1995 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe Test: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

From the December 1994 issue of Car and Driver.Is this car’s pigmentation gonna pop some peepers, or what? Cadillac calls this hue, this essence d’Eldo, “Medium Montana Blue” (Big Sky buckaroos will choke on their chaw). It looks a princely purple on this kingly coupe, nigh on 17 feet long and over 3800 pounds hefty. Within the Touring Coupe’s bulk hums the electrifying Cadillac Northstar V-8. Still displacing 4.6 liters and brandishing double overhead cams and 32 valves, it’s rated now at 300 horsepower—up 5 hp due to better intake runners for its port fuel injection. Refinements to the Touring Coupe’s front-drive chassis turn it into one big speedboat—a maker of bigger waves than the base Eldo, whose 275 hp and cushier chassis leave a less aggressive wake.Both Eldos, however, are upgraded for ’95 in form, trim, software, and hardware. The most visible cues to the Touring Coupe’s identity are a body-color grille and, on the decklid, a badge bearing the curiously addendum-like initials “ETC.” HIGHS: Electrifying power, exquisite interior, modernized bodyware.Cadillac wanted an Etcetera-er, Eldo—with a more contemporary nose and tail. The old wheel-arch moldings are gone with the wind tunnel. The side rub-strips and lower-body moldings are body-color, as is the rear license-plate frame, which is centered above a pair of beveled exhaust-pipe tips. Unkind observers might say that the bulging flanks suggest hippo hips, an impression furthered by the inset wheels and tires and highlighted by the extra-cost ($1195!) chrome finish on the alloy wheels. The ETC, though, does wear sporty blackwalls, Goodyear Eagle GA M+S 225/60ZR-16s. Cadillac fiddled with hardware and software to come up with what it calls “a refined powertrain and chassis system capable of raw performance or sophisticated touring.” Extended reliability would not normally accompany an order so tall. Yet, in emergencies, the Northstar’s limp-home mode can keep it running even without coolant. Thanks to platinum-tipped spark plugs, distributorless ignition, and electronic fuel management, no tuneups should be needed for 100,000 miles. And the transmission fluid is concocted to provide lifetime use under “normal driving circumstances” (though hammer-footed drivers may test the definition). Cadillac says the Northstar’s 4T80-E automatic transaxle is smarter than electronically controlled automatics that make decisions based only on throttle angle and road speed. The 4T80-E also allows for altitude, temperature, and A/C loads. Then there is the job of putting down all that snarly Northstar power. The Eldo automatic sprouts equal-length drive axles to minimize torque steer—minimizing being the key, because trying to put 300 hp through two tires that are also supposed to do some steering is like trying to teach a grizzly bear table manners in a pup tent. To deal with the off-the-wall antics, Cadillac has worked on its ICCS, which is the computerized “Integrated Chassis Control System.” The technicians wanted to dovetail the anti-lock braking system, the traction-control module, the RSS (“Road-Sensing Suspension”), plus sundry steering tweaks, all on one mother of a motherboard. Realistically, this electronic lashup is a Band-Aid for a design that assigns one end of the car to handle about three-quarters of the workload—a premise that still bedevils the Eldo’s ongoing development. LOWS: Flattish seats, torque steer, dance-around tail.Despite the Northstar’s power, torque steer has been reduced, but it remains an eerie adversary that can send even practiced drivers slithering wide in mid-bend. Over big bumps, the suspension still bounds around. And the electronically controlled shock absorbers and the unequal-length rear control arms allow the tail to hop sharply sideways over smaller bumps, like a crabby old rear-drive, live-axle layout. Though we wish rear- or four-wheel drive had been used for Cadillac’s most powerful car, it belts from 0 to 60 in 6.4 seconds, quickest of the coupes in our spec-page bar graphs. The ETC also rips off 50-to-70-mph passing exercises in only 3.9 seconds. More Cadillac Reviews From the ArchiveIn all-out stops from 70 mph, the Eldo needs a middling 184 feet. Roadholding tops out at a modest 0.80 g. (The rear-drive Lexus SC400 generates 0.85 g). The ETC’s leathered cabin is a knockout. Cadillac’s crest is embossed on the wheel’s padded airbag cover. Pressing it sounds the horn—safer than groping for horn buttons when dozoids need a wakeup call. The dash houses a passenger airbag. Handsome but flat front seats offer pronounced lumbar settings that feel to your spine like progressively thicker slats of wood (“lumber” adjustments?).A console houses the automatic’s T-bar shift lever. Its gate provides a notch for each forward gear, but the stiff shifter action makes the notches tough to find.
