Color, design and stereo. My friends seem to like the fact that the controls for the windows are around the gear shift.

TOO MUCH TIME IN THE SHOP AND NOT ON THE ROAD WHERE IT BELONGS. CUP HOLDERS HAVE BROKEN TWICE. PULLS TO THE RIGHT, NOISY AT TIMES, NOT ENOUGH STORAGE SPACE IN THE GLOVE COMPARTMENT OR CONSOLE, GEAR SHIFT AND STEERING WHEEL VIBRATES.

Okay, but not great enough for a Caddy! I have had some good driving trips in this car when it is not in the shop. The color of the car and the design attracts attention, but it also does this when it is broken down on the side of the expressway. IT STINKS!! I bought this car to style in not to be living at the dealership in the service department. Every month in the last 6 months I have had to have repairs (covered under warranty thank God), and I've only been leasing it 9 months. They even know by name in the service department!! Something has to change to make Cadillac stand up and take responsibility for their faults.

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I HAD A FORD CONTOUR FOR 3 YEARS AND HAD IT IN THE SHOP JUST ONCE FOR A PROBLEM WITH THE BUTTON FOR THE HEADLIGHTS.

#1: sleek styling
#2: cool wrap around taillights
#3: great stereo
#4: cool chrome wheels
#5: absolutely NOTHING ELSE!

(I wonder if i have enough time between now and when its time for me to go to work to list all the poor qualities of this vehicle?)
#1: EVERYTHING except the wheels, styling, and the stereo.

3 words, PIECE OF JUNK!!! never in my entire life of driving, or being a passenger have I ever experienced a more unreliable, seemingly unrepairable vehicle. I think the only thing the catera has got going for it is its styling, stereo system, and longer than most factory warranty(THANK GOODNESS!!) My reasons for purchasing the car were quite simple, I was young, never owned a luxury car, and thought it was the best deal in the world, even after all my co-workers at the car dealership where I worked strongly warned me against purchasing one, and even after I convinced my mother that this was the greatest car in the world because she had to co-sign for me to get the car, I decided to purchase it anyway, talk about a bad move!!! The day I took the car home the july heat was sweltering, and I had to turn the ac all the way up just to get adequate cooling, and later on that night the check engine light came and went off seemingly whenever it felt like it. Never again would I purchase a catera, (which makes it's smoother, more reliable, more powerful v-8 brothers duck their heads in shame) for the simple fact that it is a poorly designed off set of a car that has a poor reliability record even in germany. For this car gets my vote for "the caddy that wiggles its internals aloose!

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Compared with an 87 hundai excel, they both fall apart just fine, and their reliability records are just about tit for tat.

Body style

Performance - requires repeated warranty work.

This vehicle has an attractive body style, size and certain safety features which are pleasing to a family of four. Unfortunately, the type of service it provides the consumer is zero compared to other vehicles I have purchased as new cars. This vehicle has required fourteen to fifteen visits that are covered under warranty during the 36 months I have owned it. Needless to say, the customer service that has been extended to me by Moritz cadillac has also been a zero. I am not a pest, my vehicle is the pest. If it performed at the lowest of consumer expectations, I would not be at the dealership on an average of 1.8 times each month for warranty work.

Please give this vehicle and Moritz Cadillac your strongest consideration before purchasing the car or doing business with this company. Specifically if you are a female taking care of your own vehicle. I would not purchase a Catera in the future, nor will I ever shop at Moritz Cadillac in Arlington, TX.

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Volvo and Mazada

It handles nicely and holds the road well.

A total lack of integrity in the construction.

This car should have been painted lemon yellow. We have had it almost 3 years and it has spent a lot of that time in the shop. It has had at least 2 recalls in addition to all the other problems. The car started pulling right almost immediately after we got it, and eventually had to be realigned twice. It would not crank and it took 2 weeks for shop to discover the glove pocket light was not going off. A fuse box screw was stripped out, the rear panel was cracked all the way across, windshield wiper arms had to be replaced. The tape player in the stereo never worked and it had to be replaced. The rear defroster intefered with the radio and even though they claimed they could not figure this out, it eventually did not go off, overheated the back window, and it exploded outwardly as I was driving the car. It has refused to crank numerous times. Battery was replaced but shop claimed they could not isolate problem. Alternater had to be replaced last month. Refused to crank again last week, is still in the shop as I write this with shop claiming they cannot find anything wrong. The tires on it only lasted 18,000 miles even though they were rotated and balanced regularly. I have been tolerant of this because at first we had good shop people. They have changed personnel and I am rapidly reaching the end of my patience. It has less than 25,000 miles but would have several more if it had not been in the shop so much. We had a Cadillac previously and I was not especially pleased but let my spouse talk me into another one. I don't think he will be able to do this again.

