Oldsmobile Silhouette

in Oldsmobile
Please continue discussing the Olds Silouette van
here.
Here is a link to the past discussion:
Oldsmobile Silouhette Any Opinions?
Thanks!
KarenS
Vans host
here.
Here is a link to the past discussion:
Oldsmobile Silouhette Any Opinions?
Thanks!
KarenS
Vans host
0
Comments
Any additional intelligence on this subject would be appreciated.
dwg
According to Motor Trend online's future vehicle forecast, the Silo is due for a "Facelift" in 2002.
kevinvsr
Which minvan is the best for towing??
Any Opinions? We have never done minivan shopping before!
Thanks Alot(Tim M.D.)
dwg
bigfig
Thanks
Tim M.D.
Two weeks later the "Bandaids" fell off and our car was back in the shop, this time they decided to try another method to fix the problem.
One month later right before our 1000 mile trip, car started stuttering and spitting. We informed GM that they either replace the transmission or give us a new car. Finally we have a new transmission. Car has been o.k. since but I still feel a little uneasy on long trips. I really do not have a lot of faith in the car and would not buy another GM Van.
Our seatbelts started tearing from wear where my childs carseats are anchored. The seatbelt in the second seats have worn at the upper anchor of the seatbelt. This is a little disconcerning. Has anyone else had this problem????
Good Luck with your vans, hope they hold together better than mine!
I make one simple argument: One cannot make the blanket statement that one car is better than another. That is simply one individual's opinion. In fact, "opinion" is almost all you will read in these sites - personal opinions and/or experiences. I take almost everything I read here with a serious grain of salt... On the other hand, I would not want it any other way. I want to read the good and bad. I look for patterns in what people are writing about. I will draw my own conclusions from there.
Personally, I hate to read when people have bad experiences with cars. It does nothing but make us waste lots of time, energy, and patience; not to mention money.
As for my experiences, I have owned vehicles from Ford (2), GM(1), Honda(1), Nissan(1), and Mazda (1). I have had generally good experiences with all manufacturers except one (I'll let you guess which!) and, unless the economics dictate otherwise (e.g., they offer to buy it back), I will not buy another vehicle from them. The Olds I owned was a 1989 Cultass Ciera. Drove it for 10 years and 150000 miles. The only non-scheduled maintenance item: had to replace the radiator at 87000. Had a serious case of rust, and yet, if I had not had twins I would still be driving that car.
I will be buying a Minivan probably within the next two years. Until then, I will read, read, and read...
Enjoy!
2004 Honda Accord EX-L Graphite Pearl
2007 Honda Civic EX - Atomic Blue
2013 Honda Civic LX - Crimson Pearl
FWIW, i've too found all manufacturers make good and bad vehicles. The reliability variances between them all are really quite small.
Except for the ford and chrysler tranny problems, i think they're all about the same.
We drove to the parents to visit over the weekend. It rained Sunday evening (van parked outside). While loading the van this morning, we found that the floor mat (behind the third row of seats) was soaked. It appears that the water came through the "hole" where the wiring goes from the van to the liftgate. The wiring is inside a "rubber hose" for protection, but the water appears to have gotten past the boot and then dripped from the rear most dome light...
the Dealer "hasn't seen this before"... they are going to start figuring it out tomorrow...
We took the vehicle to dealer on Monday evening. They fixed the rubber hoses / rubber boots on Tuesday and water tested it (found no leaks). I washed it Tuesday evening and it leaked in the same spot but ran down the rear most side pillars. I returned to the dealership with it on Wednesday morning and had to get "hostile" with dealership to get their attention.
They "fixed" it again on Wednesday and water tested it again. I washed it last night and could not get it to leak from what I could tell. I voice my opinion with the Service Manager this morning that they should have worked on all four ends and not just the ends of the hoses that attach to the rear of the vehicle.
suggestions... make sure they take both hoses apart and put them back together (all four ends) and insist that they use silicone sealant on the various parts when putting it back together.
notes... I have called chevy customer assistance and voiced my concern regarding the general design (or lack of design) regarding these rubber hoses / rubber boots. The 1998 and 1999 Venture / Silo / Montana have different hoses with different boots (a neighbor and brother-in-law have not had any water leak problems with their 1999s).
I hope you have better luck with yours than mine.
harsh@mtco.com
Thanks for any information.
if you drive the van infrequently or short trips
water builds up with in the muffler. That being said if you look at the rear(back) of the muffler you'll see theirs a little hole towards the bottom
to drain any water that may have accumalated. It's design this way and it sounds theirs nothing to worry about. It's to save the muffler from rapid corrosion. My 99 Montana has the same design
and it leaks water because it's driven once a week
mostly short trips. It dosen't have a chance to reach full operating temperature which requires a min. 16 km (10 miles) one way to avoid this leaking on a daily basis.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Easter!
