Consumer Report: What's YOUR opinion? We'd like to know...

[majax]

'77 Coupe DeVille

The odometer had rolled at least twice by the time we sold it. In the time that we owned it the transmission blew 150,000+ and the A/c and trunk motor never worked.

'87 Eldorado

My dad had the engine pretty much rebuilt by having all the gaskets replaced for about $1,300 I think it had the 4.5. Also every time you would come to a stop the oil pressure light came on. But as we were worrying about the Engine going out the trany started to go. Also the main computer in the center stac started smoking and died. The only replacement for it was in Oklahoma for $400 or so, Dad did not buy it. We paid $4500 for the car with 83,000 mi and traded it in on a '93 DeVille in '99 for $1,500 to the local Toyota dealer with 100,000 mi or so. The car had had 5 owners prior to us, take that as a valuble lesson. It came for Califorina.

'93 Sedan DeVille

We bought it from the Toyota used lot with 63,000 on it selling for 8,500 or 7,500 in '99. We bought it on the condition that the dealer paid for whatever was making the SSS light come on. It was something to do with the ride levelr $800 and a new battery. Since then it has had some little starting problems but fixed I never found out what they were. The struts/shocks are kind ashot now and the exhaust needs work. Thats it great car! oh and my dad blew out the power steering motor. 123,000mi

'99 STS

Only replaced the water pump so far, and prior prior owner only had the front rotors were replaced.

46k now 48k

Great car!

Our Nissan 240sx is not a car that I like to much(150,000 and dead). Our Honda is way better.

[Phroneo]

1993 Deville, 128,000 miles, I think.
Red w/ Carriage Top and red leather int.

It's got lots of power, lots more than what I expected. The interior is nice and in good condition. We just purchased it a few months ago.
When we purchased it there were two small cracks in the top middle of both front fenders that I figured I'd have fixed pretty soon. My wife drives this to work which is only about 4 blocks or so from the house. The cracks immediately grew down to the middle of the fender before I drilled holes to stop the cracks.
Plastic fenders???? Man did that shock me. I though Cadillacs were supposed to be wonderful from top to bottom.
Two places, one on each side at the bottom had the paint peel off for some reason?? no clue why. The top was dirty so I used a power washer on it and now is pretty as can be but I only hand wash the rest.

The interior is wonderful and as I said it has lots of power but otherwise what a piece of junk. I thought it would be a safe car to purchase used but with all the brake dust on the front wheels all the time and the other problems, mainly plastic, I think I'll pass on any more caddies. It's a shame too because the ride is like floating on air--and I love that. I just never expected plastic.
better luck for everyone else, all the pictures are wonderful.
Phroneo

[Phroneo]

Strange place...It won't post exactly what I type. And I'm not using any strange font or anything.

[Insomniac]

Originally Posted by SoundAdvantage

I doubt either one of you would like riding in my noisey 87' it squeeks and rattles and the viberation is terrible! and there is this very loud banging sound comming from some where in my trunk.

thats exactly what my 87 deville sounds like too.

[bjrobles]

Hi--Im new to this.

I own a 2001 Cadillac DTS. The suspension is firmer then perevious models and has an European feel to it. It handles real well much better than my 1998
Concours.
I was surprised to find out that the new DTS only has 290HP down from 300HP on mine? Anyone know why they cut back on the horses?

[FLSurf420]

I've got a 91 deville sedan w/ 103k miles on it and i will never buy one again. Maybe its just this one that was not taken care of, but theres just too many problems with it. I have put alot of money in it and the next day something else goes wrong. I advise you to buy another car before you buy a used caddy. New on the other hand I could do if i had that type of cash.

[gust_1980]

hi, i currently have a 94 seville sls, but prior to that i had a 91 deville that i loved. owned it from 88k mi to 140k mi in a 3 year period and enjoyed every bit of it for the most part. it had the 4.9L in it which i liked in my deville but hated the engine in my bros 92 seville. it had tons of torque and i swear it seemed faster than my seville. it was was blue on blue with the simcon top. i even delivered pizzas in it (dont laugh, it payed for the car itself). things that bugged me though, were....it was kinda hard to clean because of all the ornamentation; grille, wire wheels, chrome trim etc...my seville is much easier to maintain in the hygiene dept. my 91 was the most comfortable and pleasing car to drive to date. although, with my bad back, i wouldve loved to had lumbar and htd seats. while being extremely comfy, the style doesnt compare to my sls. i like the idea of center console and the whole simplified style. and, the fake wood on my deville sucked ass; my buddy had a 89 fleetwood and it had real wood which was pretty, matter of fact that whole car was sweet (too bad his block cracked). other than normal things that will go on a high mi car it was pretty solid and i regret selling it. one thing though did scare me. towards that last year of ownership my steering wheel SMOKED! yeah, you heard me, it would happen sporatically, but it would come from the seem of the wheel and the column and smelled like burnt plastic (assuming wires or something) and scared the crap outa me. i never had it looked at and was afraid of trying to remove the wheel with the airbag, but i sold it before it got worse.

all in all, i loved the car, my first caddy and i loved those tail fins! 8 out of 10; given year, condition, mileage etc....looking at a 00, 01 dts next.

