive haven't seen a honda, toyota, subaru, or even suzuki from this era in over a decade. I just seen a calais about 2 weeks ago just cruising around. With a Quad 4. Head gasket issues were a myth.
@@TyEiraMarieMorrisonOsteen you might have the only one.
@@Lrules364 horse shit.
Ouch, the fender and door alignment...typical GM of the day.
My grandmother had this exact car 5 speed and all. Scrap it in 05 after she passed
I had a 1988 Grand Am with the Quad 4. My first new car and it was a fun car. That engine rocked for 10k it was a great car for that time period.
I had a N Body, it was a 1990 Buick Slylark Limited 2 door coupe with every option, it had the Iron Duke 4 and it was a great car.
It's not broken, that's typical GM from back then. Needles float up with the key off. Turn the key on and they return to 0.
I had a 86 Calais. Solid car pretty good pep for what it was
This car looks very cool. The vertical rear windshield is very cool
It was just a cheap design.
"too much power" lmao
wheel hop and torque steer, still a problem in powerful FWD cars
Freak wheel drive and frameless .
Too much power for a front wheel drive. Not "too much power" like he is scared of it
My sister had a 5 speed Calais , I drove it every time I could.
I wish the quad 4 could have been more reliable. They would have been magnificent boosted.
I always loved these 😍☺️
Passive seatbelts? That couldn't be further from the truth! They attack you like a great white shark!
I remember the International editions, a friend’s parents had a Cutlass International, I think also 88.
From the Cutlass Division of GM
Anyone remember they made a 442. version of these ?
Yes they made the 442 for the 1990-1991 model year, it would be the last Oldsmobile to ever have the 442 Badge.
Yes, yes I do and it had a "W" code too and made 185 hp IIRC. 4 4 2 still worked here, 4 cylinder, 4 valves and 2 cams🛎🛎
Yes.
There were two versions of the Quad442: '90/'91 W40 (regular High Output Quad 4) and the '91 W41 (W41 High Output Quad 4.)
The regular W40 made 180hp, just like the regular High Output Quad 4s. There were 2,629 '90 W40s and 1,364 '91 W40s. The W41 added 10hp (racing camshafts and intake) and saw 204 '91 models built.
The Quad442 was replaced by the Achieva SC/SCX in '92, before the W41 version disappeared entirely after '93 and the High Output Quad 4 disappeared entirely after '94.
@@TyEiraMarieMorrisonOsteen You know your Quad 4 facts! Awesome!
Yes, My dad has one, and also has a 91 I-Series H.O. coupe 5 spd.
Kulank! No solid sounding thunk of the door closing there.
Hits were radial tires, by 88', didn't ALL cars have them🤔
Remember it's Gm what we are talking about
Not in the 215/60/14 size!
"14" alloy wheels"
Whoa, step back Jack!
Growing up we had a 85 Calais with the Tech 4 🙄. Nice car don't remember it ever in the shop for repairs. In 89 traded for a Beretta.
Miss that ropes course limbo move you had to do for the 80s/90s automatic seatbelts
Had one. 88 5 speed manual. This car hammered. I bought it with 80000 miles and put 35000 more on it before selling it. I did end up putting a new clutch in at 100000 miles. I miss that car.
Just can't find these kind of cars around anymore. Would've loved to have owned a Calais International.
Guys stop making so many vids private PLEASE! We all want to watch 'em too.
Back in the early 90's i had two friends with Pontiac Grand Ams they got roughly around the same time. One had a quad four, and the other had a V6. Take a wild guess at who was getting a new car a year later?
my first car was an 89 cutlass calais in maroon color. it was fun-ish, but that damn computer was always glitchy.
This drivetrain should have gone into the 1988 Fiero before a Fwd coupe.
Jesus I do not miss those seatbelts. I do miss the good ole days of being able to get a vehicle with a manual!!!
I owned a used, Olds Cutlass Calais 2 door, Quad 4 auto.
Not sure which year it was, but it was around this test car - though not quite as loaded (though close).
Just about everything they said here was exactly what I experienced owning the car.
It was nice, reasonably comfortable, peppy and good value.
But there was lots of torque steer and the motor got buzzy if you revved it up.
☮
I had a 1990 Beretta GTZ with a 2.3 Quad4 that put out 180hp from factory.
I had the 1998 Pontiac Sunfire GT with the 2.4 Liter Quad 4.
I still have a Early 90's Cavalier, both the the 2.2L and the 3.1L.
The 3.1L Cavalier Still Runs very well, although body needs new paint job and some rust spots repaired.
For the 2.2L Cavalier, I am going to put in the early 2000's Grand Am GT 3400 engine in it.
That part that they took off of with the cam cover needed replaced 3 times in 3 years on my old Sunfire GT. I know that Quad 4 had good output but from my experience at least, it was a maintenance problem.