Talk:Cadillac Allanté
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I have edited the build sequence to get rid of the eronious two way flight that has been poping up in ads for the car. The page needed help. The rest of it looks good. Source material courtesy of the Allante Club of America at www.allante.com . GlencoombeGlencoombe
[edit] Digital instruments
Aside from FWD, the other thing I remember the car magazines knocking the Allante for was its digital instrument panel, which had problems with becoming unreadable with the top down and the sun behind the car. Was it LED or vacuum fluorescent? GM was in the middle of its digital instrument panel period at the debut of the Allante, using them in the Cimarron (with V6 option), Corvette, even the garden variety S-10 and S-15 trucks. The Cimarron and S series trucks used VF panels, ISTR the Corvette used LED.
[edit] Innovative Features
This article is seriously lacking detail on all the technology and innovation that made the Allante such a unique auto. There's no mention of the "high-performance" Teves hydraulic pump/accumulator brake system (dropped as a cost reduction in '93 for a traditional system). Plus ABS as standard in '87. The multiplexed lighting system that would substitute nearby exterior lamps when a filament was out and alert the driver (also dropped for '93). The fully-integrated Bose stereo (started at 150w with cassette in '87, upgraded to 200w in '90). Also one of the first with a built-in compact disc player, standard.
Digital instruments were standard (and extremely readable in bright sunlight due to a reflective LCD technology unlike the other GM makes of the time) with Analog instruments as a no-cost option. As tastes changed, analog shipped as standard making digital an option. Both gauge packages are interchangeable, though the odometer of the analog package is electronically actuated-mechanical. The ECM also maintains mileage in EPROM.
The analog package included a Volt gauge the digital lacked. That being said, Voltage and every other system perameter was accessible from the dot-matrix Driver Information Center. Like the touch-screen Trofeo and Riviera of the time, system outputs (such as EGR valves, fan relays and injector drivers) could be commanded as an over-ride for troubleshooting. Cylinders could be deactivated from the driver's seat to pinpoint a weak spark plug or offending ignition wire.
For the first several years of production, every Allante shipped with a matching removable hardtop. In the last years of production the tops were an option as many convertible-climates had no use for the hardtop.
The sequential 4.5L featured a magnesium tuned-port intake and more agressive cam that was a much better match for the vehicle than the early 4.1L powerplant.
Slightly exotic for a domestic car at the time, both hood and trunk were stamped from aluminum (as was the hardtop). Also unheard of at the time were express-down power windows and retained-accessory power cancelled by opening a door. The Allante never had keyless entry but all doors could be unlocked from the trunk or other lock cylinder by two turns of the key.
The Allante was lampooned for keeping its manually operated top in the final years of production while competitors had gone to fully automatic. Cadillac added electric pull-down motors to make the top "semi-automatic" for the 90 1/2 onward models. No mention that the early models were criticized for leaky soft tops and a slightly awkward method of stowage which gradually was improved.
As was mentioned, the final year of production (1993) gained the Northstar engine but cost cutting measures eliminated standard features like the Bose stereo, Recaro seats, multiplex lighting and added a standard brake system. The buckets were replaced with softer Eldorado seats with cupholders.
GM designed a retractable hardtop design for 1994 and photos of the prototype exist, but as the Allante program continued to lose money the project was axed, citing a decline in sales of personal coupes/convertibles (see also Reatta, Toronado, Riviera). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.43.65.245 (talk) 18:43, August 28, 2007 (UTC)
