1986 Oldsmobile Toronado 3.8

Vehicle Overview

The fourth and last generation of the Toronado debuted on the market in 1985 as a 1986 model year, dropped the V8 engines, and introduced a futuristic, for those times, interior.

Two decades after the introduction of the revolutionary 1966 Toronado as a personal luxury coupe, the 1986 Toronado was just a small-sized coupe that offered room for four but with two people squeezed in the back. In addition, it lost its grunt and performance without providing too much comfort in exchange.

By 1986, the car design had changed a lot, and the Toronado followed the trend of narrowing the front area. Thus, the carmaker brought back the hidden headlights, a feature that was dropped in 1969, and also covered the main grille. A lower grille was mounted below the front bumper in the apron to compensate for the cooling area. Still, the profile showed clean lines and a short window next to the rear passengers. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be opened. The rear wheels were placed behind the greenhouse, and that made the vehicle look unusual.

Inside, the driver found themselves surrounded by plenty of buttons and switches. These were everywhere, from the door cards to the dashboard, center stack, and center console. In addition, a digital instrument panel was installed and showed green LEDs that displayed speed and other essential information. Since Oldsmobile still tried to promote the vehicle as a personal luxury coupe, it offered it with either velour or leather upholstery.

Under the hood, the Toronado featured a transversely-mounted V6 carried over from Buick and coupled with a four-speed automatic transmission only.