2000 Cadillac Catera sport from North America - Comments

By far the worst car I have ever owned. 2000 Cadillac Catera, only 88k miles. Don't TAKE ONE EVEN IF YOU ARE GETTING IT FOR FREE.. .RUN!! I hear the word Cadillac and get furious! Is there anyone out there in Internet land that has been through the electrical problems associated with this vehicle that could help me save a bunch of money before I take it to ANOTHER shop or have it crushed as I watch in pure joy! :) SOME TIPS OR FIXES WOULD BE GREAT!

Symptom synopsis: Radio will go on and off when ever it sees fit, power steering becomes hard to steer, then all of a sudden will start working again on its own.

The moon roof top will open and close at will?

Car will shake uncontrollably when braking, then it will stop at will.

The most recent problem is the car will start, but not idle long enough to get it to go down the road?

All of these problems happen simultaneously, believe it or not!

I am pretty much ready to hunt down the lead engineer of this car and take him for a nice little ride down to the river!!

ANY help with the diagnosis of the car would help me a great deal! Helpless in WI!!!

I own a 2000 Catera with 35,000 miles. I have had a few problems in the last 10 years, but just last week, the side airbag on the driver's side deployed for no reason. Fortunately, I was waiting to make a right turn into a main street with engine running when it deployed, but did sustain small injury to my left arm. My car has never been in an accident, nor have I ever hit a hole, etc. If someone else has had this situation, what did GM do about it?

Got my 2000 Catera for $6000 in late 2007, the car is literally falling apart. It has been in the repair shop once a month. I have invested close to $3000 in repairs so far. I am hoping to get rid of it this month. I will be lucky to get $2000 bucks for it.

"Got my 2000 Catera for $6000 in late 2007, the car is literally falling apart. It has been in the repair shop once a month. I have invested close to $3000 in repairs so far. I am hoping to get rid of it this month. I will be lucky to get $2000 bucks for it."

Buying a used car for just a nameplate makes little sense. For $6000 you could have gotten many other 2000-2004 model cars that would have been far better value. My 2001 Pontiac Grand Am has had a whopping $27 spent on it in 8 years. My friend bought a 2002 Mercury Sable in 2006 for $5000 and it has performed flawlessly with zero repairs. Of course, Cadillac has come a VERY long way since 2000. The new CTS has been met with raves from reviewers left and right. It was selected as one of the World's Ten Best Cars last year, and the CTS-V is the fastest production sedan on the planet, putting Mercedes AND BMW to shame.

When you have multiple electrical problems all at the same time it is usually caused by the same thing. In this case, I would suspect a bad ground somewhere but you should have it checked out by either the Cadillac dealer or a European car shop. For those unaware, the Catera is actually an Opel Omega and was made in Germany (but that legendary "German engineering" didn't seem to help the quality of this car).

About the tire wear... that is actually caused by the car's design. Since, as was already said, this is a re-badged Opel Omega, it came over here with the German specs, including the "autobahn speed" alignment, which, "oddly enough" does not sit well with our roads. Hence - tire wear.

I am a Certified Master Technician for over 20 yrs. Don't give me that Story of "This is the worst car". I have work on Mercedes Benz, BMW, Corvettes and I have seen ALL THESE on tow trucks because they don't start or something wrong with them. So, don't give me that story about: "oh, this car is garbage". Like I said, I have seen Mercedes, BMW and Chevys with bad engines, trans and anything on the book. There is NO bad car. Only bad OWNERS.