1995 Oldsmobile Aurora | Retro Review 

I worked at an Olds dealer when these things hit the market. They were sharp, competent, modern, fairly well-priced... and stayed absolutely anchored to the showroom floor.

Love this car. The Aurora engine dominated Indy racing at this time. A very underrated future collectible car.

I've had the pleasure of owning one of these beauties back in the day! I've owned a few Oldsmobiles in my lifetime such as the Cutlass Supreme, Intrigue and of course the first gen Oldsmobile Aurora. That car is still my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. I ended up selling mine and bought a Chevy Suburban in it's place for more cargo room. I would love to own one of these Auroras again if I could find one in decent condition. Being behind the wheel of one of these was like being inside the cockpit of an airplane. The way that the dashboard was laid out was next level. 👍🏾 Damn I miss that car! GM definitely created a one of a kind vehicle that was way ahead of it's time and I'm glad that I had the chance to have experience that.😊

Way ahead of it’s time design wise. Always thought the Aurora and Riviera were cool. Tragic it was discontinued.

Crazy to think in 1995, you could find the Aurora and the Cutlass Ciera, a car that was designed in the 80's on the same dealer lot.

When I worked at GM in the late 1990s, these first-generation Auroras were "the" hot item. I loved them since they were very nicely shaped, well-designed, solid, and nothing like any other GM car at the time. Olds really took it up a few notches. I preferred to drive Auroras a lot more than driving the Cadillac Sevilles, DeVilles, and Eldorados. I'm leaving out the Cateras since those were just embarrassing. One thing that really struck me was how cramped Auroras felt in all positions. I'm a smaller guy and the driver's position just was right there around you. Same goes for front passenger and definitely rear passengers. Felt almost like a compact car inside. Yet, everyone still loved them .. they were just that good for their time. We called the 4.0L the Baby Northstar. I am not 100% sure, but I think the Aurora was its own platform and not shared by any of the other GM Divisions. Unfortunately the second generation Aurora was very unremarkable and I believe was just another shared and rebadged platform.

Saw one of these in the showroom in 1996 priced at $34k (about $60k today), which was the most expensive car my 14yr old self had ever seen 😄. My dad was deciding between the Aurora and a Buick Roadmaster - he went with the Roadie. The Aurora was a great car for the time, reliable and futuristic, not traditional. My dad learned how to drive on a 1959 Fleetwood so the Roadmaster was a better fit. We had family friends that bought a new 1996 Delta 88 which was also a great car.

I remember when these first came out.. Aurora & the Mazda Millenia were my favorite styled entry luxury cars of the 90s.. they’re designs & presence on the road were just brilliant .. for it’s time ..

I always wanted one of these . And now I can’t find one that isn’t run down locally . It was always a beautiful car to me and the designer who came up with it has since passed . It’s still one of my dream cars

One of the most beautiful rear ends of any affordable car from the 90’s.

This car still looks good! I remember driving on I95 and seeing one overtake another car, 2 puffs of black smoke out the tail pipes and it was gone! 💪

One of my most favorite 90’s GM vehicles of all time. I was fortunate enough to be able to review a Deep Emerald Green over Neutral Beige Leather (how much more 90’s can you get?) Aurora that was well-equipped. Found it to be a most impressive automobile, despite it being almost 30 years old!

Thanks for the review. I spoke on this car as well. A very unique vehicle for its time, indeed.

This was my first car at 16. It was used and had 150000 miles, mostly road, but I loved it.

I still remember seeing the ad of this car when i was 4 /5 years old, mind was blown. There was nothing looks like it in my country, very good looking car. Sadly not really much on the road right now.

The new Lucid Air looks like an Oldsmobile Aurora to me.

Love these cars, hope they had better electrical systems and head bolts. I had a 96 Riviera; local shop cannot replace the window weather strip because GM didn't make em anymore. The turn signal stalk had problem and caused the wipers to stop intermittently, and it wasn't interchangeable with other GM cars. And the 4T60EHD gave up at only 86k miles even I never stepped on it. I wish GM could build these sturdier.

Futuristic styling, even by today's standards.

I remember consumer reports back when this came out gave it a "design demerit" because if the fueling door was open and you opened the back door it would scrap/hit the fuel door.

I bought a 97 when it was a year old. Loved the speed, looks and luxury. However,it was a mess with electronics problems, ivory colored leather started flaking in about a year and air conditioner vents were very flimsy. Traded it in on a Mercedes C ...it was smaller and less luxurious but was much better sorted out than Aurora was. I kept it for several years. Still, the Olds was a beauty to look at.

Looking at these old drive tests you realize how many regular sedans had V8 power under the hood in the 90s.....and they were probably smoother than any V6 of the time...

