Cimarron VS Cavalier Car Comparison Cadillac & Chevrolet Economy meets Luxury

[@milesanthony764]

COOL!!!! I've always wanted to see a comparison between these two titans of crap!! 👍

[@torpmorp1324]

I dunno, I drove the Chevy Cavalier for a couple of weeks in 1992. I’m pretty sure that it was better than the small cars of today for everyday use. It was comfortable, warm, rattle-free and peppy. If you drive to work and grocery store and home, it’s ok. I kinda miss it now.

[@heisenfeis]

@@torpmorp1324 I daily drive a 1984 Opel Ascona C which is the same car, 1.6L about 90hp, 4 speed manual. it is great. just replaced the clutch it took me 1 hour and i did not even have to remove gearbox, i'm very happy. i dont get it why people do not drive older cars because it is so simple to work on and very cheap parts. if this was like a 2000s VW Passat that clutch change is so to speak impossible to do at home and could cost as much as 1800 dollar at a cheap shop in town. while my clutch with toll and shipping cost about 100 dollars and it was very easy to do at home.

[@johnhamre990]

Right on another piece of crap well said

[@stevencorrea7982]

@@johnhamre990 if we get you back and forth to work and don't break down it's a good car.

[@TheJason5174]

I own this exact Cimarron Doro . Just turned over 40000 miles. Still runs. Ac does too. Message me if you want one. Hard to find. Rare piece of Cadillac history. No matter how you fall on the Cimarron's controversy!

[@UrielX1212]

Cavaliers are simple and reliable. They may not have all the toots and whistles but they are a solid economy car.

[@ad356]

part of the reason they are economical is because there isnt much to go wrong with them compared to modern cars. they are simple. too this day i still have 2 1991 cavaliers, a 3.1 convertible and a 2.2 coupe. they start everyday.

[@jackjohnson7396]

Good in snow too..

[@mowowie]

@@jackjohnson7396 YES they were real good in the snow......that's about it though.

[@brettcannon74]

Thanks for this. After 1985 there were many more differences between the cimarron and its cousins. I own a 84 cimarron original owner (title DEC '83) and keep the little thing in storage and take it out for a spin every once in a while! Well built cars for the time

[@oldschoolbbass]

same comparison like the Ford Granada and The Lincoln Versailes

[@richavic4520]

Mercury Monarch.

[@heatmoon]

@@richavic4520 Yep. I had a 2 door straight 6, tough as nails motor but no power. Yellow in and out. Not a great car, cheap build, but got me from a to b in every condition, started easy in -20 below and was good in snow, not good at stopping in snow, really heavy.

[@tenfourproductionsllc]

At least Lincoln put on a Lincoln grill and a Mark V trunk style on that. GM was too lazy to even give the Cimmaron any styling improvements.

[@obsoletegeek]

Brings back memories! I had a friend in high school with a 1988 Cimmaron that she bought for $100. That car was awesome. Broken shock mounts so it sounded like there was a dead body rolling around in the trunk. Swiss cheese exhaust. Digital speedometer that was stuck at "188". Radio that would stop working until you hit the dash with your fist... The floors were rotten to the point that the drivers seat was fully detached and could be removed from the car. It caught fire in her driveway one day. RIP little Cimmaron!

[@JoeyFancy]

Awesome cars, personally I always preferred the styling of the Cavaliers and Skyhawks over the other same era GM J-cars. But I loved them all! ...Actually I wasn`t too big on the head lights on the older 1982-1983 Cavaliers. But for 1984-1987 I`d pick the Cavalier or 1982-1988 Skyhawk 1st, but only for the most superficial differences. I also liked the J2000 and SunBird a little more than the Frienza and Cimarron, but only for very superficial differences. I liked the variety of styling that had been done to the J-cars, even if a lot of people weren`t too big on badge engineering. Great Video!

[@1979irock]

Those cars are some of the worst shit GM ever built

[@patrickm5217]

worst GM car by far was the chevette. spark plugs needed to be changed / tightened every two weeks. what a piece of shit

[@heatmoon]

My dad bought a Cimaron, older that this, no digital crap gauges. It was a manual 4 speed, white with red leather. It really was a nice small car, compared to our old Dasher. Soft seats, good leather, no wierd striped. In some ways ahead of their time, luxury and economy. Motor locked at 265k. I really liked it, they are crapped on too much. My dad drove his 90 miles a day back and forth to work. Like I said, ahead of it's time. 4cylinder luxury. Thanks for the video. Find a older one with gauges, so much better and the gauges were perfect. Thanks for your video.

[@iflick7235]

I spent 30 years with the General Motors Corporation. Sir, I can assure you with some inside knowledge that the Chevrolet Caviler and the Cadillac Cimarron were two of the largest blunders the corporation made. "Undervalued"? There are few operational examples on the road but I'm sure they're out there. Frankly, you sound enthusiastic about them. I simply don't have the time to list all the reasons you should never consider purchasing one of these automobiles (if you can find one) Here is a complete stranger reaching out to tell you, Don't Do It!

