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1992 Oldsmobile Achieva SCX Is Today's Pick on Bring a Trailer

1992 oldsmobile achieva scx 5 speed
1992 Oldsmobile Achieva SCX Found on BaTBring a Trailer
  • True to the advertising tagline, this is not your father's (or grandfather's) Oldsmobile.

  • With a 190-hp Quad 4 engine and a five-speed manual, this Achieva is a credible sport compact.

  • The rare SCX package brought even more performance goodies.

Close your eyes and picture a car with the following details: It hails from the 1990s. It is front-wheel-drive. It is powered by a screaming four-cylinder engine. It has a stiff suspension with fat anti-roll bars. It is a homologation special. Open your eyes. Were you expecting an Acura Integra Type R? Nope, it's an Oldsmobile.

1992 oldsmobile achieva scx 5 speed side
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This 1992 Oldsmobile Achieva SCX is for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos), and that three-letter suffix is your clue that there's something pretty special going on here. Built as a sort of secret order-form cheat code to be competitive in showroom stock racing series like IMSA Firestone Firehawk, this Achieva has nearly all the performance goodies GM could throw at it.

1992 oldsmobile achieva scx 5 speed rear
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Oldsmobile as a brand ended its days mostly producing cars for Grandpa Simpson types, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was still very much in touch with its racing roots. In 1987, for instance, racing legend A.J. Foyt ran the experimental Oldsmobile Aerotech ST to a closed course record of 257.123 mph at the Firestone test oval, hitting over 290 mph on the straights.

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Powering the Aerotech was a turbocharged version of the Quad 4 that's under the hood of this Achieva. It displaces 2.3 liters, has four valves per cylinder and double overhead cams, and in this application makes 190 horsepower. For comparison, a 1998 Integra Type R's 1.8-liter four-cylinder makes 195 horsepower, but the Olds outmuscles it by 30 pound-feet of torque.

1992 oldsmobile achieva scx 5 speed engine
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This Achieva SCX has the optional FX3 suspension package, which included electronically adjustable dampers and thicker anti-roll front and rear. If you were a showroom stock racer you could option the C41 package that stripped out everything and added a limited slip differential, but the original owner of this car ponied up $1379 for luxuries like air-conditioning and cruise control.

1992 oldsmobile achieva scx 5 speed interior
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With just 1650 of these made between 1992 and 1993, this is one rare Oldsmobile. The engine pulls hard to 7000 rpm, but it's also a great handler, not just better than you expect for an Oldsmobile, but a genuine sport compact performer. At your local 1990's-themed car show, it'd be a "I didn't even know this existed!" hit.

There's no reserve on this auction, which ends on October 14.

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