I first noticed one of these in a parking lot not too long ago and was dumbfounded. The taillights were what really stood out to me. I had never seen anything like it!

Always loved these. A genuinely beautiful and well thought out car.

This was another GM car that looked like one of the concepts. The riviera and the reatta are two others that come to mind. The first gen was very cool.

Always had a soft spot for the Aurora. It had its angles.

Still looks fresh and futuristic in 2022

I think this may have been the best looking sedan of the 1990's. When this came out, it really was sexy and turned lots of heads. I remember my father looking at buying one, but the price was almost like buying a Mercedes. I believe a loaded one stickered around $40k. I heard they had lots of quality issues, typical of GM cars that were cutting edge.

Upload a review of the 2nd gen Aurora

*I’ve always loved that car!*

A car before it’s time. beautiful!!!

I have a 1995 Aurora with 59,500 miles on the odometer - going for a drive today. Actually, the Riviera with the 3.8 V6 supercharged engine was very stylish too - and the engine was more durable. Northstar engine needs TLC.

Beautiful Car! Greetings from AUSTRIA :-)

I had a '95 and I loved it. Sadly it had a ton of issues, including a blown motor at 65,000 miles/ My father had a1999. He had issues in the beginning but were all covered by warranty and repaired promptly. He racked up a ton of miles on that car and had zero issues.

Looks modern and fresh. Even today!🎉

GM bubble cars of the 90s. They had some awesome concept cars back then. Liked how many of them ended up in Demolition Man as futuristic vehicles.

Beautiful then, beautiful now.

I'm suspecting John is the voice behind in-car warning chimes :) 0:43

The Aurora was one of Oldsmobile's very last cars that you'd see in good numbers on the road. It's styling looks something like a modern-day 1966-69 Toronado with European contemporary styling.

I love the aurora, as beautiful as its princess namesake! Love its sleek curves and Mk4 supra like interior!

If I could go back in time I’d have one of these in white, a Chrysler Concorde in black and a dodge Dakota in blue. All bought new off the showroom in 1995.

Crazy to think 15-20 years later and my 4 banger crossover have the same performance as this thing lol. Those damn old 4 speed autos killed so many cars potential no matter the brand it seems

I look forward to the review of the next gen aurora. I heard there were issues with the rearview mirror in this car that distorted visibility. Was that a thing?

Absolutely stunning car!

At 5:51 does the music sound very similar to Donna Summer's "The Wanderer"?

Innovative car. Also, a nightmare at every turn. Very GM.

I loved my 96' Aurora and at the same time I realize having a grill might have allowed the engine to run coolor. 🤦🏽‍♂️

I've had the pleasure \ misfortune of owning 3 Auroras, a 96 and two 1997 models. They typically last around 180 K miles. They ride very comfortably, and get 17-22 mpg. If the engine overheats, it's done. You absolutely need to use 93 octane Premium gas. The 244 ci. engine is 10:85.1 compression. They'll do everything on the 140 mph speedometer. If you disconnect the rev limiter, they still pull past 140, if you keep it floored. I saw my 96 model pegged out at 148 mph. Don't think an Olds Aurora won't get with it down the interstate. It cost $5,500 to replace the head gaskets, not many mechanics will attempt that job. The heater core is bad to suddenly bust, filling the interior carpet with antifreeze. Replacing the serpentine belt is a nightmare--an all day job. If the transmission goes out, you're looking at $5,000--$6,000 to get it fixed \ replaced. The windshield cost $1,000 to replace. The traction control didn't work in any of my Auroras. You have to rent a special socket to replace the water pump. I'd like to have a new one, but I'll never buy another used Aurora.

I would still drive one of those..

I totally remember when the Aurora came on the scene it was very cutting edge for the times. It was like when the ford taurus came out very forward thinking and futuristic like America had arrived finally yay! I hope gm will get it's mojo back by producing cars people are actually excited about but unfortunately it's main priority is stupid electric cars nobody cares about.

This really was a solid value when it came out. Modern and original styling, solid fit and finish and a powerful V8 by 1995 standards. Even the name was cool. Instead of building off of its success GM basically killed the Aurora in it's next generation which lost all of these strengths.

I guess we can pretend like we didn't see the cheap plastic panel give way when the trunk button was pressed at 3:57

I had the predecessor to this, Oldsmobile Achieva......with the 3.3L V6

Who knew My Cobalt LT2 Coupe was even faster to 60 mph and 1/4 mile Aurora's were Dream Cars Definitely

That was a great looking car.

This is the standard Northstar V8...and this was the first of the new design language for Olds.

I love this car, I come to discover this model.