[@auaiao9]

+I Flick I bought a 1996 Cavalier of the same year and I still own the car. 215,000 miles on it, original fuel pump, original clutch, and original starter. I realize the car won't last forever, but it has been extremely reliable and I feel as though I got my money's worth. I don't mean to criticize, but if you know so much about the Cavalier how come you don't know how to spell the word??

[@iflick7235]

Oh, you're right! How pretentious of me. I was trying to discourage you from buying the car you and you're family should really be driving, the Ford Pinto. You appreciate the style and reliability of the Cavalier, the whole family will love the Pinto.

[@TeeroyHammermill]

+I Flick My late father worked for a utility company that purchased Cavaliers by the fleet back in the 80's and 90's. They are not bad cars at all.

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

+I Flick I learned to drive on an 84 Cavalier. I went through about 3 of them and eventually had an 88 z24. I never considered them 'great' cars, but the alternative at the time was the Ford Escort. The Cavs were good, generic, dependable transportation. Could you spend some to list a few of the reasons? Im curious now!

[@iflick7235]

BaltimoreAndOhioRR I must sound as though I have a jaundice view of the product and the industry. However, in this instance, the Chevrolet Caviler was exceptionally bad. The principle reason for this, it didn't have what's called a "dedicated line" The chassis was shared by a number of vehicles including the Cadillac Cimerron. Every 28th car coming down the line was a Cadillac. Workers had to juggle parts and tools. Chevrolet Cavilers had Cadillac parts and vice versa. You had a great Caviler? You may have been driving what was largely a Cadillac with a Caviler badge and deck lid. That happened. Imagine the poor motorist who drove that very troubled Chevrolet he thought was a Cadillac.

[@OsbornTramain]

Thank you for this video, My Father had a Chevy Cavalier in 1983, he drove almost 200 thousand miles. This week, I just purchased an 86 Cimarron for 425 dollars. Picking it up in Oregon and going on a cross country trip. It's been inspected and nothing is wrong with the car. I can't wait! People crap on these cars all the time, but I honestly think they are just too lazy to get real facts. I do so much appreciate you taking the time here to show people how nice the Cimarron actually is.

[@tinoezmartin2409]

I like the front end look with the ground effects and flush headlamps!

[@panik808]

I attended a Automotive trade school and a fellow student had a silver Cimarron. He babied the car. One day he was changing the thermostat and he tightened it a bit too much and cracked the housing. He called for a replacement and the price was high just for being a Cadillac. so I told him to ask for a Chevy replacement a lot cheaper. Price right now for both is $10

[@gustavefrankfurter6462]

It's like putting Bentley badges on a Yugo.

[@RichieRouge206]

You're really amusing and cool to watch. Interesting video, we had the J-Body over here in the UK as the Vauxhall Cavalier (or Opel Ascona in mainland Europe)

[@Watcher3223]

Today, people who bash the car without understanding why are merely following the bandwagon; that the Cimarron was a bad car. Depending on your point of view, that can be both right and wrong. No doubt the car can be reliable and economical, but it was hardly the answer to German models back in the early 80s and revealed Cadillac's appalling lack of effort in making a truly competitive offering commensurate with the price they tried to sell it for. Simply put, for the price and the targeted market segment, the Cimarron was a cynical effort of GM in their to attempt to compete against the likes of the BMW 3-Series or the Mercedes-Benz 190. Instead of investing in capital to design a unique model to serve that segment, Cadillac resorted to the bad GM habit of badge engineering. To give you an example: what models did the platforms of the 3-Series and the 190 share? In its underpinnings, the Cimarron was not exclusive to its target market like its European competitors were. And, even with all the equipment options, the Cimarron was a poor value argument compared to, say, a fully loaded Oldsmobile Firenza or a Buick Skyhawk. To top it off, when the Cimarron first came out, there was no V6 engine option. The only selling point of the Cimarron, as well as a reason for its relatively high sticker price compared to its J-body siblings, was the fact that it's a Cadillac. But, obviously, that reputation alone would not save the car from derision. Indeed, it ended up being among the failures of that time that would discredit Cadillac as a serious contender, the effects of which still continue to haunt the marque in one way or another today.

[@aww9050]

I'm so glad you did this. I drove an '88 Cimarron for a couple years when I was in college. It's a total novelty, but economical and super comfortable too. Mine had the analog dash which looked just like the Cavalier you had except it had red speedo/tach needles and slightly more "upscale" looking readouts on the gauges. The V6 was peppy too!