Brad
Does anyone know if GM has officially responsed to the POOR rating given to its line of minivans?
brought my van back last thursday to the dealer and showed them your message concerning your problem on your Venture. they also had never seen this on any silo or venture since they are both a chevy and olds dealership. They water tested while I waited for the van to be serviced. they showed me that the water was going thru the boots and running to the left side of van exiting between the panels of the air inflator. they sealed both boots with silicone sealant and water tested again. No Leaks. The next day I washed the van and also could not find any leaks. Hopefully all has been solved. I also called Oldsmobile customer assistance and made them aware of this problem so they can inform their design dept.
My latest discovery is that someone failed to put tray in for the ash tray.Since I am not a smoker,did not even think to look at the ashtray compartment when I picked up the van. Was more interested in seeing that there were no scratches on the body,tears in the leather and other major things. How we can overlook some things.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19961121/news02533.html
Be sure to check out the topics crash tests and Oddy vs silhouette for recent discussions on this subject. One crash test does not a safe car make.
Thought something was caught on the roof rack.
The weatherstripping had come out from around the front windshield, and was flapping on the roof.
It looked like there was no adhesive/sealant on the top, and little around the sides. Dealer fixed
right away. Getting great mileage. Seems like you go forever on a tank. Will update in a few months.
In any event, other than thinking about the test from time to time, couldn't be happier with the van. We went to Florida from Chicago (2,800+ round trip) in late March. Entertainment system is great for long trips, with or without kids. Seats are comfortable. Especially liked battery saving feature when I left an interior light on after pre-setting radio stations in our garage. It's a nice idiot feature. Engine and tranny seem excellent. Another nice feature is built-in air compressor. Agree with other comments that the range is unbelievable with 25 gallon tank. We haven't had any problems so far. Would recommend this van to anyone.
Thanks alot!!
Brad
We got our Premiere on 12/1/99 and absolutely love it. The traction control works great in the snow. The van is quiet, handles well, and gets great gas mileage. We find the leather seats are comfortable too, whether sitting in the front, middle or rear rows. Spend the extra money for the heated seats if you get leather, it's well worth it! Last, but not least, is the video system. We're glad we got this as we recently made a round trip from NJ to Detroit with a 3 and 6 year old. The video system made the long drive enjoyable. We set rules for our kids on when the video is allowed to go on, so they know what to expect.
You're right, it's maddening.
I miss the old days when you could buy a round or square headlight, install it in two minutes, and be done with it.
I don't know this to be true on GM's it was the case on my 90 Chrysler.
#1. Since when is backing into poles not "unusual". I would suggest learning how to drive first...
#2. If you do wreck your vehicle, I would hope that your insurance would pay for the repair as opposed to having that money come out of your pocket (I would hope). Given that, how much would it cost to insure each vehicle in the stat that I live in (Minnesota) through the larget automobile insurance company in the U.S. (State Farm):
With identical coverage on both vehicles-
2000 Silo GLS $492.15 every 6 months
2000 Ody EX $570.63 every 6 months
#3. Since you are obviously an Ody owner or advocate, may I suggest you use the appropriate forum under which to express your opinion. That would be #1037 - Oldsmobile Silhouette GLS vs. Honda Odyssey EX.
And no, I dont own a Silo or Ody. I am looking to purchase soon and have been doing my homework for a good nine months. I am glad people have opinions and are winning to express them; I just wish they would do so under the appropriate venue.
2004 Honda Accord EX-L Graphite Pearl
2007 Honda Civic EX - Atomic Blue
2013 Honda Civic LX - Crimson Pearl
I have been interested in buying a silo but the consistent nagging question of quality persists. For example, in regards to the Silhouette and her sisters (Venture and Montana) the Popular Mechanics website states "...from behind the wheel they're unpolished--even crude. Their interiors are noisy, the ABS groans... and the plastic in their interiors is awash with flash and ill-fit..." and I can quote others. From reading past posts I know that I don't dare quote Consumer Reports here, LOL!, even if I completely trusted them. This conflicts with statements from owners who like their vans...a lot! I guess I've been doing so much research that my head is spinning from the arguments and different opinions.
Allow me to explain the logic behind my previous post and clarify my question. Part of the official GM response to the IIHS frontal offset crash tests was that this particular test shows a very rare, "UNUSUAL" kind of accident; I believe the number was .0004% of all accidents. OK, sounds fine. I think people are focusing to hard on that one particular test. The test I reference is about the vans being hit (or something hitting the van) at 5 mph. As the IIHS-HLDI website states, "Bumpers should protect car bodies from damage in low-speed collisions, the kind that frequently occur in congested urban traffic. But many don't."