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We previously drove an Avalon. It is far superior to the Catera.

Great car when it is not in the shop. Great looking interior, gauges easy to find on dash. Heated seats. 5 Year WARRANTY. It is a must if you are thinking of buying this car!

Wow, quite an extensive list here. Tire wear, Check Engine light and its problems, cheap plastic parts inside car, battery life, seems to be a constant radiator leak (even though cap pressure tests say there isn't).

We bought the car in January 2001 and are in the process of getting rid of it. In the 6 months we have had the car, it has been in the shop 5 times for significant (water pump, radiator) problems, and insignificant (cup holder breaking, rear window motor). It seems once you get it home from the dealership, something else is going wrong. We should have picked up on this when we took delivery on the car. The radiator was leaking, got that fixed, and then the battery went dead the following day.

Please, if you arent going to listen to me on this one, listen to all of the other unsatisfied 1997 Catara owners...Stay away from this vechile, they are snake bitten. You owners w/ positive experiences are very lucky.

We are taking a financial beating on this car trading it in. Can't wait to get back into a Blazer.

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'87 S-10 Blazer

Ride. Handling and performance. Stereo.

Cupholders are pretty bad. They are located in a bad place and they seem to be cheaply made.

This car has been great for us. It drives more like a sports car than a luxury car and I like that. It is heavy and takes the road bumps like a champ. The only problem/fear I have is that a lot of people (see other reviews) seem to have lots of problems with their cateras. That makes me a little uneasy about my car's future. But, so far so good.

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Tested Lincoln LS (didn't care for them), BMW (too expensive).

NICE RADIO, good looking turns alot of heads around, and handing!

TIMING SHAFT, AND ELECTICAL PROBLEMS WITH THE FOG LIGHTS..other wise it ok.

Well I love My Catera, but I need your help people! Iam comparing yalls problems vs mine. The only problem I have is that fog ligh thave a short and will sometimes work, ABS&TC light always stays on! But here where it hits the fan, currently I have 97k miles on the Catera, at 60k miles ( Cadillac recomends that) at Cavender Cadillac in San Antonio, I had them replace the belt and tensoners, but on my way back form Houston, about 100 miles forom home I stoped at a gas station to put gas. Well when I started the car and i heard like this grind noise and sounded like the belts where whistling, anyways that grind noise went away and only made it for a while when you started the car, but whiste noise stayed all the way home, till I took it to the dealer. They said it was the harmonic balance, and their was a recall, so I said fine do the adjustments. Well after leaving the dealer about a block away it stared to make the same noise, but i knew it was not the work that was just done. When I got home, I asked my dad to look at it sinec he has alot of knowledge about GM cars! Well for these one he had no DAMM idea what was the problem! We called a former GM plant worker frenid of are's and asked him too look at it, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT A CATERA WAS, AND WHEN HE LOOKED UNDER THE HOOD HE WAS SUPRISE TO SEE WHAT HE SAW, NO ONE HAS KNOWLEDGE ON THIS CAR, only the dealer but they charge a arm and leg! since iam out of warrnty! Finally we took thing apart and found out it was a tensoner to the timing belt! It should have lasted for a other 30k miles but gave out prematurly! I called Cadillac main office, Better business beauea, and comsumer protection to explain the problem and to see why this happened. But I got the same bull only 12k mile warr. on parts. So iam out of luck, I had the but the kit which was $230.00 dollars, we followed instruction and took for ever to put on but we did it! Went inside to start it.........and did not start!!!!!! We called 6 different people who are very familar with Cadillac's...NOT ONE COULD FIX IT! The Catera has been sitting at home for 3 months on stands just building dirt, NO ONE FREAKING KNOWS WHAT WRONG WITH THE CAR! Lastly I called the dealer yesterday and asked how much would it be just to look at it and fix it?...he said about a thousand dollars!!!! When I bought this car, I bought it for style and realiblity being my first luxury car, it surly does look nice sitting under a tree, but I cant afford that now, I thought that investment back then to get that belt change would help my avoid this NIGHTMARE but iam stuck between two rocks....I NEED YOUR HELP, IF ANYONE HAS HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS DEALING WITH THE TIMING SHAFT I BEG YOU EMAIL ME!

