The Legacy
By 2001, the last Catara had made its doddery way off the production line. All in all, it had been a dismal failure. But it wasn’t all bad news for Cadilac. If nothing else, the Catara had served as a lesson, a lesson that resulted in Cadillac re-writing the rule book and coming up with its successor, the far more successful CTS. With its sharp styling, easy handling, superb performance, and crisp interior, the CTS was everything the Catara wasn’t — and just the thing to save Cadillac’s luxury division and kick off the new millennium in style. The Catara, meanwhile, has been consigned to the pages of history… which as anyone who ever had the misfortune to drive one will tell you, is the best place for it.
The Features
On paper, things looked good enough. The standard features were impressive as WIKI notes, customers could expect a cloth interior, front bucket seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, AM/FM stereo radio with cassette player and eight-speaker sound system, airbags, anti-lock brakes, traction control, keyless entry, security system, alloy wheels, compact spare tire, and full instrumentation), while the optional extras of leather interior, heated seats, cassette player and CD player combination, Bose premium sound system, power sunroof, HomeLink, OnStar, and chrome wheels where varied enough to keep things interesting.
A Glimmer In An Era Of Stagnation
Before we get into what made the Steinmetz such a unique car, one has to understand the state of GM during the mid 1990s. Back in those days profits took precedent over quality and that helped play a role in GM being behind the curve in some areas. In the case of Cadillac that meant not having a entry to do battle with the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4, and the Mercedes C-Class. The last attempt in this arena was the Cadillac Cimmaron which was nothing more than a Chevrolet Cavalier with chrome and tacked on Cadillac badges.
GM execs at the time looked globally for their next attempt and thought they struck gold with the Opel Omega. Renaming it the Catera, Cadillac began selling the model in the U.S. in 1996 with the brand hoping that it would revive the brand’s languishing image and bring in customers that were not making their weekend shopping run from the local nursing home Off the bat, the Catera had a very lousy start with the company choosing to dedicate the bulk of its marketing to creating an animated duck named Ziggy (based off of one of the six merlettes that were in the Cadillac crest at the time.) The merlettes themselves were actually based on swallows and symbols of heraldry but that didn’t stop Cadillac from moving forward with its web footed mascot.
Ziggy tried his best to zig younger buyers into showrooms, but the bulk of them instead zagged their way to the German big three, with Cadillac’s old clientele swooping in to pick up the scraps instead. It didn’t help either that the Catera was about as sporty as your father’s favorite pair of loafers with heavy curb weight conspiring with an underpowered engine to create a truly boring car. The Catera it seemed was doomed to failure right out the gate.
Cadillac Catera — Кадди, или НеКадди?
Нет, — даже если вчера, Вы ооочень хорошо погуляли, поверьте, — Вам не кажется). Это именно Кадиллак, а не Омега. Это Cadillac Catera, — первый, полностью собранный за территорией США, Кадди.
Эти машины, выпускались на заводе GM, в Европе, с 96-ого по 2001. И на самом деле, они, не оправдали ожиданий Cadillac; — 95 000 машин за 5 лет, — это явно не то, чего хотела видеть, верхушка GM.
Несмотря на то, что изначально, Катера имела более богатое оснащение, в сравнении с той же Омегой; — американцы не видели в этой машине Cadillac. Ведь по американским меркам, — это уж точно, не большой автомобиль. Да, — в 2000-ых годах, появились и совсем маленькие, по меркам Cadillac, Кадди. Такие — новые машины, как CTS, хоть и не были большими, но несли в себе новую идеологию Кадиллак. А вот в Катере, американцы, этого не видели.
В общем, американцев, на самом деле, понять можно; — но вот Вы, хотите именно Кадиллак, или Вы хотите Комфортабельную, Мощную и Надежную машину? Если Вы за второе, то возможно, Катера — это именно то, что Вам и нужно!
Тем более, что купить Кадиллак Катера, можно уже за 7 000$. Согласитесь, — это не так уж и много, за достаточно ухоженный, мощный, комфортабельный автомобиль.
Уверен, Вторую Омегу, Вы видели, не одну сотню раз. Взгляните на фото Кадиллак Катера, — что здесь бросается в глаза, больше всего? — Конечно, это эмблема Cadillac)
Здесь немного другой передний бампер, и противотуманки в нем покрупнее, чем в Омеге; — но разве это сильно важно?
Корма Катеры, рядом с Омегой, выделяется уже сильнее
Обратите внимание на «растянутый» плафон стоп — сигнала; — это хоть и не сильно масштабное, но интересное изменение
Кстати, обратите внимание, что красная секция задних фонарей, у Кадди размещена сверху, а у Омеги — снизу. Еще стоит добавить, что по отзывам владельцев Cadillac Catera, свет у этого авто, не слишком уж хороший
Некоторые люди устанавливали ксенон, и это решало проблему
Еще стоит добавить, что по отзывам владельцев Cadillac Catera, свет у этого авто, не слишком уж хороший. Некоторые люди устанавливали ксенон, и это решало проблему.
