cheap STS

[philoldsmobile]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1998-CADILLAC_W0QQitemZ320194909090QQihZ011QQcategoryZ18301QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1998-CADILLAC_W0QQitemZ320194909090QQihZ011QQcategoryZ18301QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


prob good for a good few more miles yet, too..

[55starchief]

Thats hardly a massive mileage

[philoldsmobile]

yeah, i'd expect that to do 300,000 miles without too much trouble.

[art b]

money pit...?
4k for a gear box rebuild,electrical niggles bland lookin car,

[Roadkill]

Quoting: art b

bland lookin car

They're good cars, don't get me wrong . . . but I prefer the Seville of the same age (fronts were better looking) or the Eldorados (VERY nearly brought one once).

Good price, though.

[55starchief]

Quoting: art b

bland lookin car

says the person who has bought a japanese omega estate

[Titsy]

Fook there heavy cars.... 1800kg curb weight... no wonder the 300bhp NorthStar is held back to a mear 7secons 0-60mph...

[HardRockCamaro]

It's the FWD that kills the 0-60 not so much the weight.  It weighs almost as much as a BMW 740i but is slower to 60 even with the BMWs longer gearing due to the FWD.  It scrabbles like hell even with traction control, and pulling onto a wet roundabout quickly in the wet is proper tricky...

Once it's rolling properly it hauls serious arse.  3rd gear (which it hits at about 75mph) is the real killing gear.

Mercedes 600SL, BMW 750i, BMW 540i, Mercedes CLK55 AMG, Jaguar XJ Sport, Subaru WRX etc etc have all been seen off by my STS from a roll.

The *only* car that has beaten it comfortably is the Audi RS6.


Looks wise, aside from the centre stop lamp and exhausts I'm not so keen on the rear.  I love the egg crate grills up front, and I think it has a very chiselled look to it.  It can look bland though depending on colour, angle etc.


The problem with them is the cost of repairs.  Being a prestige car that cost 40K the parts cost when you'd expect them to, moreso if it's a RHD specific part.  £260 for the drivers side door mirror glass, £340 for a fuel pump, £400 for an alternator etc.  There's a lot of electrical stuff to go wrong too and trouble shooting it with a multi-meter is not possible as it uses a computer network to communicate between modules.   The transmission is very strong, and I do mean *very*.  The only weak point on the car is the engine headgaskets and if they let go it's a £3,000+ job.  So its very much a cross your fingers and hope nothing goes wrong kind of car.
Fuel economy wise I get 16mpg commuting through London and 30mpg on the motorway.  I'd say overall with my pattern of driving I'm getting about 22mpg.

But, that said, I *love* mine.
It is the finest car I've ever been in much less driven.
It's super comfortable and quiet, there's nothing like it for eating up miles.
And when you nail it my god does it shift!!!  but then you back off and it's back to cruising in silence again.  It's a real stealthy hotrod.
The handling isn't great, the springs are just too soft, the brakes are woeful and the steering is too damped.  But for normal driving one of that matters.
I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't like the car having been in it.  Even my dad who hates American cars loves it.  Friends who don't like American cars and especially wouldn't like a Cadillac and certainly see it as an old mans barge are amazed at how comfortable and powerful it is.
The problem I have is that if I decide to sell it in a couple of years, what the hell do I replace it with that's does what it does better???


FYI: The STS is a Seville, it's just the trim level.  It had a facelift in 1997, prior to that it was squarer looking (the same front as the Eldorado) but you didn't get the fancy dash gauges and so on.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

The STS is a Seville, it's just the trim level. It had a facelift in 1997, prior to that it was squarer looking (the same front as the Eldorado)

That's kinda what I thought.

It'd have to be a LHD, for me, though, as you say RHD parts are silly prices.  I was speaking to a guy on the Modified Cadillac FOrum about it and he was shocked to find that the same parts for a RHD-spec car were in some cases ten times the price (and then some).

[HardRockCamaro]

Indeed.

RHD drivers door mirror glass - £260
LHD drivers door mirror glass - £60

[HardRockCamaro]

If there's nothing wrong with that car then at 2k it's an absolute steal!!!!!

What 1998 vintage V8 American car can you get for 2k?!?!

As far as I know you can't even get a 98 v6 Mustang for that...


The Caddy major service interval is 100,000 miles so you'd want evidence that it's had it and all Caddy parts have been used.

[Roadkill]

Gotta get better then 14.7 MPG around town, too, right ?

