Side comment: you have a terrific voice. I bet you are a good singer. Your no-frills but friendly presentation is great. The best car in the world is the car any person likes best.
Brings back memories! I had a friend in high school with a 1988 Cimmaron that she bought for $100. That car was awesome. Broken shock mounts so it sounded like there was a dead body rolling around in the trunk. Swiss cheese exhaust. Digital speedometer that was stuck at "188". Radio that would stop working until you hit the dash with your fist... The floors were rotten to the point that the drivers seat was fully detached and could be removed from the car. It caught fire in her driveway one day. RIP little Cimmaron!
finally a video that says it all and more , cimarron people are unique , im cimarron people and i never owned a cimarron that i can remember altho i think the more i think about it i may have had 1 briefly in the 90s 1997 or 1998
Thanks bro, great vid. I was born in 86', a 86 Fleetwood brougham was the first car I learned how to drive at 10yrs old, then at 21years old I got my first car, a 87' brougham D'Elegance, Im 36 now, and I have a 2005 DeVille, & 88 Brougham. I had a 88' Nissan Sentra in 2014, it was similar to these 2 cars in the video, especially the inside. I heard of a Cadillac cimarron and seen a few, but this year & version I just found out exist, thanks for the video, I think it's a cool little caddy also.
My dad bought a Cimaron, older that this, no digital crap gauges. It was a manual 4 speed, white with red leather. It really was a nice small car, compared to our old Dasher. Soft seats, good leather, no wierd striped. In some ways ahead of their time, luxury and economy. Motor locked at 265k. I really liked it, they are crapped on too much. My dad drove his 90 miles a day back and forth to work. Like I said, ahead of it's time. 4cylinder luxury. Thanks for the video. Find a older one with gauges, so much better and the gauges were perfect. Thanks for your video.
Cimarron and Cavaliers look alike. I remember the Cavalier from 1982-39 years ago and a Cimarron from 1983-38 years ago, during the time of that car company by the name of Stith Chevrolet was in business. Golly almost 40 years ago. Also I like those green triangle signal lights in the Cavalier that blink off and on when you prepare to make a turn.
The digital dash going out could be bad capacitors. It's possible someone knowledgeable could replace capacitors and fix it. Always wanted a v6 5 speed Z24 86-87 or up to 92 convertible Z24. Completely Ford guy now though when it comes to cheap used cars.
Could be many other components as well. If you break the seals and try to fix it yourself don't count on anyone accepting it as a core for a working one. Schematic diagrams for vehicle computers are almost non-existent for DIYers.
Meh, your loss. You'd need a Supercharged OR turbo SS Cobalt to catch my NA V6 Probe and that's a slow walk after 80mph. 7k rpm shifts all day. Super cheap to work on and maintain.
Bought a 1984 wagon in 1992 for 500 dollars with 95000 k drove it for 3 and half years,still ran well in 1996 when I took it off the road with 180000 k great on gas.
Thank you for this video, My Father had a Chevy Cavalier in 1983, he drove almost 200 thousand miles. This week, I just purchased an 86 Cimarron for 425 dollars. Picking it up in Oregon and going on a cross country trip. It's been inspected and nothing is wrong with the car. I can't wait! People crap on these cars all the time, but I honestly think they are just too lazy to get real facts. I do so much appreciate you taking the time here to show people how nice the Cimarron actually is.
they should come back with a 2023 version of cimarron , i bet it would sell much better now and all the gen x people would know about it and we got money to buy 1, i think id much rather drive a new cimarron than s civic
Love your videos and optimistic or see the best in cars attitude. Cimarons were avoid idea. My dad bought a 6 year old one with 100k on it for $900. It was older minus stupid digital gauges. I loved this car, rode to school in it for many years. It had 15s but very wide tires and rode nice.
I find it funny that people have such opposing views. Some loved these cars and had a great experience and others not so much. I had a 95 Probe for 9 years. (Bought it used in 97) I never had any trouble and fords got a pretty shitty reputation. I turned it in for a 2006 Beetle great car, turned it in for a 2015 and this one burns oil 😡
I almost guarantee if this cim/cav were badged as a toyota with one of their engines they'd be really popular... I kind of like the body but I'm not sure about the engines since I've never driven one.
