Those Tornado's/Trofeo's were cool cars, high tech interiors too.

 

No offense, UDel (and I do highly-respect your opinions)....but those 80s-vintage Toros were nothing but a shadow of the ones I grew up with.

 

It really was awesome as a kid, and a cool car in general. Pretty sure it was at least a $20k plus car back then too, they weren’t cheap. There was a way to make the gauge cluster do a “show” which we’d always make our dad do.

Also you could set it to just say “Toronado” which was classy if you didn’t want the tach or any other info. It had good pickup I also remember that. My Mother’s car was painfully slow then (back when half of cars were slow) before the 3800 van so she’d drive that Toronado with a lead foot.

 

This brings back memories...I purchased a ‘98 first gen Aurora, and my mother (always drove GM cars) eventually purchased a second gen Aurora. Both were reliable beyond their DNA, and I recall only doing wheel bearings on the ‘98, and sold it approaching 147K miles. Paid $10,500 for it as a 4-year old used car with 60K highway miles on it...something that can’t be said for these types of cars, today. The ones we had in our family were a good value, and interestingly, the last GM cars that we owned. The first gen had nicer quality tactile materials and in general, a more expensive interior feel than the second generation.

 

How was the V8? Like I said, it was a carbon copy of the gen 1 LS400 down to the hp and tq peaks. I’m wondering how smooth it was in general. I’m sure it was satisfying.

 

Both had the V8’s (was optional on the second gen) and it was a good motor, provided you didn’t fall victim to the split oil pan leak, or the Northstar casting porosity. Honestly, the LS430 was the first car that I drove that reminded me of the subdued feel and harmony that the 4.0 had. Or maybe it was because one of our 430’s ended up being an identical color combo. Obviously, a 430 is stronger overall for virtually the same overall weight, but for routine driving it was a good match for the car. Routinely averaged 25 Mpg’s (actual, lie-o-meter always was higher) in the 98 first gen I had. Mine had an ‘Autobahn’ package (if I recall correctly) and I did open it up, once. It did not appear to have a limited top end, or would have been at least in the 150 range.

 

From a driving perspective the Northstar was a great engine.