Where each one leads

Cadillac Eldorado

• Against cars of the same year, the Cadillac Eldorado comes out better in New York safety inspections (fails 26% less often than average) than the Toyota Tercel (fails 48% more often than average).

Toyota Tercel

• On Canada's official test the most frugal 1999 Toyota Tercel uses 8.2 l/100 km, the 2002 Cadillac Eldorado 12.5.

Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare

At a glance

	Cadillac Eldorado	Toyota Tercel
Model years in the US safety record	1981–2002	1981–2000
On the road in the Netherlands	300	—
In traffic in Finland	189	—

EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).

Reliability and problems

	Cadillac Eldorado	Toyota Tercel
New York safety inspections failed	1.0%	2.0%
… against cars of the same year	−26%	+48%
US owner complaints	204	320
Most complaints about	Fuel system, gasoline	Air bags
Model year with most complaints	1996 (31)	1995 (51)
US recall campaigns	23	2
Manufacturer service bulletins	1,320	497
NHTSA defect investigations	25	12

Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).

Fuel, emissions and price

	Cadillac Eldorado	Toyota Tercel
Official combined fuel use, Canada	12.5 l/100 km (2002)	8.2 l/100 km (1999)
Average odometer in Finland	83,000 km	—

Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).