1998 Cadillac Catera
The Cadillac Catera was sold from 1997 to 2001 here in the US. It was really a rebadged Opel Omega built in Germany that GM hoped would compete with BMW and Mercedes here for the small luxury car segment. It didn't.
The motor was a V6 that I would describe as "adequate". More power would have been nice, but even with this small powerplant gas mileage wasn't anything to write home about.
This was actually my 2nd Catera. I had purchased a maroon 1997 previously in an attempt to get my parents, who had been talking about getting a smaller car, to take it. They passed on the '97, but I tried again with this low mileage, and nearly perfect '98 and it worked. To get my dad to take any car it had to be either maroon or gold - the colors of Midwestern State University where he had been President for nearly 20 years. I convinced him that this champagne colored Catera was close enough to gold. They actually kept this thing for a few years I think.
The interior on these was rather handsome and well appointed. The car was comfortable, and this was about the only aspect that hinted that it was a Cadillac. It wasn't really a success for GM and they gave up after 2001 as sales declined yearly.
There's no reason to look for one of these today. They will most likely never be classics and very few were well cared for. I thought it was an alright used car because it was cheap after a few years on the road. I can't imagine having bought a new one though. If you remember, Cadillac tried to hit this market first with the Cimmaron (massive failure) and then with this car (slightly less massive failure) before finally getting it right with the CTS.
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