Wife wants a Cadillac

Wife saw a nice low-mileage used Cadillac XTS the other day. We drove it- full of bells, whistles, and other gadgets, and it was a very nice ride We can afford it. Anyone have any opinions about Cadillacs? I have tried to research them, and it is very confusing about the differences between the current models. The ATS appears to be the small "cheap" Caddy, the CTS appears to be nearly the same as the XTS.

Gavin,

I went through similar confusion when I was looking for a new car a few years ago. I looked at Cadillac, Mercedes, BMW, and Honda Accords. I got so confused on the Cadillac models and especially the Options. I could not figure out what I wanted or would get ....Too many choices that required other packages, or adding this option deleted a different option, etc and not enough information about what each option was or did ???



I finally settled on the Mercedes because the choices and options were so much clearer and I got a great deal on it.



...Rich

Personally, I would be leery of any GM product right now. :sad:

Guess that is why I can get it so cheap! :grin:

I have had 2 Seville's. The first 1989 had a new engine, the second 1992 the engine blew a head gasket at about 90K miles. 'went to have it replaced and the engine had pulled the head studs before and could not be repaired a second time. I hope the newer cars are better. On a Cadillac forum, I often read about blowing head bolts. The '92 was a great car while it lasted. Folks would stop me on the street to complement it.

Ed

Here is my issue with ALL GM products. Build quality just isn't there and hasn't been there for quite some time and the use of substandard parts is just amazing. One of my tool reps has a 3 year old CTS-V and he says that it's falling apart at the seams. My wife's parents had a 2010 STS and they also had nothing but issues. A very close friend of mine recently purchased an SRX that was a low mileage lease return, had 15,000 miles on it, and guess what....nothing but problems. I honestly don't know how they are staying in business. I wouldn't walk away from a Cadillac.....I'd run like hell

If I were to buy a caddy, this would be it:



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2003 XLR - highly collectible and bad to the bone.

The Cadillac naming system really isn't any more confusing that any other line. The ATS isn't a cheap Caddy, it's a smaller one. The CTS is midsize, and the XTS is the new name for the flagship (they dropped the STS and the DTS). If you look at BMW, they've always had the 3 Series, the 5 series, and the 7 series. That's small, mid, and large. In America, small has meant cheap or entry level, but the BMW 3 series is the most desirable to many BMW fans. This idea is evolving here too; now you can get a small hatchback with leather, Navigation, back up cameras, self-parking, etc. from Ford or Chevy. And you can pay $30,000 for it!



Now look at the complete list of BMWs, you've got the 1 series, the 2 series, the 3 series, the 4 series, the 5 series, the 6 series, the 7 series, and wait for it - the 8 series. They change the name for every nuance; different engine - different model name; coupe instead of sedan - different model name; convertible - different model name; add turbo - different model name.



And Ford? Ford currently has the Fiesta, the Focus, the Fusion, the Mustang, and the Taurus. And who can forget the Escort, the 500, the Probe, the Tempo, the Contour, the Thunderbird, the LTD, the Crown Vic. Or the older models, the Fairmont, the Fairlane, the Maverick, the Mustang II.... Those are just the one's off they top of my head; I'm probably missing several. Plus you can get Mercury versions of all of those, and if you find a similar one in Australia or Europe - well, it's got a different name. Unless it the "world" version, same name but you can get it with a diesel engine.



As far as the current Caddy lineup, I really wouldn't compare an XTS to anything Cadilac made in the early nineties. Hell, that's over 20 years ago! They've won several awards and car magazine reviews in the past several years. They're not for me - but neither is Mercedes, Chevy, Honda, etc. I like Fords, Nissans, and BMWs. Personal tastes and experiences. If you like the Caddy, get a warranty and drive the hell out of it. From what I've read, they're built for it.

I'm not all that crazy about her getting it, but it is long and black, and she is still considering it. The upside is that it is a 4-wheeler, and as scared as she is about driving on snow, ice, and anything else, I am happy she wants to continue with the 4x4/AWD.



For the money, a used Taurus AWD looks pretty damn nice to me.

I used to work for Tier I automotive seating suppliers, and have experience making seats for many of the manufacturers. I recall Ford quality was pretty tough. Chrysler not as tough, but sometimes goofy. GM- we could shit in a box and they would accept it. The Japanese were pretty tough on quality, but they never updated their prints or ECOs so that it was a challenge to keep up with what they wanted when restarting existing production runs. Germans were also demanding, but my experience their processes were usually quite different, and often required different production machinery and materials.

They sure look good.



Does it have to be a rational purchase?



Do you like to say "I told you so?"

If you buy it .Look real close for the made in China tags.........:bwahaha:

Hell, even the Harley Davidsons are covered with "Made in China" tags these days. If China disappeared overnight, we wouldn't have anything!

"If China disappeared overnight, we wouldn't have anything!"



so true ! welcome to our new world

Just buy an extended warranty, at least on the powertrain, because they are pricey suckers to fix and tend to lose head gaskets. My dad's '04 Caddy finally breathed its last about a year ago with 198,000 miles although it got new head gaskets at 130,000. My mom's '99 has exceedingly low miles but lost a head gasket last year. She let it sit for the winter while they were in Florida, didn't want to spend the money to fix it ("I don't drive very far"), it finally died last summer and required an engine rebuild at the dealer for about $6000. Also buy one of the large cookie sheet drip trays to put under it. I got my dad two of them for Christmas a couple years ago. Cadillac hasn't made an engine that didn't leak oil and/or coolant since 1981.