[@carluvr1000]

The J-cars were good cars that carried GM through the 80's and 90's. Quality wise they were as good as any car made during the that time. There were tons of them on the road, they were affordable, and lots of people bought them. I always laugh when I hear someone say that the Cimarron was one of the worst cars ever made, it shows how little they really know about the history and cars. There was nothing wrong with the Cimarron and, to a lot of people, it was even better looking than it's J-car siblings. The problem was that it was a very poor marketing decision by Cadillac to put their name on an economy car. Why pay thousands more for a Cimarron when you could go down the street and pick up the same car for thousands less at a Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, or Chevrolet dealer. Unfortunately, Cadillac repeated this mistake years later when they put their name on an inexpensive family car, the Vauxhall and called it the Catera. The J-cars were good cars, Cadillac's decision to put their name on an inexpensive care was lousy.

[@CptDaves]

The problem with the Cimarron was it was put on sale at a time when Cadillac had a problem with it's Low Quality-High price image. back in the 1940s Cadillacs were the highest quality cars you could get, thus no matter how high the price, the car seemed to be worth it. In the 1950s GM changed their policy and increased the similarity of the cars offered by their different brands. They kept doing this, and by the 1980s the Cimarron was was a Chevy Cavalier they disguised to look like a Cadillac and they parked it on the lot of a Cadillac dealer. Although the idea was to make 7 different J-Cars that were sold by all of the world's GM dealers, to me it appeared that GM must have thought their customers were so stupid that you could sell them the same car and get them to pay a high price for it by putting the name of a high priced brand on it. The other problem was they thought they could compete with luxury cars of other companies that were not as large as a Cadillac by making a smaller Cadillac. I thought that since GM was making the Opel Omega in Germany to compete with the Mercedes and BMWs there, they would do better to try selling a Cadillac version of the Omega. Later GM did this and introduced the Cadillac Catera to America. The Catera had inferior reliability though, and was another failure.

[@harryknutts8428]

finally a video that says it all and more , cimarron people are unique , im cimarron people and i never owned a cimarron that i can remember altho i think the more i think about it i may have had 1 briefly in the 90s 1997 or 1998

[@charlesmccabe5503]

Glad you made this comparison, thanks for the effort

[@DA90027]

I had a 1983 Cavalier Convertible by American Sunroof Co I LOVED that car had the 2.0 got amazing gas mileage 20 bucks would damn near fill it up and it rode great handled well had great AC. Compared to today's ugly fat bloated plastic cars that are overpowered and get lousy mileage I consider these beautiful

[@ianjones5881]

I am quite impressed with the options on the Cimarron, the digital dash especially. I agree with you they are great little cars. I live in Europe (UK), although I never been to America and never experienced Cadillac and Chevrolet versions you shown in your video. We had our own versions: the Vauxhall Cavalier Mark II here in UK and the Opel Ascona C in the rest of Europe. Loved those cars, I remember the sporty version of the Vauxhall Cavalier - the SRi, it had 2 litre 4 cyl engine, it was a pretty fast car for its time. Unfortunately these cars are getting scarce today. I'd love a Cimerron of my own one day (the options package you shown look impressive).

[@arnepianocanada]

Side comment: you have a terrific voice. I bet you are a good singer. Your no-frills but friendly presentation is great. The best car in the world is the car any person likes best.

[@melsmith5293]

Cimarron and Cavaliers look alike. I remember the Cavalier from 1982-39 years ago and a Cimarron from 1983-38 years ago, during the time of that car company by the name of Stith Chevrolet was in business. Golly almost 40 years ago. Also I like those green triangle signal lights in the Cavalier that blink off and on when you prepare to make a turn.

[@catsmoo6432]

The cavalier is reliable because it has nothing to it. Had a 90 2.2L coupe total cost for 3 years ownership $120. bought and sold it for $500. The Cimarron was the same car for 1/3rd more of the price when new with expensive rare parts. Your better off buying a z24.

[@prestoncheapbtheadphoneste3010]

My dad had the 2 door model, I actually loved that car 🚙!

[@pianofry1138]

A Cimmaron is one of those cars you would be crazy to buy new but buying it second hand isn't a bad idea

[@JonathanMoosey]

The later Cimmarons do definitely look better than the earlier Cimmarons. The reason the Cimmaron flopped wasn't because of quality, it was badge engineering gone wrong. Cadillac had originally wanted to develop its own platform for a smaller size Cadillac but European and Japanese competition in the luxury vehicle market didn't permit Cadillac to do so. So Cadillac did what they did with the first Escalade for the Cimmaron, take an already existing GM vehicle add a few touches and a Cadillac badge. Difference is you can justify a more expensive full size SUV, you can't necessarily justify a more expensive compact car especially in the 1980s.

[@vincecarnevale4406]

Bought a 1984 wagon in 1992 for 500 dollars with 95000 k drove it for 3 and half years,still ran well in 1996 when I took it off the road with 180000 k great on gas.

