The Cadillac Allante Was a Quirky, Interesting Failure 

Hoovie, December 11, 2019: "It's so weird that, really, the only person who would like this is Doug DeMuro, just because...just because it's so weird." Doug, Sept. 1. 2020: "THISSSS…."

"These videos don't do as well as others..." I watch your channel for these kinds of cars. Interesting, weird, exciting cars that marked an era and sparked our interest in the industry, whether they were good or bad. And cars that theoretically I could buy right now. Honestly, I've been skipping all videos with expensive sports cars and exotics as of late. Understanding my reality, I now know it's a world I will never belong to.

As a European we didn't had all those US cars!! Please continue doing reviews of 79-90s us cars, it's a piece of automotive history unknown to some! I love them

“A Quirky, Interesting Failure”. That will be the title of my memoirs

"they don't get that many views"? These crazy old cars are the only ones I watch.

That new Doug Score animation caught me off guard

The gauge cluster is actually pretty cool. The huge stack of buttons and screens off to the right seems to simulate the radio stack in an airplane, furthering the aircraft theme from the gauges

*I love Hoovies rant on the North Star and car journalists in the 80’s.*

My dad was a Cadillac guy and had a friend who owned a Cadillac dealership. Consequently, my dad got several Allantes as service loaners over the years between 91 and 93. I was in high school and college at the time and got to enjoy driving all of them. I remember how easily the Allantes would chirp the front tires! I also remember struggling to get the top to latch at the boot on one of the cars. As long as everything was working properly, I could get the top up and down pretty quickly. All of the Allantes I've driven had the optional analog gauges. The digital gauges were certainly ahead of their time. I'm impressed the ones in your test car all appeared to work. Personally, I've never minded having a myriad of buttons. Beats having to dig through a bunch of touchscreen menus, as far as I'm concerned. I did not remember the turn signal indicator quirk you pointed out. Reminds me of an old Volkswagen! You criticized the shifter, but your test car did not have the proper shifter for a '93. Yours is from an earlier model. The third brake light DID have a Cadillac logo on it. Looks like it just got worn down or polished off from your test car. Therefore, when the brakes came on, the Cadillac logo as well as the "Cadillac" and "Allante" script were all meant to light up. I've always thought these were handsome cars. The styling set the direction for the other Cadillacs that would follow, specifically the '92 Seville and Eldorado. It's hard to understate how right you are about GM at the time. Killing the Allante right when it got the right powertrain was such a classic GM move. Heck, they just did it again with the Cadillac CT6 Blackwing! Thanks for the review.

“Constantly refining a car until they finally get it to where it should have been when it first came out then discontinuing it” Perfect description of the Pontiac Fiero, this, and probably a shit ton of other 80s/90s GM cars

Prediction: In the future Doug will do more 70s cars when he starts running low on quirky 80s and 90s cars....this may be a long long time from now though.

Hey, the car from Married with Children, Kelly: the neeeeeeew Allante

Oldsmobile at that time: we have touchscreens Cadillac: *may I offer you a set of gold keys in this trying time*

Allante:" Good Morning" The time: 12:07PM

The "Gold Key" was actually the name of the Cadillac program for service and sales excellence. That fact you got gold colored keys was just driving the point home.

13:00 "When the Twilight Sentinel system is activated: Upon detecting lowered light levels, your center console will fly open, and a unicorn, named Twilight Sentinel, will jump out, smack you upside the head, and yell "It's dark! Turn on your headlights, *YOU DWEEB!!!* ", and then promptly return to the magical portal from whence he came. This is normal, and to be expected. NOTE: Please do not attempt to keep the unicorn. He's insufferable about overtime."

My favorite thing about these is that every one of them has flown on a 747. I haven’t even flown on a 747.

6:08 "What exactly is...normal??" I ask myself that every day in 2020

Doug: "Flooring it here. W o w, this is actually pretty quick." (Gets completely bamboozled by a base level BMW)

THIS... is still my favorite youtube channel in ages.

