I have found a 95 Grand AM that I am interested in purchasing. A friend of mine, who know alot more about vehicles than I do, told me to make sure it has the V6 engine not the 2.3L 4 cylinder aluminum engine. He said althought they are quite powerful (like 180 hp or something) they are poor engines and they are nothing but trouble. After looking under the hood I discovered that it did have the 2.3L. I want to know what you guyes think or what you have heard about this engine.

Try www.carsurvey.org and do a search for reviews of that model and year. Chances are, if you see the same complaints over and over again, thats the areas to watch for.

the 2.3 isn't an overly "bad" engine. you just need to watch the head gasket (especially if its the SOHC quad)

Exactly as Achieva said. I would look for a "Quad" That has had all of the work done to it already, and has been well maintaned. But I would rather have the 4 2.3 DOHC engine than the V-6 anyday.

i have a 95 2.3 quad 4 , 5 spd with 150,000 and ive had it for 3 yrs...not one problem. However i have heard about the quad 4 being "fragile" but i did research on it myself and it seems that whatever the problem was was resolved in 95's and up

The quad 4 was deveolped for racing by olds in the first place. the 3x00 motors were made to drive your grandma to church. The 2.3 does have a head problem, but the 3x00 do go through there share of intakemanifold gaskets. If the car your speaking of is indeed a 95 then it only has 150hp, the only engines to have that were the 2.3L quad HO or LGO and they made anywere from 170-180 depending on what year car they were in. But i would go with this car. the quad 4 has a much larger aftermarket then the 3x00 engines and alot more potential (since it was build for racing)