One of my favorite parts about cars is that they are more than machines. The story of people and their cars is sometimes better than the story of the car.
Thomas wrote a GM Hit or Miss on the Oldsmobile Aurora. DMod65:
I had a first-generation Oldsmobile Aurora back in the early 2000s, and it was a fantastic car. At that point in my car enthusiasm, I was still rooting for the domestics, and I loved that I could get the same G-body platform as the Riviera and Seville (complete with a Northstar V8) at Oldsmobile prices.
That Aurora treated me well, too. It had about 160k miles when I sold it, and in the 80k miles I owned it, the only major issues were a cracked radiator and a failed fuel pump. Not bad for a car that ambitious.
It’s a shame things didn’t work out for Oldsmobile. The original Aurora was a bold, forward-thinking car that really hit the mark, but GM fumbled the follow-up. To this day, I still have a soft spot for the first-gen Aurora, as well as the Riviera from that era.
These days I get my grand touring fix with an early R129 SL powered by the M119, but honestly, the Aurora’s powertrain wasn’t far behind in refinement. The Northstar V8 has a well-earned reputation for trouble now, but back in the day, it was shockingly competitive.
I spent my early 20s motoring around in that Aurora, listening to that smooth quad-cam V8, surrounded by spaceship styling and a surprisingly comfortable, futuristic interior covered in buttons and bathed in cool blue backlighting. No regrets at all.
It wasn’t the best car ever made, but it was interesting, distinctive, and a genuinely great place to spend 80k miles and most of my 20s. It makes me smile seeing them get a little recognition now.
Jason wrote about a new Xpeng robot that has boobs for some reason. ShinyMetalAsp:
“MY OPTICAL VISION SENSORS ARE UP HERE.”
Rang:
In fairness, even Data was…how should I put this…fully functional.
Matt wrote about how GM might make regular cars again. NC Miata NA:
Perhaps GM could use this platform to create a new kind of vehicle: something with the lowered ride height of a sedan for improved handling and aerodynamics but combine it with the long roof design of a SUV for additional cargo capacity and practicality. A vehicle like that could have widespread appeal.
The could call it something like a Worldwide Automotive Globally Optimized Nexus or even shorten that to W.A.G.O.N.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Even though I do love the 1st gen Auroras, especially with the Autobahn package. I just remembered a very strange (and terrifying) story about a 1st gen Aurora.
I had a roommate who was dating a nice gal who grew up in a very rural part of the state, and she had a 90’s metallic green 1st gen Aurora that was in mint condition. It had never had any issues, never been in an accident, and was a hand me down car.
One day, she drove ~1 hour on a 75mph speed limit interstate, then turned off to her exit and started on a dirt road. While driving on the dirt road, completely out of nowhere, BOTH AIRBAGS DEPLOYED. She didn’t hit anything, no large bump/pothole, etc…
And keep in mind she was like 5ft tall and maybe 100lbs. The thing that’s terrifying about it is, what it if had happened on the interstate (just minutes before) while she was driving 80 mph vs going much slower on a lonely dirt road? They never did find out how/why it happened, but was happy that nothing happened to her.
We had the opposite experience with our Aurora. My dad bought a used ’95 in late ’97. Emerald green, with the Autobahn package. It was quicker and handled better than any front wheel drive car had any right to, especially one that big. But that thing was a complete piece of shit. It was always broken. The rear air strut compressor broke AGAIN while on vacation in Florida, and my mom lost her shit and spent half the vacation shopping for its replacement. That was the last time she ever let my dad buy a car for her.
It was also wildly space inefficient. The front passenger area was comically narrow, due to hugely thick doors and crazy wide center console that wrapped around the driver.
Hmm…what terrible engines these had?
It take 8 quarts oil to change.
Sounds about right. Hmm…oil consumption galore…
My boss at the time had one. He was so excited to get it. It was a great cruiser – for someone like him that put on a ton of times, it was the perfect car. Stylish, quick, quiet. Not perfect, no.
The biggest issue with the Aurora is that like with too many American cars – especially GM cars – the automotive press sandbagged it. They would compare it to cars it wasn’t even trying to compete against. God forbid a car is designed to be a comfortable cruiser, the automotive press will still try to shoehorn it into being a nimble 4-door sportscar. It wasn’t a canyon carver, but had more sportiness than most buyers would ever use.
One of my exes had an Aurora. Her dad bought it for her as her first car.
I don’t remember it ever getting plated, but the back seat was comfy.
The W.A.G.O.N. comment reminds of Adam Something suggesting passenger pods should be connected for efficiency and run on rails.
Did Silicon Valley reinvent the train again?
Yes, about 3 months ago
Unrelated to cars, but also about reinventing the wheel:
There’s a great video out there somewhere of how to optimize people buying bottled water; essentially:
Imagine you could have bottled water delivered to your home, on demand?
For efficiency and reliability, we’ll build a dedicated transport system only for the delivery of bottled water, straight to your kitchen!
To make sure you never ran out, there would always be bottles ready to go at every single step in the delivery process.
Then, to reduce your cost, we’ll allow you to use refillable bottles at your end, and we’ll eliminate the plastic waste along the way.
We’ll call it a “municipal water system”.