"the Cadillac allante was a quirky, interesting failure" Same, Cadillac allante, same

24:24 well that's about the most undoug-like editting I've ever seen!

When I saw these, back in the day, I wondered when Chevy started making convertible Cavilers.

Man I love those retro digital gages. And the Buick Reatta's too. I wish they still designed them like that.

Customer:" I'm not sure I like this car." Salesman:" In 2020, a man you've never met, on a social media platform that doesn't currently exist, will talk about it's quirks and features. You cant put a price on that" Customer:"🤔

I love how Doug while driving cars , checks out other cars on road , marks of a car enthusiast

Those types of videos are my favourite from Doug, because you can see he really does that because he likes it and not because it's his job.

Biggest quirk of the Northstar: the starter is under in intake manifold.

Someone: How do you spell orange? Doug: The color, or the fruit?

The way Doug says "Allante!!" is just...wonderful.

This brought back great memories Doug! My dad had two of these, one was pininfarina designed? And then the ‘93 with the Northstar and the funky instrument command center. BOth black, both lowered I thought they looked muscular as a kid. He also had a ‘72 Panera to balance the scales. I wish he still had any of them!

These videos where Doug explains the backstory and history behind the cars are definitely my favourite videos :)

Fun fact: 90% of Allante's are still on the road today. The rest of them made it to their destination

About that "Driver Information Center": At least they didn't go with the acronym for it. 😅

Doug the type of guy to launch Cars&Bids just to make his intros longer. 🤣

Doug on a date: “So I want to talk turn signals for a second.”

Thank you Cadillac Allante DRIVER INFORMATION CENTER! Now we know this was recorded July 17th at around noon! All thanks to the wonderful DRIVER INFORMATION CENTER!

As the video goes on Doug saying “ALLANTE” gets more and more aggressive.

I remember a removable hard top in this car, back in the days. Was it standard equipment or an option? Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Thank you for yet another fine review!

I honestly really like those gold keys ngl....

"The new Allante!!" Kelly Bundy - Married with Children

It's not Cadillac showing off that Pininfarina designed the car. Every Pininfarina-designed car has their badges in the interior and exterior. They request that in the contract.

I personally love the late 80s early 90s GM videos. As a child of the 80s, someone in my family has owned everyone of the cars you reviewed and it’s like taking a trip back in time. I remember all the quirks you point out, because I lived with them for years.

These are the best videos! Please keep doing these crazy quirky cars Doug!!!

I love how they advertise "You'll leave the dealership with a full tank" For $60,000 I'd hope so.

"yet another General Motors concoction designed to help revive Cadillac" - 30 years later and nothing's changed...

As a young boy, I remember when JR Ewing had one. And I was like "That's hot! I want one." Now, as a middle-age man, I have a Cadillac CTS-V coupe. I guess dreams do come true!

I had a 1994 Cadillac Eldorado TC with a digital dash. I took a trip from NYC to Montreal and it was surprisingly useful to hit the button and switch from US to Metric when we crossed into Canada. Much easier than trying to convert mph to kph in my head.

Kelly Bundy in Married With Children was promoting this car in an episode. “The NEEEEEWWWWW Allante!”

Whoa that new Doug Score intro caught me off guard, but I love it!

I remember seeing a special transport on the interstate for the Allante. It had canvas roof and sides with Allante graphics on the sides, quite a sight at the time.

Quirky, interesting failure sounds like something my mom would call me

Cadillac used the name "Twilight Sentinel" for their automatic headlight system for decades. I remember seeing it on Caddies from the 60's and 70's.

As the Founder of the Allante Owners Assoc I think this is a pretty fair review. He did miss a major point - huge trunk, with door that drops down to make it climate controlled... Golf clubs and luggage for a road trip! - Benz or Jag couldn’t do that. Don’t forget “Terminal Velocity” movie, where they pushed one out of a plane.

