1996 Cadillac Catera Preview Drive: Omega, Man

From the January 1996 issue of Car and Driver.

After years of denial, the manage­ment at Cadillac has finally real­ized that baby boomers will not automatically mutate into Sedan De Ville buyers should they live long enough to become prosperous and middle-aged.

Many of us born after WWII reached maturity at a time when size and ostenta­tion were replaced as automotive virtues by performance, technology, and refine­ment. In other words, we became import buyers. That’s why the average age of today’s Cadillac customers is 62.

To help bring that average down, Cadillac will begin selling a new model this fall called the Catera—a genuine import based on Opel’s Omega, the largest and most expensive sedan produced by the German car company that General Motors purchased back in 1929.

The Omega was introduced in Europe in 1994, and its size and specification put it in league with 5-series BMWs and E-class Mercedes—precisely the market segment where Cadillac is weakest.

In proper Germanic fashion, the Catera employs a front-mounted engine driving its rear wheels, a configuration shunned by domestic sedans in this size and price class. It’s also rather compact by Amer­ican luxury-car standards, measuring 193.8 inches long and 70.3 inches wide. That splits the difference between the Infiniti J30 and the Lexus GS300.

Under the Catera’s hood is the same double-overhead-cam, 24-valve 3.0-liter V-6 that has been propelling Saab 9000s since last year. It has an unconventional 54-degree cylinder-bank angle rather than the usual 60 degrees, so the engine fits in Opel’s smaller Vectra sedan. For use in the Catera, Opel and Cadillac engineers recal­ibrated this engine to produce more low-­end torque and to satisfy the latest emission and OBD II requirements. Output, however, is only slightly reduced from the European version, to 200 hp at 6000 rpm and 192 pound-feet of torque at 3600 rpm.

The engine works in partnership with a GM THM Rl-AR35 electronically con­trolled four-speed automatic transmission. Dubbed the Strasbourg transmission in honor of the city in which it’s built, it is used not only by GM but also by BMW, which buys 90,000 of them every year. In the Catera, this gearbox comes with a choice of economy, performance, and winter shift schedules, and it coordinates with the engine-management system to modulate power as needed to provide smooth shifts.

The Catera carries over the Omega’s four-wheel independent suspension, using struts in the front and semi-trailing arms upgraded with toe-control links in the rear. Rubber-isolated subframes, coil springs, and anti-roll bars are fitted at both ends, with automatic leveling in the rear to keep the Catera on an even keel regardless of load.

Naturally enough for a car developed on Germany’s autobahns, the Catera has four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock con­trol. It is also equipped with traction con­trol, though it can only reduce engine power to limit wheelspin. A more sophis­ticated system that can also apply the brakes is in the works.

This collection of up-to-date hardware is clothed in the subdued bodywork indige­nous to European executive sedans. In Catera form, these lines are accented with a Cadillac-pattern grille (finished in black chrome and fitted with the classic wreath­-and-crest emblem), a new tail section with full-width taillights and a nicely integrated center brake light, revised rocker and body-side moldings, and new wheels mounted with 16-inch all-season tires. The overall visual effect is clean and tasteful, if not captivating.

Inside, the Catera feels sumptuous and roomy. Front-seat occupants find a hand­some, well-organized dashboard with a sound system that looks to be custom-tai­lored to match the center console, just as the systems are in various Lexus models. Leather upholstery covers the door panels as well as the seats, and soft pockets cushion your elbows at the points at which they contact the doors. The supportive seats have dual-segment lumbar adjustment. And, of course, twin cupholders have been added for the U.S. market.

The back seat is equally impressive. There’s plenty of head and leg room, including space to wiggle your feet under­neath the front seats. Passengers sit chair­-high with supportive cushions and can be separated by a nice fold-down central arm­rest. Climate-control vents open out of the back of the central console. This rear com­partment is very much in the mid-line BMW and Mercedes class.

In keeping with the more active lifestyles of today’s boomers, the Catera has been designed to swallow a wide range of cargo. Extending the usefulness of its 17-cubic-foot trunk, the Catera is the first Cadillac with a fold-down rear seat; the left, right, and center sections deploy sep­arately to best match your people/cargo needs. The backrest of the right-front seat also folds forward until it is flat, leaving room for two-by-fours or windsurfer masts to stretch from the dashboard to the back of the trunk.

Along with its talents as a beast of burden, the Catera has the European driving feel that we expect from a car engineered in the heart of Germany. The body seems tight and solid.

The ride is well controlled and very firm. The steering has the precise and accurate action that makes carving up narrow European country roads so satisfying. At top speed on the autobahn, this Cadillac feels sub­limely secure and un­stressed.

That top speed is only 125 mph, however—electroni­cally limited for the sake of the Catera’s all-season tires. Euro­pean Omegas can reach 140 mph. At the other end of the per­formance spectrum, Cadillac promises that the Catera will accel­erate from 0 to 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds, and that feels about right. Despite the 154 pounds added by its various modifications, the 3800-pound Catera feels reasonably peppy from rest, thanks to the V-6’s enhanced low-end torque and the shorter ratios in first and second gears.

Even so, an aggressive driver will tend to work this smallish engine rather hard—­and when flogged, the V-6 doesn’t sing with quite the happy tones of a BMW six. But the transmission is quick to supply downshifts when needed, and it changes gears unobtrusively during mild driving. Customers not seeking a dedicated sports sedan will find little to fault in the Catera’s powertrain.

The Catera will come well equipped, with all of the usual power options, including express down and up power windows, automatic climate control with separate temperature control for driver and passenger, and a remote keyless-­entry system—virtually mandatory because neither the passenger door nor the trunklid is fitted with a keyhole.

Customers buying luxury cars tend to place a high value on their personal safety, so the Catera has dual airbags, devices to grab firmly and actually tighten the front belts in a collision, ratch­eting belts to secure child-safety seats, and a passing grade on federal side­impact standards.

The Catera’s anticipated base price of $33,000 tells us Cadillac has learned from its Allanté experience that newcomers in a market should price aggressively. At this price, the Catera undercuts almost all comparably sized competitors.

Those attracted by the Catera’s value will likely find satisfaction in the driving experience it provides. And when the Catera replaces the Fleetwood in Cadillac’s lineup next fall, it will shift the division’s center of gravity a long way from traditional to contemporary. It’s about time.

Contributing Editor

Csaba Csere joined Car and Driver in 1980 and never really left. After serving as Technical Editor and Director, he was Editor-in-Chief from 1993 until his retirement from active duty in 2008. He continues to dabble in automotive journalism and LeMons racing, as well as ministering to his 1965 Jaguar E-type, 2017 Porsche 911, and trio of motorcycles—when not skiing or hiking near his home in Colorado.