When was the last time you heard someone talk about the Chevrolet Lumina? I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen one. These family cars of the late 1980s and 1990s are largely forgotten, with most examples likely having long been crushed and disposed of. But at one point, these were among best-selling Chevrolets, and with the Lumina Z34, GM even made a performance version perhaps worth a spot in a modern garage.
Last time on Holy Grails, our Daydreaming Designer, the Bishop, informed us that BMW sold a rare spec of the E61 5-Series. In the short time between the 2008 and 2010 model years, you could buy a BMW 535xiT. It’s very nearly the perfect car that car enthusiasts love to talk about online. The BMW 535xiT is a wagon with a striking design, all-wheel-drive, and a twin-turbo straight six making 300 HP. This wagon was nearly as fast as a BMW 550i and only sweetening the deal is the fact that you could get it with a manual transmission.
A number of readers have asked for today’s grail. This car isn’t a hot rod or a super obscure spec that only hardcore enthusiasts know about. Instead, we’re going to talk about the best version of an arguably forgettable car.
Today, we talk about the era shortly before Bob Lutz arrived at General Motors. In the 1990s, General Motors had some awesome, sometimes ambitious ideas. This was a time when you could buy minivans with composite panels that looked like shuttlecraft from Star Trek. Over at Oldsmobile, the Aurora pumped some much-needed energy into a stagnating brand. The Corvette C4 hit its stride before morphing into the C5, and who can forget the GMC Syclone pickup and the GMC Typhoon SUV? There were a lot of fun and sometimes oddball developments at General Motors in those days.
However, not everything was a striking flagship or a pickup truck with muscle. Some of the cars of the day were boring people haulers that dutifully served families for a decade or two before getting sent up to a farm upstate. That is where you will find the Chevy Lumina. There’s nothing wrong with a Lumina, but it’s probably not a vehicle that most readers here will remember for its excitement. The most vivid memory of my own comes from about 20 years ago when I rode in one that was rusty, clunky and smelled terribly of gas.
GM’s Poorly-Timed Answer To The Ford Taurus
When the first-generation Ford Taurus launched in the 1986 model year, it stunned the automotive press and buyers alike. Ford’s design was fresh and futuristic, while the driving experience was impressive enough to make Car and Driver call it “the shape of tomorrow” before placing it on the magazine’s 10 Best list. The publication wasn’t done, and in 1989, the magazine proclaimed the Ford Taurus SHO to be “America’s Best Sedan!” in all capital letters. In 1986, Motor Trend nominated the Taurus “Car of the Year.”
General Motors didn’t really have a direct competitor. Sure, it had the fourth-generation Chevy Monte Carlo and the Chevy Celebrity, but neither of those cars had the styling and the design of the Taurus. As it was, General Motors was dealing with a disaster of its own. As CNN wrote in 1992, in 1982, GM started development on the GM-10 program. This $7 billion program was intended to replace the Chevrolet Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Buick Century. Each brand would get a coupe, a sedan, and a wagon that were largely the same underneath but with differences for their respective brands. GM’s plan was to outfit seven plants to produce 250,000 cars a year each. CNN notes that such output would have equaled 21 percent of the total U.S. car production, which would have beaten Ford’s output.
During the GM-10’s development, General Motors was losing a ton of ground. In its 1984 reorganization, GM’s brands held 44.6 percent of the car market. By GM-10’s launch in 1987, GM struggled with a 36.6 percent market share. CNN explained that in the early 1980s, GM had redesigned its cars to be smaller, more fuel-efficient, and front-wheel-drive. It was a case of bad timing as fuel got cheap again and buyers weren’t all that interested in slow, small cars.
After the 1984 reorganization of GM, the GM-10 program moved to the Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada group and funding was so tight that the GM-10 cars had to be rolled out over the course of a couple of years. To make matters worse, GM had taken such a long time to get GM-10 cars to market that Ford got an early lead. When the Lumina finally hit the road in the 1990 model year, the Taurus had enjoyed the market for nearly four years without much challenge from General Motors.
The Lumina launched during a continued bad time for General Motors. The GM-10 program, which produced first-generation W-body cars like the Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Pontiac Grand Prix, cranked out lots of cars that weren’t making money. In 1989, CNN reports, GM lost more than $2,000 on every GM-10 car built. In 1990, GM sold 537,080 GM-10 cars across four brands, inefficient compared to the 410,077 Tauruses and Mercury Sables Ford sold out of those two brands.
The Chevrolet Lumina
When the Lumina launched in the 1990 model year, you were able to pick it up as a sedan or as a coupe. The Lumina name was also applied to Chevy’s flavor of GM’s distinctive “dustbuster” vans, which have their own development story of trying to be high-tech vans to outclass Chrysler. Of course, for this piece, we’re focusing on the W-body Lumina cars.
The Lumina was an instant hit right out of the gate, with The Truth About Cars stating that Chevy sold 300,000 Luminas in 1990. Of those, 278,000 Luminas were sedans and nearly 46,000 of them were coupes. When the first-generation Lumina tapped out after 1994, Chevy managed to sell over a million of them. Why were buyers just scooping these up? Sadly, I couldn’t find any written reviews, but I’ll let MotorWeek‘s John Davis show you around a Lumina in a fantastic review from 1989:
A highlight of that review was Chevy’s marketing ploy. Chevrolet pitched the Lumina as the value-oriented family car and GM teamed up with Disney for adverts showing Disney characters riding in Lumina sedans and APV vans. In fact, when Disney opened up the MGM Studios theme park in Florida (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios), the Lumina was the official car of the park.
In terms of performance, the review noted that the largest engine was a 3.1-liter V6 making 135 HP. This was good for a 60 mph sprint in 9.8 seconds, or slightly faster than a Ford Taurus with a 3.0-V6. In the end, MotorWeek concluded that with the coupe and minivan versions on their way, GM was set to have a solid lineup of affordable family cars with few compromises.
The Grail
What if you wanted a car to take the kids to school and have a little fun along the way? Readers ColoradoFX4, greatfallsgreen, and Jack Trade all nominated the Lumina Z34 as a bright and rare spot in this era of General Motors. Honestly, those were just the comments that I was able to find. I remember seeing the Lumina Z34 suggested a couple of more times in non-Holy Grails articles. In fact, Jack Trade and greatfallsgreen also nominated the Chevy Corsica LTZ and the Beretta Z26. Those latter two might be worth a retrospective of their own. Clearly, a number of our readers like these cars!
In 1990 for the 1991 model year, Chevrolet rolled out its performance version of the Lumina.
Available in just the coupe, Lumina buyers could opt for the high-performance Lumina Z34. In opting for the Z34, you got the FE3 sport suspension package, a body kit, sporty, overstuffed seats, and a dual exhaust. Under the hood sat a 3.4-liter V6 making 210 horses and 215 lb-ft torque. That was bolted to a standard five-speed Getrag manual or to an optional automatic.
Regardless of transmission choice, shifting a Z34 was handled from the floor. Normally, saying something like that would be weird, but standard versions of the Lumina had automatic transmissions shifted from the column and no center console.
What did this give you? Well, Car and Driver performed a shootout of the Lumina Z34 against its biggest rivals, the Dodge Spirit R/T (a previous Holy Grail entry) and the Ford Taurus SHO. The Lumina reached 60 mph in 7.1 seconds, making it slower than the 5.8-second Dodge and the 6.6-second Ford. However, it was the only coupe of the three and finished second overall. I’ll let Car and Driver take the mic:
Okay, so close only counts in horseshoes and hydrogen bombs. But Chevrolet deserves a chorus of applause for its new Yankee clipper. The Lumina Z34 finished a mere two points overall behind our winner. And it’s a bargain to boot.
There’s a lot to like about the Z34, beginning with its new 60-degree 24-valve V-6. At 3.4 liters, this is the biggest engine of the group. It churns out 215 pound-feet of torque at 4000 rpm and 210 horsepower at 5200 (the horsepower drops to 200 at 5000 rpm with the optional automatic transmission). This is a flexible powerplant: It pulls strongly from rest, revs smoothly to its 7000-rpm redline, and makes the kinds of exciting mechanical sounds that immediately cause a first-time passenger to ask, “Hey! What kind of car is this, anyway?”
The Z34’s fully independent “Sport” suspension is as adept as its engine. Wearing 225/60R-16 Goodyear Eagle GT+4s (which help deliver 0.79 g of grip), the chassis showed us nothing but impressive, predictable moves on the Ohio twisties. And it tracked down the Interstate so cleanly that we didn’t miss a joke on the Pryor tapes cackling away on the stereo.
The Z34 is an easy car to drive hard; the chassis signals its limits with lots of safe, steady understeer. And almost nothing upsets the suspension’s composure. Stab the brakes or lift off suddenly in the middle of a turn and the Lumina just tucks itself in neatly. (Such poise helped the Lumina win the slalom test decisively.)
Car and Driver‘s testers also adored the Z34’s style, describing the coupe as something of an antidote to Europe’s conservative aerodynamic designs. Basically, the louvers and spoilers all over the place screamed “America!” to the testers and apparently, one stranger even said, “Damn, that’s a beautiful car!” Unfortunately, the Lumina came crashing down when it came to the interior; none of the testers liked it in there. The cabin was described as “aberrant,” and the buttons were described as feeling like they came from a hobby shop model. And yet, it still scored better than the Dodge.
Here’s how MotorWeek felt about the spicy Lumina:
Just Common Enough To Find Today
The Lumina would get a second generation in 1995 which lasted until 2001. That car would be a sedan only and would not see a performance version. Well, that would be only technically true. The coupe version was renamed the Monte Carlo. The Z34 did make a return and in its best form, you scored a legendary Buick 3800 V6 making 200 horses, but a manual transmission wasn’t available at all.
In terms of rarity, there were more of these produced than most of our other featured Grails. General Motors produced 1,055,795 Lumina sedans and coupes between the 1990 and 1994 model years. Of those, enthusiasts estimate that there are between 38,753 and 46,037 Z34s built. Put that as a percentage and it’s between 3.6 percent and 4.3 percent of total production. So, a fraction of Luminas ever sold is one of these.
The good news is that while there’s no telling just how many of these are left, some people are preserving them. I’ve found a couple near me and one that’s in good shape won’t cost you anywhere near $10,000. I suspect that after my wife and I move into a house you will see one of these in our expansive fleet.
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Some Regal and Cutlass W-bodies were available with the proto-3800, the 231. I’ll take one of those instead.
First-gen W-body Regals were pretty common with it I believe, but Olds only offered a 3.8L in a W-body with the Series II 3800 in the early Intrigues.
Great write up and lots of great history on GM/Chevy during that time period. I knew they had lost ground but those share losses are crazy.
The Lumina was a pretty slick looking car though. For a future article it would be awesome to see something on the other special editions of the era- the Beretta GTZ being one of those.
My dad had a sedan in what I believe what called “Maui Blue” from I’d say ’92-’96. It was a reasonably comfortable squishy family car, that was entirely forgettable. Anytime I ask my dad about it (I remember the car but was too young to ever drive it) he says “ohhhhh yeahhh the Lumina, I always forget I owned one of those”. I think that says a lot.
That whorehouse red interior is worth the price of admission all on its own!
I miss red interiors. And maroon interiors. And blue interiors. And green interiors. Hell, I even miss orange interiors.
I always thought the Lunina was a nice looking car, especially in Z34 coupe guise. My dad had a Lunina with the 3.1 as a company car in the early 90’s. It was the first car I ever drove, so I have a bit of a soft spot for them. I also always liked the Beretta, especially the Z26. I saw a purple one a while back that was absolutely mint. Immediately took me back to my high school days. The Beretta was one of the official cars of my high school. Right up there with Dodge Daytonas and Omnis. Mostly because I lived in a place where seemingly half the population worked for Chrysler.
they made a GTZ and GTU, the all black(or white or red), body kit, 5 speed manual trans, 16 inch wheels with FE7 suspension, 180HP 4 cylinder from olds was kind of a unicorn even when new, but I kind of dug them.
I had an early 90s Corsica when I was like 18 with that red interior, pretty bitchin’!
I always thought these were great looking cars back in the day. The 2nd generation Lumina/Monte Carlo were fugly as all get out, but those 1st gen Z34 ground effects/ spoiler/16” wheels are just *chefs kiss
Back in the olden days, my school had some more base-ish Lumina sedans as drivers Ed cars. Nobody could confuse it with a sports car but it was capable of moving pretty good thru NYC expressway traffic
If I’m not mistaken, the 3.4 carried over to early 2nd gen Lumina (and FWD Monte Carlo) – I swear I remember one in a ’95 Car & Driver test I’ve got buried somewhere. I’m not sure it had much performance other than the extra power, and the styling was pretty sleepy (very much a downgrade from the first gen Lumina Euro).
If I had a choice though, I’m going with the 3.4 in a Cutlass Supreme.
You are correct. For 1998 GM dropped the 3.4 and the Lumina/MC switched over to the 3800, as did the ’97 Grand Prix and ’98 Intrigue. Chevy never offered the supercharged version however until 2004-05 in the next Impala/MC.
Speaking of Intrigue – Olds started with the 3800 because the “Shortstar” wasn’t ready yet. With that being 3.5L, GM’s attempts at DOHC motors sort of “counted” as time went on – 3.4 – 3.5 – 3.6.
Isn’t the sedan version even more rare? The 3.4 Euro sedan
Wasn’t the Lumina available with a 2.5L Iron Dukee too? That would be the real grail, as it’s probably even more rare than the Z34/Euro
This is my 4th vehicle ever, got it in 2004 at the ripe age of 20. Absolutely loved this car even with all its faults.
My car was 94 in gray with a auto trans. I drove this thing hard and it had many electical gremlins and then the engine maintenance doomed me as it was more than my low earning jobs at the time.
I always liked the boxy sportiness of the Lumina Z34 and the Beretta Z26.
I had a black Z34. It us to eat intake bolts for snacks. The dealer saw me pull up and would just hand me the keys to a loaner car. Mine also had a factory repaint. I had them leave off all the decals and emblems off except the red bow tie in the grill. People use to ask if that was the new Monte Carlo. JT was to young to remember seeing it in his neighborhood.
Funny, I was looking for a picture in my phone the other day and came across a pic of a minty Z34 I saw at a car show a couple years back. They really are good looking cars, though I think “grail” is a bit of a stretch.
I worked for two different rental car companies in the late 80s, early 90s when I was in high school and got to drive a bunch of these holy grails back when they were new. I always enjoyed these Lumina Z34 coupes.
For my high school Senior Prom, I rented a white Lumina Z34 for the evening (I didn’t own a car of my own). I probably spent more time detailing that car and making it look really nice than I put into my own appearance, but it did make a statement!
I’m pretty sure my date was ambivalent about the car.
How did GM Frankenstein 4 cams on top of a pushrod 3.4? This sounds like an awful idea.
More or less the same way ford did for the SHO 3.0
The 3.4 has a “traditional” timing set,and where the cam gear would be, is a spud drive that moves the ohc belt drive.
Its as miserable to change as it sounds
Lets not forget that GM experimented with a Isuzu-V8 Beretta *with* a manual trans. That would have been a sweeeeet vehicle.
