Seville Vs bimmer

[axlon]

From today's perspective do you think the original Seville was a good buy next to imported competition from Mercedes, BMW?

Caddy Seville (206 inches long, 4,300 lbs) $12,479 180 hp, 0-60 mph 11.5 Vs BMW 530i (190 inches long, 3,300 lbs) $9,187 176 hp, 0-60 mph 8.7 seconds.

Seville




Vs


e12 530i

[Robert Hall]

Interesting...the Seville was a radical departure for Cadillac in the mid '70s...but it was still way too heavy and large to be a legit competitor for the 5-series of the day (which was cheaper, lighter, faster, and undoubtably a better handler). Today's STS is much better matched to a comparable 5-series of today, IMHO, though comes up short in some aspects (lack of a manual transmission option).

[Nick]

I'll try to keep my BMW bias at bay, but isn't it obvious that the 5er is the better car? Now, maybe the seville as far as options and overall "cushi-ness" may have won out, but as far as performance and price judging by the specs you listed, the BMW is superior....I guess the Seville would probably compete better with whatever MB produced at the time...

[Robert Hall]

I'll try to keep my BMW bias at bay, but isn't it obvious that the 5er is the better car? Now, maybe the seville as far as options and overall "cushi-ness" may have won out, but as far as performance and price judging by the specs you listed, the BMW is superior....I guess the Seville would probably compete better with whatever MB produced at the time...

Yes, the Cadillac was definitely more of a cushy luxury car (albeit in a smaller form than the battleship Cadillacs of the day)...not remotely a nimble sports sedan like the BMW... it would probably compare more favorably with a Merc S class, though I think the Merc 450SEL was the best all around luxury car of the mid to late '70s...(it's the one I would want had I been in the market in 1975). Edited September 10, 2005 by moltar

[Dsuupr]

The BMW is more of what people would be looking for today. Though back then the Seville was the choice car (not my choice ofcourse).

[z28luvr01]

Dsuupr said it best. The Seville was more in line with American tastes back then.

[LosAngeles]

Two different universes. The Seville was still a big car...it was only a compact in the fact that the Americans were trying to start downsizing. Not to mention it was clearly a luxury and Cadillac wasn't even thinking of Mercedes yet, let alone BMW. Don't know how I would have felt about a 70's Benz back then, but these days I find them boring and not that pretty (of course I'm thinking from a customizer's point of view) The 5-series of that time period may have a BMW intermediate (evenabig car with the 7 yet to be created), but they had yet to become one of America's tastemakers in size or luxury, so that was basically an expensive European small car to non-enthusiasts. I couldn't imagine being my age now in the 70s, knowing what would get ready to happen for the next 30 years. I suppose the Seville would have been my choice, as that's also among cars I like today....

[Drew Dowdell]

That BMW just looks like a bland, eurocar that isn't even in the same class as the Seville. It has no presense. In the Seville you have arrived. In the BMW you simly got there.

Put the BMW next to any other euro car of the same vintage and it is completly anonymous. That it handles great is simply an interesting footnote, it doesn't make it a luxury car. Corvettes handles great also.

1979 Volvo


1979 Saab


Bimmer

[LosAngeles]

That BMW just looks like a bland, eurocar that isn't even in the same class as the Seville.  It has no presense. In the Seville you have arrived. In the BMW you simly got there.

Put the BMW next to any other euro car of the same vintage and it is completly anonymous.  That it handles great is simply an interesting footnote, it doesn't make it a luxury car. Corvettes handles great also.

1979 Volvo


1979 Saab


Bimmer

[post="12270"][/post]

And then there's this:

The Rover Vitesse.

[bobo]

My parents had one of those original Sevilles. It was a car that they had aspired to. BMWs and Mercedes were a little too exotic back then. The '76 to '79 Seville were more in keeping with American tastes than the foreign vehicles, and was much less bargelike than the Fleetwoods and DeVilles, but it had all the luxury. The following generation of Seville, the bustleback from '80 to '85, should have gone even more international, but unfortunately it just became a niche boutique car. It wasn't until the following generation, the mini-Seville, with the STS sub-model, that there were hints of becoming a serious contenter to the foreign competition. The next Seville, from '92 to '96, was more in line of what the Seville should have been from the second generation.

[balthazar]

Cadillac definately was thinking of mercedes in the '70s, as there were a number of internal and publication comparisons (in specs, anyway). And I have to agree with Oldsmoboi; the Seville was a big hit that definately caught the attention of mercedes & bmw (after all, Cadillac was at it's historical & dominating sales high in the late '70s). \

In the late '70s, mercedfes & bmw were changing very quickly to become more & more Cadillac-like (or suited to the American luxury buyers tastes, if you prefer). merceds & Cadillac at least competed very well together then, Cadillac in general equalling or exceeding mercedes of the same price class in performance.

