Cadillac Club Estonia

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„siin on tegemist jällegi ühe toreda riigireetmisega“ (Bretschneider).

Ja sama Chicago Tribune veergudelt:
Chicago Tribune
September 6, 1992
If big is better, just how good is a behemoth? For the 1993 model year, Cadillac has taken the oldest model in its lineup, the rear-wheel-drive Brougham, and given it even more size along with a new look-and a new name.
Actually, Brougham gets an old name. What had been the Brougham is now called the Fleetwood and Fleetwood Brougham. Fleetwood had been the moniker on the up level Deville, but for 1993 that model is the Deville Sixty Special. For1994, the Sixty Special becomes the Concours, when the Deville line gets restyled. Oops, back to `93.
Call it what you will, the `93 Fleetwood we test-drove is massive. Many automakers boast that they offer a six-passenger car. Most fall short of six people by at least one or two bodies.
Not the Fleetwood. You get six people in, and each can wear a coat and hat and a couple of them can carry a briefcase. A 4.1-inch stretch in length and roughly 2.5-inch expansion in width helps provide family den-type room. Wheelbase stays 121.5 inches, but length swells to 224.9 inches.
The larger dimensions not only provide greater leg and arm stretch room in the front and back, but enough space in the trunk to hold each occupant's luggage. The only problem is that if all six occupants are golfers, you'll never fit all their clubs. You probably could fit only four sets-and the caddie-in this Caddy.
While styling is fresh, thanks to slightly more rounded bodylines, the distinctive Cadillac look is evident from the egg-crate grille and stand-up hood ornament to the vertical taillight treatment.
In terms of old Brougham versus new Fleetwood, old Brougham owners are in for a few pleasant surprises in ride, handling and performance. Though bigger, the Fleetwood feels much more nimble than the old Brougham. You don’t have to start turning the wheel two blocks before the corner to make the swing.
Speed-sensitive power steering contributes to more precise, more effortless maneuverability when you head at low speed into the corner or turn or into or out of the narrow parking space-and when you’re in a 78-inch-wideFleetwood, every parking space becomes narrow. Power steering effort increases at higher speeds so you have a greater feeling of being in control moving into or out of the passing lane or taking that bend in the interstate at 65 miles per hour without floating. The steering system is designed so that the Fleetwood doesn’t handle like a truck, even though it's larger than most pickups.
However, don’t expect sports-car suspension. As Cadillac officials explained, those who opt for a Fleetwood or the top-of-the-line Fleetwood Brougham want a softer ride. That’s what you’ll get. But there was a bit more up and down movement over bumps than we’d like to put up with day in and day out.
Power is provided by the 5.7-liter, 185-horsepower V-8 that’s standard for `93 after being optional in the Brougham for 1992. It’s teamed with a quiet four-speed automatic. So me Cadillac loyalists might ask why the new 4.6-liter, 295-h.p. 32-valve North Star V-8 wasn’t put under the hood of the new car. Cadillac says a new engine, in addition to new styling, would have been too much at once.
Despite more rounded bodylines to reduce air drag; the mileage rating for the `93 Fleetwood is the same as for the `92 Brougham-16 miles per gallon city and 25 m.p.g. Highway, which may be another reason the 295-h.p. North Star wasn’t added. Cadillac wanted to avoid a gas-guzzler tax.
But that’s not to say Cadillac couldn’t come up with a more fuel-efficient version of the North Star for the Fleetwood soon. That should be priority No. 1 at Cadillac.
The aerodynamics of the sheet metal helps in a couple of respects, however. Even with the windows down, wind noise and turbulence was noticeably lower than in the `92 version. And with rounded corners reducing air drag, the5.7-liter V-8 seemed even quicker. You find yourself looking at 70 M.P.H. on the speedometer when you’d swear you were at 55.
