Car is a one-owner, 97K miles. Clean, good body, and shiny paint. Have not driven car yet nor inspected it. Test driving on Monday -- what should I look for? What are the concerns for this model year? What are the positive points for the 93 Allante compared to other years? Thanks as always for your help!

look in the trunk spare tire well for the options codes. Look for V4J.. the following is a note that I received from a very knowledgeable gentle man named James Swinler as fine a Allante aficionado as ever existed! The debate has always been horsepower (200 vs 295 for the '93) I think it should be based on ABS (1987-1992) vs non ABS for 1993.

"The V4J has a powertrain essentially identical to that in the 1993 Eldorado ETC, of which a good many were built, and for which parts would not be a problem for a good while. The non-V4Js have a unique transmission which does not interchange with anything else. That is the big significance of the V4J in 1993.
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The 93 Allante has different doors which have one-piece window glass, unlike the "fake" vent windows (which are actually anti-wind buffet devices, streamlining the air flow past the ends of the windshield). You get more wind buffet with the top and/or windows down in the 93 than with the earlier cars under the same condition. (Why would a 50k+ (and up) car have "fake" vent windows?)

93 Allantes have more body flex than the earlier cars and that may have to do with the door latches which are quite different from the pin-type locators on the earlier doors.

The 1993 Allante does not have the Keiper-Recaro seats. Instead, they have American built seats very similar to those in the Eldorados.

The very early 93 Northstar engines had a tendency to leak oil at the mid-block joint which would fail and require replacement. This was a dealer job to fix, and generally cost in the order of $2k and up. On the plus side, most of those were replaced under warranty, but the possibility that a few have been missed exists. If you go to see a 93 for sale, check the garage floor where it sits. If there is a block leak there'll be a lot of oil there. Then ask. If the gasket replacement was never done and should have been, cut your offer by about $3,000 ... the likely Cadillac price these days.

All of the foregoing is not to denigrate the 93 Allante, it is just to reply to your question. The 93 Allante has a lot of brute power (and gas mileage to match) if you drive with your foot in it.

The 93 shares the same top pulldown oddities as every other Allante. Oh, and it came standard with an EC center mirror prone to fail, dumping purple, acidic fluid on the carpet and upholstery. A Donnelly-made replacement exists, and some owners got failed mirrors replaced free, or at a significant discount.

It appears that the V4J option set begins around PU127025 or so. Perhaps they made an effort to begin them at PU127000..
For pursuit of the ultimate 93, I would do my looking in the 128000 to 129311 (last Allante) area. The later the better.

There is one problem, though. If you get too far out there, you run into cars that are (or tend to be) all Natural Beige Interiors, all Silver Accent strips, and all Analog clusters.

Of course, the hard-top cars (factory hardtop), of which only 330 were built (the PU100xxx cars, begin V4J at about VIN 4PU100037). As with the convertible-only 93's though, the later the better."

Do a search for Northstar on this forum and read up. I originally thought I wanted a 93. The experiences and opinions of the folks here convinced me otherwise.

I think that all Allantes come with their own set of peculiarities, the 1993 notwithstanding, but I really love the 295 ponies, and I thoroughly enjoy the highway manners of this vehicle. I was basically only considering at '90.5 to '93's when I originally bought mine several years ago. After a year of looking and test driving many different Allantes, I kept going back to the '93. For me, the '93 just had the type of Cadillac feel that I was personally looking for. That's really the key here..."what you're personally looking for!"

Whichever way it goes, I just hope that you buy one of these wonderful vehicles and join this small, but completely loyal community. "GOOD LUCK!!!"

Peace,

Chief