Cadillac STS/STS-V Prices Paid and Buying Experience

Karen_S

Share with others your STS/STS-V purchase experience.

jerrymcshane1

I will as soon as GM gets off its duff and this new D4 gimmick that they just offered to the Cadillac dealers. In essence its a kit that the dealers are supposed to use to sell the STS to the younger, affluent crowd. What they really need is a $10K rebate on the 06' STS's. Then maybe I can input my buying experience with you all.

pearl

At least one Caddy dealer in the Baltimore-D.C. area is still selling NEW 05 models. I remember all the excitement before the STS came out, but this model certainly has not lived up to the early hype, at least in terms of sales.

jerrymcshane1

pearl: The same holds here in Illinois regarding 05' NEW STS's still on dealers lot. The one here has no less than 6 of them. Did you price any of these 05's? If so, what we're they asking?

39cctriple

Have an early 05 STS V6 with the luxury performance package. The original Michelin Pilot V rated tires on the rear were worn out at 18K. The right rear was completely bald. Was able to get an adjustment for a new set. The replacement RR is nearly down to the tread wear indicators at 8K. This is a tire that has a tread wear rating of 300. We normally get 50k out of tires. Has anyone experienced the same problem?

stiles

Was getting a thumping noise at low speed, the dealer
replaced the front cupped tires free of charge with only
10,000 miles on them. He did get me for $100. alignment

maryowens420

Dealer advertised a 05 STS V8 for 35,897. This was about a month ago. It was this particular dealers last one. Went to another dealer where they have at least 6, 3 of which are V8's.

2thdr

I don't see any recent messages in this forum, so I would like to ask if someone would share how much they paid for 2006 STS with nav. with less than 20K miles. I want to pay $28-29K. Thanks.

mrbill50

Here it is, June, 2007... a new STS is right around the corner, and I am here staring out the window at my new '06 STS. I have been considering getting rid of my '04 Chevy Malibu Maxx - I got fed up with the front end/steering rattles, but had no intention of buying anything until I got back to south Florida this fall. And then I came across an ad in the local newspaper here in upstate NY that included 2 leftover 06 Caddys - a DTS and an STS. I drove to the dealership just to look, or so I thought. There in the showroom was a beautiful Infrared STS loaded with nav, Bose stereo - all the toys. The sticker was over $48K. When the smoke cleared I had the car for around $36K - I lost a $1K additional discount because I didn't have a non-GM car in my household - I had transferred my Jeep to my daughter a few weeks before my purchase.
The car is a dream - I never considered that I might be able to own something like this, and I'm loving it. I just hope the new doesn't wear off too soon.
Thanks GM for the $8K rebate - it put be behind the wheel.

Karen_S

A reporter from a large finance magazine is looking to speak to consumers who just purchased a new Cadillac STS. If you’re interested in speaking to the reporter, please contact Chintan Talati at ctalati@edmunds.com with your daytime contact information no later than June 23, 2008.

m4d_cow

Is it true that Cadillacs are a steal in the used car market? I've met a former Cadi salesman who claim that Cadillacs value depreciate big time, making them real killer deals. As an example, he told me that STS and SRX lost at least 40% of its value the first 3 years. DTS even worse, losing almost 50% in 3 years. However he recommend STS when considering cadillac since it has the best quality. If this is true, then I suppose 2ndhand Cadillacs are really worth a look. I'm no fan of domestic brands, but if STSs are that great of a value for money I'd consider it.

I've also seen a few dealers selling NEW??? '06 and '07 STS, but no sticker. So I wonder if its really worth it. Any infos appreciated. Thanks

nimbus

A nearby Caddy/Hummer dealer practically tackled us when we walked in. Likely because we were the only customers. We even found a great deal on a used STS. Ran out of time in the middle of negotiations and had to go to an appointment (to drive a Jag). Asked them to hold onto the car for us till we drove the Jag. Said no problem. After the Jag drive, called them back to say we'd be by in the morning to negotiate terms for the STS. Was informed the salesman was away for the weekend, but that they could hold it till Monday morning if that was alright or we could use another salesman. Said NP - we had stuff to do that weekend and agreed the former would work in with our plans even better. And -stupid us - we liked the salesman with whom we were working.

