My Cavalier reached the end of it's life just as I was getting out of college. The timing couldn't have been better. It managed to wheeze through a few weeks of my first "real" job before I traded it in. I traded it in and moved on up. Or sideways. Yeah, more like sideways.

My second car was an Oldsmobile Achieva. It was my first car with a rear window defroster (to defrost the rear window in the Cavalier, you ran the AC on full blast). My first car with a center console. First car with intermittent windshield wipers. First car that was more than a stripped down POS. It also has the dubious honor of being the car I owned for the shortest period of time.

There wasn't any real reason to get rid of the car. It had given me only very minor problems during it's very brief stay with me (38K miles). I just hated driving it, riding it in, and everything else about it.

I got the car because it was the last year Oldsmobile was going to make the Achieva, and they were willing to give me a good deal on it, and a good interest rate. It turned out to be cheaper than a new Cavalier, which was the other car I was looking at (I obviously hadn't learned my lesson). I simply needed a car to get me to work and it fit the bill.

As soon as I could afford something new, I had to ditch it. It just was too much of a compromise in too many ways. According to edmunds, a high beltline and restrictive greenhouse result in an unpleasant, enclosed feeling. Open and airy this car is not.

Damn right. It felt like I was driving with my nose up against the windshield. To this day I find myself sitting bolt upright in cars even though I can lean back. The Achieva scarred me.

The engine/transmission was your typical GM affair. Bulletproof and smooth. The body and interior were also, sadly, your typical GM affair. Rattles, shakes, and odd noises were the standard.

With cars like the Achieva, it's not easy to see why Oldsmobile went the way of the Edsel.