Mindful Musings

Jennifer, my girlfriend, owns a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero which was a steal. The car looked nice and compact, it was nice and responsive and came with a lot of bells and whistles. When she had purchased the car, Oldsmobile was touting low prices and low interest rates to compnesate for their eventual demise. However, they had mentioned something in their commercials over and over again which did not strike me as strange at that time. They kept (and still do) talking about how they would provide service and parts for their vehicles well after Oldsmobile is officially no more. I now understand why parts and service are so important.

That is because the latest Oldsmobiles are very poorly made. Period. As a simple example, here is what is happening with Jennifer’s car right now. I had (stupidly) pulled out the bench rear seats to put on a seat cover and had expected the seats to fit back in their slots once I was done with the covers (just like any other car that I have ever removed the seats on). Alas, that was not to be. I got one side to fit in snugly and the other side clip was just way too comlicated for a rocket scientist like moi. I tried many many different combinations for the clip and the rung that fits inside it. After failing miserably, I tried to pull up the side of the seat that had seemed to fit and in doing that, I broke off the other clip. I was left with one broken plastic clip, a loose seat and a sweat on my brow.

After resigning from the effort, I decided to invest in some literature on the car. However, I found out that Haynes has stopped making service manuals for Oldsmobiles that are built after 2000. That was not surprising in some ways. Next I decided that I should probably purchase the clip that I broke. No surprise that I cannot get that clip anywhere else but at the dealers’ or at a junkyard. I am dreading to think how much a couple of plastic clips are going to cost me, but that is news for another day.

Moral of the story is that before you buy an Oldsmobile, without taking my word for it, do yourself a favor and ask around. Ask Oldsmobile owners what they think of their cars and how well they have lasted. Even better yet, check out some reviews for Oldsmobiles on the web. You just might change your decision to purchase that particular brand of cars.