[@YouDontWannaFightMe]

I don't get why so many people hated cimarrons. They actually made sense considering the time period they were made in. Technically, the cimarron was one of the first compact luxury sedans available in the mainstream market

[@kobbetop]

Cimarrons are good, we are all Pro Cimarron damnit! :D

[@tirebiter1680]

The 1st time I saw a Cimmaron I knew GM had made a wistake, When viewed from the side it looked like a Chevy Cavalier. It was one the 6 J cars GM made. Look, if you could afford a new Cadillac, you wanted people to see that you could. If you bought a Cimmarron , some people would think you owned a Cavalier and tried to disguise it as a Cadillac. At the time I thought that ,GM should import an Opel that was deigned to compete with Mercedes and BMWs and put a Cadillac badge on that. Another thing GM should have tried is make a Black Cimmarron station wagon and call it a "Mini-Hearse"

[@DanniTheMagicJunkDrawer]

I find it funny that people have such opposing views. Some loved these cars and had a great experience and others not so much. I had a 95 Probe for 9 years. (Bought it used in 97) I never had any trouble and fords got a pretty shitty reputation. I turned it in for a 2006 Beetle great car, turned it in for a 2015 and this one burns oil 😡

[@kirbyyasha]

I wish I could find a nice Cimarron. America wasn't ready for the Cimarron.

[@seanmcgivney7631]

I always enjoyed your videos,bet you would be fun as hell to party with. Always loved the cimarron, i would be happy with late model with a v6.

[@therealjayseh]

I liked the cimarron as a kid. But I always got told NO by my mechanic dad lol

[@ShermanHutchisonBMGP]

At this juncture I would probably opt for the cavalier for its reliable analogue dash

[@tenfourproductionsllc]

Cavalier also had an electric dash as an option (Z24) either in 85 or 86 and it was much better looking than the Cimmaron.

[@VTrill225]

Thanks bro, great vid. I was born in 86', a 86 Fleetwood brougham was the first car I learned how to drive at 10yrs old, then at 21years old I got my first car, a 87' brougham D'Elegance, Im 36 now, and I have a 2005 DeVille, & 88 Brougham. I had a 88' Nissan Sentra in 2014, it was similar to these 2 cars in the video, especially the inside. I heard of a Cadillac cimarron and seen a few, but this year & version I just found out exist, thanks for the video, I think it's a cool little caddy also.

[@milesanthony764]

And on a personal note, I appreciate you taking a shot with useful stuff in the background. Instead of some bathroom. 😂😂

[@TJC450]

I like the stitched dash in that!

[@heatmoon]

Love your videos and optimistic or see the best in cars attitude. Cimarons were avoid idea. My dad bought a 6 year old one with 100k on it for $900. It was older minus stupid digital gauges. I loved this car, rode to school in it for many years. It had 15s but very wide tires and rode nice.

[@bliglum]

Sorry.. In a total vacuum these might seem like decent little cars.. But when compared to their contemporaries, they fell well short, which is why they are so often called rubbish... When I was a kid, I remember my neighbor had a late 80's Cavi, and we had a late 80's Civic. I still remember going with them on a trip to the store one time and being shocked at how course the engine seemed, how poor the interior seemed to fit together. Wondering why the gaps were so huge, only to have that query answered when I saw how violently the dash would shake when going over bumps!! Yikes!. All the way down to the way the doors closed. No solid "whump" like what I was used to.. It was a loud, rattly crashing sound... The experience may have been a major contributing factor for why I don't own an American car today. And lets not even think about comparing the Cimaroon to it's competition, the BMW 3 series and or MB C class!!! That would just be embarrassing!

[@Stressless2023]

+bliglum You don't own an American car today because your parents likely didn't own them (judging from the Honda you admit to your family having when you were a kid). You're entitled to that. I grew up in Detroit, with parents & grandparents who worked for the American Big 3, and I'd never own anything other than an American-branded vehicle. Sometimes we tend to stick with what's familiar. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you aren't one of those douche's who think's they're more intelligent or superior for buying Japanese instead of American.

[@bliglum]

SuchANiceGirl22 The most troubling thing though is how it seems like there are more Toyotas, Hondas, Mazdas and Nissans made here in the US than anywhere else! All while "American made" makers keep outsourcing to Canada, Mexico, Korea and China with the claim that they need to do so in order to "remain competitive in the world market" ....Strange... Toyota, Honda and Nissan don't seem to have a problem remaining competitive while producing millions of their vehicles here. Sadly, U.S. auto makers made great vehicles from the 1900's through to the 70's.. But since the 80's like so many other American ventures, the auto industry has gone to shit in the pursuit of absolute greed. I've even heard "alleged" admissions from domestic marque execs claiming "Where is the profit in making a car that lasts? There's no resale or service center profit in it!

