Cadillac Owners Forum banner
43K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  spiritwomyn 
#1 ·
Pros: Elegant, Quick, Luxurious, American, Classy, Higher MPG for a large sedan, Very Reliable, Great Engine/ Transmission combo, a big car that doesnt feel like a very big car, it handles pretty good too, lots of interior/ trunk space, HUGE backseat, there is a much higher build quality in this car over my old 1995 Roadmaster.
Cons: Tough to work on engine, no performance parts/ market, the interior "wood trim" is fake, needs premium gasoline, 4.9's are known for a main bearing knock, and mine has it, the "granny car" image is hard to overcome, (but is worth it!!!) and my biggest pet peeve: the damn gas tank is too small, they should have had the 20 or 21 gallon tank in.

Interior: The interior really reminds me of a car from the '70's, very wide, flat horizontal dash with a horizontal 85mph speedometer. The lack of guages is kinda wierd and it's got about 16 idiot lights surrounding the speedometer, a digital fuel guage and a Fuel Data Center, that tells you: instant MPG (0-70) Avg MPG (17.2) Range and fuel used. Now theres a bit of error between the fuel guage and the fuel used. for example: the fuel guage says 6 gallons remaining, and the Fuel Used shows 9 gallons used. That's the biggest problem with this car.
The seats are a throwback to the classic, american cars, very very soft and comfortable, but the drawback is they dont hold you in well during hard corners. the front armrest opens and has dual cupholders, cd/cassette storage and a change holder.
The Electonic Climate Control is really nice, always keeps it's set temp, but the odd thing is you can't decide where the air is going to blow out of, like the dash, floor, windshield, mix or what have you. your options are econ, auto, defrost or rear defrost, and they have rear ac/ heat vents that enable the people in the rear seats to change direction of air.
GREAT CLASSICAL AMERICAN INTERIOR!

Exterior: In my opinion, this is the best looking cadillac of all time. It's very conservativly designed, its somewhat reminiscent of the 80-92 Brougham but its smaller and more modern. Starting from the front, I love the Grilles on the 91-93 fullsize front drive caddies. Bold, muscular, yet refined, my favorite grille on any caddy ever. The hood has a bit of a dome to it. and when you're driving the car, you see the whole hood, which i really like, it's not hard at all to park this car, and you have headlight monitors on the fenders for the blinkers/headlights/highbeams, and to tell where the sides end. The profile of the car is very classy. it's kind of interesting to note that the rear doors are longer than the front doors. wierd.
I love the rear of the car, its really it's most classical exterior part. the taillights are throwbacks to the late 60's and early '70s with the tall thin taillights. i think they're the best tailights on the road today.
All the wheels available on the 1992 deVilles are great in their own way. i have the optional 40 spoke alloy wheels. I want to get the 12 spoke standard alloy wheels because i think they look classier.

Performance/ Engine
200 horsepower may not sound like a lot, but its enough for this car to keep up with a 2001 Grand Am GT sedan from 35-70 from about 0-35 the G.A. will pull away because the deVille has no traction control and the G.A. does but my car pulled up to theirs at about 35 mph and just kept pulling away, so that means my cars 1/4 mile is around 15.8-15.9, 0-60 is about 7.8-8.0 and this is with 101290 miles on it. So by any means this car is quick, especially considering this is a 13 year old luxury sedan with "only" 200hp compared to the 260hp LT1 350 my old car had, that car was about 6/10's of a second quicker to 60 but the 1/4 mile is about the same. I love how unassuming this car is, people think that all non northstar cadillacs are slow but this one isn't. very very quick, no not quick like a Impala SS or any other big powerful cars with over 260hp but it's still quick all things considered. This car has TONS of low end torque, soo easy to pass/ or bolt across intersections, burnout, street race. You almost never have to go more than half throttle and i almost never do. because all that happens when you do is you burn one tire up and the car will always pull to the left, which is why manufacturers dont really do high powered front wheel drive cars, and when you do you put in a helical limited slip differential. It's funny to note that while im sure this car has no problem passing on a two lane highway, i just feel that it's not gonna pass as quick as my old LT1 Roadmaster would, but im sure it would be very comparable, my biggest pet peeve about this motor, is theres very few performance mods for it. It's tranny is a definite plus, very smooth shifting, reliable, quick to downshift, but under W.O.T. it shifts kinda firm which is very cool.
1'st gear under full throttle goes to 45 and 2nd goes to about 75-80 and beyond that i dont know, anyone who says that GM can't make a good tranny needs to drive a 4.9, 4T60-E. The ride is very cadillacy, i.e. boaty, you hit a bump and it floats for a second, but thats the way it should be, but yet it's not afraid to go down a curvy road where the signs say you should drive around 35mph in a 55, i go about 45-50 and i'm not afraid, theres some body roll but this corners WAY better than my old roadmaster, even thought the deVille is FWD. There is a bit of wind noise above 55 mph, it's due to the windows being recessed, but other than that it's silent, deceptivly silent. It gets about the best mileage you will ever get out of a V8, i get about 16-17 MPG city and around 25 highway, my Roadmaster got 13/22 and the other car i looked at was a 1993 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight which would have gotten 19/28 with a 3.8 Liter V6.

Trouble Spots: It could go through front tires quickly, the 4.9 has a main bearing knock problem.

