The original Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 allegedly got its name from its four-barrel carburetor, four-speed manual transmission and dual exhausts, but the name eventually became synonymous with Oldsmobile performance cars, so not all models with a 442 badge featured such a setup.
By the time the Cutlass nameplate had reached the later portion of its life in the early 1990s, the Oldsmobile 442 had been undeniably watered down. The sixth-generation Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad 442, built for the 1990 and 1991 model years, featured a 180-horsepower four-cylinder engine, a five-speed manual transmission and front-wheel drive. General Motors justified the name by saying it had a four-cylinder engine with four valves per cylinder and two camshafts, but this engine wasn’t really setting the Cutlass apart at the time.
While the 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad 442 wasn’t a worthy successor to the legendary muscle car that made the nameplate famous, it still makes a fairly interesting used car, in our opinion. Take this one currently for sale on Facebook Marketplace, for example. This is a relatively obscure and decently reliable GM vehicle in great condition and, best of all, it’s for sale for less than $4,000. That seems like a good deal to us, no matter how underwhelming this 442’s performance may have been when it was new. This car has clearly been well taken care of throughout its life, as well, and stayed with the original buyer in California from 1991 to 2015.
The body of the car has 135,000 miles on the odometer, while the engine only has about 44,000. The owner says the vehicle underwent an engine change at a GM Goodwrench service center in 1995 when the car had 91,000 miles on the clock. The clutch was also upgraded at the same time, which seems to be the last time it was serviced, surprisingly.
Is this unique Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 worth the $3,950 this seller is asking? Let us know in the comments down below.
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I almost bought one years ago for under $2k, price isn't bad but don't need one now.
I know about the "need" part. It's the 'want' that was always a problem with me. For all of that, I've had my day in the sun. Still, this survivor is a real looker.
I am interested in buying this car. I had one of these in high school. It's still one of my favorite cars I've ever had. It's a peppy engine for a 4cy. It's a standard transmission, which I love. It rides smooth. Reliable, etc.
Jufair price, appeared to be in good condition
4 Cylinder 4 Speed 2 tail pipes?
It's a 5 speed.
What a beautiful example of a vehicle from a bygone era. That spoiler adds a jaunty touch. Someone is going to wind up with something special.
Yep
I had a 1990 Chevy Beretta GTZ with the same engine / transmission package. Certainly not a powerhouse by todays standards, but for 1990 it was a speedy little thing. Plus you could set the cruise at 100 and it could happily do that all day long, and get nearly 30mpg doing it. The only downside was that even though it wasn't turbo'd or supercharged, it was a high compression engine, so it required premium gas. It was just about the most comfortable road trip car I've ever owned.
That 1990 Chevy Beretta GTZ was a real looker back in the day. I always wanted one too.
made at the wilmington delaware assembly plant i might add....
Roger Smith's Cookie Cutter Cars caused the failing of Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn.
That Quad 4 was a noisy engine especially with air intake noise at heavy throttle; plagued by head gasket failures. The Calais could not compete with its foreign competitors and never deserved the 442 badge.
Bought new built Fire Engine Red 1989 Cutlass Calais SC with Quad 4. Got a 5 yr/100K Warranty which was good thing as went threw 5 Head Gaskets in 4yrs and 98K. An expensive fix each time from Dealership except for my $50 each time deductible saved me well over $5000. Sold it as Warranty expired
This was a great example of why Pontiac refrained from a Grand Am GTO based model.
This car was not a looker like the Beretta GTZ was and these engines really did have head gasket issues and not all that much power looking back.
But even today it is difficult to do a decent FWD car with more than 300 HP right. Most just will not put the power down to the ground.
When driving my Beretta GTZ I'd watch the temp gauge slowly climb to about 1/2, then plunge to about 1/4, over and over again. It's no wonder they had head gasket failures, that aluminum head must have been flexing like crazy on top of the cast iron block. Fortunately GM came out with a redesigned head gasket, so when they failed (like mine did) the new gasket solved the problem. Also, they were prone to burning out the expensive Ignition "Coil Cover." The cover was easy to replace, but they were pricey. (as much as $65 these days) They had to be changed fairly often too (I think I was changing it every year) otherwise the Quad 4 would develop a horrible misfire.
Despite the issues though, I still miss that car...
If only the GTZ had the Turbo LNF engine and the suspension from the Cobalt SS with AWD.
Yes been there and done that on the GTZ, My buddy owned one but I drove it often. If we went some place on weekends I would drive as he got tired of shifting gears all week driving for work. He had head gaskets go but GM paid for it when they recalled them. I replaced coils. And finally it got broken into and trashed inside. It was all repaired but he was getting married and needed a house so it went before he got the miles too high on it to sell. While not a perfect car it was one of the better ones in a dark era for GM.
I was interested, so I looked at the listing...
Marketplace
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Vehicles
Sold 1991
Oldsmobile Cutlass · Quad 4 442 5 speed
London, KY · over a week ago ·
I want it.
I was selling at the Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Honda store that year (1991). We still had new cars for demo's and it was great. I loved being able to pick a new Buick every few months and not have to pay a dime! But back to this article, I had the sister car (Buick Skylark) demo in 1991 with the 3300 V6. This was basically the detuned version of the great 3800. Paired with that smaller Skylark, the car was fast as heck. Hate to admit it, but one night going home I was going a little too fast and went past a local police officer (who happened to be one of my class mates and friend). The power got the best of me and Wayne never knew what happened or where I went. Although he didn't know it was me, a few years later at a class reunion, we were talking and I brought up that event. We all laughed and he said all he could see was my red tail lights.