The 1st time I saw a Cimmaron I knew GM had made a wistake, When viewed from the side it looked like a Chevy Cavalier. It was one the 6 J cars GM made. Look, if you could afford a new Cadillac, you wanted people to see that you could. If you bought a Cimmarron , some people would think you owned a Cavalier and tried to disguise it as a Cadillac. At the time I thought that ,GM should import an Opel that was deigned to compete with Mercedes and BMWs and put a Cadillac badge on that. Another thing GM should have tried is make a Black Cimmarron station wagon and call it a "Mini-Hearse"
I don't get why so many people hated cimarrons. They actually made sense considering the time period they were made in. Technically, the cimarron was one of the first compact luxury sedans available in the mainstream market
The problem with the Cimarron was it was put on sale at a time when Cadillac had a problem with it's Low Quality-High price image. back in the 1940s Cadillacs were the highest quality cars you could get, thus no matter how high the price, the car seemed to be worth it. In the 1950s GM changed their policy and increased the similarity of the cars offered by their different brands. They kept doing this, and by the 1980s the Cimarron was was a Chevy Cavalier they disguised to look like a Cadillac and they parked it on the lot of a Cadillac dealer. Although the idea was to make 7 different J-Cars that were sold by all of the world's GM dealers, to me it appeared that GM must have thought their customers were so stupid that you could sell them the same car and get them to pay a high price for it by putting the name of a high priced brand on it. The other problem was they thought they could compete with luxury cars of other companies that were not as large as a Cadillac by making a smaller Cadillac. I thought that since GM was making the Opel Omega in Germany to compete with the Mercedes and BMWs there, they would do better to try selling a Cadillac version of the Omega. Later GM did this and introduced the Cadillac Catera to America. The Catera had inferior reliability though, and was another failure.
I bought a '87 Cimarron V6 22 years ago because I could not afford a Cavalier Z24 of the same vintage at the time. It was a quick, comfortable and reliable car for the 3 years I owned it and for the 2 years that my brother owned it. The J-Body cars of this era get a bad rep because the 4 cylinders car were so shitty. I could never get my '84 Skyhawk to run right ALL of the time.
I wonder why GM did not allow Cadillac to restyle the J car platform to make it look different than the other J-cars? They were able to take a Nova and turn it into a Seville without making it look like a Nova. It probably would have been much more successful had GM at least made it look different. Even the dashboard of the 82 and 83 cimmarons looks like a Cavalier's on the inside.
I attended a Automotive trade school and a fellow student had a silver Cimarron. He babied the car. One day he was changing the thermostat and he tightened it a bit too much and cracked the housing. He called for a replacement and the price was high just for being a Cadillac. so I told him to ask for a Chevy replacement a lot cheaper. Price right now for both is $10
Thanks for this. After 1985 there were many more differences between the cimarron and its cousins. I own a 84 cimarron original owner (title DEC '83) and keep the little thing in storage and take it out for a spin every once in a while! Well built cars for the time
I remember seeing pre-production renderings of the new Cimarron and it had a profile that looked like a Cadillac. It had squared-off wheel-well openings, vertical tailights and as I recall wrap-around cornering lights like a larger Deville. Of course GM went cheap and simply used the same body shell as the Chevy.
The later Cimmarons do definitely look better than the earlier Cimmarons. The reason the Cimmaron flopped wasn't because of quality, it was badge engineering gone wrong. Cadillac had originally wanted to develop its own platform for a smaller size Cadillac but European and Japanese competition in the luxury vehicle market didn't permit Cadillac to do so. So Cadillac did what they did with the first Escalade for the Cimmaron, take an already existing GM vehicle add a few touches and a Cadillac badge. Difference is you can justify a more expensive full size SUV, you can't necessarily justify a more expensive compact car especially in the 1980s.
The first generation Cavalier was a decent daily driver for anyone wanting cheap transportation.... The Cimarron was an absolute joke, an insult to anyone's intelligence that walked into a Cadillac showroom. But I certainly understand that some people back in the day just didn't have the aptitude to realize what they were paying good money for.
I'm so glad you did this. I drove an '88 Cimarron for a couple years when I was in college. It's a total novelty, but economical and super comfortable too. Mine had the analog dash which looked just like the Cavalier you had except it had red speedo/tach needles and slightly more "upscale" looking readouts on the gauges. The V6 was peppy too!
The Cimmaron was a joke as a Cadillac but was a great Chevy. Essentially a loaded Cavalier, it was very reliable and quick with the 2.8 V6. The junk 2.0 4 cylinders in the j-body cars of the this era ruined these cars.
I like this concept. This would be a good series! Ranger vs Mazda B Series, Escort vs Lynx, Corolla vs Prizm, Camaro vs Firebird. The list goes on and on and on...
The last 2 years of the Cimarron w/V6 engine seemed to be good cars but the earlier years w/4 cylinder engines were horrible! I owned a 81 or 82 w 1.8 liter engine. Great body and red leather interior.Too many engine and transmission problems!
