GTP Cool Wall: 1986-1993 Cadillac Allante

  • Thread starter Jahgee
  • 55 comments
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1986-1993 Cadillac Allante


  • Total voters
    116
  • Poll closed .
For those complaining about lack of power, consider this: In 1993 this car made 295 bhp. That same year, the Ferrari 348 made 300 bhp. It was a front wheel drive luxury convertible with as much power as a Ferrari.
 
Well damn, should have voted cool now since it's irking people that it's FWD. Anything that rustles the jimmies of purist are typically cool in my book.
 
No idea what's going on with the OP pictures, they were there this morning
Oh...

Let me fix that, just a second.

EDIT:
Use these:
OP Pic:
Cadillac-Allante_1989_1024x768_wallpaper_01.jpg


Missing Additional Pics:
allante.jpg
allante2.jpg
 
Although I personally prefer the Buick Reatta to the Allante, as an engineering exercise, it does muster at least a cool from me. Certainly, original models were a little less than pleasing, but, as many GM cars from that era can prove, the year-over-year revisions eventually came to produce a car that was pretty damn good.

The Allante helped pioneer magnetic ride control, side airbags, integrated cell phones, as well as being the first application of traction control on a front-drive vehicle, and herald the beginning of the Northstar era in its final model. That's pretty cool. But, GM was the first with a lot of things, all of which they seemed to promptly drop and move on to a product that was significantly worse. As our generation gets a little older, I think a lot of late '80s, early '90s GM (and Ford and Chrysler) vehicles will start to increase in popularity and value, perhaps not entirely for nostalgic reasons, but because they were cool in a weird way. The Allante, Reatta and Toronado Trofeo all fit in that group, along with the high-performance Chevrolet Beretta GTZ and Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais 442.
 
Because the drivetrain matters soooooo much in a luxury barge.

And neutered v8? I find 295hp coming out of an 80's American V8 highly respectable. And it's only a 4.6

This. 7.4L 454s were barely making 240hp. That said they had ungodly amounts of torque still though.
 
Because the drivetrain matters soooooo much in a luxury barge.

And neutered v8? I find 295hp coming out of an 80's American V8 highly respectable. And it's only a 4.6
Of course, handling is not a priority for a Cadillac.

Yes almost 300bhp from 4.6 litres is good in the 80's. But 170bhp from 4.1 litres is a more 'American' output.
 
Of course, handling is not a priority for a Cadillac.

Yes almost 300bhp from 4.6 litres is good in the 80's. But 170bhp from 4.1 litres is a more 'American' output.
Remember, when the car was first released with that engine, the US market Porsche 911 had 207 bhp. The Golf GTi made 110 bhp, and you could get a Golf 1.8 with just 85 bhp, which is about the same specific output as the Cadillac. Maserati struggled to get 200 bhp out of a twin turbo 2.5 litre V6. 170 bhp from 4.1 litres isn't much now, but back then it was pretty good.
 
I don't care about which wheels put the power to the ground. I don't care about the specific output of the engine. All I care about is that I'd look like a second-rate dealer, the kind that mixes his stuff with oregano and holds his gun sideways.
 
The 300 horsepower engine was the initial Northstar. Nothing approaching a 1980s engine (though still pretty impressive upon release vis a vis the contemporary luxury car V8s anyway; at least until they started popping a few years later).


That being said:
170 bhp from 4.1 litres isn't much now, but back then it was pretty good.
The 4100HT was always junk. In its initial form (which everything but the Allante used up through 1987), the pinnacle of Cadillac's 1980s engineering prowess made less power than a V6 Pontiac Fiero (and the same power as that same engine without fuel injection in the Citation). It made only 10 more horsepower than the engine you got if you decided you wanted your Buick Century to be a station wagon.

The Allante got the absolute hottest version of that engine series you could get, with a 40 horsepower jump from the version they put in the Eldorado/Seville the same years, and even that was barely any more powerful than the ubiquitous Buick V6 you could get in pretty much every GM large car starting in 1987. And the 5 horsepower you now had over Grandma Ethel's Buick Electra was particularly small comfort when your Cadillac you spent 50,000 1987 dollars on blew its engine like it was a Neon; since the Allante never got the redesigned version of the engine that didn't do that.
 
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In fairness, I quite like this Caddy because of its gangster pretentions; I like gangster cars in a romanticised way I like the Mafia in films. But that doesn't change the fact that this car is very, very uncool.
 
I don't know why but this struck me as cool car. Something about is 80's-ness that appeals to me. I don't even find it bad looking. And having that much power from an american V8 is pretty respectable as well.

Too bad it's FWD, but, this being a luxury barge that's completly irrelevent. And people being butthurt by it just makes me want to vote cool even more.
 
Cool today because late 80s. Also, this thing had a lot of tech going for it, as well as pretty quirky things like the Pininfarina badge and stuff. And it frankly looks pretty damn good in pink.
 
It's not a popular opinion, but I think these are cool. They're for people who appreciate cars but don't want to drive fast. They're fairly subtle but the looks are well judged. In 1990 it would be hideously uncool, but today there's just something about it.

I agree they have a presence and very different taillights. I think they are cool and that is coming for a HUGE GM and Cadillac hater. I LOATHE '80s and '90s Cadilliacs but the later ones with the 4.6 Northstar are cool the early 4.1/4.5 ones are horrid.

IMG_4246.jpg
 
Right in the Region when American Car makers would sell an overpriced piece of crap and people would somehow be stupid enough to buy it because they thought Cadillac meant something.

Seriously uncool.
 
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