Cadillac STS-V visit with TexasJim in Grapevine

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Ran out to Grapevine Texas to meet with Texas Jim and show him my STS-V.  Jim lives out west somewhere, so Grapevine is 30 miles from me and 35 miles from him more or less.

I managed not to talk to the STS-V Nav system the right way, so Jim actually provided turn by turn navigation to get me in to the parking lot where we planned to meet.  Now I have that spot saved in the nav for another visit.  I love that the STS-V has bluetooth so my pocket cell phone becomes a hands-free phone using the 15 speakers in the STS-V when synced.

I’m still driving the Cadillac around dirty, but he had not seen/Driven the V-Series so I wanted to show & discuss.  When I was test driving the Cadillac CTS-V I had brought it out to show, but because it was a Dealer car I could not offer test drives.  Since the STS-V is my car, I wanted to give Jim a chance to try it out.  He posted his take on the experience here.

Jim’s 2006 Cadillac DTS Performance Sedan still looks great at 100K+ miles.

Jim also took numerous pics of the V.  One feature the STS-V has is headlight washers.  They are actually controlled by the same controls as the windshield washer.   So while I sat in the V and hit the washers, Jim grabbed this shot:

Normally that little panel is flush with the front of the car, but on command it lifts up, clearing the nozzles below to spray the headlight covers to wash them clean.  Charming.

We had a nice visit and talked about Cadillacs, and ran the STS-V up and down the highway so he could get a feel for it.  I think we concluded that it would suit him just fine as a next Cadillac.  Actually his 2006 DTS is still going strong so no rush to a new Cadillac.

I like the way the camera autofocus came out on this shot.   The STS-V was produced at Lansing Grand River by UAW 652.   “One Team, One Goal, World’s Best”; well done.

 

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What I learned from Selling My Car (this time)

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I am terrible at selling cars.  I have come to accept this, so I know it is something I have to work at.

Recently I purchased a 2008 Cadillac STS-V to replace my previous 2005 Cadillac CTS.  After a long search, I had found the right Cadillac at a Dealer 5 hours away.  We had all the details worked.  It was not convenient however to take a chance of bringing the CTS on the roadtrip to see what the Dealer might offer on trade.  That would have put me in a bad negotiation position in a situation in which one is already in a bad negotiation position, so no thanks.

The car business feeds on convenience.  It is convenient to trade your old car in on the new one, and avoid the hassle of having to sell it yourself.   Great for the Dealer, if he can purchase your used car at below wholesale, and sell you the new car at retail; he makes money coming and going.  You almost always make more money on the sale by selling your car yourself, but that means posting an ad, having people call or email you, avoiding scams, avoiding in-person ripoffs, and navigating the narrows.

To prepare to sell my car, I re-read Help! I Gotta Sell my Car Now! by L. James Johnson.  This book takes you through the steps of how to prepare your car to sell, where to advertise, how to negotiate, etc.

Things I learned this time selling my Cadillac CTS:

  • Any ad on Craig’s list will get an offer; you have to learn to recognize the scams.  I posted a “Want to Buy” ad before I found my new car, and I got an offer of $1,500 in response.  Clearly this person is using some automated software that sends a low-ball offer to every ad posted.
  • If your tires have less than 50% of tread remaining, get new tires before offering the car for sale.  It makes a ton of difference and should be treated as part of getting the vehicle prepped.  If you weren’t selling the car you’d have to get new tires anyway, so just write it off to a car expense and don’t mix it up in your mind with the car deal.
  • Pull a Carfax or Autocheck on your car.  Like checking your credit, this allowed me to see that there was a blemish on my 1-owner, never wrecked permanent record.  Knowing the facts of the incident allowed me to address it in my ad.
  • Write your ad copy, then get several people you trust to read and review it.  This helped me to focus my ad, but it also helped me to get ready to talk about the car with Buyers.
  • You will need several different write-ups.  Craig’s List has a filtering system and if it believes you are posting the same text as it finds anywhere else the ad will get ‘ghosted’ and not show up on CL. Using the talking points from your ad copy, write a new unique CL ad for each time you post.
  • Cars.com has a cool 800# phone forwarding service.  For $4 I setup a temporary telephone number that forwarded calls to my cell phone.  Put the temporary number in the car ad instead of your phone number.  Then when the car sells, turn off the forwarding and avoid a dozen more calls to see if the car is still for sale.  Brilliant.
  • Autotrader.com has an online instant trade-in offer honored by certain local car dealers.  Fill in all the details of your vehicle, and they send you an offer to purchase.  Take the car to the local dealer to evaluate against your description, and if all matches then they honor the offer apparently.  Interesting, and an easy way to get a ‘floor’ for which you know you can sell the car right away.
  • Besides getting the car detailed and ready to sell, keep some speed detailer handy so you can spruce up the car right before a Buyer comes over to look at the car & test drive.  Visuals make a ton of difference in car sales, so be ready for last minute touch-ups.
  • