tur·key (/ˈtərkē/) – Oxford Dictionary defines it as 1) a large mainly domesticated game bird native to North America, having a bald head and (in the male) red wattles. It is prized as food, especially on festive occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and 2) something that is extremely or completely unsuccessful, especially a play or movie.
While our featured car is certainly no domesticated game bird by any means, the Cadillac Catera is largely regarded as an extremely unsuccessful vehicle, even garnering the unflattering nickname of Cimarron 2.0. Here in the U.S., today is Thanksgiving (a.k.a. “Turkey Day”), so featuring the Catera may seem very fitting. It’s been scrutinized and lambasted countless times here at CC over the years, but let me be the first to give it thanks and offer a differing opinion, for I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’ve been captivated by the Catera ever since it debuted.
Getting past its shortcomings in actual execution which have been described in detail before, look at it from my perspective as I viewed when it was being produced and sold. During my relatively short lifetime, up until this point I only knew Cadillacs as being big, square barges with illogical bench seats and column shifters driven by wealthy people with white hair like my great uncle and aunt. The Catera, however, completely shook up my world and vision of Cadillac.
Before I was old enough to pay attention to ads and marketing, my impressions of cars were based fully upon seeing them on the roads. Once I started seeing the Catera, I instantly could tell it wasn’t an ordinary Cadillac for it was… not square. It was sleek, it was sporty, it was captivating. It looked a lot like a Lexus, or even a BMW. I remember sitting in it at the auto show as a curious as a young child, amazed at its bucket seats! This was the first Cadillac I ever found cool.
History has branded the Cadillac Catera as a catastrophic failure, and in many senses it was. Furthermore, its track record for less-than-stellar reliability has dug its grave even further. Yet for someone with little knowledge of the actual car industry at the time, and judging cars based on purely what my own eyes saw, the Cadillac Catera was a gem of a Cadillac and the only Cadillac that’s ever appealed to me. It may indeed be a turkey, but hey, I don’t even like turkey. Today I’ll be enjoying a nice piece of grilled Atlantic cod, and like that unpopular choice in Thanksgiving dinner, my preferred choice in Cadillac will always be the Catera.
Photographed at World’s End in Hingham, Massachusetts – May 2019
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I appreciate the Catera’s modern European dynamics, but it was too austere to be a Cadillac. It would have made a nice Oldsmobile, though—a good companion to the Aurora.
I’ve never thought of that but I couldn’t agree more! I think the Catera would have made a fantastic Oldsmobile, as in many ways it was the car the Intrigue wanted to be.
In Europe it was called a Opel Omega. Rented one many times in Germany. Loved it!
Yet again a vehicle which here in the EU never had such terrible reputation makes its way to the US and… Who knows? Is it something in your water, air or just bad federalizing?
Hmmmm…
In all honestly, I’ve always felt the Catera’s degree of failure was ill-deserved.
There were several contributing factors though. First and foremost, it’s important to note that the typical existing Cadillac buyer was generally older, conservative, nationalistic, and opposed to any type of drastic change.
From their perspective, the Catera was like an intruder in the Cadillac lineup – foreign-built, prioritizing sportiness and driver engagement over sheer comfort, curvaceous styling, and relatively compact compared to the traditional Cadillacs its core customer base purchased. The 1992 Seville was culture shock enough, but the Catera was well, foreign.
Additionally, while the Catera very well might have been a car worth considering for buyers/perspective buyers of European luxury sports sedans, Cadillac’s image was so engrained as an old man’s Broughamy car, that it likely deterred potential prospects from even taking a look at the Catera.
Beyond that, there was of course the Catera’s, while cute, yet nonetheless disastrously missing the mark advertising campaign. And its maintenance costs no doubt were typically higher than the tried-and-true DeVille.
It’s sad because I truly think the Catera was a very competent car. I just don’t think it made for a good Cadillac at this point and time. Maybe it very well could have been more successful as an Oldsmobile, but who really knows.
it was very different than anything Cadillac was currently selling. Cadillac buyers were and still largely are some of the most loyal
In France, Opel’s reputation started to take a dive during the 90’s, mainly for reliability issues.
IIRC, it started with the Astra and the Corsa B.
On the latter, I remember there was so many issues with cambelts that Opel halved its replacement precognizations, from 80.000 to 40.000 miles.
The Vectra B was also mess thought to ne less reliable and durable than its predecessor.
And I can’t remember why (electronics ?), but the reliability of the Omega B (= Catera) was considered subpar in comparison with its contemporaries. Especially the V6.
Surely the cambelt problem was due to using plastic tensioner pulleys ?
It could be hard to get rid of a Vectra B – Opel dealers didn’t want them as part-exchanges. Drove a lot of Opel customers to other brands.
I always thought that the good ol’ 1987-1993 Opel Senator B (based on the Omega A) would have been a good candidate for a Cadillac-treatment. Note that these always had an Opel CIH inline-six, the Ellesmere V6 that made the Catera so “famous” was only introduced in 1994.
That looks likenthe Audi V8, especially a pillar back
The CIH. Underpowered but solid as a rock.
We got that in the Vectra my sister had one and had problems with it, mostly because Holden dealer mechanics had never seen one before and knew nothing about them,
Just saw one of these downtown last week, hadn’t seen one in a while. I enjoyed the looks of these too but catastrophic GM reliability is really not my thing.
Happy Thanksgiving, we’re off to my American mother in law’s house tonight for dinner.
The huge depreciation on these made low-mileage used Cateras very affordable. I didn’t hate the looks and didn’t care that it wasn’t a “real” Cadillac, so I kind of liked them. If I had been in the market for a largish comfortable sedan at the time, I would have considered buying one.
But then I also liked the Lincoln LS for similar reasons.
An Opel Omega in disguise of course. Never have been a fan of any Opel. There have been a few exceptions of course – the lovely GT, the first Manta, the…. err I cannot think of more.
However, the Omega always looked good to me. It has nice balanced lines and a proper old fashioned RWD drivetrain. Late eighties I borrowed a colleagues company car (Omega A type Estate) for a weekend trip and thought it was a very good car. Roomy, fairly rapid, nice gear change, etc. It is a good, decent car.
But that is its problem. It is just a decent car. Why would you want just a decent car when there are so much more interesting cars?
Still, I like its looks whenever I see one. Which is becoming pretty rare.
You aren’t alone, they were very attractive cars and comfortable to boot, and by far the most “European” Cadillac – obviously. I don’t think it was the wrong move to bring it over here conceptually, but the marketing and follow-through was horrendous. I suppose it begat the CTS down the road as far as market position goes but as far as looks go, this was far better.
I was so disappointed in my beloved Opel when the reliability issues started popping up with these. In a way though these paved the way for the performance Cadillacs of today by being a departure from the “normal” Cad of the time.
I agree — I’ve always had a fondness for these, especially (like Karl mentions above) when they depreciated with a thud and became a seemingly attractive used-car value. During the 2000s, I briefly considered buying a used Catera a few times, but was scared off by the specter of higher maintenance costs than I’d care to deal with.
As for Thanksgiving, this year we’re breaking with tradition and having duck instead of of turkey… perfect for the Catera.
Well in that case you must name your duck Ziggy!
That’s me! Happy Thanksgiving:
Brendan, I also remember the cartoon duck from the Catera ads! It is refreshing to read your positive counterpoint in these cars. Great piece. (And we had chicken for Thanksgiving. 🙂 )
For this, Cadillac lost its Ducks?
Interestingly enough, this isn’t the vehicle that made me lose faith in Cadillac. I have owned quite a few in my day, and I didn’t mind the Catera. It seemed like a faithful experiment to me.
The thing that made me reconsider buying my latest Cadillac at that time, a 2003 CTS, was the XLR coming out a year after. Depressed me all around and it had such an effect on me, I sold the CTS and bought a 300M Special instead, a bit ironic when you think about it.
Over the years Cadillac has brought in models that were never conceived to be actual Cadillacs; the first gen Seville (Chevy Nova) the Cimmaron (Chevy Cavalier) the Escalade (Chevy Tahoe) and the XLR (Chevy Corvette). Of these models only the Escalade has been really successful and accepted as a true Cadillac. I got to drive a Caterea as a loaner for a couple of days when my ’94 Seville STS was being serviced at the dealer. I had been curious about the car because I knew that it was actually a European car. It was smaller and less powerful than my Seville and the interior was not as impressive. It was an okay car, but the Seville really captured the essence of what a modern Cadillac could be. Cadillacs had always been badge engineered in that they shared a common platform with other big GM cars but they had always managed to look and feel distinctive. When GM lost that feeling Cadillac took a nose dive.
“the Escalade has been really successful and accepted as a true Cadillac”…..Can’t disagree with you more about the original Seville….It was a huge success for Cadillac. Profitable, attractive, reliable, a good performer, a good seller and considered a real Cadillac….No buyer associated the Seville with the Nova….The Nova connection is so overplayed. Yes it did share components, but they were good components as the Nova was considered one of the best compacts…..The Nova shared its front suspension with the Camaro….I know it is considered a deadly sin….Disagree
I owned a Vauxhall Omega, the UK version of the Catera for 2 years. A 2.5 V6 in top spec, an Elite station wagon.
Here in the UK, the omega was a well respected car with a decent reputation for reliability.
For UK fuel prices, the 2.5 was expensive to run and fairly sluggish. It went ok if you really pushed it through the Rev range but the fuel consumption then was awful. The handling was average at best.
Overall though, I really liked it. It provided comfort levels similar to those achieved by big hydraulically suspended Citroen’s like the XM without the complexity. For its length it was relatively narrow so perfect for uk roads. It felt like it was built of granite too compared to a Citroen.
I think the 3.2 V6 was the one to go for although we did get the BMW 6 cylinder diesel fitted to them before being replaced by the 2.2dti.
Caught one of these locally in May this year. Looks pretty fair for a 20 year old car, though the local gulls managed to add some decoration of their own.
We have the Australian equivalent on our drive fleet same colour even but of course with the Buick V6 which is pretty good once you sort the intake gasket properly and keep the trans serviced they withstand some fairly hard use, little comfort poor road manners but solid old beasts there are lots about
GM just has negative juju – compounded by truly bad dealers that don’t really want to deal with a (European) car that is quite different.
I am afraid that the same fate awaits what seems to be the excellent Buick (nee Opel) TourX.
The only thing I remember about this car is the commercial featuring Cindy Crawford.
I remember that, and the Chicago Hope character named, “Lisa Catera.”
From Cadillac’s TV spot with the tag, “Lease a Catera for just $— per month, see your Cadillac dealer. Who IS Lisa Catera?!”
Cadillac placed a schedule on “Chicago Hope”, featuring the lease special. A few weeks later, a new character appears on the show…Lisa Catera!
It would’ve been remembered much more fondly had the car not been a total loser.
This car is an example of why you should be careful what you wish for. I was one of those car enthusiasts who thought GM needed to leverage Opel to improve Cadillac throughout the late ’70s and ’80s. I’d been to Europe, and I’d seen attractive Senators, Monzas and even Rekords.
The Senators and Monzas had OHC inline 6s that were said to challenge those of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The cars also had independent suspensions and interiors with a hint of ergonomic thought. What they didn’t have was the inauthentic ginger bread that was driving many people out of Detroit’s upscale offerings and into imported cars.
Eventually the best Opel components came to the US dressed as expensive Bitter SC coupes and sedans. I think the media reception they received was reasonably positive, but their hand-built nature kept prices high. Once again people were asking why GM couldn’t certify big Opels, and GM’s answer was that they were selling far more De Villes than Mercedes-Benz was selling 300Ds.
I almost feel like the Catera was such a botched car in order to justify all those years of not listening to the auto journalists and well-traveled customers. The inline sixes enthusiasts wanted were gone, the looks had devolved to complete anonymity, and by then the quality of the engineering was reunified-Germany-abysmal instead of West-German-extraordinary. See? They told us that Opel Cadillacs would never work!
I keep wondering about why Cadillac would rather choose a narrower Opel Omega than a wider Holden Commodore VT. The latter can be fitted with V8 engines, making a potential V-Sport version with Northstar engine.
In the 1990s, General Motors allocated the funding to Holden for developing the left-hand-drive version of Commodore VT and Caprice VT. This was to be a basis for stillborn RWD Buick, replacing the Roadmaster and possibly Park Avenue. When that didn’t happen, the Holden exported LHD version to several LHD markets as Chevrolet Lumina or Omega.
General Motors could amortise the development cost quickly by sending Cadillac-badged Commodores to the US, perhaps with V8 option.
As I read this article I was thinking the same thing. Mechanics would have been familiar with the Buick V6 (there’s an understatement!) or the Chevy V8, so no mechanical problems, there was extra width inside (not so squeezy) and the interior would probably have been more dressy than the German original – more Cadillacy if you like. They might have had to do a cut-and-paste from various Holden models to get the right spec to avoid it trampling on the other models in Cadillac’s range, but it could have been done. The cost of importing them from the other end of the world would easily have been covered by Cadillac’s market pricing. The only downside I can see is they couldn’t have claimed straight European heritage.
Hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
Even the upscale Calais is quite plain inside weve got one of those to drive too leather seats but they are slippery and not very comfortable the ride is harsh and noisy it wouldnt have made a good Caddy unless a lot of reworking took place.
Was a stick shift offered ?
Never offered in Cadillac but were plentifully and gleefully offered in many Holden models…
I’ve probably mentioned this before in commenting about the Catera, but we had a neighbor who traded in his first-gen Acura Legend for a Catera. He was an elderly engineer, who told me (correctly as it turned out) that this would be his last car, and he was attracted by the idea of a legendary American brand based on German engineering and manufacturing. I never had the chance to ask him if it lived up that ideal.
The Catara’s real shortcoming was that it was a badge engineered car that bore zero resemblance to then-present Cadillac styling, or Cadillac styling to come. In 2000 It wasn’t quite as dated as the also badge engineered import GTO(I firmly believe the late 90s styling being that model’s biggest issue), but it just wasn’t a fit for Cadillac. Maybe Oldsmobile, but that was a dead brand walking, Buick no, and still no, but really the only brand that I could have seen the Opel Omega fitting into was Chevrolet, it fit their style at the time. But that raises the business question of “why would we go and do that when we can slap a premium on it and make bank?”. And unfortunately for the big wigs and investors, the buying public perceived that that’s exactly what took place in a boardroom.
I agree that it’s not a bad car, the Catara did have some issues but so did Northstar Cadillacs. The platform was solid, the styling was fairly attractive for the time and the interior was undoubtedly a notable cut above the GM Fisher Price material quality in domestic offerings. The Lear made seats were quite excellent too, especially in the rare Sport package with thick bolsters and adjustable thy supports. Had these been tinkered with some, using local engines as Holden did to create the Commodore these could have been really good cars in the midsize market.
Agreed. More effort should have been made to grab some Cadillac styling cues, whether stronger fender definition or cathedral taillights. It was remarkable how much effort they put into the Saab 9-3 to create the BLS. That didn’t sell well either.
Although it has never been discussed in any automotive forum to my knowledge, I believe that the Catera’s biggest problem has been touched upon in this article. The subject of Atlantic cod being served on Thanksgiving has been mentioned. I find that to be more appealing than a Cadillac Catera. Atlantic cod on Thanksgiving with Lisa Catera would be even more appealing.
Beautiful engine to look at…miserable engine to work on. Most of these and the Saturn 300’s landed in the junkyard long before what should have been their time.
I wrote the COAL linked to above, and was quite possibly too forgiving in my writeup.
This. Was. A. Horrible. Car. I just cannot say it enough. Remember the Sterling? Consider all the articles written about current Alfa reliability? That’s how horrible this car was, and the Sterling had some panache, and the Alfas are fun to drive when they run. This thing was NOT sporty. But it broke a lot, and expensively. A LOT of things broke on it.