Brought Back Memories Doug!👍Mom had the 93 Allante in 92. Traded in a 87 Corvette for it. I was 10 years old. $60,000! Plus $7,000 extra for the removable hard top. Dad had the 93 STS at that time. I figured you would be surprised if you gave it the Beans😎Still waiting for the XLR-V Review. Must be V-Series!✌️GM Forever!👊P.S. Sold the Allante in 96. Got a 97 LX450🤭SmH...

I remember one of the cheerleaders in high school driving one of these to school in 1988. Same color.

The Fiero comes to mind when it comes to GM killing off cars after finally "getting it right".

Doug, Twilight Sentinel is not a control for automatic headlights. It's a timer for how long you want the headlights to stay on after you've shut off the car, so you can safely make it up your driveway and into your house when it's dark out. That's why it says "delay" under the little slider. My '90 Olds Ninety-Eight has the same feature.

I love my 1990 Red Allante. It has a little over 60k miles; garaged and babied. Fun to take it on the road for a twirl. The 4.5 packs plenty of punch. While I know the Northstar ha a bit more power, the reliability on the '90 has been excellent. Also, in '93, Cadillac changed the front seats from a Recarro seat (GREAT seat) to the Eldorado based seat (nice, but a bit corporate). Thanks for reviewing!

Reasons to get the Cadillac Allante: 1. Is Quirky 2. Has features

Every mid level drug dealer in my area had these in the late 80s

There's something about those old-school digital displays that I like better than most modern displays. Probably because they tried to look different and futuristic from analog gauges rather than completely ape them, and they most likely couldn't because the tech was limited at the time. So car companies were forced to be creative with what they had.

I interviewed for a research position with General Motors back in the 1980s. They told me that they actually had a private fleet of aircraft that were specifically designed to carry parts and subassemblies from one GM facility to the other. In fact, the interview question I had was concerning residual magnetism in steel bumpers and how you had to stack them properly otherwise the resulting magnetic field could affect the instruments in the airplane.

Kelly Bundy in Married With Children was promoting this car in an episode. “The NEEEEEWWWWW Allante!

That "f" logo looks like Lord Farquaad's banner from Shrek

I saw one of these last week. Lovely red and looked like it was it’s 4th time out all year. Great condition and had to learn more. Thanks Doug

I loved these review! I’ve always wanted to see the details of this car.

This video is Tyler Hoover-approved.

Doug is the kind of guy to hold the door open for himself and then says "thank you".

Super work Doug! A car I have never heard of that I now appreciate and want!

Yeah, Doug, that’s why you reviews of old cars are so valuable - they can give us a small look on how life looks back then.

New animation for “The Doug’s Score” very cool quirk for the video.

This car is drop-dead gorgeous. Pininfarina did such an awesome job with the styling.

Thank you for the old & extra quirky car reviews, Doug!

Nice touch with the green dumpsters in the background

From now on, I will pronounce this car's name the AGRESSIVE, Doug-ish way. Thank you for your work, Doug. I've always loved this weird Cadillac. It saddens me how underrated it is.

"Northstar...good v8". Also the same steering wheel as a Caprice, and pininfarina also designed the coke freestyle machines.

Isn’t the Northstar V8 one of the worst engines ever in older cars, (according to Hoovies Garage) because it’s prone to catastrophic failures that cost more to repair than the car is now worth??

My doctor had a gold Allante when I was a kid... He loved it, but he confessed that it was a "poor man's SL". He traded it for another FWD Caddy... the former undertaker's 1970 El Dorado. THAT was a cool car. Sadly, it's been in pieces in Doc's garage for years, and probably will be until his daughter inherits it.

