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Olds grew tired of watching potential customers flee to rival showrooms.

No mini-van. So Chrysler got the business until Olds introduced the Silhouette with its plastic body.

No utility vehicle. Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota got the customers until Olds came up with the four-wheel-drive Bravada.

No compact car. Hold it. Olds had one. Called it the Calais. But the name had no recognition factor. Buyers flocked to the competition, primarily the Honda Accord.

For 1992, the Calais name is gone as is the car. In its place is a newly styled and larger vehicle dubbed Achieva, which means that in weird monikers, Olds is batting 2 for 2.

Olds General Manager Michael Losh said a host of potential names were tested among consumers before arriving at Achieva.

“Calais just wasn`t strong enough, and we didn`t want to call a new car the Cutlass something because eventually we only want one car to be called Cutlass-the Supreme,“ he said. “The Achieva name came out of consumer clinics when we asked their choices. Actually, the name they picked was Achiever, but that sounded too harsh and a tad too Japanese, so we went with Achieva for a softer sound.“

The name may be strange, the vehicle carrying it isn`t.

We`ve previously reviewed the two other members of the new trio of N-body cars from General Motors for 1992, the Pontiac Grand Am and Buick Skylark, which along with Achieva sport new sheet metal and larger dimensions for 1992. It was the Achieva`s turn to test, the front-wheel-drive Olds compact being groomed to win back import buyers who`ve turned to the Honda Accord.

“The market objective is to (conquer) imports and domestics and expect Achieva to stop the defection of Olds owners to imports,“ Losh added, naming the Accord and Toyota Camry as the top two targets among import buyers and the Ford Taurus as the rival for domestics.

“We have to do a bettter job in compacts than we`ve done,“ Losh said. “We expect to sell 80,000 to 100,000 Achievas the first year.“ By comparison, Calais sales barely topped 50,000 for 1991.

To win new buyers Achieva is being introduced with a special no money down, $199-a-month lease program for 48 months. A 36-month lease at $199 a month is also offered, but with a 10 percent down payment. The Accord offers a $199 lease in selected markets.

The sun was shining, the sky was clear and the temperature was shirt- sleeve comfortable the day we arrived in East Lansing, Mich., to see the new Olds. The next day as we prepared to depart for Chicago in an Achieva SL sedan the snow was falling in buckets, the sky was a mixture of gray and black, and the temperature called for long sleeves, sweater and a coat.

It was as if Mother Nature was irked with East Lansing as the snow fell and the weathermen kept raising their forecasts on accumulation. The Achieva held its ground, actually its pavement, as two lanes became one lane and that disappeared under a coat of white precipitation.

Front-wheel-drive pulled us through the snow while the standard anti-lock brakes provided the stopping assistance needed without no loss of control when approaching the intersection or when the guy in the Volvo wagon pulled too quickly in front of us coming off the merger ramp.

The only thing missing was an air bag, which GM shunned in the N-body cars in favor of making anti-lock brakes standard. GM insists you would use ABS more than you would an air bag and that accident avoidance is more important than collision protection. GM makes its own ABS, but buys air bags from outside suppliers, the reason it favors ABS over bags. Accord added the bag for 1992.

Surprisingly, only a few miles out of East Lansing, the sky cleared, and with it the roads. Then we had the chance to appreciate Achieva`s 3.3-liter, 160-horsepower, V-6 engine teamed with 3-speed automatic.

GM was so busy promoting its Quad Four multivalve 4-cylinder engines in the N-cars the last few years that the 3.3 V-6 was shelved in them. A 160-h.p. 16-valve Quad Four is standard in the Achieva SL sedan, the 3.3-liter V-6 a $50 option.

The 3.3 V-6returns in the Achieva, Grand Am and Skylark for 1992 and is welcome back like an old friend. It`s smooth and peppy, yet quiet-power when you need it with less strain and far less noise than with the4-cylinder engine. Yet the fuel economy rating is 19 miles per gallon city/29 m.p.g. highway.

The journey was made more pleasant by Achieva`s very good interior room. Up front, you can move your arms without bumping into a door and stretch your legs without hitting the firewall. The bucket seats are thick and comfortable. The wide side bolsters provide support for long-distance travel or in sharp turns. Computer command ride control suspension, a $380 option, meant soft travel over bumps, firm holding on the open road and in corners or turns.

