2003 Oldsmobile Alero: Cheap, Comfortable, Quick. What More Do You Want?

My main car is the 2006 Cadillac CTS. It's a beautiful car, and I encourage any car enthusiast seeking both luxury and speed without a heavy expense to go check one out. The problem with owning a nice car in Cleveland is the winters; rear-wheel drive, even with traction control, is pretty dangerous on iced and powdered roads. With summer ending very soon, I travelled to the used car dealership to get myself a winter car. I had some important criteria in mind; comfortable, cheap, and most importantly - sporty.

I was down to three choices: a 2000 Mustang, a 2000 Honda Civic, and a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero. Based on the title, I'm sure you can tell which car I chose.

It's a shame that Oldsmobile is no longer producing cars; I've been a fan of the Oldsmobile line for as long as I can remember, despite their unfortunate reputation of grandma cars. I recently purchased a used 2003 Oldsmobile Alero GL, and I was truly impressed by this last generation model.

The 2003 Alero comes in three packages, and two body options. The sedan body offers a typical sedan look, and has a lot of utility. The coupe is just plain fun, if a little snug. As for packages, Oldsmobile offered the extremely basic GX, luxurious GLS, and the slightly less-loaded GL. As much as I love leather seats, I opted with the GL version for several reasons. First off, the giant performance increase from the GX version. The GL is powered by a 3.4 liter V6 which makes it much quicker than the GX. While the GLS has a 3.6 liter V6, the difference in performance was so negligible that I couldn't justify the pricing difference. I have no problem paying a lot of money for a car, but it must be worth every penny. As I said earlier, I miss out on leather seats, but it's not something you really notice at 100+ miles per hour.

The second reason I went with the GL was the sound of the engine. The V6 is used in the car has a louder roar than most modified Eclipses and Mustang, and doesn't suffer from the tone of a kazoo or whoopee cushion. It sounds like the car itself wants you to take it to top-speed, and it's very hard to resist the urge. Unfortunately, the car doesn't really produce too much power until around 3000 RPM, but once you hit that magic number it really takes off. On top of this, a short ram intake throw on to your engine will not only add some performance and efficiency, it will make your engine's roar even more impressive without succumbing to the usual drone that tuner's develop.

The third and final reason I chose the Alero GL is the sleeper factor. It's a fast car, but at the same time, it's not a car particularly known for teenager modifications. When I'm challenged at the red lights by Hondas and Mitsubishis, they are pleasantly surprised by the power I've got under my hood. After all, no matter how many stripes or flames you get glued on to your hood, or how shiny your exhaust tip is, if my power to weight ratio is greater there's no way in heck a tuner can beat me from a dead stop.

The car does have a downside for performance enthusiasts, and that is the transmission. While a manual version was available, it seems not many people opted to grab one. If that's not something that bothers you, by all means, it's a cheap car with a surprising amount of power under the hood. It drives well, it's about as reliable as any used car, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to go fast in. Definitely a recommended buy.