BangShift.com Review Of The 1988 Cutlass Shows A Good Car Bad Engine

Whereas the Oldsmobiles of the late Eighties and into the Nineteen Nineties made superior trying drag vehicles (and nonetheless do!) they didn’t precisely come out of the gate flying in 1988, particularly the Cutlass. Gross sales have been down in 1988 and the corporate was rolling out the brand new entrance drivers to switch the basic RWD choices that had outlined the model eternally in an effort to seize youthful patrons in search of extra fashionable vehicles. The “Worldwide” variants of those vehicles have been the extra sport/driver centric meant variations and the 1988 Cutlass had most of the issues that might attraction on that entrance. Slightly extra physique cladding for appears, handbook transmissions for enjoyable, and suspension programs designed to favor dealing with greater than they’d previously have been good however th energy was the issue, particularly for the Cutlass Supreme Worldwide.

Somewhat than have the rowdy Quad4 or the extra torquey and highly effective 3.8L V6 within the nostril, this automobile has the weak-kneed company 2.8L V6 engine and that was no bueno. You’ll see and listen to the MotorWeek reviewers have some good issues to say about this automobile however all of them form of come to a screeching halt after they get to the engine. Anybody who ever drove one in every of these engines in any of the stuff that GM threw them into, particularly the Camaro can attest to the warbly sounding V6 being underwhelming at greatest and downright unhappy at worst.

We love the appears of those vehicles and actually nonetheless do. This video is a superb instance of how nearly all of the stuff in a automobile may be proper however one essential component can ship the entire works down a much less favorable path as soon as the secret’s switched on and the gasoline pedal hits the carpet.

Press play to see this MotorWeek overview of the 1988 Olds Cutlass Supreme Worldwide