No doubt you know the punchline to this story. Yep. Monday - after them ducking my calls - they finally responded as I was driving into the dealership - checkbook in hand. They sold the car. No apology, instead I got semi-accusations: "Well you didn't put down a deposit." To which I responded "Did you ask for a deposit? You knew I was paying cash, do you think I would have hesitated to give you a deposit if you'd asked?" To which he mumbled "er...no I guess not. But they were willing to pay the full price (same price quoted me)." I replied "You could have called me and given me first-refusal." To which he was speechless for a moment - maybe they didn't cover that in his training. The following 5 minutes are filled with promises to find another car just like it yadda yadda yadda. And I believed him because I had an email from him promising to "hold the car till monday...no problems. have a nice weekend."? Not so much.

I have attempted to contact the sales manager on this. So far I get "he'll call you back" followed by a lack of my phone ringing. I'm writing a letter before I post back here with the name of the dealership. Curious what upper management has to say. Maybe it was a screwup. If so, "man-up" say so and fix it by finding another car like the first for the same terms. Asking for a deposit would have prevented this, so would just giving me a call to tell me they had another buyer and giving me first crack at the price we discussed (yeah I have a sheet of paper with their offer etc for all the good that does me.) The sales dept was a success in the sense they made the sale, but they failed because they lost another customer in doing it. A sales class instructor once told me when a customer is treated well they tell 2-5 people, but when they feel they have been poorly treated they tell 15-20.

I used to negotiate corporate sales contracts and have a lot of training and hands-on dealing in sales. If this is SOP sales practices there I begin to see why the dealership looked like a ghost-town.

m4d_cow

Wow.... I wonder if I'll get good treatment at the dealership even if I purchase one...
Maybe I should get an 06 CPO Audi A6 instead, cost a bit more (dealer asked for $33k while the STS cost $26k) but Audi's dealership service is likely to be better.

wvgasguy

OK, so I see that GM offers everyone the partner Pricing (which I already had) but now have a $6000 or so dealer cash added to the price. I drive by seeing a white STS with a $46K+ sticker with a red tag sale of $37K+. I'm suddenly interested.

Let me first say how dissapointing it is that the CTS is not big enough for an adult to sit comfortably in the back. I have to pull my knees up and tilt my head to sit in it at all in the back. The STS to my amazement, as big as it looks, is only marginally better. I know why GM and others are hurting.

Anyway, back to the story. I was interested but when I asked about trades, I was informed that since they discount the car so much it would be a wholesale to wholesale price difference.

I understand if I'm dickering against a car that is not getting rebates that high book to high book or low book to low book is maybe a decent deal. But I told him the price on the window is no longer a wholesale price, it's THE price you want for the car regardless if I trade or not. I'm not willing to let them make $6000 on my trade when they are willing to give the new Cadillac away at cost.

I've tried to deal here before but never have gotten a better deal. I thought since they were hungry they might be better. I'm guessing they can all starve for all I care. I've always been able to get a better deal on my clean trades.

Fortunate for me I have a long list of cars I like and even though they are in different price ranges, I simply look for something I like that is a good deal.

Whay can't GM make a domestic car that has the room of a Pontiac G8? (Don't tell me about the DTS_my wife says we are not old enough to drive one of those yet)

cadillacmike

I noticed that nimbus never bothered to show back up. I'm sorry, but you went off to drive another car make and didn't leave any commitment to the dealer. If it isn't written, then it doesn't exist. While not the nicest thing to do that dealer was perfectly within their rights, since you made no written commitment to them on that car, and in fact were not in agreement on a price when you left.

Last month, I had a similar initial situation come up with several STSs of all things. Every dealer i talked to (none were local to me) mentioned me making a deposit in case another buyer came along. I said no thanks, if this one is sold there are 3 or 4 others that meet my criteria.

You saw and drove the car, but were 'negotiating' the price when YOU took off. They get someone willing to pay their quoted price, so they sell it. I don't blame them at all.

And as for wvgasguy, did it occur to you that that 6000 dealer cash (which is NOT 'added to the price of the car' as you stated) might have been reflected in that 9,000 red tag special price?? There is only 3-4000 margin in invoice to MSRP on these cars, more than a 25,000 car, but certainly not the 9,000 on that special price.

You lost out, because the RWD STS is a terrific car.

cadillacmike

Gee, nothing here for over 2 years. Wow I guess STS buyers are too busy for this forum (or too rich to care).

Well, I'm neither, and I have liked the STS ever since it went to RWD in 2004.

But the price scared the bejezzus out of me, especially the NorthStar V8 equipped ones ($56,000 MSRP with no options!). After all I couldn't very well get an STS with the SAME engine as my wife's CTS, that would not do. She would have a lighter car with the same power. No sirree for me it would be a NorthStar or bust. Plus I had a nice Eldorado Convertible with a NorthStar and even though it was FWD, it still rocketed down the road and got great gas mileage when i wasn't stomping on it.