I was in high school the year that specific vehicle was sold. My high school was across the street from a Cadillac dealership. One of my high school's alumni was - at the time - a star NBA player. The long (long, LONG) time basketball coach retired in 1993 after 40+ years. At the time he was the winningest high school basketball coach in the state. The NBA player bought him one of these cars from the dealership across the street as a retirement present, drove it in to the gym during the retirement ceremony/assembly. I still remember thinking the name was strange - _"Allante"._ and the gold keys that the NBA player made a big deal of handing over. And yeah, Cadillac of the era was absolutely an "old white man" vehicle.

The external styling reminds me of the Maserati BiTurbo and its descendants, which is a good thing. The long-term reliability of its engine also reminds me of the Maserati BiTurbo, which is not a good thing.

I owned a 1992 model. I watched this because I haven't even thought about it for a long time. Mine was the white diamond color (I think that was the name) it also had a cream leather interior, which was actually very well detailed and durable. It was almost as nice as the interior of my Jag. Mine only had the 200HP engine but it ran great. I don't remember ever being tasked to race a Ferrari. I don't remember having to go though the mess you described with the top. You are correct about the turn signals. I couldn't tell which one was blinking. I guess most of the owners were smart enough to know which way they were turning the wheel, when they hit the switch. The car rolled on specially designed Goodyear tires, which were only available at the dealer. They were very expensive (over $200) at that time but the car handled terribly with any attempted substitution. The Gold Keys were a symbol of the service level provided to owners. I was always instantly provided a high end loaner. It came with a 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and they detailed the car every time it was in the dealer, which wasn't often. It was one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever owned. I currently have two Jaguars and a Porsche. Only the Porsche has been as reliable and I've owned it for fifteen years. I feel like I've just watched someone look for any little tiny thing they could find simply because they didn't want to say something positive. Come to think of it I feel like I just watched an episode of The View!

I do realize in general these videos get fewer views, but i gotta say i'm way more interested in them. Sucks someone you have to focus for quantity in theses cases. Every so often you do drop an 80s-90s car so it's always nice! I'm so eager for when you eventually do a 50-60s car, if you ever!

The Cadillac Allante is just a more expensive Buick Reatta

Doug: Let me show you it's quirks Me: Oh look there is a dog in the background.

Seeing cars like this is the whole reason I subscribed to this channel!

Kelly Bundy: "The neeeew Allanteeeeee!"

“Wow, this car is fast!” Gives it a 2/10 for acceleration. “This car really doesn’t ride all that well.” Gives it a 6/10 for comfort.

Remember the Married With Children episode when Kelly models for “The new Allante”?

Actually a very good looking car with perfect proportions from any angle. It stood the test of time quite well. Pininfarina knows how to design cars.

The Allante was great... for onlookers. It was very stylish on the outside and still looks sharp even today. You can't say that for too many products of the era. As for ownership, however... yeah. Doug pretty much covered it all. Most of the specs sounded good on paper, and we all tragically know that pushing paper was pretty much the only skill most GM execs of the era actually possessed.

Nothing says 80's GM like spring loaded coin holders.

I miss my Allante so much. Honestly I think it's one of the best cars I've ever had and far more reliable than the Northstar Cadillacs I bought. As for the top it gets easier the more you use it. I could get mine up or down in about 8 seconds.

Roos just another great video I wiil watch when the snow flys thanks again

I was going into college when this was in it's run and remember thinking it was a pretty good looking departure from other US cars at the time. And I still think the design holds up.

FYI. The Driver Information Center later became the "DIC" in owners manuals. They gave a brief overview of using your "DIC"

"Looking to sell your car? Cars and Bids will get you the most money!" "Looking to buy a car?" Well be prepared to pay the most i guess lol

My Pop-Pop had one of these. He bought it in the early 2010s. Pearl White with Cream interior. It was museum quality, because he bought it from a museum lol. Really neat car and even got to drive it once coming back from a car show on my birthday.

I don't consider this a failure, I consider this a Pininfarina masterpiece. Also check out that dash, modern cars now a days have a digital dash just like the Allante

All I see...Kelly Bundy saying “The neeeeeew Allante!” on Married with Children