[MachX]

I have a 1990 Sedan Deville that I have owned for a year. It's fairly rare with a white exterior with gold/chrome trim, styled gold aluminum wheels and a two tone white and blue interior, leather seats. The styling has aged well, and I get attention wherever I stop from police to car salespeople. My dad has a 1992 Lincoln Town Car, so I get the best of both worlds - the muscular 4.5 of my caddy or the pillowy smooth silent cruising of the Townie. But my question is, why is Cadillac so bloody inconsistent with their styling? 50's were gaudy and over trimmed, hate them. 60's they took a cue from Lincoln and smoothed it all out (if you look closely, the tail lights are very Lincoln-esque), beautiful large sedans. 70's once again large, and in charge with 'locomotive styling', though the 4 door Lincs were smoother looking and more elegant (79 black on black being the best), these are nice too. The dreaded 80's. The Devilles shrank in '85, looking little more than re-badged Olds's, and we won't even talk about the hideousness of the slant-backed Sevilles. 90's - 1989 brought about a new Deville (except with the same damn interior as the 80's Devilles) with classic styling, tasteful chrome, and a lusty 4.5L V8. I love my 90. 94 brought a major ugly redesign. The huge front grille looks like a big toothy mouth, and the huge slabs they call quarter panels look pregnant with the half covered wheel wells. Then 1997, and *bang* they got the styling dead on - a proper sized grille, they ditched the pregnant quarters, this car is dead even with 90's era Town Cars as far as smooth looks go, and go they do with the world class Northstar V8. Could we expect Cadillac to keep up the good work? Well, no. Whereas a 2000 era Townie has some of the most beautiful styling ever to grace a large car (looks as good as any Rolls, Bentley or Jag) the 00 and up Devilles look almost cartoon-ish from the front, and the squat rear 80's Seville-ish. And don't let Cadillac fool you, the interior is definately not as roomy as Devilles of the 90's. Hopefully with the '06 re-style, they can play catch-up to Lincoln in the styling department, and rear-drive would be nice. But then the Town Car is due for a re-style as well, and is already (or still) rear-drive. We'll see, come next fall.

[dsetter@netzero.net]

I have a '94 Fleetwood - the big RWD model with a live axel. It is absolutely huge! Whenever I try to sell it, all my friends beg me not to. It drives 4 full-sized adults in absolute style to concerts, football games, skiiing, wherever in the US! It tows a boat as well as a truck with its 350cu V8. Sure its 'old school," but I can't find a straight-up replacement for it - maybe a newer Deville. Here are my opinions:

Pluses:
Absolutely the biggest car you can find. You can sit in the back seat and fidget your feet around on the floor without bumping ito anything or stuffing them under the front seats. I stuffed the interior of a Jaguar (seats, dash, carpet, door panels...) into it to deliver to a guy in the next state. He drove his Buick that is built on the same frame. When he showed up and I swung pone his rear door, I new we had trouble. The Buick is a good 6" smaller in the rear seat area. We had to strap parts in his open trunk.

Self leveling suspension - the car always looks poised whether towing a trailer or if the trucnk is stuffed full of bricks for that weekend project.

Monster V8 never seems strained under any conditions. Just push the pedal and you go. Heck, one could call the car fast!

Traction control and snow tires allow this car to handle snowy Midwestern conditions with aplomb.

Nearly 20MPG at 75 on the highway. Heck, I get about 12 towing a ski boat and tons of gear.

148K miles, and I think it'll go another 100K with the usual maintenance.

Minus:
High trunk lift-over.
Too many expensive repairs (100k tune up - $1000, ABS pump $1500, AC compressor $1000 for example, rear air shocks $750).
Live axel jumpy over big bumps.
A few cheap plastic interior and exterior trim pieces could be better.

In all, these last generation Fleetwoods are great cars that are irreplaceable at their current value.

[PMartinez]

I am new to this, Her is my problem. My sister owns a 1991 DeVille that she got from my mother, the Caddy is in pretty good shape but has a leek in the heater core. i remember in the old days you could bypass the the heater core by connecting the to heater core hose to the return hose, untill you had time and money to fix the problem. Is this still possible?