Cadillac Cimarron

[BDawg]

What do you get when you put a Caddy nameplate on a Chevy Cavalier?

I saw my first one of these today. Apparently, it's a rebadged early 80s Cavalier / Sunbird.

At least other entry level Caddys have looked decent. This one looked like a cheap POS.

Is there any wonder why the American car companies fell in the 80s?

 

[lokiju]

I'm so tired of GM rebadging all their cars across all their lines.

WTF do we need 5 versions of a car that have only very minor changes?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I got news for you:
EVERY CAR COMPANY sucked in the '70s and '80s. I don't care where it was made, it was crap.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Cimarron was bad, yes.

So was the Pinto; Gremlin; Fiero; the Merkur line.... the 80's had plenty of duds. Even expensive ones... Rolls Royce Camarague; Ferrari Mondial; Maserati Biturbo...

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I'm so tired of GM rebadging all their cars across all their lines.

WTF do we need 5 versions of a car that have only very minor changes?

We need a genocide of car brands. The funny thing is that it works with honda/acura and toyota/lexus/scion...

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Here's some examples of how bad cars sucked:
1983 Ferrari 308 GTBi Quattrovalvole 0-60: 6.8 1/4 mile: 15.2
1980 Ford Mustang Cobra (225ci) 0-60: 11.3 1/4 mile: 18.4
1976 Datsun B210 (4spd) 0-60: 17.2 1/4 mile: 21.2
1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 0-60: 6.5 1/4 mile: 15.3
1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabrio 0-60: 7.0 1/4 mile: 15.5
1983 Toyota Supra 0-60: 8.9 1/4 mile: 16.8
1980 Honda Civic 1500GL 0-60: 11.2 1/4 mile: 18.1

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Here's some examples of how bad cars sucked:
1983 Ferrari 308 GTBi Quattrovalvole 0-60: 6.8 1/4 mile: 15.2
1980 Ford Mustang Cobra (225ci) 0-60: 11.3 1/4 mile: 18.4
1976 Datsun B210 (4spd) 0-60: 17.2 1/4 mile: 21.2
1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 0-60: 6.5 1/4 mile: 15.3
1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabrio 0-60: 7.0 1/4 mile: 15.5
1983 Toyota Supra 0-60: 8.9 1/4 mile: 16.8
1980 Honda Civic 1500GL 0-60: 11.2 1/4 mile: 18.1

LOL @ the Civic owning the 'Cobra'!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Here's some examples of how bad cars sucked:
1983 Ferrari 308 GTBi Quattrovalvole 0-60: 6.8 1/4 mile: 15.2
1980 Ford Mustang Cobra (225ci) 0-60: 11.3 1/4 mile: 18.4
1976 Datsun B210 (4spd) 0-60: 17.2 1/4 mile: 21.2
1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 0-60: 6.5 1/4 mile: 15.3
1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabrio 0-60: 7.0 1/4 mile: 15.5
1983 Toyota Supra 0-60: 8.9 1/4 mile: 16.8
1980 Honda Civic 1500GL 0-60: 11.2 1/4 mile: 18.1

I don't see how raw performance has anything to do with the suckiness of the Cimarron. I owned two '80s cars, an '84 Toyota SR5 wagon and an '84 Accord, both of which were fun to drive and highly reliable. Their ultimate performance was certainly not impressive, but my '84 Accord (which had 206K miles when I got rid of it) was worlds more fun to drive than my much more powerful '98 Accord EX V6.

The Cimarron was an example of how low GM had fallen in the early 1980s, and how cheaply they were willing to sell out even their premier nameplate. That car is a disgrace and should never have been conceived, much less built. When I was in high school I remember seeing many Cimarrons with the gold badging package - talk about polishing a turd.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Here's some examples of how bad cars sucked:
1983 Ferrari 308 GTBi Quattrovalvole 0-60: 6.8 1/4 mile: 15.2
1980 Ford Mustang Cobra (225ci) 0-60: 11.3 1/4 mile: 18.4
1976 Datsun B210 (4spd) 0-60: 17.2 1/4 mile: 21.2
1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 0-60: 6.5 1/4 mile: 15.3
1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabrio 0-60: 7.0 1/4 mile: 15.5
1983 Toyota Supra 0-60: 8.9 1/4 mile: 16.8
1980 Honda Civic 1500GL 0-60: 11.2 1/4 mile: 18.1

LOL @ the Civic owning the 'Cobra'!

And lets not forget the Ferrari 400... with it's V12... taking 8 seconds to hit 60mph!

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: acemcmac

Originally posted by: lokiju
I'm so tired of GM rebadging all their cars across all their lines.

WTF do we need 5 versions of a car that have only very minor changes?

We need a genocide of car brands. The funny thing is that it works with honda/acura and toyota/lexus/scion...

That works because there's brand differentiation.

What's the difference between Ford and Mercury? How about GM trucks and GMC? Dodge and Chrystler? Not a whole lot.

Why does Pontiac, a performance division based on automatic transmissions even exist?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Donvito: I'm not saying that the Cimarron wasn't an exceptional mistake. (it was) Just that in the '80s all cars were in a pretty sorry state. All of those cars in the list are generally considered "sporty" cars. And a Ferrari that can't break into the 14's is just sad.

 

[Horus]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Cimarron was bad, yes.

So was the Pinto; Gremlin; Fiero; the Merkur line.... the 80's had plenty of duds. Even expensive ones... Rolls Royce Camarague; Ferrari Mondial; Maserati Biturbo...

