Cadillac Catera?

We're still looking for a small to mid-sized car. I'm looking to save a little money, but want to get something a little different. We just came back from looking at the Chevy Malibu and the Ford 500. Both are nice, but a little on the hum drum side.

I keep seeing used Cadillac Cateras (1997-2001) on Ebay for around $10,000 and they have between 10,000 and 25,000 miles.

Anyone have any experience with these?

Maybe Bob Sharpie can chime in... he seems to know a bit about mid-range European autos.

Andy.........I have a close friend who is a service writer/advisor at a buick/cadillac dealership........I asked him about them once & he said they were actually a decent car with not any abnormal amount of problems. If you narrow it down to a certain year, let me know & I'll ask him to pull the service bulletins from gm on that model so you'll know what the potential problems are...........

If you can give Tom the serial number of the car that you are considering he can have his friend pull the exact service records out of the GM computers so you will know if it had any problems in its history that even a Carfax won't pick up.....

I have more than extensive experience with the Cadillac Catera. Don't turn and walk away; run!!! Reliability wise, they have proven to be one of the worst vehicles ever built. The engines are absolutely terrible, and parts are flat out NOT available. The car is a complete disaster. True book value on one of those cars should be around $1500 max. No way would I even consider paying the $1500 bucks for one either. Believe me, I know these vehicles only all too well!!

AndyM said:

... he seems to know a bit about mid-range European autos.

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Andy,
The Catera is a European car?

My 2 cents. Be careful with European cars. Nice cars but they like lots of maintenance (almost to the tune of a monthly car payment).
I've already dumped 2 Mercedes
Working on dumping 2 Audi's

I have heard that Volvo and BMW have a better reliability.

Brian

bczoom said:

Andy,
The Catera is a European car?

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Yep, they were made in Germany, by Opel.
My findings are the same as yours... they reliability of European automobiles varies from brand to brand, but I haven't previously heard anything about the Cadillac Catera, either positive or negative.

There sure seem to be a lot of them with VERY low miles on Ebay.

If you want to get an ear full on the Catera, just call any Cadillac dealership and tell them that you have a Catera that is "just barely" out of warranty and if they may be able to help you. They won't be able to get you off the phone fast enough. I have over a dozen documented cases of Catera owners having to wait for over a month for parts when they blew and were still under the factory warranty!! It's a double whammy; they absolutely suck, and you can't get parts for them. Most any Caddy tech will tell you to "don't buy" at any price.

FWIW - I know several retired fellas who attend used car auctions for dealerships and drive the purchased cars back to the dealership.

Everyone of them says the catera is the last car to get driven. The ride sucks, visability isn't that great, the drivers seat is uncomfortable, etc.

None of them would purchase one...not new or used. And yes, they all have the means to do so.

Wannafish said:

FWIW - I know several retired fellas who attend used car auctions for dealerships and drive the purchased cars back to the dealership.

Everyone of them says the catera is the last car to get driven. The ride sucks, visability isn't that great, the drivers seat is uncomfortable, etc.

None of them would purchase one...not new or used. And yes, they all have the means to do so.

Click to expand...

I'd have to think that they had no desire to either walk half way, or find a ride when the Craptera engine locked up either.