This 2000 Cadillac Eldorado ETC (Eldorado Touring Coupe) came up in my latest "cheap car search" this past weekend. With 90,000 miles on its twenty-two-year-old digital odometer and with an asking price of just $6,995, on paper at least, this is the car of my dreams. Knowing how an innocent enough find can turn into something, for better or for worse, I made the forty-minute drive to see and test drive it. I did more than kick its tires too. I didn't abuse the car, per se, that would be, ahem, childish, but I did feel like 17-year-old me again standing on a powerful car for the first time. Gosh, do kids beat on their parent's cars anymore?
Long and short, I wasn't so much disappointed with this car as I found it underwhelming. And it wasn't like the fact the air conditioner compressor was seized up, the power antenna wouldn't go up and the passenger side window wouldn't go down from the driver's door switch had anything to do with my ambivalence towards it either. Nope. While it was a whole lot more put together and sorted out than the Eldorado ESC I drove about a year ago, what a bomb that thing was, I found it "just ok". The ride was rather squishy, the brakes felt vague, steering had minimal feel when I leaned into it on highway on and off ramps too. The car felt enormous and not in a good way; I used to love big cars, what's gotten into me? Even when I tried to put the gas pedal through the firewall, the experience of spooling up the 300-hp Northstar V-8 wasn't as visceral as I thought it would be. This boat weighing in on the dark side of two tons no doubt had a lot to do with that but has speed and power become such a commodity that I'm not impressed by it anymore?
Maybe the "Magnasteer" Speed Sensitive Steering, Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension, Stabiltrack Chassis Control and Electronic Level Control had all seen better days. All that stuff helping to jack up the original MSRP to more than $46,000. Holy smokes. Much like on any car portending to be a high-end luxury car, all that gear is scary expensive to repair. Frankly, I don't think they make for an altogether "better car" or one that's reliable and durable either. I've never seen a Cadillac of this vintage with the kind of miles my 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo has on it: 253,000 and counting. Seriously, have you? Could it be because stuff like "Stabiltrack" and what not cost too damn much to repair? The owner of the lot where this was said he had about $3,000 into it already and was just trying to recoup some of what he spent. I think it's going to need at least that much more to really get it right.
Despite it being really soft, the ride was pleasant, though and I wouldn't mind it on my insanely long commute to and from the office. Cross country drives as well. The seats were like thrones and the leather was luscious. I loved the color combination too even if it felt a little too "old man-ish" for me.
Unlike most people, I can talk myself out of just about anything. And to jump out of my matronly but beloved 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo and into this simply because I could, didn't seem to me like the best use of my time and dollars. Had this sucked my bifocals off perhaps I'd think differently. Besides, I like the way my Dale rides and handles better. I really do. It might want for another fifty to a hundred more horsepower but aside from that, it's a comfy old shoe that gives me just enough steering wheel feedback to keep things somewhat entertaining.
I'm glad I spent the afternoon with this handsome oldie, though. I got it out of my system, and I'll never be plagued with the dreaded "what if's" or "woulda-shoulda's". If this is about as good as these are these days, best I stick to what I know and keep the Dale around. And when the head gasket finally blows on this big aluminum lump, it'll be someone else's problem.
This vintage of Eldorado was the last go-round for Cadillac's "personal luxury car" that was first introduced in 1953 as a show car to celebrate Cadillac's fiftieth anniversary. Introduced in 1992, it was based on the E-body chassis that Cadillac rolled out to disastrous results in 1986. Eleven inches longer than the model it replaced, Cadillac welding on three inches to the stubby '86 models in 1989 too, Cadillac made incremental changes to it through 2002. By then, the personal luxury car market had all but dried up. The last vestige of one meeting the grim reaper after model year 2007. That being, ironically enough, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
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