This. Was. A. Horrible. Car.
Ahhh, the Catera….. just another one of Cadillac’s many blemished machines they tried to push off as competitive to their foreign competition and failed. Some people say that the Cadillac division once sparkled like a gem. But that was generations ago.
I can’t agree with sleek and sporty, this is car is a snore and has none of the character of the hulking Fleetwoods and Escalades, or the actually sleek and sporty Seville. This thing looks like a Daewoo.
I followed the Catera with great interest when it first appeared. I was on the verge of being able to afford a “luxury” car, and I thought I might be able to get a great deal on one of these as a lease return. I was almost positive that the Catera was going to be a disaster with traditional Cadillac buyers especially with the “Lisa Catera” ads, and especially the “Ziggy” tv commercials. If you’ve never seen one, take 36 seconds to watch this one:
Now that you’re back, you can join me in wondering who the heck thought that was a good way to sell Cadillacs? So, you can see why I figured Lease returns were going to go for pennies…. And gee, a V-6 Opel that had been chosen as the 1987 Europe Car Of The Year? Sure, it looked almost identical to the Chevy Malibu of the times, but hey!
I was fortunate however in not having been able to buy a new one. By the time the lease returns were on the market the word was out. I was never quite sure what GM did in translating the car for the American market but wow…. I remember that engines failed in these cars right and left, and electrical problems were legion. So, yeah, you could get a lease-return Catera for almost nothing, but that -still- wasn’t cheap enough to convince me to gamble on one. I passed.
Worked on several in my shop. Absolute garbage car. When it did run they drove nicely
What hurt Cadillac was it’s success in selling extreme brougham cars during the 1970s and 1980s. Success can destroy a company. If Cadillac focused and built upon quality transportation and engineering over its use of velour, opera lights and disco swagger, it could have easily moved beyond that era. Cadillac became its 1970s success. So when it came time to change, Cadillac wasn’t willing to move on. Success is addictive. They brougham-ized the brougham, digging in even deeper.
The Catera was not a Cadillac. It was not a quality ride. It was not what Cadillac or Cadillac buyers needed.
Would’ve made a nice Chevy or Buick.
I like turkey.
I like cod.
The Catera began to turn my view of Cadillac as well.
In my view, it went from a purveyor of geriatric poorly assembled float boats adorned with more tinsel than substance, to an aspiring half-baked European competitor. The Northstar Seville was another step there, but whatever aura these lent the brand was short-lived once the quality issues became the bigger story.
More transformative to me was the 2004 CTS. That was a huge departure from the brougham era. I was (an am) actually interested in that car, and the ATS and CT6 that followed, precisely because they have supplanted the Germans as sports sedans. CTS VSport? Very appealing car.
But I haven’t put my money where my mouth is, haven’t bought one, and no one else is either, so the brand has simultaneously transformed for the better and completely died in the marketplace because they don’t line up.
We referred to them as ‘Caterribles’ when I worked at the Techline Customer Support Center for GM service departments.
2001 Cadillac Catera is still running with 178K miles. Holds the road and handles quite nicely. A few rust spots have surfaced but still in good shape.
In theory, I was the demographic for this car, 33 years old when it hit showrooms, and I was able in 1995 to buy a new Chrysler Concorde not long before this car came out in late 1996.
The Catera was attractive in a modern way, and the Cadillac name still meant something to this Midwestern boy. So, I was vaguely intrigued. But, with a starting price of $29,995 its inaugural year, it was a crappy value. It was just another modern sedan from GM. What exactly defined a luxury car had become pretty vague when a Cadillac looked like and had specifications below that of a mid-priced Chrysler product.
My modern Chrysler sedan sported a standard 214 HP 3.5 V6 and came with the optional Infinity sound system, and ultimately the Chrysler was more reliable! All for a low, low price (my actual window sticker)….
From my brochure, my car was the same color as the car shown. Should I have paid more for a Cadillac?