Guidestar Puts Olds Lss On The Map -- Clean, Solid Sedan Stacks Up Well Against Avalon And Maxima

An Oldsmobile built for Californians is going national this year after showing substantial promise in converting owners of import sedans.

The 1996 Oldsmobile LSS - a features-packed, full-size sedan with a base price of $26,010 - was sold only in the Golden State in the 1995 model year.

The model is known as the Olds 88 LSS because it is based on the Olds 88 sedan. Spokesman Pete Ternes said that unlike a typical Olds, it has "fewer bumps and grooves outside and less badging. We were looking at a growing trend where (buyers) wanted to have the product cleaner."

Ternes listed larger Japanese models such as the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima as LSS competitors. The Avalon is built at a Toyota plant in Kentucky.

The California test was successful, Ternes said, with 21 percent of LSS buyers trading in imports compared with 14.5 percent of Olds 88 buyers who traded in imports. California is the biggest U.S. market.

Now, the 1996 LSS - minus the "88" designation - is going national. To bolster interest, Oldsmobile is offering an optional $1,022 3.8-liter supercharged V-6 engine that instantly and smoothly responds to accelerator prompts.

It packs 240 horsepower and 280 foot-pounds of torque - more than the competitors - and sends your back firmly into the seat. Get a firm grip on the steering wheel, because the wheels on this front-driver seem ready to pull aggressively when you stomp on the accelerator after a stop. The only transmission is a four-speed automatic.

The touring suspension from last year is unchanged, and although the LSS is longer and wider than the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima, it rides nicely, cushioning most bumps. It's not floaty, as you might expect. Even on curves it works hard to stay well-mannered.

The longer wheelbase makes for more rear leg room than the two competing sedans, and there's more rear head room. The LSS trunk has 17.5 cubic feet of room, compared with the Avalon's 15.4 cubic feet and the Maxima's 14.5 cubic feet.

However, the trunk lid on the test LSS wasn't centered; there was a wider gap between it and the body panel on one side of the car than on the other. There also was noticeable wind noise at the front passenger door.

Inside, the LSS is loaded with features that typically are extras on other family cars and standard only on luxury sedans. They include remote keyless entry, leather seats, traction control and air conditioning.

Standard equipment is so extensive - including cruise control, dual climate control and radio and ventilation controls on the steering wheel - that only six options are offered: the super-charged engine, a compact-disc player, a sunroof, cloth trim, an engine-block heater and the Guidestar navigation system.

The $26,010 base price compares with $27,448 for the Toyota Avalon XLS and $27,278 for the Nissan Maxima SE, which has anti-lock brakes and automatic transmission. Neither the Toyota nor the Nissan offers a navigation system.

Oldsmobile pioneered Guidestar, which is available only on the Olds 88 and LSS models. The $1,995 option includes a black box, the size of a CD player, mounted in the trunk. That holds the computer hard drive with the database. A black "global positioning" antenna on the rear window shelf looks like a small-scale computer mouse. A video screen and seven-key touch pad rest on a stalk protruding from the dashboard. That's where the driver asks for, and receives, directions to specified destinations.

It's quite slick. A deep voice announces turns and other upcoming changes while a map is projected on the screen. In a flash, Guidestar found the fastest route between my home and office. It also knew to direct me to a side street as part of an efficient route to an evening get-together.

But it can't alert you to traffic jams, and it may miss your making a wrong exit if the car's direction stays pretty much the same. For example, I pulled off of a freeway via a slight right exit and went along a frontage road. Guidestar didn't squawk. Only when I made a sharp right turn, taking me further from the freeway, did it point out my error. In that case, Guidestar asked if I wanted help in getting back on course.

The Guidestar system includes a database of restaurants and can steer you to the nearest gas station, hospital and bank. It also has a memory for previous destinations.

So far, Guidestar has digitized maps for several states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, and a combined Virginia-Washington, D.C. map.

Acura plans to offer a navigation system on its new flagship sedan, the RL, in late spring.

Consumer Reports ranked earlier Olds 88s as having average reliability.