High school Jack Trade – “that rear end with those taillights is totally Star Wars, man!!”
(this meant more back in the day compared with our current era where you have to actively work to avoid the endless Star Wars onslaught)
Also, check out the coupe’s door handles – mounted on the B-pillar, they pulled kinda out and down in a very flimsy, worrisome way. Worst design ever.
The Beretta was my first car, DO THAT Z NEXT! I know it had a Z24 or 26, something weak but it got the quad 4 engine I believe…
Dunno, you never see em on the road anymore for a reason.
I owned a (regular flavor, but with a manual) Beretta myself and loved it.
Interesting Beretta note – GM never changed the body style during its 10 year run. Unusual for a domestic to look exactly the same its entire life.
I also had the manual with the 2.8, a satisfying car for what it was. Unstoppable in snow with chains, till snow was billowing over the hood it would keep plowing.
I had a white Beretta Z-26 with the 3.1 auto. Loved the way it looked, but had so many issues with the cooling system. I named it puddles because it would blow all of it’s coolant on the ground while you were walking away from it. A’la uncle Buck with the backfiring Merc.
I test drove one once, with the 5 speed stick. It struck me as the automotive equivalent of a drunken college party: fun if you’re in the right mood, but really tiresome if you’re not. I couldn’t see driving it every day. The Taurus SHO was a lot more refined and better behaved.
This is pretty much the sentiment of everyone I knew who had one of these, even back in the 90s when they were new. The only way to make them enjoyable to drive is to drive them hard. The catch-22 to that was also that if you drove them hard, they always broke.
I’ll see your grail from the Z34 coupe and raise to the Euro 3.4 sedan, which was a Euro 3.1 w/ the 3.4 “Twin Dual Cam” engine. I’ve only ever seen one once in the wild. Looks the same other than the badging and dual exhaust.
I owned a 1994 Grand Prix GTP platform mate to the Z34 that was a pretty fun car after I replaced almost everything under the hood.
Euro 3.4 sedans never offered the manual though, unfortunately. Though Z34 coupes with the manual are probably equally as rare as the Euro 3.4 sedan. I think Olds and Pontiac might have offered their W sedans with the 3.4/manual combo for a year or two, both did definitely offer manual sedans with uplevel engines in the first couple years before the 3.4 took over as the universal option on all but the Regal with the 3800.
yes at least on the ponitac you could get a 5 speed… I was peeved when the 94’s came out and dropped the manual!
My brother’s first car was a Euro 3.1. Maroon on maroon (just like my Cutlass Supreme SL). I was a car. That’s about all I can say about it.
Anyway, I always thought the Z34 looked great. I also thought all the Chevy Z models looked great. Because in the late 90’s, those “ground effect” factory skirt kits were rad. My favorite was the Z24 Cavalier coupe.
I think the DOHC 3.4 had a tendency to eat itself, no?
Eat alternators and made the timing set wear faster
pre 95 they were non interference, after that they would grenade themselves if belts were not replaced on time. and that alternator was way down low in the back, yet still not accessible from underneath, changing one was a real pain in the butt.
Couldn’t you also get a Grand Prix GTP with this powertrain?
yep
I always thought the timing belt arrangement on these 3.4’s was kinda interesting, since the belt isn’t directly driven off the crank.
Wait till you do a timing belt on one 🙂
or py for someone to do it since you do not want to pay for the tool to keep the cams in sync. 9 Hours book time.
YIKES. I just watched a youtube video on it… and the guy said his way was the “easy” way. Still didn’t look fun. GM had the opportunity to make it easier to do a timing belt job since the crank pulley wasn’t involved… but somehow managed to make it harder than average 90’s OHC V6’s…at least it appears that way.
I always thought they were EuroSports, i kind of do recall the Z34 badge now though.
No, you’re right in a way – I bet you’re thinking of the Celebrity Eurosport coupes, esp. the cool Eurosport VR edition, which was a boxier ’80s version of this.