Oldsmobile Intrigue

ab348

I met Darwin Clark in 1997 at Oldsmobile's Centennial celebration in Lansing. He was the Olds GM at the time, having taken over from John Rock, who revived the brand in the early-mid 90s.

At the time, the feeling me and my pals got about him was that he wasn't sincere about keeping Olds going. He was subsequently replaced by Karen Francis, one of GMs infamous "brand managers". Now we see he's in charge of burying Olds. No surprise to me. The ultimate "corporate man".

oldsman01

Those taillights on the Altima(and the whole rear end) is one reason I probably won't consdier one. The cheap looking interior is another. The motor and tranny combo are nice though, but a loaded SE 3.5 really gets up there in price. To close to RWD Cadillac CTS territory.

dindak

C$32798 for a totally loaded Altima or C$39,900 for a CTS 5-speed. Not that close.

Still, the price does get up there when loaded.

vcjumper

I think the new '03 Mazda 6 looks better than the Altima (and any of the new sedans arriving within the next year). Looks like they will have red tailights for the NA version. The CTS, which is shaping up to be a nice car, is just too out there, too "Please look at me!" for my taste. I prefer the Aurora and STS, or current Bimmer and C-Class looks, classically handsome.

dindak

Mazda 6 is very nice looking. Probably the best looking sedan I've seen since the Intrigue. The real test there will be performance, but it looks promising. I heard one of the engine options is a Ford, true?

vcjumper

modified from the taurus 3.0dohc much like the jaguar and lincoln 6 cylinder.

evandro

I check it out at NAIAS. I liked the styling and the room, but fit and finish are as bad as they get. The dashboard, console and headliner plastics had barbs all over, I could remove the A and C columns linings, the door gaskets were falling off, etc. One can argue that it was an early production run or that it had been beaten up by those at the show, but if it's so bad from the start and can't stand hard use, to me, it hints that Ford hasn't been doing its homework.

tomcat630

She used Olds as a stepping stone to bigger things. She bragged how she "lowered the average buyer age". Big deal, she acted like she designed the cars herself.

oldsman01

Fully loaded Altima SE 3.5 with 5 speed is over $28K and a CTS starts at $29,990. Granted the base CTS will lack some of the Altima's extra features, but not alot and the CTS is a RWD car. And it's a Cadillac not not a Nissan.

mirth

I agree with evandro - the Mazda 6 was very unimpressive inside. Frankly, I thought the exterior was pretty boring, too. And I had liked the photos of it I had seen on web sites.

dindak

The Altima must be a lot more expensive in the U.S. then because C$33K is tops for the Altima up here and CTS starts at C$39,900. Current FX rate is C$1.58 to buy a US$.

vcjumper

Really the new Infiniti G35 is in the same segment as the CTS.. Starts around $28K USD and is RWD/260hp.

buzzard4

The lower price in Canada may be due to over-supply. I have a friend who is looking to get an Altima, and the dealer he talked to is looking to buy a bunch of them built for sale in Canada. Apparently he said they'd get a great deal, and the only noticeable difference would be the metric gauges. Maybe they're just not moving north of the border.

evandro

Isn't this one based on the Altima and is, therefore, FWD? I saw an Infiniti with the same body as the Altima, but with different front and read end and appointments...

vcjumper

Is based on the Skyline platform not available in NA until now.. RWD.

dindak

You see lots of them around so I'd say they are selling fine. The price I gave you is list, not a selling price. My buddy paid pretty close to list for his so I don't think there is over supply.

vcjumper

I'm in the middle of getting the front STB done by RSM, should be done within a couple of weeks. They have measured everything up. Chrome bar with black mounts. $150 Cdn or $95 USD or so. Will post here when it is complete and they can make more. I'm looking forward to a bit of smoothing out of the ride when going over expansion joints and crummy pavement at 20-50mph.

oldsman01

Is RWD and not based on any current US Nissan model. It looks to be a decent package, but don't let the 260 hp number fool you. We all know about Nissan hp numbers. I like the CTS better than the G35. Load up an Altima SE 3.5 with leather, Bose, sunroof, HID headlamps and your at $28K. Add slushbox and traction control(and autobox only option) and your at $29K. Granted a CTS at $29K will lack the sunroof and Bose sound system, it is still a well equipped car and is RWD.