The added size and bevy of standard equipment meant added weight and no gain in mileage. Cadillac officials boast that at least they didn’t lose mileage and still avoided the gas-guzzler tax. We hope they’ll take the offensive to boost mileage rather than being defensive on fuel economy and settling for less than a mileage improvement.
And there are a couple of other changes we’d make soon. The first would be to toss the side view mirrors and replace them with a couple more practical units.
The car is as big, if not bigger, than some boats, but the outside mirrors are a pair of dinghies. Visibility suffers. On Detroit expressways, we found we didn’t have a full field of vision, and cars coming up in the passing lane often surprised us when they pulled dead even. We felt as if we were trying to navigate a battleship by looking out a porthole.
If, as Cadillac says, its owners are older and supposedly their vision isn't what it was when they were 21, why penalize them with such tiny mirrors? It seems even odder that Cadillac got stingy on the mirrors when it went all-out for safety on the `93 Fleetwood by making driver- and passenger-side air bags standard, as well as anti-lock brakes and traction control. ABS helps stop you in a straight line by keeping the wheels from locking up even if the pavement is covered with snow, ice or rain; traction control keeps the wheels from spinning while starting off on slick surfaces. If the wheels start to spin, computer sensors first activate brakes, and then reduce throttle power to maximize traction.
The passenger-side air bag is unusual. Unlike cars in which the air bag is stored where the glove box used to be on the face of the dash, the bag in the Fleetwood is on top of the dash. You can see a large rectangular cover hiding the inflatable cushion. With that location, Cadillac said, it can direct the bag’s inflation so it protects the person sitting in the middle of the seat as well as the far right-hand passenger.
Other notable features for `93 include a thick steering wheel to give the driver more of a feeling of control than with one of the wafer-thin decorative variety; a convenient cassette and compact disc holder in the center console; dual cupholders and coin holder in the center console; garage door opener and sunglasses holders in the roof above the rearview mirror.
Also, front seat bottoms that move forward or backward independently of the seat back; rust-resistant lower body side moldings; side-window defoggers; lighted driver and passenger window switches for convenient use at night; speed-sensitive volume on the radio-the faster you go, the louder it plays on its own, so you don’t have to fiddle with the knobs; long-life platinum-tipped spark plugs; long-life stainless steel exhaust; and anti-theft pass key that fits only your ignition.
Also, there’s retained accessory power so you can keep listening to the radio or raise and lower the windows even after you’ve stopped and turned off the ignition; rear-seat air/heat ducts; a horizontal track in the door pillar holding the shoulder belt that avoids tangles in the belt and makes it much easier to use (so why not a sliding up-and-down track so the belt can be adjusted for a variety of occupant heights?); the turn signal indicator gets louder if left on (another concession to older drivers, so again, why minuscule side view mirrors?); and a special power drain feature so that if you exit the car and leave lights or any power accessory on, it’ll shut off after a few minutes to save the battery from losing all power.
We also appreciated the expansive dash, which in some respects resembled that on the front-wheel-drive plastic-body GM mini-vans such as the Pontiac Trans Sport.
Base price for the Fleetwood is $33,990. Cadillac is quick to point out Fleetwood is about $10,000 less than a Lexus.
Add $1, 680 for a Fleetwood Brougham, which differs from the Fleetwood by adding a full vinyl roof top covering, power memory seats, articulating headrests, rear-seat armrest stowage with dual cupholders, rear-seat vanity mirrors, cast aluminum wheels, CD player, full-size spare rather than the mini in the base model, leather seats and standard 7,000-pound trailer towing (optional in Fleetwood). With the trailer-towing package, Cadillac boasts the Fleetwood has the highest-rated capacity in the industry.