In back, leg room is a shade tight, but head and arm room is better than in the Calais. When GM came out with the original N-body cars, the vehicles were designed as two-door coupes and to add sedan versions engineers tacked a couple more doors in back. The 1992 N-bodies were designed separately as coupe and sedan, which got added inches, not just two more doors. Sedans also differ from coupes in that they have more formal, standup roof lines and enclosed wheelwells.

In paying attention to detail: The trunk lid raises high rearward to allow convenient loading or unloading. Nice touch. Also, the center console houses a cupholder/coinholder and the glove box lid a deep single cupholder. Before you reach for the Bromo because this scribe once again mentioned cupholders, we quote what Losh said about the device. “Six years ago, we didn`t know what they were and now cupholders are the price of entry into the luxury car field,“ he said-on his own and without being solicited.

The hood is spring-held so it stays up without a prop rod. An overhead bin holds the garage-door opener. The key chain contains door lock/unlock and trunk lid buttons. Dash controls are within easy reach and sight and don`t take a day`s leafing through the manual to understand.

Bodyside moldings are wide and protective (on some lower-priced models that don`t have the moldings, the exposed sharp sheet metal crease looks hideous). Rear seat backs lower for access to the trunk and to allow you to carry skis in the car.

Also worth noting is the fact that if you don`t like the Achieva in the first 30 days or 1,500 miles of ownership, you can return it on trade for another Olds. The perfect warranty would be to return it for your money back regardless of trading for another Olds, but even the 30/1,500 offer is something you won`t find at Toyota, Honda or Nissan.

Achieva isn`t without a few faults, however, other tha n the name and the lack of an air bag. Like the Grand Am and Skylark, Achieva features a lap/ shoulder belt in the door window pillar. The fastener sticks out onto the glass and is an obstruction, especially when passing.

The car has automatic door locks that lock when you start the car and engage a gear. When you stop, however, the doors remain locked and you have to press a button to unlock them. We find having to unlock them on your own a nuisance; many luxury cars automatically unlock when the key is turned off and you shift to park.

“That`s a feature our customers asked for,“ said Larry Lyons, Olds chief engineer. “Our customers told us there are places in New York that they simply don`t want the doors to unlock on their own when they park.“

Another annoyance is very minor, but noticeable. The windshield is sloped at such an angle that when you turn on the wipers, squirt some fluid, then turn off the wipers, the water residue along the bottom of the glass starts to crawl up the window. You have to wait a moment and then use the wipers again to remove the water marks that look like an invasion of creepy crawlers along the glass.

While on the topic of wipers, Achieva has a setting so you need only pull the handle and the wipers give the glass one slow swipe that doesn`t totally remove the mist. If the setting made two swipes of the blade, it would clean the glass fully.

Achieva looks very Olds like, a miniature version of the Supreme, in fact. The split grille up front is the Olds trademark. In back, the taillights are large, but not as huge and bug eyed as those on Grand Am.

Achieva is offered in base Scoupe and sedan ($12,715/- $12,815), SL coupe and sedan ($14,495/$14,595), and SC coupe ($14,610) versions. A high- performance SCX coupe will arrive in the spring with a high-output, 190- h.p., Quad Four engine and 5-speed manual.

Standard equipment includes power brakes with ABS, variable effort power steering, power door locks, stainless steel exhaust, two side galvanized body panels, child proof rear seat locks, side window defoggers, 15-gallon fuel tank, AM-FM stereo with cassette, digital clock and six speakers.

Air conditioning runs $830; power windows, $340; cruise control, $225; and rear defroster, $170.

1992 Olds Achieva SL Sedan

Wheelbase: 103.4 inches

Length: 187.9 inches

Engine: 3.3 liter, 160 h.p. V-6.

Transmission: 3-speed automatic.

Fuel economy: 19 m.p.g. city/26 m.p.g highway.

Strong point: 3.3 V-6 is smooth and quiet, interior room very good, seats comfortable for long distances, standard ABS takes some of the fear out of wintertime driving.

Weak point: No air bag, belts in window obstruct vision, water crawling up windshield a bit disarming at first.