b4z

It is not nissans hp numbers that are suspect it is the bad gearing in the auto tranny. First gear is pretty tall. This is why the nissan's don't get off the line well.
Their cars with manuals are pretty quick. Just look at the sub 6.3 sec. times for the Altima.

winter9

I was surprised to actually get a JD Powers new vehicle questionnaire in the mail. I purchased my 2002 Intrigue on Dec 8th and they wanted to see if I have had any problems and if I am satisfied.
My first 2600 miles have been very good ones. The only minor complaint I have so far is the hood does close tight enough. When properly shut, I can get the hood to move up and down about a quarter inch (.7 cm for you Canuks ). It does not rattle at speed, so I am going to wait to get it looked at. Does anyone know if this is adjustable? My wife's car's (99 Intrigue) hood locks down tight as a drum. That was the only "problem" I noted in my survey.
BTW, this week I encountered the rare type of winter weather conditions where I really needed the heated mirrors. With snow/ice plastered to the mirrors visibility was almost non-existant. My wife's car has the heated mirrors - they sure do come in handy for those few bad weather days.

dindak

Having a snow/ freezing rain here in the Toronto area today also. Intrigue drives through it well.

I got a JD Power survey 8-10 months after we bought our Intrigue. Love filling them in.

jg28

Who would want to drive those boring things? Don't they look boring? Especially in comparison to the brandwide "love ya need ya got to have ya" ads we see from Cadillac, GMC and Chevy. Oldsmobile's ads are so bad it's embarassing.

I think people are right about the badging. Remember Aurora never did have an Oldsmobile badge until the new one debuted in 2001. I think their approach was that they wanted to rid themselves of the Oldsmobile brand identity altogether and just have the cars stand out, which is admirable but it wasn't done right. Look at VW. No Volkswagen on the road says VOLKSWAGEN anymore. It's just the familiar VW symbol. If done right, Oldsmobile could've done this with their insignia and it wouldda been fine. But they didn't.

oldsman01

I'm glad my Intrigue has an Oldsmobile badge on it. I always thought that was stupid of them to come out with totally new models(with new nameplates) and not put a brand badge on them. The first generation Aurora never had an Olds badge and the Intrigue and Alero didn't have one their first year other than that tiny bit on the taillamp lense. If I can find a nice "Oldsmobile" plate for the front, I'd be tempted to mount one as TN doesn't require front plates but the dealer went ahead and put the bracket on with their dealer plate. I like the dealer, but I don't care to drive around town advertising them. First thing I did when I got the car home was peel the dealer stickers off the rear.

one2one

I actually like the new commercials. Quick shots of the vehicles, flashes of cars from their "best side". They're more exciting that anything I can remember coming out of GM (I like horns :-) . More importantly, the theme is consistant across the brands. Cadillac doesn't have a different theme than Buick. And I think that's good for the company as a whole.

Speaking of commercials, I like the Dodge commericals with the F-16s and red Dodges spinning and flipping. Hopefully that will help their sales as I hope the GM ads do. GM and Chrysler are the only domestic brands I will consider because I like the way they look and I fit into fairly well. I hope they make the Charger. Saw it at the Auto Show... what a machine!

evandro

My Alero '99 had Olds' badges between the headlights and taillights, but "Oldsmobile" in the rear panel only later.

dindak

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2002/01/25/dealers.htm

tomcat630

The new Olds logo was only familiar in Automotive circles. GM didn't familiarize it and it is still unrecognized by general car buyers.

dindak

I love the modern Oldsmobile logo. I remember seeing it for the first time in Motor Trend back in 1996 or something. Always thought it looked very sophisticated and modern.

jg28

with that blue red and yellow and tiny shots of the vehicles with people saying "why are thousands of people buying oldsmobiles?" Explaining instead of showing. I don't like em.