I have been toying with the idea of buying one of these for years. At some point I need to either do it or give up on it because There are only a handful for sale at anyone time

This was one of best GM cars of 1990’s. I was pleasantly surprised when I drove it. It was much closer to German sport sedans than other GM sedans of time. Very rigid chassis. The doors shut like German sedans. Suspension wasn’t sloppy GM. GM/ Oldsmobile had a really great product. Unfortunately because it had an Oldsmobile badge it never caught the attention of buyers of sport sedans. It was a pity. The Alero replaced the Aurora and sold in larger numbers, but it was a much, much inferior car . Back to GM business.

I'm not a mechanic by any means, but how did that engine breathe without a front grille?

The trim around the trunk and fuel door release that "moves" when you use those buttons shows how GM was still making cars cheaply in spite of trying to compete with the Japanese.

It’s amazing that Saab right after this was able to get that amount of horsepower out of a four-cylinder.

The MPG isn't bad at all for a V8 in a big car...

i had a 99...was a great car

My dad bought one in 98 a black one right off the show room floor then bought my mother a Pontiac Grand am gt

These looked like space ships back then, and space ships now!

Awesome times compared to now.

Given that the 4.0 in this car was a derivative of the infamous NorthStar, does anyone know if it suffered from the head gasket problems as the NorthStar?

The New Aurora Was All New Oldsmobile Flagship For The 21st Century

Good show

It looks like the 2023 vehicles are going to be rounded like these 90s and early 2000s vehicles.

Oldsmobile, Mercury, Plymouth, Merkur, Pontiac, Saturn. All of these divisions have disappeared and sadly the marketplace hasn't missed them very much. (Except perhaps Saturn, which started out as GM's disruptor project but eventually drifted off-track.) In the "malaise" / "downsizing" era, most of these bygone divisions were selling variations of designs of other, parent divisions. (Mercury sold the Sable, a variation of the Taurus; Oldsmobile sold the Cutlass Ciera, which was an A-body like the Buick Century and Pontiac 6000; etc.) Remarkably, when Oldsmobile adopted the "Tube Car" design language for its new appearance, the Aurora's design began to look more and more like Ford's Taurus and Mercury's Sable; this was especially true of the 2001-02 Aurora's rear. At the end of the day, the Aurora was simply a higher-quality front-wheel-drive sedan with a much more aero appearance. So, for all the fuss, GM simply used the "Tube Car" project to re-invent the wheel. Once again, GM failed to re-align at least one of its divisions to become manifestly different from the others. GM never picked Oldsmobile or Pontiac to become an all-wheel-drive products line to compete with foreign all-wheel-drive luminaries such as Audi and Subaru. While it's undeniable that the Aurora was an exceptionally good sports sedan, there are some serious issues that Oldsmobile (and GM) failed to consider. This car took far too long to reach the marketrplace. The Taurus and Sable were already on their second generation by the time the Aurora became reality. This Aurora should have been the 1988 Cutlass instead of the lackluster W-body. But the quiet part that nobody mentions out loud is the most disturbing part: from 1979 forward, Ford, GM and Chrysler invested billions in their downsizing projects, shifting most of their car lines from V8 body-on-frame rear-wheel-drive to Four/V6 unibody front-wheel-drive. That transition was costly, but with important purpose: the government wanted a more fuel-efficient fleet on the road, and the public mostly did as well. Fast forward to the mid-1990s, when it was becoming obvious that those lessons learned were being forgotten. Why on Earth did GM need a downsized, front-drive sedan with a V8??? In 1990, Autoweek published a report that Olds had taken two Quad4 engines, put them together at the crankshaft, and made a V8 called the Quad8, supposedly capable of as much as 320 horsepower. While this prototype would have made an interesting motor for a Corvette, Camaro or Firebird, nobody seriously thought it would be used in a front-wheel-drive sedan. Why do that? GM just downsized the rear-drive Cutlass Supreme out of existence. While there is no doubt that gearheads at the car magazines thought the V8-powered Aurora looked sweet, the vast majority of the public had moved beyond the idea of a big step backwards like that. And while it's true that the Aurora was also offered with a V6 version of the V8, that was also re-inventing the wheel. If Oldsmobile really wanted to come up with a totally new car to match its quest for re-branding, why not go bold and do like Audi did with its five-cylinder? Oldsmobile introduced the impressive Quad4 engine in 1987. Why not add an extra piston and call it the "Quad5"? If the Quad4 produced 150 to 160 horsepower in mass-market form, with a 180 hp "high output" version, then a Quad5 would logically offer 187 to 200 hp for the regular version and 225 for the high-output version. Also, GM failed to consider that the Quad4 and Quad5 derivative would be more logical for the market's future, whereas yet another V8 would be more in-line with the market's past. It is supremely ironic that GM wanted to use the new Aurora design to rehabilitate Oldsmobile's aging public image, but that bold new image never extended to a forward-thinking engine that would be more in line with modern needs and sensibilities. Using a Quad5 and/or all-wheel-drive would have been a bold and ambitious project indeed, but it also would have set Oldsmobile apart. Of course, the Oldsmobile name with too strongly linked to rockets and the early days of the Cold War, when the highways were dominated by big V8 rear-drive cars. Small wonder that Oldsmobile became a casualty of its own contradictions.