The Merkur line was good! Like Ford, but better!

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Donvito: I'm not saying that the Cimarron wasn't an exceptional mistake. (it was) Just that in the '80s all cars were in a pretty sorry state. All of those cars in the list are generally considered "sporty" cars. And a Ferrari that can't break into the 14's is just sad.

Bad performance, but at least it was a Ferrari. This was a frickin' Cavalier with a Caddy name badge slapped on.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Donvito: I'm not saying that the Cimarron wasn't an exceptional mistake. (it was) Just that in the '80s all cars were in a pretty sorry state. All of those cars in the list are generally considered "sporty" cars. And a Ferrari that can't break into the 14's is just sad.

Again, I don't agree. I don't think raw performance numbers convey the state of cars as a whole. I had two great cars built in the '80s, including one that lasted well past 200K miles.

 

[BurnItDwn]

The only 80s car that I really really wish was still around ...
Buick Grand National

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
The only 80s car that I really really wish was still around ...
Buick Grand National

Well, that and the A-Team van.

 

[Glavinsolo]

1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabrio 0-60: 7.0 1/4 mile: 15.5

Holy crap my tC does that and its a 4banger (Maybe not the 1/4 mile)

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
The only 80s car that I really really wish was still around ...
Buick Grand National

You don't want a Porsche 959, Ruf Yellowbird, or Ferrari 288 GTO or F40? To each his own I guess.

 

[funboy6942]

Its not all about gm and the 80's how about Infinity and Nissan.
Anyone here own a Infinity G35? Same thing as the Nissan Sentra.
I loved it back in eary 2000 I was the Shop Manager for Infinity and we had our sister Nissan store next door. If we didnt have the part in stock for some of the Infinity line I would send my porter to Nissan to pick up the parts I needed
And when I worked there I had to wonder how some of these rich people made it in life. Some of the dumest, non-street smart people i have ever come in contact with in my life. Thoes crappy POS cars in the winter would flood like mad if you tapped the throttle when cold and I had repete customers that always had thier cars towed in and I had to tell them umpteen times DO NOT TOUCH THE GAS PEDAL when cranking the engine on cold days. Would they listen NO. Id get calls about how they ran off the road into a snow bank and now any speed over 20 and thier car would shake badly. Not only would the bitch me out on how thier car is crap and shaking after they just wrecked it and its my fault they slid off the road but try to tell them they have snow packed up in thier rims and its causing the shake and they yell even more like I dont have a clue what Im talking about Ontop of all that they expected me to fix thier car under warranty for them running off the road and wrecking thier car WTF rich people

Just examples and why you can rebadge a sh1tty car with a "classy rich" name brand and people buy them. Its not stupid just stupid people who think that it says "lexus, Infinity, Cadiliac" it has to be the best even though they can buy almost the same exact car minus a few trim option for way less.

 

[ElFenix]

1982: Cimarron is introduced to the masses, but with a horrifically ****** 1.8 liter carbeurated engine. The car was a joke, looking exactly like a Chevy Cavalier with Cadillac emblems. The '82 Cimarron was voted the eighth worst car of the millenium by CarTalk.(cartalk.com)

nice

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

funboy: How did you manage to work at an Infiniti dealership without learning how to spell "Infiniti"?

In all seriousness, the car you're talking about was the G20, not the G35. At least that car, unlike the Cimarron, was based on a very sound Nissan platform, and visually looked nothing like a Sentra. I have always thought the G20 was a handsome little car. They are definitely not P's of S, and in fact they are great little cars, notwithstanding the cold-starting problem you describe.

 

[49erinnc]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
The only 80s car that I really really wish was still around ...
Buick Grand National

AWESOME car. My buddy's dad had a black one and I remember being a kid and going for a ride in it when my friend turned 16. Nearly crapped my pants from that experience.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Cimarron was bad, yes.

So was the Pinto; Gremlin; Fiero; the Merkur line.... the 80's had plenty of duds. Even expensive ones... Rolls Royce Camarague; Ferrari Mondial; Maserati Biturbo...

hey Gremlins are that special kind of ugliness that people like. i have always thought those were cool cars.

In high school i had a 1980 pinto and i loved that car, never had a problem with it and was very reliable.

 

[slag]

the major factor in the detuning of cars in the 80's was the great oil crunch of the 70's. It was heralded that we were rapidly running out of oil and with the middle east crisis, EVERYONE detuned their engines and put lots of smog reducing crap on.

Japanese cars of the 70s-80s were an exception. They already got good gas mileage and you see many of them on the road today if they aren't rusted out. My dad drove a Datsun F10 that had plenty of power and got 41-42 mpg. Absolutely loved the car, it could haul just about anything since it was a wagon, and did the job well. His was a 78 or 79 iirc. He kept meticulous mpg records.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Cimarron was bad, yes.

So was the Pinto; Gremlin; Fiero; the Merkur line.... the 80's had plenty of duds. Even expensive ones... Rolls Royce Camarague; Ferrari Mondial; Maserati Biturbo...

hey Gremlins are that special kind of ugliness that people like. i have always thought those were cool cars.

In high school i had a 1980 pinto and i loved that car, never had a problem with it and was very reliable.

Heh, good thing you never got rear-ended in that thing! Youda blowed up. Anyway... when I was a kid, for some reason I thought Pacers were the greatest thing on earth.