How is the 2000 Oldsmobile Alero?

[Chaotic42]

A friend of a friend is selling his father's Oldsmobile (See what I did there?). It's a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero. It's a 4 cylinder with the LD9 engine. It has exactly 100,001 miles on it. Friend 1 above is a Service Manager at a GM dealer and said that the only thing it needs is a wax.

The guy is asking $2500 for it.

I currently drive a 1995 Mazda 626. It's not much, but it just hit 160,000 miles and all it needs is a new exhaust manifold and a catalytic converter. It has served me well. I'm thinking about selling it to another one of my friends since he just needs a beater.

Therefore and forthwith, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 2000 Oldsmobile Alero. I notice that there are some technical issues on Wikipedia (Here). Has anyone had any experience with this?

I appreciate any comments, especially about the sheer awesomeness of the Mazda 626.

 

[ggnl]

I drove a 2000 Alero for about 5 years. It had around 85k miles on it when I got rid of it. It was very mechanically sound when I had but it eventually started to develop some problems. I'm not sure of the cause but it had trouble starting sometimes (I gave it to my father, he reported the problems to me. It ran well as long as I had it.) To my knowledge it never experienced any of the problems mentioned in the wikipedia article.

It did have a fow non-drivetrain problems though:

1. Later in its life the car developd a shudder at highway speeds that multiple tire shops were unable to resolve. Definitely test drive it at 70+ mph.

2. The power windows were horribly unreliable. I had ZERO funtioning windows for the last 18 months of ownership. They were all fixed multiple times while the car was still under warranty and a few times afterward but at the rate they failed I couldn't justify the cost of keeping them operating. Not sure if the problem is endemic to this model or year but you might want to ask if the car has a history of broken power windows.

 

[nakedfrog]

Personally, I like domestics, but I don't think I'd go with that car. I'd just keep the money on hand and stick with the 626.

 

[JulesMaximus]

An 8 year old Oldsmobile Alero? I wouldn't give you $250 for it.

Hell, you could probably find an Aurora for $2500.

 

[bruceb]

Would not touch it with that many miles and only a 4 cylinder motor. With mileage
like that maybe $200 max

 

[boomerang]

If you trust the opinion of the friend I'd say go for it. A car at that price that doesn't need any work done to it, would be a good bargain.

Too may fanbois here to get an honest answer from most of them.

 

[alkemyst]

Many have said that if the Alero came earlier it may have saved their ass. It's a nice car, but it really depends how those miles went down and how the maintenance was kept up. I have found cars owned by the GM's and SM's are usually very well maintained though. For $2500 that's a pretty cheap car...not sure what blue book is on it though.

100k is decent mileage for a 2000...

 

[sniperruff]

it's cheap but yes it is known to have multiple electrical problems. i'd try and find a more reliable car like the ford focus.

but if your friend says its fine, then it's a good small mid-size on the cheap.

 

[Throckmorton]

They're good cars according to the car magazines of that era. It's based on some Opel.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
it's cheap but yes it is known to have multiple electrical problems. i'd try and find a more reliable car like the ford focus.

but if your friend says its fine, then it's a good small mid-size on the cheap.

I am not sure if you determined this from just googling 2000 alero, but if you enter ford focus electrical problems you will see about the same amount of hits.

 

[getbush]

I'd stay away from it. It was a sister car to the Grand Am, a total piece of shit. You can do better for the money. Another 626, protege, or altima of the same vintage. Keep the 626 longer and save a little more. Not a fanboy, GM makes some decent cars now but the Grand Ams/Aleros of 8 years ago are about bottom of the barrel.

 

[alpineranger]

I think the powertrain of that olds should be pretty reliable, but I don't understand what you have to gain from swapping the mazda for it. If I were you I'd buy the oldsmobile as a second car if you have the money to spend, but given how gm products tend to have niggling reliability issues with miscellaneous parts, I think it might be a step down in some respects.

 

[DougK62]

If that was kept up it will be a nice car. The Twin Cam engine in there is very reliable - its Quad4 predecessor was the one with issues. They are not known for having any electrical issues as the one poster in here states. The only thing I would check well is the suspension - they had some problems with coil springs cracking, and if you can't do that work yourself it could be expensive.

Nice car, but I'd stay with the Mazda if it's been reliable for you. If it ain't broken don't fix it!

 

[Mermaidman]

$2500 is too much. That's the range for Olds Intrigue, a better car, although it has the same window regulator problem plaguing GM cars of that era.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: ggnl
I drove a 2000 Alero for about 5 years. It had around 85k miles on it when I got rid of it. It was very mechanically sound when I had but it eventually started to develop some problems. I'm not sure of the cause but it had trouble starting sometimes (I gave it to my father, he reported the problems to me. It ran well as long as I had it.) To my knowledge it never experienced any of the problems mentioned in the wikipedia article.

A friend of mine used to own one of these. Many of the GM cars from that era (her Alero included) had big problems with the anti-theft Passlock system going bad and preventing the car from starting. Hers wouldn't start about 50% of the time. Good thing is, there's a relatively easy fix for it that involves bypassing it completely - IIRC you have to wire in a resistor to certain wires in the ignition lock.

Google "alero Passlock" and you should be able to find the fix.

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Originally posted by: ggnl
I drove a 2000 Alero for about 5 years. It had around 85k miles on it when I got rid of it. It was very mechanically sound when I had but it eventually started to develop some problems. I'm not sure of the cause but it had trouble starting sometimes (I gave it to my father, he reported the problems to me. It ran well as long as I had it.) To my knowledge it never experienced any of the problems mentioned in the wikipedia article.

A friend of mine used to own one of these. Many of the GM cars from that era (her Alero included) had big problems with the anti-theft Passlock system going bad and preventing the car from starting. Hers wouldn't start about 50% of the time. Good thing is, there's a relatively easy fix for it that involves bypassing it completely - IIRC you have to wire in a resistor to certain wires in the ignition lock.

Google "alero Passlock" and you should be able to find the fix.

I remember having a similar problem with our 1998 model year GM. The car would not start (no cranking, no nothing!), but if I waited about 15-30', the problem would go away. It happened very rarely, like 3-4x a year.

 

[Sniper82]

Not a bad deal IMO. My GF drives a 2000 Grand Am with a 4 cylinder and she got it at 86,000 miles. Gave $6,000 for it back in 2003 and now it has 156,000 miles on it and is still going strong. Only had to do normal maintenance and change the fuel pump. I heard a Alero was pretty much a Grand Am with a little different body style. Everyone told her once the engine hit 100,000 she would have all kinds a problems(my a$$). Granted it could go tomorrow but she has got her moneys worth.

I would buy it as long as fluids/areas checked out and it drove/sounded good.

 

[Sniper82]

Originally posted by: Sniper82
Not a bad deal IMO. My GF drives a 2000 Grand Am with a 4 cylinder and she got it at 86,000 miles. Gave $6,000 for it back in 2003 and now it has 156,000 miles on it and is still going strong. Only had to do normal maintenance and change the fuel pump. I heard a Alero was pretty much a Grand Am with a little different body style. Everyone told her once the engine hit 100,000 she would have all kinds a problems(my a$$). Granted it could go tomorrow but she has got her moneys worth.

But I would buy it as long as fluids/areas checked out and it drove/sounded good.