13th Jul 2005, 06:38

I own a Cadillac Cimarron that is only 5 years older than myself and minus the typical repairs that need to be made to a car it is great. I did have a question though, I was wondering if someone could tell me what the governor is set at? These little cars have guts, but she cut out on me when I got the speed to circle back around to the 5mph. I just wanted to know how fast I was actually going. Thanks.

9th Feb 2006, 16:14

I am tired of people deriding the Cimmarron because it was derived from a Chevy Cavalier... Every Acura model is a glorified Honda... every Lexus is a Toyota with slightly cheesier and fancier trim and a different grille and tailights... why is GM the only company that is criticized for sharing platforms among different models when every major car company does it???

9th Feb 2006, 17:40

Your comparisons, while accurate on paper, are way off the mark.

The Cimarron was built on a horrible horrible platform. It was sooooo bad that my parent's 1980 Buick Skylark (same platform) was essentially rebuilt by the time they sold it as everything kept breaking down.

And that caused my parents never to buy American again.

The Cimarron was the beginning of the downfall of Cadillac. In fact, as late as 1998 there was talk that Cadillac would disappear. The Escalade saved things as did the CTS and now SLS/STS, but the Cimarron will always be known as the first nail in the coffin.

7th Mar 2006, 08:37

The previous comment is slightly inaccurate. SkyHAWK was essentially similar to Cavalier, not SkyLARK.

But anyway... I've owned three Cavaliers in my life, and I can say that the Cimarron is SO much more than just a Cavalier with a Cadillac badge. Cimarron came STANDARD with a lot of equipment that Cavalier didn't even OFFER, and plus, Cimarron had improved drastically to become a real Cadillac in nearly every way by the end of its run, but it just wasn't selling. I own a 1988 Cimarron that I bought used with over 153000 miles, and I can say this car has been taken care of. That's what makes all the difference. I really nice car can be junk at 50000 or a cheap piece can be running fine into the 300000s, all depending on a little luck and the owner.

And to add to the collector's value of this car, the 1988 Cadillac Cimarron's production was limited to 6454 units.

10th Mar 2006, 20:53

I love my 88 such a fast car, since mine has a digital speedometer I can see myself doing 120 mph on the highway. I was shocked that the speedometer would go that high.

11th Mar 2006, 08:25

Sorry, but I don't care if they made 2 Cimarrons, these cars will NEVER be collector items EVER.

They were a failure from day one and had zero redeeming value other than to embarrass Cadillac and GM.

12th Mar 2006, 09:18

You also have to look at the reality of the marketplace.

The "hot" cars these days are muscle cars from the 60's and the 70's. Why? Because the rich people buying them now longed for them when they were new.

So let's look at what was hot in the 1980's, what young people wanted then. I lusted after MR2's, Porsches, Mazda GTX's, and similar in addition to "odd ducks" like the Corvette ZR1, Vector, etc. Not once did I or any of my friends say "boy, I hope when I graduate from college some day I'll be able to get a Cimmaron".

6th Apr 2006, 11:23

Just look at the tach. If you have an auto, it goes 39 MPH at 2000 RPM. So at 4000, you would be at 78 MPH, and at 6000, 117 MPH, though I doubt it'll ever see 117 without overdrive. If you have a 5-speed, it goes 124 MPH at 4000 RPM. I did that in a Cavalier once.

6th Apr 2006, 16:22

Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong about tachs.

I've had cars on the autobahn in Germany and the rpms did not progress the way you state.

17th Apr 2006, 09:36

Gear ratios vary from one car to another. The car you had on the Autobahn probably didn't have the same gear ratios as the 1988 Cimarron. Different gear ratios will make the RPMs be different. One car may turn 4000 RPM at 124 MPH, or it may only turn 3500 RPM at 124 MPH, just depending on the gear ratios and final drive ratio. Larger engines tend to turn slower at higher speeds and have lower red lines. Not always, but they tend to.

27th Apr 2006, 02:06

Perhaps you never had one that didn't have an overdrive gear? This makes a BIG difference on the highway. The 1988 Cimarron with the automatic does turn 4000 RPM at 78 MPH. I know this from experience. If you have the stickshift, though, you'll probably be down in the low-to-mid 3000s. The auto didn't have overdrive where the 5-speed stick did.

10th Sep 2007, 06:25

Last year, I moved in with my dad, who's 88 and was living alone in a big house since my mother died. In the garage was my mom's '86 Cimarron D'Oro. To make room for my Camry, we decided to donate the car to the Salvation Army. They turned us down, as did a couple of other charities. So, the car was parked in the driveway and driven very seldom. I used it mainly as a car to park at the airport when I went out of town. Last week, I got new tires in the original 206/60-14 size (narrower ones had been substituted at some point). After that, I cleaned it up and it looks pretty good. The A/C works incredibly well. I've started driving it more as a way to put fewer miles on the Camry, and I'm actually enjoying it. It needs new shocks and has a bad exhaust rattle, so I might get those issues taken care of. No, it'll never be a collector car, but I'm glad now that we didn't give her away!

9th Nov 2009, 19:37

The Cadillac Cimarron wasn't as bad as people make it out to be, the 1982 models were no doubt the worst ever made, but the later ones were better.

Anyone who owns these cars should keep them because they might be worth something someday, these cars marked the beginning of the end of GM and I think the owners of these cars are gonna have the last laugh. The Cimarron was and always will be a part of the Cadillac family, whether you like it or not, so get over it people.

10th Nov 2009, 11:25

I seriously doubt that the Cimarron will ever be worth more than its value as scrap.

25th Dec 2009, 14:38

Hello to all the owners of any remaining Cimarrons out there! Mine is a 1988 model with 95K on it now. Got it for my son in 2001, and when he went into the air force 3 years ago, he gave it to me.

Motor and tranny are still great, and will probably keep the car till something happens to either one of them.

Body is rough.. had to make up new rocker panels and door bottoms are bad, but the no-rust covers on the door bottoms cover it up.

Has a miss now and then, but other than that it runs nice.

Was trying to look up how many Cimarrons are still on the road and found this forum, so thought I would post. If they had marketed this car has a high-end deluxe Cavalier, it would have got great reviews... but trying to sneak it in as a Caddy was its downfall!!