I firmly believe that fender benders and low-speed collisions are indeed "not unusual", at least in comparison to frontal-offset crashes. I know that cars are designed to absorb a certain amount of the crash and therefore some damage should be expected. However, for a van to inflict $560 of damage from this (note I said "ludicrous") much less $2,600 is to me frustrating and amazing. I may be the eternal pessimist, but maybe my Dad is right in saying car companies do this on purpose to make money in their repair shops!
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********** My question is: Is it unrealistic of me to expect that a minor fender-bender should cause a minor amount of damage/cost? Or is this a reflection of poor design and/or quality? Does this then reflect overall on the vehicle and possibly the manufacturer? If I pay $25,000 for a van, shouldn't I expect it to maintain integrity (pieces not fall off within a month of purchase, not be in the shop for a week because a moped hit it)? If I pay for the bells and whistles (or in this case, the audio and video system) is it likely to malfunction or be of poor quality? I know that every car line produces the occasional lemon, but are they lemons or overall flaws? Am I just THINKING TOO MUCH? LOL...insanely...********
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Wholigan, you are being rather naive if you don't think the insurance money is coming out of your pocket one way or another. The more the insurance companies shell out to repair your vehicle, the more, ultimately, we all pay in premiums! They'll also want to use aftermarket parts to trim costs. Low premiums for a silo are a good point and one that has been mentioned several times. That's one of the reasons I've been looking into buying one. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone personally who has owned one, so I have to rely on others for input. (I know lots of Caravan owners, all of whom have replaced their transmissions before 50,000 miles, but that's another forum.)
[BTW, I have been in 4 accidents in my life. The first was at age 16 when, ironically, I did indeed back into a pole (I can explain that it was dark and there were no rear-view mirrors in the car I was driving, but it was still not my proudest moment). The others were when I was t-boned at high speed by a car thief running a red light (my first new car *sob* sustained $14,000 damage but I just had a sore neck); rearended by someone going 50 mph who mashed me into the back of a van (I walked away from my utterly destroyed mid-sized sedan with 1 small scratch and gave birth to a healthy baby a few months later); and rearended again--this time in my husband's new car--by someone with no insurance (I was at the time taking my baby to the hospital for surgery, yet another gloriously crappy day). You don't have to explain to me about accidents, insurance co-pays and premiums, LOL!]
I deeply apologize for what could be perceived as posting an "Ody vs Silo" point here; since those were the two vans we were considering at the time of the posting, the numbers jumped out and stuck with me. Please allow me to rephrase the statement:
"If you do it [back into a pole or other object or get rearended, etc. at an extremely low speed] in a new Quest, you'll pay @$240 (which I consider ludicrous), do it in a Silho and it's @$2,600!?!! Criminy!!!" Better?
You know, "I am glad people have opinions and are winning to express them; I just wish they would do so under the appropriate venue." I also wish they would do so somewhat politely and without jumping to conclusions!
In no way was I trying to attack you! I found it a little odd that the crash tests got mentioned, kind of out of the middle of nowhere, and then you had to use the O word...
No dissertation - just a couple of comments...
The driving comment was a cheap shot. I am sorry.
"Is it unrealistic of me to expect that a minor fender-bender should cause a minor amount of damage/cost?" No.
"Or is this a reflection of poor design and/or quality?" Is this a fair statement? Can you correlate the quality of the vehicle with the how the vehicle performed in a bumper test?
"Wholigan, you are being rather naive if you don't think the insurance money is coming out of your pocket one way or another." All I did was relay the quote that was given to me by State Farm - nothing more - nothing less.
You are correct; we are in a similar boat. I will be buying soon either a Silo or Ody. I am fighting with myself because I have had an excellent ownership experience with an Oldsmobile (see #11 above). I am really tired, however, of the pro-Ody crowd and their insistence on how they have the best minivan in the world. This vehicle has been out for less than two years!
All I really wanted to do was make the case for the right post in the right venue. You gave me the opportunity so I took it - Sorry if it came off as abrasive!
And yes, I probably would not have posted a thing if you had used the Quest comparison... ;-)
Happy Researching!
2004 Honda Accord EX-L Graphite Pearl
2007 Honda Civic EX - Atomic Blue
2013 Honda Civic LX - Crimson Pearl
We chose the silo cause the driving experience suited us best. The interior concerns raised by pop mech are so absurdly petty.
Folks, draw your own conclusions based on your own experiences and stop tormenting yourselves with this silly rheotoric.
It's so much easier to find the vehicle you need by ACTUALLY sitting in it and driving it!
