These cars do have some common problems. Really all of them have already been beaten to death on this forum and how to go about fixing them.
Timing belt: more maintance then a problem, so don't mess with this one.
HCV: will fail at sometime so point but it is cheap, extremely easy to fix.
EBTCM: not to common but worth mentioning. Go rebuilt and it does not cost much.
CPS: Cheap and very easy to fix.
Valve covers: Mainly related to mismanagement by GM, dirty breather systems are usually to blame. Not to hard or expensive assuming you have some mechanical experience under you belt. Clean the breather system and you will most likely never have to change them in the first place.
Ailignment issues: Couple different culperits.
The transmission cooler: Not a big deal if you can do it yourself.
Not much else springs to my mind.
Mr. Please, WOW! You must not look around to hard. Say like the 4x00 section. Keep in mind the 4900 has the least amount of warranty hits on any powertrain combo (engine and tranny) to date. I guess you could say on paper it is one of the most dependable engines ever built. Of course that would be hard to believe if you just ran through the titles in their section of the forum. The CTS is plagued with problems too. Differential (going into the recall stage soon), the auto trannies have multiple know problems, recalls due to fuel systems stopping but the engine is still running (ouch, I would say that would set you back $7,000-9,000), multiple diagnosis problems bugs....etc...all the way down to the sideviews no longer working. None of these are occuring in small numbers either. Oh, did I forget catastrophic ring failure causing the engine to burn all the oil and run dry. There are way more then this now and the list will just keep on getting bigger with time and as mileage racks up.
When you throw out all the negatives any car can sound bad, doesn't mean that it is.
I think the Catera takes to much crap. Mainly from people who could not afford a luxury car to begin with, more or less to fix one/maintain one. Those are the ones that usually complain about them the most.
i'm very envious of you. getting an 01 sport for $3000....that is crazy!! best of luck. even though i've had problems, i would do it all again. thank god for extended warranties though. it would be well worth it for you to look into one. aprroximately $1800 for 3 years. they let you pay $100 amonth. it has saved my butt for sure. the car looks great, runs awesome. the problems have been few. but they were major. have fun, robert
I am new here, new to owning a 1998 Catera. Fell in love with it when I test drove it. Bought it, now I am hating it. I would never buy it again. Rear drivers window not working, 900$ estimate to fix. Drivers heated seat not working 500$ estimate to fix. Heater/Defrost not working right, everyone I have had look at it tells me it is working, just can't use the climate control and have to switch between def and heat to make the car comfortable.