Fast forward a few years to Nov 2011. Wife has a very nice AWD 2008 CTS premium with Chrome CTS 18" wheels. The Eldorado is gone, victim of a crash that got it total lossed. I replaced it with a 1996 Fleetwood (LAST one made, with only 70,000 miles when i bought it in Feb), because i needed a car to tow our boat (I don't do trucks). But I put 15,000 miles on the Fleetwood in 6 months, so i decided to look for a NorthStar equipped STS.

I found out that 2011 was the last year and 2010 was the last year for NorthStars, so i decided that a 2008-2010 would be in order. CPO only, and that cut out most of the 2008s since Nov 2011 made most 2008s already 4 years old, but there were a few. Being very particular on colors, i passed on three 2008s, and a couple 2010s because of color, age, carfax 'issues' and the fact that some cars I found in edmunds-auto-trader were not at Cadillac dealers (thus not CPO). I finally narrowed it down to 3 2009, 2 silver and 1 black, all 150-250 miles away, and none with the ventilated seats. It seems that Avis was a large STS fleet buyer and these were all coming off rental use, but were still CPO eligible. They were all identically equipped, making comparisons easier.

Then i saw what looked to be an early posting on a 4th one. This one looked it had the 18" wheels and they looked chrome, but no info and the dealer, which i planned to go see the following week for one of the Avis cars said he didn't have a second silver 2009 STS. I refused to put a deposit down, because another dealer had a black one with the grey interior and these two looked like beige interiors. But i promised to call the day before i went there.

Sure enough they still had it and the sales rep mentioned that they had another one , the silver one that i saw that he said a week earlier that he didn't have. I guess it was in the back in service, etc. He sand that one would be more, a lot more, because it had this that and the other option. I told him I'd look at both.

It took forever to drive from Orlando to Coral Cadillac in Pompano that afternoon, but i finally got there, and they rolled out the more expensive one that i asked for.

Well it turns out that this car was a Platinum edition, which required that that the car has the $11,000 super option package. Both of these options were not allowed on any fleet orders, making them quite rare. The Platinum package was another $6,500, and the total original MSRP topped out at $75,610 :surprise: Of course that was 3 years & 10 months ago and the STS seems to take a $10,000 hit each year or more in resale value. Platinum ed came with chrome wheels, all leather interior, suede (alacantra) headlings and sunshades, and that fancy stitching that everyone loves about the CTS (I have a 2008 CTS for my wife). Plus that 11,000 option package has every piece of electrionic frippery known to man. so it's better equipped than the best equipped CTS or DTS for that matter, and aside from the V series it was the flagship of the line in 2009 - 2010. The only options it does not have are the engine block heater (I'm in FL!!!), AWD - which after driving the AWD CTS for a year we don't like, and that fancy pearl / chromoflair paint . The silver is just fine.

Since I'm a sucker for chrome wheels (we now have 3 cars with chrome wheels!), i offered $33,500 plus tax and state license costs. With no trade i had to pay the entire sales tax (ouch). but i qualified for Ally 0.9% APR financing so i took 3 years on the financed amount at that rate. The sales rep took my offer without even blinking so i asked him later, how much they made off the deal. He said approx 1500, which is ok by me, especially since he offered to (and did) pay for my rental car drop off and gas to get there, etc.

Oh yeah, the car only had 11,000 miles on it and it was CPO meaning Dec 2014 warranty expiration with 90,000 miles for me to drive all over creation with!

It appears that Edmunds TMV is still showing what most of us users (and several mods) think are too high values. even so, I think i made a good deal. For example tright now TMV on this car shows 37,100 dealer retail and 40,300 CPO. That's too high, and it was not what i paid. What do you all think??

To me it appears that New STS buyers take a SEVERE hit on depreciation, but 2-3 year old ones make a GREAT value to those of us who understand what these care are, especially the platinum edition ones, which represented the very best GM had to offer in 2009-2010. It's probably no wonder they took it out of the line after 2011.

Only issue the past 2 months is the adaptive cruise control not adapting - or doing anything for that matter, but we'll get that fixed.

Did i mention chrome wheels? I love chrome wheels

Kirstie_H

A reporter is working on a story about car technology and is looking for recent or current car shoppers for whom technology was a critical factor. Were you looking to pack your car with as much new technology as possible? Are there special technologies and systems that you care about more than others? And are you at all concerned about the role technology plays with distracted driving? Please send an email with contact information and a brief description of your experience by no later than Sunday, February 5, 2012.