I am quite impressed with the options on the Cimarron, the digital dash especially. I agree with you they are great little cars. I live in Europe (UK), although I never been to America and never experienced Cadillac and Chevrolet versions you shown in your video. We had our own versions: the Vauxhall Cavalier Mark II here in UK and the Opel Ascona C in the rest of Europe. Loved those cars, I remember the sporty version of the Vauxhall Cavalier - the SRi, it had 2 litre 4 cyl engine, it was a pretty fast car for its time. Unfortunately these cars are getting scarce today. I'd love a Cimerron of my own one day (the options package you shown look impressive).
I've always loved these square bodied cavaliers.i remember when those cars were brand new.always loved the Cimarron too.dont see many of these cars today.i always wanted one of either, just never got around to getting one.great video!.
The J car series was solid, after the dismal failure of the X-cars, the Cavalier and then Celebrity the following year were great improvements that helped Chevy regain reputation.
I dunno, I drove the Chevy Cavalier for a couple of weeks in 1992. I’m pretty sure that it was better than the small cars of today for everyday use. It was comfortable, warm, rattle-free and peppy. If you drive to work and grocery store and home, it’s ok. I kinda miss it now.
@@torpmorp1324 I daily drive a 1984 Opel Ascona C which is the same car, 1.6L about 90hp, 4 speed manual. it is great. just replaced the clutch it took me 1 hour and i did not even have to remove gearbox, i'm very happy. i dont get it why people do not drive older cars because it is so simple to work on and very cheap parts. if this was like a 2000s VW Passat that clutch change is so to speak impossible to do at home and could cost as much as 1800 dollar at a cheap shop in town. while my clutch with toll and shipping cost about 100 dollars and it was very easy to do at home.
I want a cimmaron !!! I bet they would fly with that v-6 and I love the cheesy digital dash. Now this is comin from a guy that drives a roadmaster wagon. ( and a new jetta:) sometimes)
The Cavalier RS was offered with the same 2.8 Multi Port Fuel Injection- The same 2.8 carb is JUNK, but MPI was very reliable. Can't wait to see the Volvo Diesel and RX7! The Celebrity and all GM cars of that size offered 2.8 MPI! Don't run them low on gas 1/4 is empty! LOL
I own this exact Cimarron Doro . Just turned over 40000 miles. Still runs. Ac does too. Message me if you want one. Hard to find. Rare piece of Cadillac history. No matter how you fall on the Cimarron's controversy!
@@richavic4520 Yep. I had a 2 door straight 6, tough as nails motor but no power. Yellow in and out. Not a great car, cheap build, but got me from a to b in every condition, started easy in -20 below and was good in snow, not good at stopping in snow, really heavy.
I think a better comparison would have been the 82-84 Cimarrons versus the Cavalier. Those really were glorified Cavaliers. This was when they made them substantially nicer than a Cav but it's definitely not nicer than an 88 BMW. I had an 86 Cavalier and it looked too much like this on the inside but I can honestly say that digital dash in the Cim looks worse. I also had an 85 BMW and the interior was light years beyond that. Yuck.
What GM was hoping for is that it would be a huge success like the Seville was that really was an Nova beefed up but Caddy sold a ton of them. It didn't work.
You think you could do differences between the Isuzu Hombre and Chevy S-10 or GMC Sonoma? It took me like 5 years to notice the Hombre has a stylish fender contour that the S-10/Sonoma doesn't but I wanna know if there were more, and if the Hombre came with sport packages like the ZR-2 or Xtreme.
Nice to "see" you. And, as a teen, I LOVED the Cimarron. Yes, I know/knew it was a Cavalier, but still, loved it anyway. Thanks for reviewing them both!
great cars, the cavaliers 2.0 or 2.2 were tough.. couldnt kill'em 2.2 head gasket would leak.. but thats an easy fix.. and the torque converter lock up solenoid.. all easy and cheap to fix..
I've never owned either car, the Cadillac Cimarron or the Chevrolet Cavalier. So I wouldn't know what either are like. They both seem like good cars to drive. Why the Cimarron wasn't as popular as the Cavalier is beyond me.
The J-cars were good cars that carried GM through the 80's and 90's. Quality wise they were as good as any car made during the that time. There were tons of them on the road, they were affordable, and lots of people bought them. I always laugh when I hear someone say that the Cimarron was one of the worst cars ever made, it shows how little they really know about the history and cars. There was nothing wrong with the Cimarron and, to a lot of people, it was even better looking than it's J-car siblings. The problem was that it was a very poor marketing decision by Cadillac to put their name on an economy car. Why pay thousands more for a Cimarron when you could go down the street and pick up the same car for thousands less at a Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, or Chevrolet dealer. Unfortunately, Cadillac repeated this mistake years later when they put their name on an inexpensive family car, the Vauxhall and called it the Catera. The J-cars were good cars, Cadillac's decision to put their name on an inexpensive care was lousy.
I couldn't see any Difference, They both look cheap, and both have cheap looking Interiors. But they were 80s cars and almost any car thet wasn't Fullsize looked the pretty much like these two
Awesome video! I used to think the Cimarron was dumb but once I did some research into them I ended up wanting one. I've owned 4 different Cadillacs and I finally had to sell my Escalade because I couldnt afford the gas and insurance on it anymore. One of these little Cimmy's would be a perfect replacement, to bad there so damn hard to come by.
It's not so much that the Cimarron was a terrible car per se--those J body cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, etc) were decent enough vehicles and seemed to stick around for a long time. Civics or Corollas they were not, but as I recall the Cavaliers wound up selling for a lot less. The Cimarron is so widely despised because it was a scam. GM glued vinyl decorations, fake woodgrain, and a fancy Cadillac badge on a Cavalier and priced it thousands and thousands more than a Cavalier. And they pitched it as competitive with European makes. GM showed contempt for its customers. Unfortunately, many low-information buyers (eg, older people) took the pitch and bought these econoboxes in tuxedos. Nowadays, if I was in the market for a cheapo used car I would gladly take the Cimarron for $1100 over the Cavalier for $1000! Comment for RUclipsr Nathan: Don't tell people that stuff in your garage is junk. Tell them it's your test equipment for your car comparisons!
It’s Cimarron by Cadillac. Even they were embarrassed to admit they rebadged a Cavalier and pretended it was a Caddy. The Cimarron doesn’t even appear in the models brochure from Cadillac. Is it any wonder GM needed a bailout? This oneowner loves every piece of junk ever made apparently.
What a sad era for US autos. That fake Allen wrench effect on the dash was also on the Pontiac’s. Was no one at Cadillac aware how tacky that was? Sheesh.
The Cavaliers were good little cars. Except when equipped with the Quad 4 / Twin Cam. Never had any luck with those. Running the water pump off the timing chain was a bad idea. PT Cruisers did the same thing. Not a fun job to replace either. But the Cavalier and Cimarron were pretty cool though. VT247
Glad you made this comparison, thanks for the effort
excellent video
My dad had the 2 door model, I actually loved that car 🚙!
Side comment: you have a terrific voice. I bet you are a good singer. Your no-frills but friendly presentation is great. The best car in the world is the car any person likes best.
Brings back memories! I had a friend in high school with a 1988 Cimmaron that she bought for $100. That car was awesome. Broken shock mounts so it sounded like there was a dead body rolling around in the trunk. Swiss cheese exhaust. Digital speedometer that was stuck at "188". Radio that would stop working until you hit the dash with your fist... The floors were rotten to the point that the drivers seat was fully detached and could be removed from the car. It caught fire in her driveway one day. RIP little Cimmaron!
In Brazil we had the Chevrolet Monza, a variant of the European opel ascona, with 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 liters engines.
finally a video that says it all and more , cimarron people are unique , im cimarron people and i never owned a cimarron that i can remember altho i think the more i think about it i may have had 1 briefly in the 90s 1997 or 1998
Thanks bro, great vid. I was born in 86', a 86 Fleetwood brougham was the first car I learned how to drive at 10yrs old, then at 21years old I got my first car, a 87' brougham D'Elegance, Im 36 now, and I have a 2005 DeVille, & 88 Brougham. I had a 88' Nissan Sentra in 2014, it was similar to these 2 cars in the video, especially the inside. I heard of a Cadillac cimarron and seen a few, but this year & version I just found out exist, thanks for the video, I think it's a cool little caddy also.
You have my dream car a green firebird
My dad bought a Cimaron, older that this, no digital crap gauges. It was a manual 4 speed, white with red leather. It really was a nice small car, compared to our old Dasher. Soft seats, good leather, no wierd striped. In some ways ahead of their time, luxury and economy. Motor locked at 265k. I really liked it, they are crapped on too much. My dad drove his 90 miles a day back and forth to work. Like I said, ahead of it's time. 4cylinder luxury. Thanks for the video. Find a older one with gauges, so much better and the gauges were perfect. Thanks for your video.
Had 861/2 great car only problem I had was kept burning up fan relay 15 fan relays I miss it great memorys with the 2.8
Go through the air conditioner and you can fix the flashing problem with the new dash. I don’t remember what code it is but there’s a reset for it .
I had a 1986 Cimarron. I liked it, but I could never get it to run right. It had a miss in it that stumped everyone.
i like sunbirds too
Cimarron and Cavaliers look alike. I remember the Cavalier from 1982-39 years ago and a Cimarron from 1983-38 years ago, during the time of that car company by the name of Stith Chevrolet was in business. Golly almost 40 years ago. Also I like those green triangle signal lights in the Cavalier that blink off and on when you prepare to make a turn.
The digital dash going out could be bad capacitors. It's possible someone knowledgeable could replace capacitors and fix it. Always wanted a v6 5 speed Z24 86-87 or up to 92 convertible Z24. Completely Ford guy now though when it comes to cheap used cars.
Could be many other components as well. If you break the seals and try to fix it yourself don't count on anyone accepting it as a core for a working one. Schematic diagrams for vehicle computers are almost non-existent for DIYers.
Z24s were pretty badass, I'd choose one over an Escort GT or even a V6 Probe all day long.
Meh, your loss. You'd need a Supercharged OR turbo SS Cobalt to catch my NA V6 Probe and that's a slow walk after 80mph. 7k rpm shifts all day. Super cheap to work on and maintain.
Bought a 1984 wagon in 1992 for 500 dollars with 95000 k drove it for 3 and half years,still ran well in 1996 when I took it off the road with 180000 k great on gas.
im looking for a cinamon colered cimarron
i like the luggage rack
chevy beretta ? remember those and the chevy corsica ?
That is a very cool
could you swap out the electronic gages with the manual ones on this car if you wanted to?
In Brazil this car called Chevrolet Monza, Opel Ascona in Europe, in England Vauxhall Cavalier
I liked the cimarron as a kid. But I always got told NO by my mechanic dad lol
Wow this is old and I've been in both and cavalier of this era always have the distinct vibration from the engine and cimeron was less of that
is the there a mercury version of ford pinto?
The UK cavalier was also a J body car but was much nicer inside and seemed to have a better styling.
A Cimmaron is one of those cars you would be crazy to buy new but buying it second hand isn't a bad idea
Thank you for this video, My Father had a Chevy Cavalier in 1983, he drove almost 200 thousand miles. This week, I just purchased an 86 Cimarron for 425 dollars. Picking it up in Oregon and going on a cross country trip. It's been inspected and nothing is wrong with the car. I can't wait! People crap on these cars all the time, but I honestly think they are just too lazy to get real facts. I do so much appreciate you taking the time here to show people how nice the Cimarron actually is.
I still want to make a sleeper out of a Cimarron. Imagine a Cimarron with a Northstar or a supercharged 3800 in it.
North stars are junk.... but an L67 would be sick
they should come back with a 2023 version of cimarron , i bet it would sell much better now and all the gen x people would know about it and we got money to buy 1, i think id much rather drive a new cimarron than s civic
I wish I could find a nice Cimarron. America wasn't ready for the Cimarron.
Love your videos and optimistic or see the best in cars attitude. Cimarons were avoid idea. My dad bought a 6 year old one with 100k on it for $900. It was older minus stupid digital gauges. I loved this car, rode to school in it for many years. It had 15s but very wide tires and rode nice.
Cimarrons are dope .
I find it funny that people have such opposing views. Some loved these cars and had a great experience and others not so much. I had a 95 Probe for 9 years. (Bought it used in 97) I never had any trouble and fords got a pretty shitty reputation. I turned it in for a 2006 Beetle great car, turned it in for a 2015 and this one burns oil 😡
I like the stitched dash in that!
I like the front end look with the ground effects and flush headlamps!
The Cimmaron is the Caddy's red headed stepchild.
mercury lynx is a unicorn too
Really enjoyed the video! I don't believe I've ever seen one of those Cadillacs out, if I did I just thought it was a cavalier.
Interesting but I was getting zizzy from all the camera shaking and quick moving camera shots ...
I almost guarantee if this cim/cav were badged as a toyota with one of their engines they'd be really popular... I kind of like the body but I'm not sure about the engines since I've never driven one.
To bad both the cimarrons digital dashes are not really working
The 1st time I saw a Cimmaron I knew GM had made a wistake, When viewed from the side it looked like a Chevy Cavalier. It was one the 6 J cars GM made.
Look, if you could afford a new Cadillac, you wanted people to see that you could.
If you bought a Cimmarron , some people would think you owned a Cavalier and tried to disguise it as a Cadillac.
At the time I thought that ,GM should import an Opel that was deigned to compete with Mercedes and BMWs and put a Cadillac badge on that.