The dash houses clear gauges (all analog) and controls, except for stereo buttons that, despite their limited number, are not quite intuitive to use. The sound from the Delco/Bose AM/FM/CD/cassette system (a $972 upgrade) is okay, but Caddy’s own guru have done better with the trip computer. For instance, once you top off the fuel and then zero the readout, it keeps busy updating your Miles-to-Empty. Our own math confirmed that we averaged 19 mpg—not much of a price for sampling plenty of 32-valve excitement. The rear seat is roomy even for a big coupe. Its bottom cushion is stubby and low for adults, but nicely bucketed, wide enough for three, and bisected by a handy swing-down armrest. The trunk is sizable, well finished, and blessed with the counterbalanced, German-style hinge that lifts the lid well past vertical—where it’s unlikely to carry out many decapitations. Cadillac, in facing foreign rivals such as Acura and Lexus, enjoys advantages in power and price. Overall, the Eldorado Touring Coupe’s feel and performance have the edge on Lincoln’s stylish Mark VIII, America’s other homeboy luxury coupe. Cadillac is also intent on getting a better grip on the road. Whether it can get a choke hold on its color committee is up for debate.VERDICT: Big but not all goofy, and faster than spit on a griddle.CounterpointsI was no fan of this Eldorado when it first appeared. Its angular lines seemed discordant and anachronistic, and its driving experience was fully unremarkable. But with the addition of the Northstar engine, I’m coming around on the Eldo. The ETC leaps off the line like a mid-sixties GTO and pushes on to a 148-mph top end. Moreover, it accomplishes these feats with remarkable aplomb, considering its winter-friendly front-drive layout. I still don’t care much for the Eldo’s styling, but it’s looking better and better to me from the driver’s seat. —Csaba CsereWhen the Seville/Eldorado platform arrived in 1992, the four-door stole the limelight and the conservative coupe was left standing in the shadows. This year, cousin ETC muscles to the fore with aggressive styling tweaks and a host of details refinements. It is quieter and more powerful, and its body is a bit stiffer—all of which makes this a much stronger contender in the luxocoupe wars. What it still lacks relative to the SC400 coupe is ride compliance. Cadillac chassis refinements to date have brought us from CCR to RSS and now ICCS—the next one should be TNFWC, for Tire, Not Filled With Concrete. —Frank MarkusSophisticated and powerful V-8 coupes sit near the top of my wish list. On paper, the Eldorado should qualify. Yet the most profound feeling I could muster for the most recent base Eldo was ambivalence. The problem was the styling, which tried to be both sporty and formal and ended up neither. This ETC, however, is an ambivalence eraser. The smoother, dechromed flanks look integrated and suitably aggressive, and the galloping Northstar V-8 is better than ever. Now if Cadillac would only get rid of that awkward “ETC” on the trunk, a badge that other drivers will point at and snicker about for years to come. —Don Schroeder
SpecificationsSpecifications
1995 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door sedan
PRICE

Base/As Tested: $43,132/$45,626
Options: chrome wheels, $1195; Delco/Bose sound system upgrade, $972; electronic compass, $100; luxury tax on
options, $227.
ENGINE
DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 279 in3, 4565 cm3
Power: 300 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 295 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm
TRANSMISSION
4-speed automatic
CHASSIS

Suspension, F/R: multilink/multilink
Brakes, F/R: 10.9-in vented disc/11.1-in disc
Tires: Goodyear Eagle GA M+S
P225/60ZR-16
DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase: 108.0 in
Length: 202.2 in
Width: 75.5 in
Height: 53.6 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 54/46 ft3
Trunk Volume: 15 ft3
Curb Weight: 3808 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS

60 mph: 6.4 sec
1/4-Mile: 14.8 sec @ 95 mph
100 mph: 16.3 sec
130 mph: 32.0 sec
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.5 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 3.1 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 3.9 sec
Top Speed (drag ltd): 148 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 184 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.80 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY

Observed: 19 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
City/Highway: 16/25 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED
Source: caranddriver.com