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NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

THE 1993 Oldsmobile Achieva is available as a two-door coupe or four-door sedan with a choice of three four-cylinder engines and one six-cylinder engine. Standard
equipment on the base model includes anti-lock brakes, power steering and a five-speed manual transmission. A three-speed automatic is optional. Inquire about the

Olds Achieve at Dick Irwin Chevrolet Oldsmobile, 845 Marine Dr., North Van.

Olds Achieva

GM’s import-oriented compact remains distinctly North American in character

TEST DRIVE

THE OLDSMOBILE
Achieva (formerly Cutlass
Calais) is one of a trio of
General Motors compact
cars to receive new styling
and engine options in the
past year.

The other two, the Pontiac
Grand Am and Buick Skylark,
have been variously praised and
criticized for their unusual and

46 The Achieva offers two features that
most imports don't: standard anti-lock

brakes and four engine choices. 9¥

aggressive styling. The Oldsmobile
Achieva, however, has more sub-
ue and elegant lines built inside
and out, and leans towards an
‘import’? look rather than a
*sdomestic’’ look. ’

Oldsmobile has made no secret
of its intention to attract import
buyers with the Achieva by com-
paring it directly with popular
import models in its advertise-
ments.

While the Achieva is more im-
port-oriented than many domestic
cars, offering a simplicity of styl-
ing, an improved ride, a quieter
cabin, and more refined
powerplants, it remains distinctly
North American in character.

The interior controls, appear-
ance, fit and finish, and road feel
are still quite different from Jap-
anese and European automobiles.

Since import buyers don’t cross
the fence to the domestic camp

very often, it will be interesting to
see if the Achieva can lure many
Honda and Volkswagen owners,

The Achieva offers two features
that most imports don’t, however:
standard anti-lock brakes and
four engine choices.

ABS is now standard on most
GM cars, an excellent value con-
sidering that the braking systems
used to cost an extra $1,500 a few
years ago. ABS is an invaluable
safety aid for maintaining steering
control and preventing wheel
lockup under heavy braking con-
ditions.

GM is the first volume = car
manufacturer to make ABS
standard or available across their
model line, and it's fikely that
most other manufacturers will
follow suit in the next few years.

Four engine options are avail-
able depending on which model
you chouse.

The Achieva is available as a
two-door coupe or four-door
sedan in three trim levels: S, SC
and SL.

The base S coupe and sedan
come with a. standard 115-
horsepower 2.3-litre overhead-
cam four-cylinder engine. This
engine has been refined for £993,
and is now quieter during every-
day city and highway driving. It’s
only under hard acceleration that
it becomes noisy, a condition you
can live with if you shift the
standard manual five-speed
transmission below 4,000 rpm.

The shifter is quite smooth,
with fairly long throws, an im-
provement over earlier GM stand-
ard transmissions.

An optional three-speed
automatic, with column-mounted
shift lever, is a quiet, smooth and
competent transmission.

However, I’m surprised that the
Achieva is not available with a
four-speed automatic, since most
other cars in this class are avail-
able with then.

Acceleration with the base
engine is adequate for this size of
car, but if you want more grunt,
you can move up to the Achieva
SL with a standard 155-
horsepower 2.3-litre ‘Quad 4° or

See Achieva page 32

Price as tested $15,923
Base price $15,398
Type four-door,
passenger sedan

Layout transverse
engine/front-wheel drive
Engine 2.3-litre four-
cylinder, SOHC, multi-port
fuel injection

Horsepower 115 @ 5,200 rpm
Torque 185 Ibs-ft @ 5,200
rpm

Curb weight 1,221
ibs
Wheelbase
in.

Length 4,772 mm/187.9 in.
Width 1,716 mm/67.5 in,
Height 1,350 mm/53.1 in.
Tires P185/75R 14 all-season

five-

front

kg/2,691
2,627) mm/103.4

‘radials

Fuel economy city 10.2 L/100
km, 28 mpg; hwy 6.2 L/100
km, 46 mpg

Warranty three years/60,000
km