Thank Motorweek and YouTube, as John Davis welcomes you to the two reviews of the Cadillac Cimarron you’ve always wanted to see.
I’ve never met the man, but if I do meet John Davis one day, I’d like to ask which statements about the Cimarron he might like to retract. I do appreciate, however, Motorweek for posting these “Retro Reviews” on their YouTube channel, because of gems like this two-parter review.
For those of you unfamiliar, the Cadillac Cimarron (Cimarron by Cadillac, for 1982) was the General Motors’ attempt at a compact sports sedan to rival the likes of the compact Audis and BMWs of the early ’80s – while using the underpinnings and most mechanical components of the J-Car platform that included the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunbird. This was before successes like the VW Golf and Audi A3, mind you, and GM charged twice as much for a Cimarron as they did for a Cavalier, without making twice the car.
A 1.8-liter four with 88 horsepower and a 0-60 time of more than 15 seconds was bad even for the early ’80s. And in 1982, Motorweek was rightly critical of the car’s horrific performance and stupidly low fuel economy.
But after an upgrade to a 2.0-liter four in ’83 and some other minor tweaks, Davis thought the Cimarron had been turned into a rival for a BMW 320i or an Audi 80/4000 or Saab 900. That’s a bit of a stretch. History proved the Cadillac wasn’t, because the Cimarron was killed off in ’88. And today, Cadillac would like to show you that its ATS is a worthy competitor to a similar German sports sedan.
But if anyone has a Cimarron and is willing to defend it, I’d be happy to find a BMW of the same vintage and compare the two.