I too like the rocket insignia. I didn't even know it was called that before did any of you? It makes sense though. It looks like a rocket blasting off into space, and it leaves the atmosphere so to speak. My friend doesn't like it though and I know several who think it's boring. I've never liked the font that Oldsmobile is written in. It looks sissy, especially in comparison with the big and bold slanted INTRIGUE on our cars. I only wish my radio didn't have that ugly, dated Oldsmobile on it.

Although a new font might make me change my mind, I'm glad I don't have a big OLDSMOBILE anywhere outside the car. I think a lot of cars are OVERbadged and I'm glad ours aren't.

If I had a complaint about the rocket insignia, I would say that it would've been good to include the name of the brand within the symbol, perhaps rounded, all caps underneath. What I love about Nissan's insignia is that the brand is readily identifiable that way.

tomcat630

The font for the current Olds badge is the same as the late 70s!

jg28

EXACTLY! What has always puzzled me is why they didn't update the font when they updated the insignia. I think the Intrigue,Alero,Aurora and now Bravada fonts look great. OLDSMOBILE would look great in that font.

oldsman01

In my opinion, alot of car commercials are really dumb. Hondas and dull and boring just like their cars and Toyotas depict life in a fantasy world(hot chics savoring a dorky looking guy in a Camry) and Mitsi ads have terrible music. Dodge ads are decent and Nissan has improved theirs, but most car ads just don't impress me. Show me the car and let me hear that engine! Thats what a car commercial should be like. Olds' new ads are okay, nothing special but at least they are finally advertising although it's a bit too late. I keep watching those ads closely to see if I see my name in the list of buyers that scrolls by in the background.

dindak

oldsman : Toyota has the worst ads for sure. I like the Mitsu ads though, very hip.

vcjumper

Old's ads could have been good when the Intrigue first came out and it was winning comparos against the older design competition (instead we got those sophisticated twist on a sports sedan spots that left lots remembering the slogan but not the car). Too bad the performance numbers were not worth advertising (since just about any midsize v6 sedan can do 8.0 0-60 and 16.0 1/4 times).

I think Nissan and VW have the best ads currently.

oldsman01

The ideal Intrigue ad would have been one with the car doing what it does best. Engine at full throttle(sounds better than the music in most ads anyway) and the car hustling down a twisty road or highway. The original X-files ads back in 98 were decent, but they seemed to be promoting the movie as much as the car. BTW, anyone ever see that movie and if so is the Intrigue in it alot? I'm not a big X-files fan and have never seen the movie, but if the Intrigue has a starring role I might rent it sometime.

b4z

Yeah, but think how much character the intrigue has. Kind of like a high maintenance wife or girlfriend.
Makes you appreciate it more when things are going right.

You could be driving a "perfect" accord.

i will be looking into the Infinti G35. The impala is still running flawlessly, but is not quite as exciting as the intrigue was.

coonhound

That's about the most intrigue bashing I've seen on this site.

b4z

No just an owner of a '99 with the noisy suspension package. Mine had it too.

I understand the '01 and later cars ride better due to changes in the struts.

swagled

I guess I may just be getting used to the steering wheel sounds because I don't notice them as much as I used to. Maybe I don't have that "it's a new car and it shouldn't do this" feeling, since I've put a year onto it!

I live in southern Cal where it rarely gets below 50 degrees F, and I have headlight flicker. So I don't think cold as too much to do with it. I tend to see it after blasting into high RPM, and I tend not to, when I just let the car toodle along in 4th gear.

But there are exceptions to both of those situations!

No problems with the brakes. I get this feeling this really may have been a 98-99 only issue... nobody else here has complained about brakes in a while either.

I still fantasize about getting my windshield replaced, to free myself of the distortions on the left edge. (I've actually taped a piece of cardboard there to stop me from looking at it so much!) I keep wondering if I tossed in another $100 to the dealer, if that would tempt them into replacing it under warranty.

Would I buy another Intrigue, if this one was lost? Possibly. GM still doesn't make anything else I would be interested in.

However, I don't bother to accrue GM credits on my card anymore. I want to feel like I have more options, next time I'm shopping.

My advice to people today would be to stick with the '01 and '02 models when shopping. You may as well get the added insulation and strut mods, if you're going to put up with the other little problems which were never fixed in the design.

dindak

I have never got the flicker if temps were above freezing. It's always in cold weather. I would have thought you would be ok.