Водительское кресло Катеры, имеет электропривод, здесь,
кресло регулируется, в 9-яти, различных направлениях, и оно имеет память на две позиции. Да, — сегодня этим никого, не удивить; но это то, что должно быть, на изначально дорогом автомобиле.
Интереснее то, в чем кроется отличие с Омегой. Так, спидометр, как это и положено американским автомобилям, размечен в милях. А регулировка климат-контроля, производится не в градусах Цельсия, а в градусах Форенгейта. Вот в этих деталях и проявляется, американская направленность автомобиля.
Еще примечательно то, что если с центрального бокса Омеги, выезжает один подстаканник; то в том же месте Катеры, их уже два. И кстати, если на «пуфике» заднего дивана Омеги, подстаканников нет, то в Катере они есть.
Некоторые отзывы владельцев Кадиллак Катера,
говорят, что это более жесткий, чем Омега, автомобиль. В это может быть сложно поверить, — ну как Кадиллак может быть жестким? Но, как минимум доля истины, в этих словах, может быть. Дело в том, что после переделок, Катера стала тяжелее Омеги, и поэтому, ее подвеску сделали пожоще.
Под капотом Кадиллак Катера установлен двигатель V6 3.0л — L81, произведенный на британском заводе GM, в городке Elesmere Port. При табуне в 204 лошадки, и даже вместе с 4-ех скоростным автоматом, 100км, такой седан способен набрать всего за 8.5с.
Отзывы владельцев Cadillac Catera, говорят, что при реально спокойной манере езды, в городе можно уложиться в 12л 92-ого. Те же, кто любит погонят, заливают порядка 15-16л того же, 92-ого.
Итак, Катера — это Кадиллак, или НеКадиллак? Я думаю, — это такой же Кадиллак, как и первый Эскалейд ( по факту слегка измененный Шевроле Тахо). Да, нет в этой машине духа Cadillac, но на нее решетке есть эмблема этой, великой марки, — и она дает отличную возможность выделится.
Если Вы не такой уж и фанат Кадиллак, но Вы хотите мощную, комфортабельную машину, то Катера Вам наверняка понравится.
German Tuning House Provides The Spark
With the stock Catera being based on an Opel product, GM decided to recruit German tuner Steinmetz who specialized in adding some vigor to various Opel models. The company was looking to kill two birds at once when the concept was formally completed. It wanted to gauge what customers thought of a souped up Catera while also previewing an upcoming sport package for the Catera at the same time. The sport package would make its production debut in 2000, and the hope was that it would help create a true pecking order in the Catera lineup with the sport and the potential range topping Catera creating two extra rungs of performance.
In the case of the Steinmetz Concept it certainly had alot going for it when it made its rounds in the auto show circuit. The exterior styling was freshened up, with the front fascia featuring a blackened front grille, a revised front bumper, and a set of vents on the hood. The side profile benefited from bigger alloy wheels and bigger skirts, whiule the rear featured a prominent rear spoiler and two chrome dipped exhaust tips rounded out the orange hued package.
The interior was also heavily updated with leather sport seats replacing the stock seats and drilled aluminum pedals adding some spice to the cabin. Steinmetz also added a sport steering wheel and splashed higher quality leather accents throughout the cabin. All of these treatments helped give the interior a very distinctive flair and a personality that was practically unheard of with Cadillac models of the period.
The Introduction of the Catera
In 1992, Cadillac had enjoyed a brief return to glory with the Seville. With its international character, classy sense of refinement, and excellent handling, it tapped into the demand for performance driven cars with good road manners a treat. But a manufacturer can’t rely on one car alone, no matter how good its sales. Enter the Catera. If Cadillac had achieved such good sales with a car that simply ‘looked’ European in design (i.e. the Seville), how much better could an actual European import be? First introduced in the US as the Cadillac LSE concept car, the Catera was an entry level vehicle designed to compete with the sedans coming from the likes of Acura, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz. In the fall of 1996, Cadilac began rolling out sales of the new model internationally. A Sport model followed in 1999 featuring power adjustable seats, heated seats, 17-inch wheels, seat memory, audible theft-deterrent system, three-channel garage door opener, high-intensity discharge headlamps, and a rear spoiler.
What Happened To It?