Another thing GM should have tried is make a Black Cimmarron station wagon and call it a "Mini-Hearse"
Nowadays the big cars are smaller and the little cars are even smaller.
Opel Ascona vs Apple Ascona
also the tail lights too among others
I don't get why so many people hated cimarrons. They actually made sense considering the time period they were made in. Technically, the cimarron was one of the first compact luxury sedans available in the mainstream market
The problem with the Cimarron was it was put on sale at a time when Cadillac had a problem with it's Low Quality-High price image. back in the 1940s Cadillacs were the highest quality cars you could get, thus no matter how high the price, the car seemed to be worth it.
In the 1950s GM changed their policy and increased the similarity of the cars offered by their different brands. They kept doing this, and by the 1980s the Cimarron was was a Chevy Cavalier they disguised to look like a Cadillac and they parked it on the lot of a Cadillac dealer.
Although the idea was to make 7 different J-Cars that were sold by all of the world's GM dealers, to me it appeared that GM must have thought their customers were so stupid that you could sell them the same car and get them to pay a high price for it by putting the name of a high priced brand on it.
The other problem was they thought they could compete with luxury cars of other companies that were not as large as a Cadillac by making a smaller Cadillac.
I thought that since GM was making the Opel Omega in Germany to compete with the Mercedes and BMWs there, they would do better to try selling a Cadillac version of the Omega. Later GM did this and introduced the Cadillac Catera to America. The Catera had inferior reliability though, and was another failure.
man i had a 84 4 banger cavalier back in the 90's...that car was bullet proof..
I don't like either but since i'm a Cadillac guy i would go with the Cimarron.
1:50 😐 shouldn’t that be, “ Chevrolet vs Cadillac “?! 😕 or, “ cavalier vs cimmeron “?!
I bought a '87 Cimarron V6 22 years ago because I could not afford a Cavalier Z24 of the same vintage at the time. It was a quick, comfortable and reliable car for the 3 years I owned it and for the 2 years that my brother owned it. The J-Body cars of this era get a bad rep because the 4 cylinders car were so shitty. I could never get my '84 Skyhawk to run right ALL of the time.
also ones yellow the other is white
I wonder why GM did not allow Cadillac to restyle the J car platform to make it look different than the other J-cars? They were able to take a Nova and turn it into a Seville without making it look like a Nova. It probably would have been much more successful had GM at least made it look different. Even the dashboard of the 82 and 83 cimmarons looks like a Cavalier's on the inside.
I attended a Automotive trade school and a fellow student had a silver Cimarron. He babied the car. One day he was changing the thermostat and he tightened it a bit too much and cracked the housing. He called for a replacement and the price was high just for being a Cadillac. so I told him to ask for a Chevy replacement a lot cheaper. Price right now for both is $10
Thanks for this. After 1985 there were many more differences between the cimarron and its cousins. I own a 84 cimarron original owner (title DEC '83) and keep the little thing in storage and take it out for a spin every once in a while! Well built cars for the time
I would rather have the Beagle than either of these two cars.
There's worst like the Vega and Astre the only examples left are done out with V8s stock they were garbage.
I remember seeing pre-production renderings of the new Cimarron and it had a profile that looked like a Cadillac. It had squared-off wheel-well openings, vertical tailights and as I recall wrap-around cornering lights like a larger Deville. Of course GM went cheap and simply used the same body shell as the Chevy.
The later Cimmarons do definitely look better than the earlier Cimmarons. The reason the Cimmaron flopped wasn't because of quality, it was badge engineering gone wrong. Cadillac had originally wanted to develop its own platform for a smaller size Cadillac but European and Japanese competition in the luxury vehicle market didn't permit Cadillac to do so. So Cadillac did what they did with the first Escalade for the Cimmaron, take an already existing GM vehicle add a few touches and a Cadillac badge. Difference is you can justify a more expensive full size SUV, you can't necessarily justify a more expensive compact car especially in the 1980s.
I like the 1st gen cavaliers, the generations that proceeded got worse and worse as far as quality and reliability
The first generation Cavalier was a decent daily driver for anyone wanting cheap transportation.... The Cimarron was an absolute joke, an insult to anyone's intelligence that walked into a Cadillac showroom. But I certainly understand that some people back in the day just didn't have the aptitude to realize what they were paying good money for.
yes but compared to today's UGLY fat bloated plastic bubbles it is a beautiful car
I'm so glad you did this. I drove an '88 Cimarron for a couple years when I was in college. It's a total novelty, but economical and super comfortable too. Mine had the analog dash which looked just like the Cavalier you had except it had red speedo/tach needles and slightly more "upscale" looking readouts on the gauges. The V6 was peppy too!
