'91 Chev Lumina Euro 3.1L review

I have a '91 Chev Lumina 4 door Euro with the 3.1L V6 putting out 140hp. I love the way my car looks, but the reliability of the brakes are awful. Lately I have been very lucky with brakes and have only had to take it in 4 or 5 times over the winter (I live in Minnesota) to have pads replaced, and every time they replaced it under warranty because they failed within 30 days. If you take care and pay attention to the brakes, you will not have any problems with replacing calipers. But if you hear the rotors grinding and keep driving them, you will end up putting yourself back about $300-400 per wheel to replace rotors/calipers/pads.

But enough about the brakes.

The steering on this car is great, even at excessive speeds. It handles perfectly no matter what. Running at 110 mph, the only real problem I found was that the front end seems to lift a bit, and the steering gets a bit loose. At lower speeds it turns if you even start thinking about it. This car doesn't float like a Lincoln or Cadillac, it's a very solid feeling car.

The interior is very user-friendly, with the only real complaint being that you have to lean forward to reach the stereo and climate controls. The stock stereo is okay, but if you replace it with a CD player (a Pioneer DEH-P2000 in my case) it really sounds great. The stock speakers in my Lumina sound fantastic, everybody who hears them swears that there is a subwoofer in my trunk. These speakers hit hard down low, but they also have nice high and midrange too. The seats are very comfortable, I have done over 300 miles without getting out of my car, and I felt better when I got out than I did when I got in my car. The front seats are very roomy and big, and the rear seats are comfortable too, but with the front seats back all the way there isn't a lot of foot room in the back.

This car was sold by Chevrolet as a midsized car, but it is comparable to a Lincoln Town Car in width. From the outside it looks like a midsized car, but once you're inside it feels huge.

The hardware of this car is very sturdy, with my only complaint being that there is a lot of wind noise around the doors. On a windy day when I am driving crosswind, my arms get cold because of the wind. The engine compartment is tight, but it allows you to get to the areas that you need to.

All in all, this car is a great value, except for the brakes. As long as you pay attention to the brakes you will be fine. This car sounds great (reminds me of a muscle car actually, it sound powerfull), feels great, drives great, and it's gone over 150,000 miles and I can still floor it and have it peel out like nobody's business, and 0-60 in 10 seconds or a bit under. The 3.1L V6 is very powerful, with 180 pounds of torque. Very powerful car, fun car to drive, it rolls too much thru corners, but it's not that big of a complaint.

Great car, highly recommended.