[@Stressless2023]

bliglum Owning a vehicle from an American manufacturer is symbolic, there's history there, and if you were raised in or around the Great Lakes area, then you likely have parents/relatives who help/helped build them. My grandfather is 82 years old, and migrated here from Mississippi to build Chevrolet's on an assembly line from 1953-1983. Where some of them are assembled now matters little/none, just owning a domestic vehicle is emblematic here (and despite some being "assembled" in Canada, Mexico, and the like, the source of many of their parts often comes from the U.S.) I wont deny the fact that Japan has produced some superior products in terms of overall quality during the last few decades, while domestic brands in general have been hit or miss at best, but the American Big 3 (for all its faults & flaws) keeps & has kept food on many tables. When I see people question the origin of some modern domestic vehicles like you did, and attempt to use that as leverage to support their defense of Japanese brands, that is the real troubling thing to me. But I'm sure that if I'd grown up in another state other than Michigan, with parents who predominately owned & supported foreign brands/vehicles, then I'd sing a different song, so I don't fault you at all.

[@Stressless2023]

northhankspin LOL get lost.

[@ast-og-losta]

I had a 1986 Cimarron. I liked it, but I could never get it to run right. It had a miss in it that stumped everyone.

[@Golbez1991]

Wow. All these years, and I finally can add a face to your voice. Nice to meet you, Nathan.

[@ebertonmelo6251]

In Brazil we had the Chevrolet Monza, a variant of the European opel ascona, with 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 liters engines.

[@davidleegoodwin6825]

People bitch about the Cimarron as the worst rebage ever in the history of cars in the USA and I think they are wrong. For my college graduation, I was offered a new 1988 Cadillac Cimarron of my choice on the dealer lot and I freaked out. I didn't think that in my twenties I could drive a Cadillac. A Cadillac? It really scared me. Then I was told by the salesman, we have eighty models of Cimarrons to choose from. He said, they are all the same price. Then he said, GM cancelled them. Maybe it was a J car, but guess what no ever talks about the warranty nor the Cadillac buying experience back then. It was a nearly royal affair. Red carpets, alcohol, Granted a sales team might have snickered behind the back of someone buying a crappy Jadillac, but when new these were so heavily discounted the price was appealing. How many salesman made bank on selling these heavily discounted Cadillacs? The factory warranty alone far exceeded a Cavalier. For five years I had free oil changes of 3 months or 3,000 miles, free interior and outside detail, free rental car for maintanace (I'd drop it off Friday and had an Eldorado, Seville, Fleetwood, or Deville free for the weekend and never had to refill it with gas), I drove my heavily optioned black and saddle Jaddilac for over 200K miles. I never replaced the clutch, had to deal with a factory recall, never had a mechanical failure, and only replaced the battery once . Routine maintenance was always reasonable in the after market world. It was a car that never let me down. I gave it to a friend he drove it for over a year and they gave it somonelse. Yes, a fully loaded Cavalier Z24 coupe would be $1800.00 cheaper. I would not have had leather interior nor powers drivers sear. It would have two doors and not four. And now many people will say I am lying, I had a 2.8 liter V-6 and a manual transmission. Sorry but the dealership I bought my Cimarron had 14 V-6 5 speeds manuals. These 14 cars were black, dark grey/gray or white. All were fleet assigned in build by this Phoenix, AZ. dealership. My caddy was not unique to this dealership as I was told they sold hundreds of these V-6 manuals cars as the ordering "guy" loved the drivability of these manual Cimalettes. .... I wish I had mine and a dozen more. I have followed your channel for a long time!

[@jb0177]

The Cimmaron is the Caddy's red headed stepchild.

[@orksters]

When the Cadillac came out people were putting the Cadillac badge one the Chevy

[@heatmoon]

This is not true, maybe the chassis, motor and transmission. But everything you see, everything you feel is better. Foolish uneducated statement

[@LakeHowellDigitalVideo]

@@heatmoon Dude, he's saying people glued on the Cadillac badge on their Cavaliers -- which is completely true. I remember people doing it. Just like owners of the 2004-06 Pontiac GTO's, I saw quite a few who swapped the badges to Holden Monaro. BTW, both the Cavalier and Cimmaron were complete garbage.... Subpar by even 1980's car standards. These cars are why so many people stopped buying GM cars and flocked to imports in the 1980's.

[@matt8863]

The first generation Cavalier was a decent daily driver for anyone wanting cheap transportation.... The Cimarron was an absolute joke, an insult to anyone's intelligence that walked into a Cadillac showroom. But I certainly understand that some people back in the day just didn't have the aptitude to realize what they were paying good money for.