Cimarron is a winner yaaay bravo hooray.
The Carb 2.8 only came in the S10,S10 Blazer,and Camaro/Firebird! About to watch RX7
My family members had a couple Caviliers. As bad a the Vega for reliability. It was the last Chevy in our family.
The Cimmaron was a joke as a Cadillac but was a great Chevy. Essentially a loaded Cavalier, it was very reliable and quick with the 2.8 V6. The junk 2.0 4 cylinders in the j-body cars of the this era ruined these cars.
they went through headgaskets like I go through cheeseburgers
I like this concept. This would be a good series! Ranger vs Mazda B Series, Escort vs Lynx, Corolla vs Prizm, Camaro vs Firebird. The list goes on and on and on...
The last 2 years of the Cimarron w/V6 engine seemed to be good cars but the earlier years w/4 cylinder engines were horrible! I owned a 81 or 82 w 1.8 liter engine. Great body and red leather interior.Too many engine and transmission problems!
❤
Wow. All these years, and I finally can add a face to your voice. Nice to meet you, Nathan.
I am quite impressed with the options on the Cimarron, the digital dash especially. I agree with you they are great little cars. I live in Europe (UK), although I never been to America and never experienced Cadillac and Chevrolet versions you shown in your video. We had our own versions: the Vauxhall Cavalier Mark II here in UK and the Opel Ascona C in the rest of Europe. Loved those cars, I remember the sporty version of the Vauxhall Cavalier - the SRi, it had 2 litre 4 cyl engine, it was a pretty fast car for its time. Unfortunately these cars are getting scarce today. I'd love a Cimerron of my own one day (the options package you shown look impressive).
I spoke to that guy. Hopefully he will listen...
I've always loved these square bodied cavaliers.i remember when those cars were brand new.always loved the Cimarron too.dont see many of these cars today.i always wanted one of either, just never got around to getting one.great video!.
These still exist? In the northeast they all rusted out by the year 2000.
I drove a Cavalier for 8 years. Maintained it & I sold it with 155 thousand miles. No big issues either.
The J car series was solid, after the dismal failure of the X-cars, the Cavalier and then Celebrity the following year were great improvements that helped Chevy regain reputation.
COOL!!!! I've always wanted to see a comparison between these two titans of crap!! 👍
I dunno, I drove the Chevy Cavalier for a couple of weeks in 1992. I’m pretty sure that it was better than the small cars of today for everyday use. It was comfortable, warm, rattle-free and peppy. If you drive to work and grocery store and home, it’s ok. I kinda miss it now.
@@torpmorp1324 I daily drive a 1984 Opel Ascona C which is the same car, 1.6L about 90hp, 4 speed manual. it is great. just replaced the clutch it took me 1 hour and i did not even have to remove gearbox, i'm very happy. i dont get it why people do not drive older cars because it is so simple to work on and very cheap parts. if this was like a 2000s VW Passat that clutch change is so to speak impossible to do at home and could cost as much as 1800 dollar at a cheap shop in town. while my clutch with toll and shipping cost about 100 dollars and it was very easy to do at home.
Right on another piece of crap well said
@@johnhamre990 if we get you back and forth to work and don't break down it's a good car.
I want a cimmaron !!! I bet they would fly with that v-6 and I love the cheesy digital dash. Now this is comin from a guy that drives a roadmaster wagon. ( and a new jetta:) sometimes)
A cimmaron is like a bad $20 iPhone clone.
“ econo box 📦 “!
The Cavalier RS was offered with the same 2.8 Multi Port Fuel Injection- The same 2.8 carb is JUNK, but MPI was very reliable. Can't wait to see the Volvo Diesel and RX7!
The Celebrity and all GM cars of that size offered 2.8 MPI! Don't run them low on gas 1/4 is empty! LOL
I own this exact Cimarron Doro . Just turned over 40000 miles. Still runs. Ac does too. Message me if you want one. Hard to find. Rare piece of Cadillac history. No matter how you fall on the Cimarron's controversy!
Men u put up some good ass videos thumbs up
same comparison like the Ford Granada and The Lincoln Versailes
Mercury Monarch.
@@richavic4520 Yep. I had a 2 door straight 6, tough as nails motor but no power. Yellow in and out. Not a great car, cheap build, but got me from a to b in every condition, started easy in -20 below and was good in snow, not good at stopping in snow, really heavy.
At least Lincoln put on a Lincoln grill and a Mark V trunk style on that. GM was too lazy to even give the Cimmaron any styling improvements.