[Motorama]

Looks very cheap to me and worth a gamble at that price. If i hadnt just bought a LPG F150 to use over the winter i'd snap it up, i just dont have the room.
I would say you could smoke around in that for a few months, clean it up, market it properly and earn £500 come the spring.

[art b]

Quoting: 55starchief

says the person who has bought a japanese omega estate

true,
 BUT  ...one that probably at 40k, wont need a new gearbox, head gasket, 2 + 4wd, 240 bhp,much less of a gamble than a caddy barge  and shed loads of room all as cheap as chips...

[HardRockCamaro]

2k is absolute rock bottom for an STS which is why I'm suspicious.

I'd expect to pay at least 3k for an STS in that condiiton with that mileage.  If it had 70k on the clock I'd say it was worth 4k assuming nothing wrong with it and good condition.


If there is nothing wrong with it it's the best bargain I've ever seen at 2k.

[art b]

2k does set alarm bells ringing,

good for parts, worth more broken id imagine...

[HardRockCamaro]

A replacement radio from Bauer Muppets is over £700+vat

Admittedly you can source a compatible unit in the USA for about £300.


The rear centre brake light strip is about $400 in the USA.


So there's a lot of money in parts there, and owners in the UK would not want to pay full list for bits so there's a potential market.
But I doubt total sales of the STS in the UK even hit 4 digits so possibly not a big enough market to bother with...

[art b]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Bauer Muppets

[Roadkill]

If I hadn't brought the Eldo a couple of months back as my Winter hack I might consider stretching to it . . . .

They ain't pretty in that colour, though are they ?

[Motorama]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

2k is absolute rock bottom for an STS which is why I'm suspicious.

I'd expect to pay at least 3k for an STS in that condiiton with that mileage. If it had 70k on the clock I'd say it was worth 4k assuming nothing wrong with it and good condition.


If there is nothing wrong with it it's the best bargain I've ever seen at 2k.

A very clean 99 model in Silver with black leather, full history and only 60k miles sold up the road from me for just £2400 last week. I nearly bought it my self but again didnt have the room.

Now petrol has gone over a £1 a litre people are shying away from big engined cars. We all know there not that bad if driven sensibly but the masses think all V6's and V8's are big time gas guzzlers

[art b]

Quoting: Motorama

Were all daft enough to think there not too bad, if driven sensibly but the masses think all V6's and V8's are big time gas guzzlers

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Motorama

A very clean 99 model in Silver with black leather, full history and only 60k miles sold up the road from me for just £2400 last week.

Now this I may've been interested in.

RHD or LHD ? . . . . I really don't like RHD "yanks" . . . .

[Motorama]

Quoting: Roadkill

I really don't like RHD "yanks

Me neither, but those STS's are really nice cars to drive and when they are that cheap i can live with it for a while.

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Motorama

A very clean 99 model in Silver with black leather, full history and only 60k miles sold up the road from me for just £2400 last week.

Holy c***!


Looks like mine is worth less than I thought now then.  As above but a 2000 model with 36,000 on the clock.
No matter, they can't get much cheaper and I have no intention of selling it any time soon (he says after just driving it this afternoon and enjoying it immensely).

At those prices it makes a lot of the imported cars looks like bad value then.  Why buy a V6 maro (except for looks) for more money than a newer STS?

It's funny how people go crazy over petrol prices, I filled the Caddy up today from almost bone empty and it cost me £65.  When I first bought it over 2 years ago it cost me £60 to fill.  Doing the UK average of 1,000 miles a month inb it (which I don't) that means just under a tank a week so it costs an extra £20 a month.  My broadband package at home has dropped £8 since then so in terms of hitting my pocket, what's £12 a month more?  That's so small as to be unnoticeable imho.  If I was that desperate I could make it back by buying one less pint of beer a week...

Sometimes I think people need to actually get some perspective...


And no green is not a nice colour on an STS.
Personally I prefer silver or black.

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Motorama

Quoting: Roadkill
I really don't like RHD "yanks


Me neither, but those STS's are really nice cars to drive and when they are that cheap i can live with it for a while.

Indeed I prefer LHD as it's different and so makes the car feel more special and "genuine".
But the car is *so* nice as Motorama says, I couldn't care less.  My only issue with it is the cost of RHD parts.  In fact, as a daily driver the reality is that RHD is more useful, going through toll booths, car park ticket machines, overtaking stationary buses etc.

I'm just glad it's an actual Cadillac made in the USA as opposed to a Cadillac BLS which aside from being RHD is actually a SAAB and is made on this side of the pond...