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„siin on tegemist jällegi ühe toreda riigireetmisega“ (Bretschneider).

Ja väike artikkel aastast 1996, viimasest toodanguaastast:

The Morning Call
September 28, 1996

This car is like Roseanne Barr. Big and proud of it.
But this is the Cadillac Fleetwood, an automotive dinosaur on its way to the tar pits, among the last of Autobilius Giaganticus (a large type of automobile produced by Detroit, usually rear-wheel drive).
The test car was dressed to the nines. Or even the tens. Take the paint. It was gold. With a matching gold vinyl roof.
The rear wheels are tucked inside the fenders, making the car look even longer than it is. It doesn't need the visual help. After all, here is a 121-1/2-inch wheelbase and a car that measures an astounding 225 inches long and 78 inches wide.
Needless to say, one feels less like a driver and more like the captain of a very large vessel.
Power comes from Chevrolet's 5.7-liter V-8. With 260 horsepower and a whopping 335 pound-feet of torque, the classic small block will motivate this barge to 60 mph in 8-1/2 seconds. The engine is hooked to a four-speed automatic transmission. It's also hooked to the rest of the car; although the steering feel, pedal effort and ride are so insulated you'll wonder what's going on.
But that's the way this car's audience wants it. The ride is floaty and disconnected, so removed from the road you don't know you're in trouble till the tail starts to slide. It will slide, too. A bumpy, rain-soaked corner will make the rear-drive Caddy's tail come around despite all that road-hugging weight.
But the type of guy who wears his pants high on his chest appreciates all this. They're at a stage of life where they don't want to be bothered with what's going on in the real world.
That's the only thing that could explain the instrument gathering (it's tough to call it a "cluster"): an odometer, speedometer and fuel gauge. Everything else is covered by idiot lights.
One of those lights covers the traction control, which, when activated, shoves the accelerator back at you to signal it's working. "Disconcerting" is a mild understatement.
Automatic climate control is standard, with big buttons that are easy to understand and operate. Ditto the AM/FM cassette-CD player, which seemed at its best playing oldies. Somehow, it fits the car. (But then so does driving to Florida come November -- you could hold a party in the 21-cubic-foot trunk.)
All of this is housed in a horizontal dash with a shelf so deep and flat it gives the impression that this car is every bit as big as it is. If it had a bathroom, you could park it on a street in Manhattan and rent it for $1,600 a month.
There's a stand-up ornament at the end of the hood. For those of you who have never driven a car this big, it is functional -- it shows you where the hood ends. (Sometimes it's hard to tell).
But this is a Cadillac. That means luxury, but it depends on which luxuries you appreciate. There are no power moon roof or memory seat settings. But a CD changer is available, even if steering-wheel-mounted radio controls (available in Pontiacs) aren't. A built-in garage door opener is standard. And what Caddy would be complete without a Twilight Sentinel?
This car is for the contrarian. Like Roseanne Barr, it is unashamed of its identity, no matter how much of the sun it blocks from the concrete.
In many ways, the concept of the Fleetwood dates from a time when Cadillac truly was The Standard of the World. But the car is passing into history, as did the Berks County coachworks for which it is named. GM is putting its big-car heritage out to pasture, so this whaler is headed out to sea for the last time, to be replaced by the more sanely sized, but still large, Sedan DeVille.
Ironically, the test car was damaged on its way to being delivered. The famous Cadillac crest was cockeyed at the end of the hood. Somehow, that seemed symbolic of how today's car buyer views these rear-drive behemoths: out of step, out of time.
But it sure was fun while it lasted.
Standard: 5.7-liter OHV V-8, four-speed automatic transmission, power steering, electronic level control, dual stainless steel exhaust, cruise control, cast aluminum wheels, dual airbags, antilock brakes, daytime running lamps, automatic door locks, power heated outside mirrors, Twilight Sentinel, power trunk lid pull down, trunk convenience net, power front seats, electronic climate control, compact spare tire, AM/FM cassette stereo Optional: Security Package (theft deterrent system, auto lock/unlock fuel filler door), leather seating area, chrome wheels, AM/FM-cassette-CD. Base price: $36,995 As tested: $41,855 EPA rating: 17 mpg city, 26 mpg highway

_________________
„siin on tegemist jällegi ühe toreda riigireetmisega“ (Bretschneider).

1993 Fleeti road testi viidik ka siia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9P2m5XE ... r_embedded

_________________
„siin on tegemist jällegi ühe toreda riigireetmisega“ (Bretschneider).