[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

There is an '83 Cimarron for sale in my area. It is owned by the original owner and has only 33K miles. It has been garaged all its life and is in perfect shape, especially considering it lives in Chicago. They want $2500 for it but I will see if I can knock it down to $2000. I am seriously considering it because although they are not desirable or the best Caddies ever made (I already own one of those ) I have an odd desire to own one.

I mainly want something that is more fuel efficient for a daily driver. The Brougham gets about 13 in the city and while I have no problem with that, it would be nice to have some more moolah in the bank to spend on other stuff. I also want the Brougham to be for road trips and weekend cruising only, not my DD. I am planning on selling my Fleetwood soon for a variety of reasons, but I will not get into those.


Question 1: What problem areas should I look for? I know these are basically a Cavalier and are simple, reliable cars but nearly everything has its downfalls.

Question 2: What kind of real world mileage do you get in one of these, just out of curiosity? I am not sure if it has the 5-speed or the auto trans, I will be looking at it when I get back from vacation.

Question 3: Do any of you taller people feel cramped while driving one? I am 6'4" so I need my head and leg room up front.

 

[elvin315]

I hope you don't think we are ignoring you but to be honest there aren't any Cimarron people here that I know of. If there were I'm sure you would have received a response. You may want to try a Chevy Cavalier forum. We here know what a bad rep can do to a car better than most. The Cimarron was a good idea but a bad execution. Still there was nothing basically wrong with the car. I saw one at a car show in Rhinebeck, NY this past May. It was sitting among the other classic Cadillacs and didn't look out of place. In fact it was very nicely detailed and very cherry. If you end up getting the Cimarron please come back at tell us about it. We'd really like to know. Maybe you can be our "Cimarron Guru".

http://www.topix.com/forum/autos/chevrolet-cavalier

 

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Thanks. I looked up some of the technical bulletins and there seem to be no major problems with them. I am very familiar with the older RWD and FWD Caddies, but I know very little about the others. I figured there were not many people on here who owned them but it was worth a shot.

 

[Chris Luongo]

I've always had a desire to own one of these cars too, so I know how you feel.

The only thing I have to contribute is that I would think that anything mechanical would be easy to take care of, but cosmetics would be more difficult.

Because of the Cavalier and other J-body cars, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding things like brake pads, and even if you don't do your own work, the car should be so simple that any competent mechanic could handle the repairs, even if he'd never seen a Cimarron before.

But I'm thinking that if one day you end up need a body side molding, or a tail light or door panel or something, it might take a little work to find.

So, I'd keep that in mind while looking at the car..........if it has a noisy muffler, no big deal to fix......on the other hand, if trim pieces are worn or damaged, you might end up paying a little more than you'd expect to find replacements.