The insurance rate differential is true. So why sweat the higher bumper repair expense on the silo when the NET cost to you is the same, no, actually cheaper due to lower premiums?
I see the 'cheap plastic' statement comment made on the GM frequently, I must not recognise cheap plastic when I see it, because I've owned a GM for over 2 years and like the interior and nothing has been broken of wacked out of alignment. It is ironic to see PM alledge the GM is noisy, since I believe it is PM that publishes sound pressure levels that say it is a quite vehicle.
Spending $25K is a lot of dough for most anyone, but it is suprising how people can latch on to little things and let it bias their decision. Probably the most amusing thing you will find here in the Vans conference is a 30 post discussion on the best cupholders.
If price will be a factor, figure the Ody at list and the GM at $200 above invoice for comparison.
So what are you waiting for?? Go out there and drive a Ody and GM, don't listen to anyone on the internet, they're all nuts (except for me).
Problem is we only have 1 car and husband has it at work until laaaate plus Saturday, and dealers are closed here on Sunday. Stuck at home with the kids & Web, no wonder I'm going nuts, unable to get out, actually look and compare.
(Unbelievable irony but last night we decided against an Ody because we couldn't see/test one; this morning dealer calls to say they are on the lot, $500 down and drive it away!)
All of this may be lucky timing for us, though, because there are such unbelievable interest rates right now. If we are getting a NEW minivan with full warranty, that calms my nerves.
My focus on the bumper test is because 1) no one else seemed to notice it, 2) the price differences were so big! 3)to me it is representative of the manufacturer's attitude: "Toss them some cupholders and they'll be happy", 4) previous posts were arguing over validity of 1 test. Well, here's test #2, again not in favor of certain vehicles. Trend? Despite my crash record (all in Honda's, BTW) I'm not obsessed with the crash ratings, but these are my kids I'm thinking about. I need as much help as I can get to keep them safe!
Again, we all pay for the expenses incurred by insurance companies. It eventually comes out of my pocket one way or another; this maybe goes under the same heading as good fuel economy or environmental friendliness.
I need to test drive and find a dealer I'm comfortable with. (Hah!) I totally agree with the keep things in perspective, and in the right thread. wholigan, "venue" is an interesting choice of words, BTW. Makes me think of hockey rink, boxing ring, and that isn't far off the truth around here! So we'll see what happens today.
At 0.9% for 0 months, there was no other choice.
BTW, we've got 1800 miles on our 2000 Silo GLS and love it. The power door (we have 6 and 9 yr olds, plus a 7 month old) is so convenient that the driver side rear door is rarely used (just when I wash the van). Of course, I rarely get to drive it... Overall, it's a big improvement over the 1993 TranSport we had, where if you were over 5 feet tall the last row of seats was off limits.
My parents have a 1999 Silo, and I seem to see more and more of them on the road each day.
Keep us posted..........
http://www.silhouettevan.com/default.asp?section=silbb
We're looking to buy one of these three for various reason. Winstar/Seinna/MPV was to small, TC,GC, (Ody is a RipOff) very plain inside and out, Magic seat isn't all what it is to be. Rather have fold and roll chairs(better option)
Any how if anyone can help understand why is it that most on SILO do not have Tranny problems, few on the VENT, but alot on the MONT, why is that one model would have more trouble than the other when the engines are the same. Any insight/information/opinion would be grateful.
Thanks
Joe
I was wandering why since the engine as you too say are the same?
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/engaged/edmund.cgi?c=Vans&f=0&t=1302
It was a dogfight between the Olds and the Pont
Well we've settle on the Montana. I find the the eight seat was more agile then the Captains Chair although I love the captain chair to, the only problem with it is it does not flip and fold. so if I was to haul a plywood (4x8) i would have to take all the chairs out. but not so with the 8 seat because they all fold down.
We were going to get the Video deal with the Montana, only to find out I can't believe they are charging 2750.00 for it, looks like I will head to the aftermarket and get the same product for 1200.00 installed. Unbelievable at how the try to rip you off on this.
again I thank everyone's information.
Joe
Used the web to narrow it down to 6 which we test drove. The interiors of the Windstar, Caravan and Voyager were awful for the money; we hated driving the GC. For $500 more invested in details, these could have been sooo much nicer. Seems like almost all the used vans have huge mileage! It was down to the new Sienna or Ody because the Silo was too expensive, but then we found this used one. It was the best option we had. If the Ody had a split rear bench, well...
I'm not completely thrilled with the interior, several places where plastic parts are cheap and/or have to be replaced under warranty. But with the extended warranty I'm a lot more comfortable and I'm definitely relieved to have a used van with some scratches and marks; 3 kids under 7 would trash a new van too quickly, LOL!
Thanks everyone with advice. See you on the road!