9th Aug 2023, 15:58
And also failed to mention that those years looked like bloated whales with bland plastic interior and the fact that the design of the opti spark system on the LT1 is flawed and can bring a lot of problems to the table.
9th Aug 2023, 15:59
The 1993-1996 Brougham looked like a big bubble on wheels. Didn’t really look like a Cadillac anymore. The Town Car had a far better interior, exterior and better performance.
11th Aug 2023, 16:37
I miss those big square floating cars with a relaxed drive. Cadillac sedans after 2000 are hilarious: cheap interiors, cheap seats, tight interiors. Only the Escalade is worth a look, but as mentioned by others, better go with Tahoe while there.
The Cadillac brand is dead.
12th Aug 2023, 11:06
Interior and exterior styling is subjective. You can claim all you want, doesn't make it true.
"Better performance"? The 2011 Town Car took 9.5 seconds to go from 0-60. The 1996 Cadillac Brougham did it in 8.2 seconds. Please explain how the Town Car has "better performance".
12th Aug 2023, 16:03
I wouldn't agree with the performance, the LT1 is faster but the 4.6 litre in the Town Car was far more reliable and produced for 20 years after its debut. These engines are known to, and actually have made it to 500,000 miles. That is out of the ordinary with the LT1.
You seem to have very high praise for a Cadillac style that didn't get much love and lasted only four years; after GM axed the B bodies in 1996 the Ford Panther cars lasted another 15 years.
Never cared for this style myself, my favorites are Coupe DeVille/Fleetwood from 1977-1981.
12th Aug 2023, 22:21
Lincoln interior had much better fit, finish and materials. The dash pad didn’t crack apart as did the Fleetwood Brougham. That big ugly square passenger air bag cover on the dash of the Fleetwood and cheap plastic showed how little GM actually cared about this car at the end. The Lincoln rode and handled better and was quieter. If the only thing Cadillac had going for it was a better zero to sixty, so be it.
7th Sep 2023, 00:36
I think the Fleetwood has more swag and curb appeal than the conservative looking Town Car. I certainly wasn't impressed with the Town Car interior from 1998 onward, although the 03 and up interior has a touch more class than 98-02. I'd also say the cabbies ruined the image of the Town Car, as I've never seen a Fleetwood turned into a beater taxi.
8th Sep 2023, 01:46
I'd have to disagree about the 98-2002 Town Cars interior. I used to own a 96 TC for quite a number of years, and as much as I loved that car and for how comfortable it was, I really didn't care for the interior materials and design compared to the current 2002 that I've owned the past few years. The 2002 (to me) is far better when it comes to the dash design, faux wood pattern, larger and more supple seats, more cushy headliner materials also used on the A pillars and rear sail panels. Also the oak steering wheel is a nice touch as opposed to full leather which usually wears out. 2003 and beyond there really wasn't much change except for a quartz clock, and a few accents that used a brushed aluminum texture. They also changed the seats which look more like captains chairs instead of the traditional full bench. Yes, I also have seen the TC used as taxi cabs, but again the 4.6 is s more durable motor compared to the Caddys LT1. Those taxis are usually the ones that have 300-500 thousand miles.
8th Sep 2023, 21:15
Was the image of a Chevy Caprice or a Crown Vic ruined by being used as a police car or a taxi? No.
8th Sep 2023, 21:34
These weren't the best years for either of these. It's this generation that caused both to become relegated to being old-people-mobiles. Both GM and Ford did not keep up with the changing trends and tastes in luxury cars, and so they lost a lot of loyal customers - either by their customers simply dying off or going to some of the German and later Japanese brand luxury marques. It's a real shame because for the longest time they were very much cutting edge and on top of styling like nobody else. The 90's bubble era Caddys looked awful. And the only reason Ford kept the Panther platform for so long is because they were very popular for taxi and public vehicle service. It's interesting now that both brands are finally offering some truly competitive and very luxurious models. Just took them almost 30 years to get back into the game.
9th Sep 2023, 18:28
I think you are entirely missing the point of this review itself along with the title and most of the comments that follow. This really was what Cadillac at one point in time was all about. A lot of its customers were driven away by the poor engines used in the 80s (4.1 V8) and 90s (Northstar V8) both riddled with reliability problems, which is why the car on review resorted to the Oldsmobile engine that was used for many years. These rear drive Broughams were supposed to be discontinued after 1985 but hung on a lot longer.
Sure Cadillac today is keeping up with the European trend, but in all honesty it's not working out, sales are poor and models such as the CTS (which did have a long model year run), STS, XTS and CT6 are now discontinued. Even in the 90s and early 2000s you still saw a ton of DeVille on the road. The current CT5 sedans are atrocious looking if you ask me with its Chevy Cruze looking roofline. As mentioned before you do see a ton of Escalades on the road. Maybe because it's the only Cadillac left that represents anything that is full size? Better off buying a Tahoe for much less.
As for Lincoln, they have about 4 different crossovers in there current lineup, all rebadged Fords. The newer Continental had a chance as a decent replacement for the Town Car if it was introduced right after or a year before the Town Car was axed instead of 6 years later.
I've owned 2 Town Cars in the past 16 years and will continue to buy them as long as they are still around. And there are many that are still available.
10th Sep 2023, 17:39
Both GM and Ford have opportunities to revitalize their luxury brands. Ford is further along at this point. The main reason is that they finally got the message that interiors- both their fit, finish, and features are very important to upper end car market buyers. The new Lincolns have really nice interiors that in many ways surpass their Euro rivals. The new upcoming Escalade, which will be electric- also has an amazing interior. I think the US automakers also fully realize that tons of Americans like GIANT vehicles. So making giant luxury SUVs makes sense and people are buying a lot of them.
This is such a far cry from their interiors in the 80,s, 90's and 2000's where the interiors were an afterthought. I remember as a kid the only redeeming thing about my Aunt's Cadillac was that the seats were like sitting in a 1970's overstuffed couch. The rest of the interior looked merely like bits and pieces from other GM cars.
The latest Continental was very good. But it was poorly timed because less people are buying sedans and more are buying luxo-SUVs.
11th Sep 2023, 22:56
Same goes for Infiniti, Acura and Lexus. Interiors use identical bits and pieces from the lower end Nissan, Honda and Toyota line.
13th Sep 2023, 13:33
"Same goes for Infiniti, Acura and Lexus. Interiors use identical bits and pieces from the lower end Nissan, Honda and Toyota line."
During that same time period? Yes. The difference being that many of those old 90's Lexus vehicles are still on the road. There's videos online of some of the early Lexus models with close to a million miles on the original engine and transmission. That versus the very sophisticated but ultimately fragile Northstar engines GM insisted on using for years, and doing what GM tends to do, spent years making them with known defects (stretching bolts in the block) before finally addressing the problem. And by then it was too late and a lot of Cadillac people got fed up and went elsewhere. GM can make good cars. But they have a tendency to cheap out on their drivetrain designs and take far too long to admit when there are issues and do the right thing by making a fix. Latest example are their awful 3.6 engines of late that stretch their timing chains.
8th Aug 2023, 23:54
I really admired the styling of these cars and the way they drove was top notch. The elegant interior was a nice place to be. The things I didn't like about 86-90 was the lack of horsepower from the carbureted engine and I didn't like the radio on 86-89s. The speakers were fine, but the head unit lacked features the other Cadillac models had like tape search and equalizer.