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1996 Chevy Cailver- traded this car for the Catera, that car had 124k miles with the orginal timing belt, and alternator, and wonderful car! I boought the Catera for the looks and price, but it was the first luxury vcar I bought. It was a good car but intill problems arise as you see below! (I WISH I HAD MY 1996 CHEVY BACK!.....BUT IAM LOOKING AT THE MALIBU'S)

Fun to drive, handling, being able to tell people I was driving a Cadillac

Everthing else

Worst car I have ever owned and that included the 1989 Hyundai Sonata (also first year model). Cadillac should be ashamed of itself for putting out such a low quality vehicle. I thought by spending more for the car I was getting a quality vehicle I could keep for a very long time. Instead I got rid it it last week after only 41,000 miles. I couldn't stand it continually breaking down, the inability of the dealership to fix it, and the poor service I got at Coleman Cadillac in Bethesda, MD. Coleman would only give me $ 7,500 in trade for a new Catera (I know-my wife thought I was crazy to even consider another one). Finally sold it to CarMax for $ 10,250. Bought a 2001 Pontiac Bonneville which I love. I wrote several letter to GM (CEO and Cadillac GM)-to their credit they did extend the warranty to 5 year-75,000 miles. When I finally could not take it anymore (when the car wouldn't shift out of first gear and had to be towed back to the shop) I was given an owner loyalty certificate which I used to purchase the Pontiac. So writing letters does work to some extent.

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None

Nice ride, interior, comfort

Extremely Poor workmanship in the drivetrain

This Catera was my first luxury vehicle. I din't do a whole lot of research before I purchased the car and now I have to admit that I sorely regret it. I have an 89' S-10 that I still drive with 285000 original miles on it. It hasn't given me ANY problems with the engine/transmission drive train. I am very meticulous about maintainence. The Catera has been in 4 service centers in various parts of the country. Don't be fooled by the smooth and comfortable ride. The drive train on these cars is of very poor workmanship, as opposed to the body structure which is very solid. I have had several different oil leaks, where oil is pouring out of the oil cooler which is located in the engine block, to oil dripping on the exhaust from the valve covers. The latest problem is the my Camshaft belt. At 73000 miles the tensioner pulley wore out and froze up. It looks like the center of the pulley that the bearing races are attached to is aluminum which is not a strong metal and wore aout causing the bearing to fail and my engine to be destryed by the Cam Belt which was worn down in the process. I wrote Cadillac and complained, but no satisfactory offer was made to reconcile my problem. I am very dissatifsied with this product and warn any who may be considering the purchase of this vehicle to steer clear. It is a nice car overall, but prepare for an expensive money pit. The engine is $7900 to replace not including labor charges.

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None

Stereo

Not enough power and everything else except the stereo

This car sucks. Having owned it for a little over a year, it has spent more time in the shop than in my driveway. I bought it with about 27,000 miles on it and have only put about 10000 miles on it so far. I have had it in the shop at least 5-6 times this year. First, some hose broke and the car kept overheating because the coolant kept leaking out. Next, the battery died, then the front door jammed and could not be closed. The car always seemed out of alignment, and now I've had to replace the tires at 36000 miles (they were worn to threads). The tire dealer told me the support arms are broken and it will cost approx $1000 to fix. Not to mention I keep smelling burning oil occasionally although my dipstick tells me the oil level is OK and I can't find any leaks. I'm going to a Honda dealer tomorrow to get rid of this piece of crap car.

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Owned a 1991 Honda CRX before and it ran like a top with minimal time in the shop