# Cadillac Catera **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [June 19, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537 "2008-06-19T00:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@scj](https://community.cartalk.com/u/scj)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/1 "2008-06-19T00:16:58Z")
Does anyone know anything about Cadillac Catera’s? I’m looking at a 1998 with 22,000 miles on it. It’s priced at $7900 which is above book but forgetting that does anyone know anything about the car and make itself that I should be aware of? It seems to have some sort of soft top roof. I am a neophyte. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![lprocter](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/lprocter/32/40_2.png) [@lprocter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lprocter)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/2 "2008-06-19T00:33:29Z")
Check out [carsurvey.org](http://carsurvey.org) See what others have said about the car. By the way, I wouldn’t pay more than $5000 for the car - it’s a 10 year old GM product, so repairs will be abundant, regardless of mileage. Scratch that. I just checked out [carsurvey.org](http://carsurvey.org) myself, and I wouldn’t take the car if it was given to me. It seems the majority of owners state something along the lines of “It’s a piece of crap.” ---
**Author:** ![scj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@scj](https://community.cartalk.com/u/scj)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/3 "2008-06-19T00:42:23Z")
Thanks. It also looks like they made the model for only five years and then discontinued it. ---
**Author:** ![deke01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@deke01](https://community.cartalk.com/u/deke01)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/4 "2008-06-19T00:52:20Z")
This was GM’s largest selling car in Europe. I had one and couldn’t believe one would drive this when BMWs are everywhere. Typical (new) Cadillac; expensive parts, hard to work on, multiple fluid leaks. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/5 "2008-06-19T02:08:57Z")
Move on. $7900 is seriously overpriced despite the low mileage. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/6 "2008-06-19T12:28:43Z")
This “Cadillac” was actually an Opel that was most frequently used in Europe as a taxi cab. A luxury car? Well, after adding a leather interior, a Cadillac badge, and the “pimp” roof that some of them had, GM was able to convince a small number of buyers that this was a luxury car–despite its very humble roots and its poor reliability record. Unfortunately, this car had little to recommend it when it was new, and it has certainly not become better with age–especially in terms of reliability. And, based on the age and the odometer mileage of this car, it appears that it was driven an average of only 2,200 miles per year. That could be a bad sign, indicating a lot of “downtime” for repairs. And, unless you have access to service records indicating that the car’s maintenance has been performed as per the elapsed time factor, rather than according to odometer mileage, this could well be a car that has missed a lot of vital maintenance. If I were you, I would not buy this vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![NYBo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nybo/32/17281_2.png) [@NYBo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/NYBo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/7 "2008-06-19T12:50:28Z")
Can you say “Cimarron”? ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/8 "2008-06-19T13:22:00Z")
Yeah. Wouldn’t you think that people would have learned something after the Cimarron marketing ploy? When the Cimarron came on the market, my first thought was, “Why would someone pay double the price of a Chevy for the exact same car with just a bit of glitz added to it?”. Of course, unless someone was familiar with European cars, it was much more difficult to figure out the real origin of the Catera, but it was still not a vehicle that was ever worth what they were charging for it. And, GM’s product support (like adequate training for dealership mechanics) left much to be desired. ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/9 "2008-06-21T05:28:32Z")
I personally wouldn’t pay anything above book these days. (book means very little and might even be overpriced for the market) The automotive market is very down these days, especially for large and semi-large cars like the Caddy, due to fuel prices. I would definitely shop around before thinking this is even slightly a good deal. It may be a fine car, but I think you can find a much better deal. ---
**Author:** ![dongkwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@dongkwan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dongkwan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 6:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/cadillac-catera/15537/10 "2008-06-21T06:01:55Z")
Hey, scjscj2, I don’t know what a neophyte is, but, if you won’t heed VDCdriver’s recommendation, maybe it’s something you should have a doctor looked at soon…