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Cadillac Catera Sport sedan plays hard with European manners
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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TOURS, France -- Our drive out from Paris to the Loire Valley city of Tours in a new Sport edition of the mid-size Catera sedan by Cadillac was intended as a tranquil spin through the French countryside on a meandering course utilizing a variety of arteries, from fast freeways around metropolitan centers like Chartres and Le Mans to too-narrow blacktop strips woven through quaint villages and picturesque vineyards draped over the rolling hills of a rich farmland.
However, a leisurely pace was not the way our Catera Sport ran that route.
It wanted to romp and play, to rip fast on the high-speed freeways and chart aggressive lines through all of the back-road kinks, and we as an obliging driver were only too eager to comply with the feel and tone of this tight new iteration of the Catera.
Of course, the car with its European pedigree and multi-national production was bred to run hard at autobahn speeds or maintain a firm and stable stance through a curvaceous circuit. It rides on a stiff unibody chassis and contains tractable steering and suspension hardware which produce crisp and lively pavement maneuvers in the manner of elite European sports sedans.
To find the core ingredients of Catera, you must look first at a European brand of General Motors known as Opel, which produces the Omega MV6, a respectable rear-wheel-drive sedan of mid-size scale. The Catera uses a reinforced version of the Omega's chassis, which comes together at a GM assembly plant in Ruesselsheim, Germany, and it contains a twin-cam V6 engine built by GM at Ellesmere Port in England and a four-speed electronic automatic transmission out of another GM plant in Strasbourg, France.
Development of the Catera occurred through a joint effort between Cadillac designers based in Michigan and those at the Opel Technical Center in Germany. Its slate of components indicates that Catera's planners went shopping in Europe through the GM network of automotive subsidiaries, yet the resultant product --- which appeared originally as a 1997 issue -- represents more than a rebadged Omega.
From the outset it carried unique sheetmetal styling and a passenger compartment slanted toward the Cadillac concept of luxury with plush fittings. Extensive noise-reduction measures tuned the vehicle for quietness, as the chassis was fortified by bracing flex points and the front suspension's lower control arms were elongated to increase stiffness and produce a firmer ride quality.
For year-2000 models, the Catera earns a number of refinements for exterior styling, revised interior gear as well as a tweak to the powertrain, all to fashion a more aggressive character for which the Sport edition pushes that persona to the limit.
The original Catera appeared rather bland and undistinguished in the homogenized blend of bumpers, fenders and smooth quarter-panel sides.
The new Catera looks stronger: It's a concise package set with shoulders and muscular flanks, crisp tailored curves uniting taut surface tensions and a new nose and tail with articulated lamps, grille and fascia.
It hunkers in a low posture underscored by aerodynamic fascia and shapely moldings below door panels, with the Sport attaching more aggressively styled rocker moldings and a spoiler on the rear decklid, plus 17-inch aluminum wheels, high intensity Xenon headlamps and a front grille in matte black and silver chrome.
Overall length of the car was pared by 1.8 inches in the new treatment, with different quarter panels, larger side mirrors, a revised cowl to conceal new wet-arm windshield wipers, and altered corner lights and foglamps.
The new form moves Catera more closely in style to other European touring sedans.
In the five-place passenger compartment, Catera reveals subtle changes in tone, texture and scale with revised settings for certain controls and new designs for the instrument panel, center dash stack and console.
On the driver-side front door, for instance, the new trim panel integrates door handles with repositioned power window toggles and dual latch-lid low storage bins. Window switches provide one-touch express up and down movement for all four side windows, with pinch-guard protection which senses any resistance to closure like fingers in the path, then reverses the path traveled by the glass.
Leather covers all seats, but sport buckets with firm bolsters and lumbar and thigh adjusters slip into the Sport.
Brushed silver accents in lieu of ersatz wood trims the Sport around instruments, shifter console and doors.
The white-on-black analog instruments encompass a speedometer and tachometer, plus gauges for coolant temperature, oil pressure, voltage and fuel.
A rear bench seat splits the seatback and folds in sections, with trunk access through a panel behind the center armrest.
More safety systems apply to Catera now, including seat-mounted side-impact air bags as well as frontal bags, plus three-point safety belts for all five positions with height adjustments on outboard seats and head restraints which move vertically to fit.
The car's safety cage stocks impact-dissipating crush zones fore and aft, and dual steel bars in each door.
Independent suspension elements range from front and rear coil springs with MacPherson struts in front with hydraulic control arm bushings to a rear multi-link trailing arm design with automatic load leveling which permits full suspension travel under various loads.
Brakes with a disc at each wheel tied in dual circuits also connect to Bosch anti-lock and traction control systems. A calibration change to the power brake booster brings a more confident feel to the brake pedal now.
The steering has power controls in a recirculating-ball design that translates less road shock to steering wheel and thus imparts a more luxurious feel for the driver. Steering gear calibrations manage both comfortable low-speed turning and spirited cruising at speed.
Catera's twin-cam 3.0-liter V6 with an iron block and aluminum heads achieves 200 hp. It shows a revised camshaft profile with new electronic throttle control and a multi-ram induction system enhanced this year with more efficient airflow and a denser air-fuel mix, which result in more power produced across a broader torque band.
Top speed, electronically limited, runs to 125 mph.
The electronically-controlled four-speed GM 4L35E transmission employs adaptive logic that tailors shifts to specific driving conditions. Finger buttons allow the driver to choose from three shift programs -- normal, winter (with third-gear start to minimize wheel slippage), and sport (with aggressive shift patterns which run to a higher rpm level before shifting).
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| Vehicle Specifications: |
| 2000 CADILLAC CATERA Specs |
| Description: |
Mid-size sport/luxury sedan
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| Model Options: |
Mid-size sport/luxury sedan
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| Wheelbase: |
107.5 inches
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| Overall Length: |
192.2 inches
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| Engine Size: |
DOHC 3.0-L V6
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| Transmission: |
Auto/4
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| Drive: |
Rear
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| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS/TCS
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| Airbags: |
2 (front) + 2 (side)
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| Gas Mileage: |
18/24 mpg
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| Price: |
$ 35,000 to $ 38,000 |
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