Cadillac Catera

[azopelnut]

I just finished driving a co-workers 1997 Catera. I was impressed by the way the car drove and the fact he bought the car for $4500 and it had less than 100,000 miles on the odometer.
Questions
1) Which year Catera would be the best one to look for?
2) What would be involved to get the drivetrain up to its European heritage?
3) Are performance parts readlily available in the "fatherland"??

[BQS4]

azopelnut;
The Catera is exactly the same as the Opel Omega B and the Vauxhaul Carlton. Irmscher has plenty of stuff for these. Also try Lenk at www.lenk-opel-tuning.de

[GoinManta]

They had a sport edition in the final year or two.. it was nice I was thinking of getting it before the GTO.

BTW the GTO shares a number of parts with the Catera and they really look like siblings next to each other, the water line, nose, etc..

Probably something to do with being on the same chassis

I would think it maybe possible to shoehorn a LS1 into a Catera with GTO parts.

Charles

[kwilford]

I looked at a '97 Catera when I went shopping for my Lexus IS300. They actually had one at the Lexus dealership, so I test drove both. Sorry to say, but the IS300 won hands down. Even after considering that the Catera was only a third of the price (although the Lexus I bought, you know, the red one I had at Tacoma in 2004 was a 2002). Unfortunately they only came into North America with the auto, and a somewhat softened suspension. And the Consumer Reports on the first generation Catera is pretty darn brutal, with many reports of electrical and mechanical malfunctions.

Now, that said, the later model (I believe after 2000) was apparently much better. I prefer the styling, and it is somewhat somewhat easier to convert back to an Omega.

Here is an eBay listing I happened upon tonight, and some photos of a converted "Catera/Omega" sold last year on eBay. HTH
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...MakeTrack=true

[baz]

Originally Posted by GoinManta They had a sport edition in the final year or two.. it was nice I was thinking of getting it before the GTO. BTW the GTO shares a number of parts with the Catera and they really look like siblings next to each other, the water line, nose, etc.. Probably something to do with being on the same chassis I would think it maybe possible to shoehorn a LS1 into a Catera with GTO parts. Charles

charles they do it for the australian and european market and call it a monaro
LS1, 6 speed box and all for $58,000 here

http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-200...Monaro-VXR.htm

[GoinManta]

Actually it would be known as the Commodore, the Monaro IS the GTO.

The Commodore was a modified Omega. But I believe the chassis was modified and possibly stretched a bit to accomodate the LS1.

Charles

[baz]

afraid not charles . its a monaro here and in auz, the commadore is a holden model now opel dropped it in the mid 80's and opel south africa in the 90's

[Rionart]

I think there be a bit of confusion here...the original Monaro is an Omega, but the 2nd generation one is the GTO...I think (GM and it's bl**dy marketing)
Heres an article on the genII Monaro...
http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring...s/4_12_hol.htm

[baz]

the gto is an omega, is it not? i thought it was. for sure the monaro 2 is an omega thats the model we got

[GoinManta]

You see I owned an Commodore B and now own a GTO.. and have always had an interest in Holden, because they kept the Commodore and Senator and even Manta names alive longer than Opel.

So I am 99% sure this is right. I have been following Holden a while now and knew of the Gen 2 Monaro before it was a GTO.

The Omega chassis went to Holden and became the top of the line Sedan the Commodore. They then decided to do a show car version in two door and called it the Manaro (The rebirth of thier Camaro from the 70s)..

Holden built the Monaro:

From 68-71 on the Opel Commodore A Chassis
From 71-74 on the Pontiac Lemans Chassis (It even used GTO taillights... hows that for ironic) It did come in 2 and 4 door.
From 74-76 changed again, but again to the Mid-Sized American Chassis
From 76-79 ditto..

So the Monaro / LeMans-GTO kind of shared a lot of history, even built on the same chassis for a while.

The Monaro saw its rebirth in 2002, it took until 2004 for the GTO to be reborn.

The Commodore now on sale at Holden:

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/...ry?vehicleid=4

The Monaro :
http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/...y?vehicleid=12

Now that all said this last Generation Monaro and Commodore are history at Holden as is the GTO witht he 2006 model year. The Commodore is being given birth again in 2007 on a new chassis.. but no Monaro for the near term.

Both the current Commodore and Monaro are on a Holden modified Omega chassis and were the last GM division to use it. Similar to Isuzu putting to bed the Manta A/B/Chevette/Imark chassis with the last Impulse. After its nearly 20 year run..

Charles

[opeldean]

I have a friend who bought a 97 catera a few years ago because of the price and it looked good. He has had it 4 or 5 years. It has been a real good car, I believe he has over 100,000 on it, I will see if I can find out more.

[Dracula]

Originally Posted by kwilford Now, that said, the later model (I believe after 2000) was apparently much better. I prefer the styling, and it is somewhat somewhat easier to convert back to an Omega.

After 2000 both Omega B and Catera were much better , they fixed the most problems and 2001 they came with ventilated rear brake discs .