BTW- no one in the mid-70s looked in the luxury class for handling, and those that claimed to and bought the 5-series were a miniscule minority.

Also- the mercedes of today is a lot closer in execution & intent to the Cadillac of yesterday than the mercedes of yesterday.

The Seville is the nicest & most appealing luxury car of the mid- to late-70s, IMO.

[pow]

Some more years...

1989


[img]http://www.stancy.ehc.hu/caddy%203.jpg

1997
[img]http://static.worldnow.com/nctd/images/cars/99bmw540i.jpg[/img]
[img]
[img]http://www.ifcu.com/images/repos/repos_files/Cadillac%20Seville.jpg[/img]

[Robert Hall]

Some more years...

1989



1997

I love those E34 and E39 BMWs...probably my favorite Bimmers overall besides the E36 M3.

[frogger]

Damn that 89 Bimmer is nice.

[Flybrian]

Give me the Cadillacs any day. I like the smoother ride and loads of gadgets that actually have a purpose.

[Drew Dowdell]

Same here fly....


and I can cherry pick also:





Which one of those is the one that tells people you've arrived and which one is some quirky professor at a liberal arts college car?

This one is an easy choice for me:






Bangle... or beautiful?

[Robert Hall]

The current 5-series is growing on me... I never did warm up to the Bangled 7, but I'm liking the 5....the availability of a manual makes the 5-series my choice in a midsize performance-oriented luxury sedan... As far as the '70s/80s models, the older 5 series had a crisp, clean efficiency about them...they weren't luxurious in the old-fashioned sense, but they were the serious driver's choice for a sports sedan--a car that emphasized handling and overall performance and drivability.. That '80s Seville with the white walls and faux wires just looks so gaudy and tacky..(probably appealed to older buyers, though, the same way my dad had his Town Cars with white walls and the padded top throughout the '80s). I think to older generations, a Cadillac or Lincoln truly said 'you've arrived', but to my demographic (30 something, well-educated professionals, in suburbia) a BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes says that and more... Were I at the age I am now (35) then, I'd probably have been driving a 5-series....(I was reading Road & Track then--ever since age 7!). Edited September 11, 2005 by moltar

[pow]

Same here fly....
and I can cherry pick also:





Which one of those is the one that tells people you've arrived and which one is some quirky professor at a liberal arts college car?

This one is an easy choice for me:




Bangle... or beautiful?

[post="12647"][/post]

Bangle-beautiful, of course. And in this day and age, that '78 5-series seems much more classy than that Seville. Where are the wire wheels, gold paint, vinyl roof, and hydraulics? IMO, of course.

[Nick]

I completely agree with empowah. Those old Caddys are just too gaudy for my taste...

[Flybrian]

I would argue that Cadillac is far more refined than this Bimmer.I'm not speaking of stodgy styling motiffs, but merely its 'put-togetherness.'


Cheap exterior rubber molding, tacked-on foglamps, not to mention the chintzy-looking interior. Granted, most midlevel imported luxury cars from the '80s had likewise lousy interiors like midlevel domestics.

If you ask me, the 5er was for the guy who wanted a sports sedan with a little bit of luxury while the Seville was for the guy who wanted a luxury sedan with a little bit of sport.

Still, show me the Caddy.

[LosAngeles]

The warring factions of bias are having one hell of a battle.

[balthazar]

RE the bmw above: FlyBri you're right on the money. It's an 'econocar' in the luxury car field: dangling fogs, lots of exterior plastic, poorly integrated bumpers, exposed wipers, archaic round headlights, giant afterthought signals... some of it is due to 'styling' while some is just trying to catch up to modern hardware & integration standards. The whole package just comes off (within the segment) as cheap & dated.

[Nick]

you can't compare the two cars...the caddy couldn't hold a candle to the bimmer as far as performance, and the bimmer couldn't really hold a candle to the caddy as far as luxury. These are two premium vehicles attracting to different premium markets...one being the premium sports sedan, the other being the premium luxury sedan. The fact that there is a comparison between these two is kind of unfair because they are totally different vehicles. Bimmers were never really that much of luxury vehicles more than they were premium sports cars.

[LosAngeles]

Come on, Nick, you speak as if a 76 530i was right up there with a Ferrari 288GTO. Though it's going both ways, with folks speaking of a 75 Nova-based Seville like it's a Rolls. Both cars did what the manufacturer intended and were never meant to be compared to one another.

[frogger]

According to the first post, the Caddy was 35% more expensive than the BMW, so this comparison isn't very fair.