Please make more videos like this when you have the opportunity to. It was a great comparison
I think a better comparison would have been the 82-84 Cimarrons versus the Cavalier. Those really were glorified Cavaliers. This was when they made them substantially nicer than a Cav but it's definitely not nicer than an 88 BMW. I had an 86 Cavalier and it looked too much like this on the inside but I can honestly say that digital dash in the Cim looks worse. I also had an 85 BMW and the interior was light years beyond that. Yuck.
What GM was hoping for is that it would be a huge success like the Seville was that really was an Nova beefed up but Caddy sold a ton of them. It didn't work.
You think you could do differences between the Isuzu Hombre and Chevy S-10 or GMC Sonoma? It took me like 5 years to notice the Hombre has a stylish fender contour that the S-10/Sonoma doesn't but I wanna know if there were more, and if the Hombre came with sport packages like the ZR-2 or Xtreme.
Nice to "see" you. And, as a teen, I LOVED the Cimarron. Yes, I know/knew it was a Cavalier, but still, loved it anyway. Thanks for reviewing them both!
great cars, the cavaliers 2.0 or 2.2 were tough.. couldnt kill'em 2.2 head gasket would leak.. but thats an easy fix.. and the torque converter lock up solenoid.. all easy and cheap to fix..
It's like putting Bentley badges on a Yugo.
I've never owned either car, the Cadillac Cimarron or the Chevrolet Cavalier. So I wouldn't know what either are like. They both seem like good cars to drive. Why the Cimarron wasn't as popular as the Cavalier is beyond me.
The J-cars were good cars that carried GM through the 80's and 90's. Quality wise they were as good as any car made during the that time. There were tons of them on the road, they were affordable, and lots of people bought them. I always laugh when I hear someone say that the Cimarron was one of the worst cars ever made, it shows how little they really know about the history and cars. There was nothing wrong with the Cimarron and, to a lot of people, it was even better looking than it's J-car siblings. The problem was that it was a very poor marketing decision by Cadillac to put their name on an economy car. Why pay thousands more for a Cimarron when you could go down the street and pick up the same car for thousands less at a Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, or Chevrolet dealer. Unfortunately, Cadillac repeated this mistake years later when they put their name on an inexpensive family car, the Vauxhall and called it the Catera. The J-cars were good cars, Cadillac's decision to put their name on an inexpensive care was lousy.
I couldn't see any Difference, They both look cheap, and both have cheap looking Interiors. But they were 80s cars and almost any car thet wasn't Fullsize looked the pretty much like these two
Love your videos. Awesome
Awesome video! I used to think the Cimarron was dumb but once I did some research into them I ended up wanting one. I've owned 4 different Cadillacs and I finally had to sell my Escalade because I couldnt afford the gas and insurance on it anymore. One of these little Cimmy's would be a perfect replacement, to bad there so damn hard to come by.
It's not so much that the Cimarron was a terrible car per se--those J body cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, etc) were decent enough vehicles and seemed to stick around for a long time. Civics or Corollas they were not, but as I recall the Cavaliers wound up selling for a lot less. The Cimarron is so widely despised because it was a scam. GM glued vinyl decorations, fake woodgrain, and a fancy Cadillac badge on a Cavalier and priced it thousands and thousands more than a Cavalier. And they pitched it as competitive with European makes. GM showed contempt for its customers. Unfortunately, many low-information buyers (eg, older people) took the pitch and bought these econoboxes in tuxedos.
Nowadays, if I was in the market for a cheapo used car I would gladly take the Cimarron for $1100 over the Cavalier for $1000!
Comment for RUclipsr Nathan: Don't tell people that stuff in your garage is junk. Tell them it's your test equipment for your car comparisons!
It’s Cimarron by Cadillac. Even they were embarrassed to admit they rebadged a Cavalier and pretended it was a Caddy. The Cimarron doesn’t even appear in the models brochure from Cadillac. Is it any wonder GM needed a bailout? This oneowner loves every piece of junk ever made apparently.
What a sad era for US autos. That fake Allen wrench effect on the dash was also on the Pontiac’s. Was no one at Cadillac aware how tacky that was? Sheesh.
The Cavaliers were good little cars. Except when equipped with the Quad 4 / Twin Cam. Never had any luck with those. Running the water pump off the timing chain was a bad idea. PT Cruisers did the same thing. Not a fun job to replace either. But the Cavalier and Cimarron were pretty cool though.
VT247
Cavialier was OK back in the 80's, but thats it. The are tons of more reliable cars nowdays for cheap, like a civic, accord.....