Exhaust gas purifying catalyst

An exhaust gas purifying catalyst, which comprises a substrate and a catalyst coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein

• the catalyst coating layer has:
• an upstream part occupying from an upstream side end of the exhaust gas purifying catalyst to a length within the range from 40% to 60% of the full length of the substrate;
• and a downstream part which is the remaining part of the catalyst coating layer;
• wherein the upstream and downstream parts have different compositions,
• the upstream part comprises a carrier, a 1st noble metal catalyst containing at least Pt or Pd that is supported by the carrier, and a ceria-zirconia composite oxide having a pyrochlore-type ordered array, and
• the downstream part comprises a carrier and a 2nd noble metal catalyst containing at least Rh that is supported by the carrier, wherein
• the ceria-zirconia composite oxide contains at least one additional element selected from the group consisting of praseodymium, lanthanum, and yttrium at 0.5 to 5.0 mol % in relation to the total cation amount, and the molar ratio of (cerium+the additional element):(zirconium) is within the range from 43:57 to 48:52.