Was ahead of its time, powerful for its time with an ergonomic cockpit. Unfortunately its giant Saturn-like styling didn't age well.

i hate that no matter what gm did they could no longer get really any sales from oldsmobile

The interior quality of GM in the 90s was still not up to the standards of Honda vehicles costing half as much. Check the entire assembly panel moving when pushing the trunk release at 3:59. In a vacuum, these were high-end quality vehicles (compared to a Cutlass Supreme, Eighty-Eight, or Ciera); against a Lexus GS300, Acura Legend, or even a Honda Accord of the same era - they were same-old same-old from GM.

Did this mini Northstar have issues like the Cadillac engine? And almost as Peppy as the mid '90s LS400 engine

This guy really loves Sprite

Esse carro é muito maravilhoso que marca sensacional 👍👍👍

This was a head gasket blowing nightmare

Should've made it RWD and added a 2-door version as well as a twin turbo option making at least 350hp.

Nice

It was a beautiful car

4:29 Raiti’s Rides? 😂

Why wasn't this a roaring success? How could anyone buy a boring Lexus LS400 when you could have had this?

Wooow simply beautiful!!!

Esse carro é sensacional 😁👍👍👍

Atraseira da lateral é muito bonito carro desse da década de 90 são muito bonito 👍👍👍 motor me facilita muito vê esse barulho do motor v8

Nice😀

Women loved these cars in the nineties. I had 3 kids of this car

...and now you can't find one hardly anywhere on the road lol! This car was built for 5 years of life. Anything after, good luck 🤞

The Oldmobile Aurora is the ultimate of late-20th century General Motors highs and lows. It's obviously a high-quality car, very well designed and put-together for what it is. Olds checked several boxes: Cadillac-derived V8, check; high-quality sleek sedan design, check. But unlike Ford's equally impressive MN12-based Thunderbird, Cougar, and Continental Mk 8, the Aurora is missing one key ingredient: rear-wheel-drive. If GM went to all the trouble of downsizing and standardized on front-drive-only sedans and coupes to achieve smaller engines and better fuel economy, and if the Aurora is such a superior and memorable sport sedan, why are both the Aurora, and all of Oldsmobile, but a fading memory today? Or, to put it another way, why didn't Oldmobile develop a front-drive car with a V6 derived directly from its Quad4 engine from the late 1980s? If a 2.3-liter Quad4 developed 160 horpsepower, a Quad V6 should develop over 215, without a turbo. Olds was also said to have a 2.3-liter Quad4 Turbo worth 250 hp. Either hypothetical engine, paired up with front- or rear-wheel-drive would've made the car stand out more, and scored better gas mileage to boot. But this is illogical GM in the 1990s, having never learned from its mistakes. Gone is the rocket logo, as if that were a liability. Gone also is any common sense. Yet another forgetable front-drive car with a silly, over-the-top V8 under the hood. If Olds couldn't offer the Aurora with rear-wheel-drive, why not offer it with all-wheel-drive? They did that ten years earlier with the Pontiac 6000STE. Of course, both Olds and Pontiac have gone the way of the dinosaur. There should be no wonder as to why that happened...

Love the look of the car, specially the rear. Not a fan of the boring wheels, they could have done something better.

Imagine this car having heated seats, a back up camera, bluetooth technology, and an infotainment system.

Why did they bother to tool for that engine, why not just use the 4.6L? It's just as bad on fuel and 2.4s slower 0-60. It's 2.2s slower than a 3.8 SII S/C and probably 0.8s slower than a regular 3.8 SII and gets worse milage than both. Really a shame, I wanted to see Olds live on. They should have imported the Holden tooling and sold a legit rwd fullsize car with 2 or 4 doors with two wheelbase and a wagon. Once the LS1 debuted they could have sold that for the same or less than this car. There could have been a new 442, Cutlass, 88, 98 and Vista or Custom Cruiser.

É muito lindo vê essa obra prima 🇺🇸😁👍👍

A V8 with V6 powah ⚡️

I feel that it should have been a Saturn. A Saturn Aurora.

I was lucky enough to buy one with the notorious blown head gasket. Great car otherwise. Too bad it flopped.

Pretty car but oh that Northstar

Are they reliable? The 4.0 V8 has me suspicious…as it’s north star based

Back when sedans were still made in America.