Overall. If you can, then you must experience a true Cadillac. Looks, power (could have more though, i would like to have about 250hp or a 0-60 time of about 7.2) its extremely comfortable in the american way,reliablilty can't be beat, cops wont look at you in a caddy, timeless styling, car will make it to 200k miles with normal care/maitenance. rides excellent, handles decently well, just enough technology, great to drive, the fact that you will own the "pride of GM" and the pride of your street, i get 2-3 compliments on my car. and the car is a great cruise-mobile, its fun to drive, not like a porsche is but in it's own way.


GO OUT AND GET ONE!!!!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Overall, I would buy another one, but as a backup car to the '96-02 Eldorado ETC I wanna get next. But the next deville or Fleetwood would have to have leather, the digital dash (standard in Fleetwood) and I would like it to be in dark red, black or blue with a beige leather, and preferably, a coupe!
 
#3 ·
I have to agree with you ILUVCADDIES, my 91 is a sweet cruiser. As you said, I rarely ever use more than part throttle to get going, we have good old fashioned low end torque, unlike today's cars where there's no bottom end, the power gradually builds as rpm's build. Case in point: I was driving a V6 Buick LeSabre for a while with an identical 200 hp rating. You couldn't stomp the pedal hard enough to get the slightest chirp from the tires. 220k miles on my DeVille, and I can still burn up tires, in fact the tires sometimes break loose if you floor it in 2nd and it downshifts to 1st. But yet, when the rpms were up, the LeSabre felt as quick as my Deville on the highway. The back seat area is ENORMOUS with more legroom than my dad's 92 Town Car which is 14 inches longer! I love the huge flat trunk. I was able to fit a full sized plastic trash can in mine with my sub box underneath the rear parcel shelf. Main complaints: damn squeaky leather and door seals over bumps, and wind noise climbs quickly above 60-70mph. The owner's manual says to lube the seals yearly, but I can't get the little creak in the driver's side door seal to go away. And the armrest squeaks when I rest my arm on it.(you sure you want leather?)But these noises are only noticeable if the windows are up, radio and climate control off. I can't help but think that the overall 'hush' of the car makes interior noises that much more noticeable? The steering has SUPERB feel. When stopped, the steering has 'locks' which keeps you from extreme turns, straining the power steering. Once you're rolling you get full turning radius. You can turn the wheel with one finger when moving, but the on center feel is dead on. I have no issue cruising at high speeds and keeping the car centered with one finger, rather surprising for a front drive luxury sedan. The metal panels on the car are made from what's called 'dual-sided vanadium' which greatly inhibits rust. That's why not too many of these cars have any rust on them, although a lot of them start to rust on the rocker panel inside the door for some reason. (bad welds?). But when you can pick one up in nice shape for $500, and run it 200k miles and more, I can't think of a better investment.
 
#4 ·
Mine is a 93 which is almost identical I believe.

I noticed how you said the seats "dont hold you" lol

With leather only the driver is "held" on my car since the seat is broke in some and they naturally brace themselves with the wheel and pedals, all the other seats the passengers have to brace themselves on turns since the seats are like new and they slide alot.

Also, how tall are you? Im about 6ft and cant see the entire hood lol. I can if i make it a point to sit up totally straight, which isnt often. Makes parking a bit tricky since i cant see the passengers side.

I am torn on the leather/cloth issue. I would prefer cloth sometimes since it can wear better then the pleather used in these cars, mine has wear marks, doesnt look trashed yet but could stand to have the drivers seat redone because of previous owners, and its not even at 100k yet.

I would buy me another Cadillac of this vintage without much hesitation.
 
#5 ·
I agree with just about everything listed above. Bought the 92 Cpe DeVille 3 years ago. Very comfortable, but I have knee and lower back problems so getting up and out of it gets creative. With 152K miles on it, I am facing a torque converter replacement, keeps setting code E39 on it. this is the family pimp mobile: Light blue/white conv roof/continental kit/white leather int with blue piping/2000 Eldo chrome wheels.
Have enjoyed the Caddie enough to buy a 2004 DeVille today. this one I can get out (use A and B pillars to pull up on) This one is cashmere/black int/chrome and gold accents and trim/Vogue tyres and wheels and a trunk deck spoiler. has 43k miles so was able to get it certified.
 
#6 ·
from about 0-35 the G.A. will pull away because the deVille has no traction control and the G.A. does
The traction control on the Grand Am is pretty useless, it simply retards engine timing, and does nothing with brakes. The traction control really slows the car down a whole lot as it tends to bog the engine with the slightest amount of wheel spin. If in fact the Grand Am is quicker off the line then the Cad, it has nothing to do with traction control, If they are trying to race or anything, the first thing to do is turn traction control off.
 
#7 ·
Dude that was like over two years ago lol
 
#9 ·
Inserting "but noobs" before "keep", and replacing "whether or not" for "if", would be much more accurate...
 
#10 ·
Hi, I am new here. My father offered me his 1992 Cadillac Sedan DeVille and it is a beautiful white with Blue roof. However area mechanics tell me it is to expensive to repair, something to do with electrical piece. I hate to ee it sent to the dump but not sure what else to do. He also owns a 95 that he is selling, he only owns caddies.
Anyone know of someone who buys them and fixes them.? I so would have loved to own and drive this car, but my income is not sufficient to do what engine repairs are needed, according to the mechanics.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top