[@DA90027]

yes but compared to today's UGLY fat bloated plastic bubbles it is a beautiful car

[@charlesameyer1]

It's not so much that the Cimarron was a terrible car per se--those J body cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, etc) were decent enough vehicles and seemed to stick around for a long time. Civics or Corollas they were not, but as I recall the Cavaliers wound up selling for a lot less. The Cimarron is so widely despised because it was a scam. GM glued vinyl decorations, fake woodgrain, and a fancy Cadillac badge on a Cavalier and priced it thousands and thousands more than a Cavalier. And they pitched it as competitive with European makes. GM showed contempt for its customers. Unfortunately, many low-information buyers (eg, older people) took the pitch and bought these econoboxes in tuxedos. Nowadays, if I was in the market for a cheapo used car I would gladly take the Cimarron for $1100 over the Cavalier for $1000! Comment for KZbinr Nathan: Don't tell people that stuff in your garage is junk. Tell them it's your test equipment for your car comparisons!

[@kendric1971]

man i had a 84 4 banger cavalier back in the 90's...that car was bullet proof..

[@ComputerLearning0]

I had a white 4-door 1985 Cavalier and it was THE worst car I ever owned. I always felt it was a fairly decent looking automobile but I couldn't keep it on the road because it was always in the shop. Another thing I remember about my Cavalier were the doors. The two front doors were fitted to the car just awful and had a typical GM product loose fit to it and rattled when you closed the doors :( I couldn't believe GM had the balls to actually slap a Cadillac badge on this thing and call it a luxury car. Sure, it had a more plush interior and a six-cylinder engine but in the end it was still just a warmed over Chevy Cavalier. What was Cadillac thinking???

[@davidknox1933]

Go through the air conditioner and you can fix the flashing problem with the new dash. I don’t remember what code it is but there’s a reset for it .

[@969thewhip]

I like this concept. This would be a good series! Ranger vs Mazda B Series, Escort vs Lynx, Corolla vs Prizm, Camaro vs Firebird. The list goes on and on and on...

[@AdmiralRustyShackleford]

That was the problem with the Cimarron, it was priced too high. Yeah it's a Cadillac but the reason the Cavalier sold so well was how economical it was and how cheap. You can't throw Caddy badges and some trim on the same car and charge thousands more (I don't remember exactly but it was exponentially higher priced). It just wasn't worth the extra cost, and trying to gouge people for a cheap economy car is disgraceful for Cadillac. Taken from Wikipedia on the Cimarron page: The Cimarron's market failure is one in a series of events throughout the 1980s and 1990s which caused Cadillac's share of the US market to decline from 3.8% in 1979 to 2.2% in 1997;[14] it is routinely cited as the nadir of GM's product planning: Noted automotive journalist Dan Neil included the Cimarron in his 2007 list of Worst Cars of all Time, saying "everything that was wrong, venal, lazy, and mendacious about GM in the 1980s was crystallized in this flagrant insult to the good name and fine customers of Cadillac."[15] He added that the Cimarron "nearly killed Cadillac and remains its biggest shame."[15] Forbes placed the Cimarron on its list of "Legendary Car Flops," citing low sales, poor performance and the fact the car "didn't work, coming from a luxury brand."[10] CarBuzz called the Cimarron a "textbook example of what goes wrong when a carmaker tries to badge engineer an economy car into a luxury car."[16] Author Hannah Elliott said the Cimarron "appealed neither to Cadillac's loyal followers, who appreciated powerful V8s and Cadillac's domestic luxury edge, nor to buyers who favored Europe's luxury brands, whose cars out-handled and out-classed the Cimarron in every way."[17] CNN Money described the Cimarron as "in all important respects, a Chevrolet Cavalier. It also added thousands to the price tag. In all, it was neither a good Cadillac nor a good value. Today, GM executives will readily admit that this was a bad idea."[18] Car and Driver said a subsequent Cadillac product director, John Howell, kept a picture of the Cimarron on his wall captioned, "Lest we forget."[19]

[@rayford21]

That's one of the reasons Packard lost face with many of its customers. They introduced a Packard "120" as a cheap alternative to their expensive models during the depression years to stay in business, which worked, but they failed to separate the Packard name from it later on. By the time they decided to make it a "Clipper" in the early '50's it was too little, too late. Mixing cheaper cars with luxury cars of the same name bit them in the ass toward the end.

[@charles26602]

Had 861/2 great car only problem I had was kept burning up fan relay 15 fan relays I miss it great memorys with the 2.8

[@MysteryWolph]

So much hate and anger! Damn. I don't personally think of the first gen Cavalier or the Cimmaron as great. Why? I've never seen one in nice shape, never experienced one that was reliable. Those are my reasons, cut and dry. If you like them, more power to ya. No hate or judgement here. If you can work on them and they work well for you, that's great. :p Saying shitty things about someone because hr doesn't share your tastes in cars is a dick move. :)

[@Mack11721]

Nice to "see" you. And, as a teen, I LOVED the Cimarron. Yes, I know/knew it was a Cavalier, but still, loved it anyway. Thanks for reviewing them both!

[@joshuac4772]

I still want to make a sleeper out of a Cimarron. Imagine a Cimarron with a Northstar or a supercharged 3800 in it.