Sat in a 02 Intrigue yesterday at the mall (a GM dealer had some cars on display). I would love to get the new design RDS stereo as it has a much more modern look and feel to it. Otherwise the 02 is almost the same as my 00.

jg28

I was astounded at how little the car was used in the X Files movie. It was not their "main" vehicle, the movie made it seem like a rental and was only used in Texas where they were investigating some situations there. Plus, they didn't even use black, which would seem a natural for the XFiles. It was silver. I wasn't even into Intrigues or Oldsmobiles back then but knowing about how much they (Oldsmobile) hyped the appearance, I would imagine they were nothing but disappointed in the results.

oldsman01

I remember the Olds ads that were tied in with the movie showed a black car and I certainly think that black would have been a better choice for the movie. Anyone see "Get Carter" with Stallone? His black STS practically had a co-starring role in that movie. I love the part where the chase is on and you actually get to hear the Northstar at full throttle. Would love to see a good car chase movie with an Intrigue. Just hope it doesn't get all shot up like Stallone's STS did:) Anybody remember Demolition Man and the cherry red Olds 442? Nothing like the sound of a fine tuned V8 engine.

jgriff

Mitsu; "All alright, are you in baby".

How about Mazda's "Zoom Zoom Zoom" very short, to the point & catchy.

Coonhound: I never completely left, buzz by every now and then, chirp in a bit. It always make dindak's day.

dindak

Any one see the Cadillac ads last night? I thought they were pretty cool. Not sure if they lived up to the hype, but the last CTS ad (where the car changed colors) was the best IMO.

jgriff : apparently the Intrigue will live deeply in your soul forever.

ab348

How did you get to see the ads? Here in N.S. the Fox signal was blacked out in favor of Global's feed, which was absolutely atrocious -- and had no Caddy ads.

I thought that blackout policy was in effect throughout Canada?

dindak

I have both DirecTV and Star Choice satellite which both carried direct feeds. I can also pick up OTA signals from Buffalo. CRTC forces most operators to only carry Global though.

oldsman01

I'm just not a Barenaked Ladies or Republica fan. I'd prefer to hear a car's engine, but again since Mitsus have pretty crappy sounding engines to begin, I guess the music is a good thing.

oldsman01

I took my car in this morning to have "the flicker" checked and also to have an occasional abrupt shifting problem looked at. My loaner for the day(and this evening) is a 1990 Olds Eighty-Eight. Talk about a car from a different era. Wire wheel discs, whitewall tires, 4 speed on the tree shifter, and a speedo that stops at 85. Had her up to 70 on the freeway and I'm not sure you would want to drive that car faster than 85. Can we say suspension by Sealy:) For a car which was designed during the era of the double nickel national speed limit, I guess it's not too bad. At idle, the interior of it is tomb silent and under acceleration you hear more from the exhaust pipe than from the engine compartment. It's hard to believe this car shared the same chassis as my 89 Touring Sedan did, the T-sedan's saving grace was it's FE3 suspension and much better interior. Whats hard to believe is that those old Eighty-Eights sold by the hundreds of thousands every year, yet Olds couldn't sell of fraction of that many Intrigues. Whats wrong with this picture? Anyway, I was told a part(assuming the alternator) is expected in tomorrow, so I'm stuck with the loaner overnight.

cabowabodude

While heading back from the superbowl party the other night? The darn head lights were going NUTS again!! The wife was with me this time, and she could not believe how bad they are! It has been in the teen's here in Wisconsin, and the lights blinking like a 70's Disco club!! I have a 99 with 55K now, and it is time to get new brakes (I drive alot of highway miles) did anybody put Aftermarket pads/rotors on? I may look at doing this. I am not sure, how good it would be to Turn down the rotors I have now? Another question for the room, why don't we have speed controlled radios. I have one in my 99 Tahoe, and it is GREAT!! Also has anybody put in a new alternator after their 3/36 was up? I may have to go this route if my Disco lights get any worse! I kid you not...sometimes it seems like the lights go almost off....how bad is this?

b4z

Buy that car down in Florida. Aren't the property taxes cheaper down there?