The Steinmetz Concept certainly had potential, but while it was a sportier version of the Catera it did very little to improve the Catera’s moribund sales figures with the lukewarm reaction also forcing Cadillac to cancel stillborn plans for a Blackfin sub-brand. The Catera itself would be axed in 2001 with its departure giving Cadillac room to introduce the much more successful CTS sedan in 2003. But while the Steinmetz failed to save the Catera, it did play an indirect role in inspiring Cadillac to create the CTS-V in 2004. Like the Steinmetz Concept, the first generation CTS-V was designed to give more performance to the CTS, but it did so with more power thanks to its 400 horsepower V8 and two more gears with a six speed manual being the sole transmission available.
Thus the Steinmetz became a unique footnote in Cadillac’s history that ultimately helped create the pathway towards modern performance Cadillacs including the Blackwing models.
The Problem
But even with all those fancy features, something was amiss… something that became painfully obvious as soon as people started noticing just how similar the Catera looked to the Chevy Malibu, a pedestrian little motor priced at nearly $20000 less than the Catera. But the real problem started once you got behind the wheel. The Catara was clunky, slow, almost doddery. A 3 liter L81 V6 engine had no place in a 3800 pound car, and the result was a disappointedly sluggish drive. But that wasn’t the worst of it. A few months after the cars started selling, road accidents started increasing. Correlation doesn’t always equal causation, but in this case, it did. The problem was the timing belt tensioner pulley — a monstrously designed piece that had a terrible habit of failing, And when it failed, it failed in a drastic (and all too often, lethal) way. When the complaints first started popping up, Cadillac looked the other way. But when they stopped popping and started flooding, GM was left with no choice but to issue a recall — and a recall on a vehicle that costs the best part of $30,000 per piece doesn’t come cheap. Had it happened at another point in history, the Catara might have survived the bad press. But this was at the dawn of the internet age — once the news starting spreading online about just how bad the car was, it was all over.
Steinmetz Concept Had The Firepower To Back Up Its Claims
While looking far better than the production Catera sedan is an already impressive feat, it wouldn’t mean much if the concept didn’t have the chops to back up its sporty credentials. Steinmetz engineers gifted it with a lower sport suspension and added bigger front rotors as well as double piston front calipers. The real star of the show though was the tweaked 3.0 liter V6. Making a rather meek 200 horsepower in its stock form Steinmetz added an belt driven intercooled supercharger which helped raise power to a much more potent 284. That number is impressive considering that it managed to outclass the bigger 3800 Series II supercharged V6 in a slightly lighter package.
The lone caveat though was that Steinmetz was forced to use the Catera’s stock 4-speed automatic transmission which gave it less gears to work with when it was pushed hard. While the Steinmetz might seem to be woefully underpowered when viewed alongside modern Cadillacs, having 284 horsepower was a big deal in the mid 1990s and made the Catera pretty quick by period standards.
Cadillac Catera. Мнение реальных владельцев на DRIVE2.RU
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разбор опель омега б рестайлинг 2000г x20xev мкпп x25xe
Маркс возможна доставка по стране
1 000 ₽
Подушка безопасности opel omega b
Тверь возможна доставка по миру
1 000 ₽
ЖИРНЫЙ откапиталеный X25XE (собран и тюнингован) 2.5 л v6
Москва возможна доставка по стране
35 000 ₽
подогреватель
Екатеринбург возможна доставка по стране
20 000 ₽
Брест, Беларусь
Минск, Беларусь
Минск, Беларусь
Санкт-Петербург, Россия
Минск, Беларусь
Архангельск, Россия
Алексин, Россия
Солигорск, Беларусь
Шяуляй, Литва
Минск, Беларусь
Минск, Беларусь
Солигорск, Беларусь
Москва, Россия
Минск, Беларусь
Димитровград, Россия
Минск, Беларусь
Минск, Беларусь
«Питер — АТ»
ИНН 780703320484
ОГРНИП 313784720500453
The History
By the start of the 1990s, Cadillac was in decline. Over the space of just 2 decades, it had gone from being seen as the gold standard of American car manufactures to an old-fashioned, bloated liability. If the geriatric brand-image (as thetruthaboutcars.com very nicely puts it) wasn’t bad enough, the cars were little better. If Cadillac wanted to survive in the new world of sporty European imports and affordable Japanese luxury, it needed to find a new sense of purpose, fast. Considering the pace at which its loyal customers were dying off, it also needed to bring in a younger generation of buyers — a group that at that point, had about as much interest in Cadillac’s ‘grandad cars’ as it had in yesterday’s news. The under 40s wanted ‘sport luxury’, not ostentation. And ostentation in the 1990s was as integral to the Cadillac brand image as shark fins had been 30 years previous.
It needed a solution, and it needed one now. Unfortunately, the solution it settled on couldn’t have done more damage to the brand’s already fragile reputation if it had tried. Plagued by recalls, performance issues, and bad marketing campaigns, the Catera failed to do anything but force Cadilac to ditch everything it had been doing until that point, and enter the new millennium with a blank slate. Which as it turned out (and as the CTS proved), wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