[@andrewdonohue1853]

North stars are junk.... but an L67 would be sick

[@rawsketch]

I bought a '87 Cimarron V6 22 years ago because I could not afford a Cavalier Z24 of the same vintage at the time. It was a quick, comfortable and reliable car for the 3 years I owned it and for the 2 years that my brother owned it. The J-Body cars of this era get a bad rep because the 4 cylinders car were so shitty. I could never get my '84 Skyhawk to run right ALL of the time.

[@YouDontWannaFightMe]

I like the 1st gen cavaliers, the generations that proceeded got worse and worse as far as quality and reliability

[@clivenaylor]

The UK cavalier was also a J body car but was much nicer inside and seemed to have a better styling.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

I've never owned either car, the Cadillac Cimarron or the Chevrolet Cavalier. So I wouldn't know what either are like. They both seem like good cars to drive. Why the Cimarron wasn't as popular as the Cavalier is beyond me.

[@jackjohnson7396]

I drove a Cavalier for 8 years. Maintained it & I sold it with 155 thousand miles. No big issues either.

[@tenfourproductionsllc]

The J car series was solid, after the dismal failure of the X-cars, the Cavalier and then Celebrity the following year were great improvements that helped Chevy regain reputation.

[@nathanh2691]

great video man, I like those little cavaliers and that caddy is super cool, Ive never seen one in person yet!!

[@333bmurph]

Really enjoyed the video! I don't believe I've ever seen one of those Cadillacs out, if I did I just thought it was a cavalier.

[@gutopirapo]

In Brazil this car called Chevrolet Monza, Opel Ascona in Europe, in England Vauxhall Cavalier

[@mikerichardson60]

It’s Cimarron by Cadillac. Even they were embarrassed to admit they rebadged a Cavalier and pretended it was a Caddy. The Cimarron doesn’t even appear in the models brochure from Cadillac. Is it any wonder GM needed a bailout? This oneowner loves every piece of junk ever made apparently.

[@cutemike39]

Love your videos. Awesome

[@melsmith5293]

Nowadays the big cars are smaller and the little cars are even smaller.

[@rawsketch]

The Cimmaron was a joke as a Cadillac but was a great Chevy. Essentially a loaded Cavalier, it was very reliable and quick with the 2.8 V6. The junk 2.0 4 cylinders in the j-body cars of the this era ruined these cars.

[@MrTaxiRob]

they went through headgaskets like I go through cheeseburgers

[@pgtmr2713]

The digital dash going out could be bad capacitors. It's possible someone knowledgeable could replace capacitors and fix it. Always wanted a v6 5 speed Z24 86-87 or up to 92 convertible Z24. Completely Ford guy now though when it comes to cheap used cars.

[@rayford21]

Could be many other components as well. If you break the seals and try to fix it yourself don't count on anyone accepting it as a core for a working one. Schematic diagrams for vehicle computers are almost non-existent for DIYers.

[@MrTaxiRob]

Z24s were pretty badass, I'd choose one over an Escort GT or even a V6 Probe all day long.

[@pgtmr2713]

Meh, your loss. You'd need a Supercharged OR turbo SS Cobalt to catch my NA V6 Probe and that's a slow walk after 80mph. 7k rpm shifts all day. Super cheap to work on and maintain.

[@RhinoXpress]

could you swap out the electronic gages with the manual ones on this car if you wanted to?

[@tenfourproductionsllc]

I wonder why GM did not allow Cadillac to restyle the J car platform to make it look different than the other J-cars? They were able to take a Nova and turn it into a Seville without making it look like a Nova. It probably would have been much more successful had GM at least made it look different. Even the dashboard of the 82 and 83 cimmarons looks like a Cavalier's on the inside.

[@leedaniels617]

I've always loved these square bodied cavaliers.i remember when those cars were brand new.always loved the Cimarron too.dont see many of these cars today.i always wanted one of either, just never got around to getting one.great video!.

[@modspell]

What a sad era for US autos. That fake Allen wrench effect on the dash was also on the Pontiac’s. Was no one at Cadillac aware how tacky that was? Sheesh.

[@lasuvidaboy]

I remember seeing pre-production renderings of the new Cimarron and it had a profile that looked like a Cadillac. It had squared-off wheel-well openings, vertical tailights and as I recall wrap-around cornering lights like a larger Deville. Of course GM went cheap and simply used the same body shell as the Chevy.

[@ohguy1991]

You can't be serious with saying the Cimarron is a great car.....It is highly regarded as a huge flop for GM and is known as one of the worst cars in history. The Cavalier was at least not trying to pretend to be something it's not. Either way I hate them. The build quality was poor, fit and finish is terrible and were not as economical as you make them out to be

[@bliglum]

+Erock Delusional twaddle.. Then again, what else can we expect from a "one owner car guy" who probably hasn't sold a one owner car in his life!! All the cars on his channel look like they've been through at least 10

[@ohguy1991]

+bliglum Then again I shouldn't be surprised, I just noticed the Pontiac Aztec in his driveway. Is this guy a gluten for punishment or what?

