1988 Cadillac Eldorado | Retro Review

Was the '88 Eldorado classy enough to pull it off?
Show 717 | Original Airdate 01-21-1988

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[austinfrazier]

GM has been “reorganizing” for the past 50 years😂

[ouch]

Ah, the fringe on that jacket. I remember those days

[TheBrowncoat]

Remember when 155hp out of a V8 was “healthy”? How times have changed.

[fransb]

155hp from a 4.5 liter. But a big wallop of torque for wafting along.

[pdennis]

That generation Eldorado looked like a dressed up Cutlass Calais

[davidaubin]

4:47 John: MAYBE CADILLAC WILL GIVE US A COUPLE OF SEAT SIDE BOLSTERS NEXT YEAR! LOL

[DrizzleDarth]

This man got a helmet on for a 17.9 sec 1/4 mile

[AnthonyPsomas]

Had a 90 Eldo in that champagne color with a brown cloth carriage top. My aunt ordered it that way. I drove it from 25k miles when I got the car from her and ran it to almost 190k miles and sold it. Wasn’t a bad car except I was never the biggest fan of the smaller Eldo. Ran great and everything worked well. That review was a throwback for me.

[ericbritton]

I always like this model Eldorados, especially in a custom build rare convertible ones. We as H-town houstonians in S.L.A.B culture. We take this 1988 Eldorado, put a burgandy candy paint, wired 30 spokes wheels with vouge tires, leather peanut butter interior with a custom sound system and a screen two din radio setup, a prominent grille with a lady ornament on top, and a fifth wheel continental kit on the back with chrome belt buckles on the trunk.

[Chitwn]

And to think; all Cadillacs today focus on beating BMW and Audi and Mercedes so its Recaro seats, analog gauges, side bolsters, firm handling, and 660hp monster v8 engines in the V-series Blackwing. All the things John Davis, and other reviewers complained about 30 years ago which forces Cadillacs hand, and Cadillac is no better off really. Luxury has long been gone since the demise of the dts and xts. Sure, they get respect in the horsepower community but we wish for a soft riding Eldorado or Fleetwood Brougham with cushy seats that can take the pressure off aging spines and backs.

[rudiknaus]

Nice, but the 1991 is the best choice for this series..🇺🇸

[aaryeshg.]

5:13 the odometer mileage is 666. Lmao

The seats lacking side bolsters is weird imo. The soft padding (which makes it comfy) is nice however.

You can have seats that are comfy and hold you in place in corners. It already rides like a cloud over crappy surfaced roads which is the best thing yet.

[OLDS]

Thank you so much for this GM review. GM was going through some lean times back then. They upgraded this generation to add a little length to make it appear longer. The 1992 upsized Eldorado was in the works at that time. The 4.5 liter V8 was a vast improvement over what came before. The 4.5 went to 4.9 liters and gained more power. Sadly, the Northstar V8 was a let down. All the E Body cars were redesigned by 1992. Eldorado got the slight upsizing in 1988, the Buick Riviera grew 12 inches loner in 1989, Oldsmobile Toronado was redesigned and made much longer for 1990. I own a 1992 and it is longer and wider. The Eldorado got the Touring Coupe with the seats John mentioned. Eldorado was redesigned for the 1992 model years where it was longer and wider. It actually stopped Cadillac from producing Coupe DeVille because they were too similiar in size. The 1992 redesin does not use the Northstar V8. Some of the 1993's do not either. You can find a 1992 or 1993 without a Northstar V8.

[LrulestheworldM]

It's pretty crazy to me that the Quad 4 was putting down more horsepower than a v8 caddy at the time. No wonder so many people opted for that option. Even the 3800 v6 in the toronado was putting down better numbers with less cylinders. For shame.

[GoodBeat]

I would still get the Lincoln Mark VII LSC.

[daviddaniel]

I fell in love with that version Eldorado 1989 was even better, I dreamed of having a bright red and white Biarritz coupe, but my father wasn't going to spend thirty-two grand which was what it was going for at the time.

[tonychavez]

The 90’ models with the 4.9L were beasts. More than enough power.

[Cheezwizzz]

I always liked how the deck lid cut into the C pillar, looks like a big 70’s Caddy from the rear

[hellkitty]

Ahh yes, the Roger & Me era of GM. They allowed Cadillac to just phone it in. The Brougham kept the traditionalists coming in, but the cars overall were just so underbaked and not deserving of the Cadillac nameplate, especially if you grew up like me and your old man had a REAL Caddy.

Funny, the brand certainly struck gold with the Escalade and their V-Series performance sedans, but they never seemed to recapture their top-dog status in the flagship sedan or coupe market.

[Romiman]

1:10 Look at the fit and finish, the gaps between hood, lamp, fender or the panel below the lamp...
And this was called "the standard of the world"...