[Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Had to fly to Cleveland for a family get-together over this past weekend. Needed to rent a car while there, and when I got the Cleveland airport, my choices (@ National via Priceline.com) were Chevy Malibu, Mitsubishi Galant, or Olds Alero (all considered "intermediate" size cars by the car rental companies). National has this "customer choice" thing now - they send you out to a row of the size cars you have chosen, all with keys in them, and you can choose whichever one you want. Well, I had rented a Galant before (nice car, but like most Japanese cars, IMHO, rather bland), so I decided to go with either a Malibu or Alero, since I hadn't driven either before. When I sat in the Malibu, the driver's seat was too low for my taste (not that I'm short - I'm 6'2") and could not be adjusted upward. Also, the seat was very lumpy, not a good indication for long-term driving comfort. So I chose a low-miilage (8600) 2001 white Alero with grey leather (!) upholstery and power driver's seat - obviously not their base model.
I was looking forward to this rental, since I had read and heard that Oldsmobile had finally got their cars "right" as "import-fighters" just as GM decided to pull the plug on Olds. Well, I should not have gotten my hopes up. My overall evaluation of the Alero is a C-/D+ grade. At first I was impressed by the firm ride (sort of "European", I thought), but after about 10 minutes of driving, I was depressed. The ride was firm, all right, but it had no ability to damp out bumps. Every tar strip, concrete patch, pothole, etc. began to feel like a punch to the kidneys after about 15 minutes of driving. This harsh ride probably wasn't helped by the low-profile 16 inch tires on my car. The seat was firm, too, which I normally like, but it had a non-adjustable lumbar "support" that was actually about 2 inches higher than my lumbar region and was so big and unyielding that after about 15 minutes I thought I had a brick in my back.
Handling was good. The suspension didn't allow much body roll on turns, and the steering was very precise (didn't need constant correction). Funny thing about the steering, though, the power assist worked the opposite of what you want - not enough steering assist at low speeds and parking (felt like a non-power steering in these situations), and way too much assist at highway speeds, to the point where the steering was overly sensitive to any steering inputs on the highway.
The engine (GM's 3.1 litre V-6? I didn't have time to look) was peppy, slightly faster off the mark than the 2.3 litre low-pressure turbo in my '96 9000 CS. But it was a NOISY sucker! Very buzzy at anything above 45 mph, to the point that 65 mph got annoying after about 20 minutes of driving, and anything faster was worse. This seemed strange to me since the rpms of the Alero were relatively low at 65mph (around 2000 rpm), and I wouln't have expected that much noise at that low an rpm level. All this engine noise may have been the result of lack of adequate firewall sound insulation, although since this was their "upscale" model, you'd think that that would have been taken care of. The automatic transmission was typical GM, smooth and unobtrusive, but designed to shift way too soon to the next higher gear (for "economy"?). Going up a hill, it would constantly shift up, then shift down, then up again, then down again, etc, with the accompanying changes in engine noise and car speed. I would have much preferred that it shift down and stay there until the top of the hill. Of course, there was no "sport" mode or "winter" mode on the transmission, although it did seem to be a 4-speed unit (does GM even make a 3-speed auto trans anymore?).
Exterior fit and finish seemed actually quite good. I'm not a big fan of the Alero styling, but it certainly is better than the Pontiac Grand Am, its sister car. Interior fit and finish was also above what we used to see on American cars, but not as good as on SAAB and other European models. The leather seats looked very well made, and the door panels, although probably vinyl, actually looked like the leather on the seats - quite nice. The biggest interior problem was the dashboard. It was made of large quantities of the typical GM hard plastic parts, which really look cheap - it cheapened the whole interior. There seened to be a general lack of sound insulation, however, as lots of road, tire and engine noise got into the car's cabin and became annoying after a short time of driving at higher speeds.
The contols on the dashboard/steering column were poorly laid out - there was nothing intuitive to finding them, with the result that the entire time I had the car (3 days), each time I wanted to use a function such as headlights, washer/wipers, dash illumination dimmer, etc, I had to consciously pause in my driving thought process and try to remember where these controls were located and how to operate them. This becomes a driver safety issue. Not at all like a SAAB, where there is logic to where the controls are located and how they operate.
The biggest problem with the interior was the space design. Remember, this is a car that has about the same exterior size as a 9-3. The interior was cramped, with almost no headroom over a 6'2" driver - if the car had had a sunroof, I wouldn't have been able to sit in it. The backseat, based on my briefly sitting back there, would become a torture chamber for any adult sitting there after about 10 minutes - seat too low, not enough leg room, my head rubbed the headliner (I'm 6'2" remember), arm rests too low and at the wrong angle, etc., etc. The 9-3 interior is like a cave compared to the Alero's. But the worst body design feature, by far, was that the top of the door openings were so low that a person of my height would have to remember each time getting in or out to duck his head or it would bump painfully into the top edge of the door opening. Maybe I have a poor memory, but I collected quite a few bumps over the three days because I forgot to duck my head enough.
A few safety-related comments. The car appeared to have some type of a "traction control" system - there was a button to push, and when you pushed it, a "trak off" light appeared on the dashboard. The front seatbelts were adjustable up and down and actually quite comfortable - didn't have a chance to try the rear seatbelts. The car had daytime running lights (those miserable GM high-beam type that some people forget to turn off at dusk, bliding on-coming traffic as a result). Brakes were excellent - appeared to be 4-wheel disks, although this may be an option on normal Aleros. Tail-lights were HUGE! Anyone who can't see these shouldn't be driving. They had (I think) amber turn-signal bulbs in them, which I like because they are easy to see in contrast to the red tail and brake lights. The headlights were clear (meaning un-faceted) and plastic (like the 2002 9-5) and were TERRIBLE! The low beams' pattern on the road was all over the place, with lots of hot spots and dark spots, not the even distribution of light you would like to see. The high beams were worse, making one small "hole" of light out ahead of the car, and everywhere else on the road was dark (to be fair, this may have been the result of poor high beam aiming). The car had front fog lights, but they were all but invisible when switched on.
So there you have it! My quick and dirty review of my three days with an Olds Alero. Is it an "import-fighter," as Olds and GM claim? Not by a long shot. Did Olds finally "get it right" just as GM pulled the plug on them? Judging by the Alero only, I don't think so. The Alero is hard-riding, internally uncomfortable (at lease for this 6'2" driver), and noisy compared to its Euopean and Japanese competition. Is it a good deal, given the incentives and 5-year/50,000 mile warranty that Olds is offering? That's a subjective decision that each person has to make, but for me, the answer would have to be, No. When I got back to Philadelphia, my 5-year old 9000 looked and felt awfully good to me compared to the Alero. Best of all, when I got in it, I didn't have to duck my head!!
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