[@bliglum]

Erock Hahaha!

[@ScottaHemi440]

+Erock The Cimmaron was a terrible idea, but the car itself was really no worse then anything else of the era. also i'm pretty sure that list of worst cars in history is too full of weird ancient cars, random chinese crap and old soviet era stuff to even fit the cimmeron

[@bliglum]

ScottaHemi "but the car itself was really no worse then anything else of the era." I'm sorry but no. Just no. In a total vacuum, the Cimarron would seem adequate I'm sure... But Comparing a Cimarron to a BMW E30, or Mercedes 190E leaves the Cadillac wanting for so much more. Specifically in the areas of refinement and driving dynamics. Thankfully though, it seems Caddy has learned from it's mistakes. The new small Cadillac, the ATS, is fantastic! A true world class compact luxury sport sedan!

[@GomerPyleM14]

I don't like either but since i'm a Cadillac guy i would go with the Cimarron.

[@harryknutts8428]

they should come back with a 2023 version of cimarron , i bet it would sell much better now and all the gen x people would know about it and we got money to buy 1, i think id much rather drive a new cimarron than s civic

[@YouDontWannaFightMe]

Please make more videos like this when you have the opportunity to. It was a great comparison

[@BlueNinjakoopa553]

You think you could do differences between the Isuzu Hombre and Chevy S-10 or GMC Sonoma? It took me like 5 years to notice the Hombre has a stylish fender contour that the S-10/Sonoma doesn't but I wanna know if there were more, and if the Hombre came with sport packages like the ZR-2 or Xtreme.

[@Vacationtime247]

The Cavaliers were good little cars. Except when equipped with the Quad 4 / Twin Cam. Never had any luck with those. Running the water pump off the timing chain was a bad idea. PT Cruisers did the same thing. Not a fun job to replace either. But the Cavalier and Cimarron were pretty cool though. VT247

[@mydsmber05]

I think the hate stems more from the fact that Cadillac cost twice as much at the time (almost as much as a BMW)

[@BigOldCarChannel]

The 2.8 would make that li'l car quite lively! Looks like it'd be a nice little car to have, definitely the best of the J-bodies... if you can stomach the ribbing you'll get from everyone who sees it. PS - I really enjoy your videos, man!

[@Slightlyevil]

I almost guarantee if this cim/cav were badged as a toyota with one of their engines they'd be really popular... I kind of like the body but I'm not sure about the engines since I've never driven one.

[@rosstempletonogskater]

Cavialier was OK back in the 80's, but thats it. The are tons of more reliable cars nowdays for cheap, like a civic, accord.....

[@daviedmond4639]

Wow this is old and I've been in both and cavalier of this era always have the distinct vibration from the engine and cimeron was less of that

[@Coggs85]

Awesome video! I used to think the Cimarron was dumb but once I did some research into them I ended up wanting one. I've owned 4 different Cadillacs and I finally had to sell my Escalade because I couldnt afford the gas and insurance on it anymore. One of these little Cimmy's would be a perfect replacement, to bad there so damn hard to come by.

[@YouDontWannaFightMe]

i love the Mustang II also! Too bad they're so hard to find. They're actually quite cheap if you can find one.

[@Boneyardfantasy]

You have my dream car a green firebird

[@urgentcareguy3]

GM's profit margin on these must have been unreal.

[@462ANIMAL]

great cars, the cavaliers 2.0 or 2.2 were tough.. couldnt kill'em 2.2 head gasket would leak.. but thats an easy fix.. and the torque converter lock up solenoid.. all easy and cheap to fix..

[@ad356]

these cars actually had pretty decent drivetrains...... not sure about the 1st gen j body buti have owned multiple 2nd gen 88-94 and i like them. the 2.2 runs forever, only major flaw being head gasket failures, but they can be fixed at home; the 2.8/3.1 v6's were quite adequate power for these cars. they are cheap, can be repaired at home, get good fuel mileage, and are fairly reliable. i dont really know where all of the hate comes from. people just love to complain and expect that a car that was less then $10K new was supposed to be perfect, really they arent bad. i havent had one leave me for stranded on the side of the highway.

[@harryknutts8428]

is the there a mercury version of ford pinto?

[@MrThat70svan]

The Cavalier RS was offered with the same 2.8 Multi Port Fuel Injection- The same 2.8 carb is JUNK, but MPI was very reliable. Can't wait to see the Volvo Diesel and RX7! The Celebrity and all GM cars of that size offered 2.8 MPI! Don't run them low on gas 1/4 is empty! LOL

[@bigluxurycar6952]

WORST CAR ever offered by cadillac.......both are shit cheap ass cars from the horrible 80s!

[@harryknutts8428]

i like sunbirds too

[@kevinowen8155]

I would rather have the Beagle than either of these two cars.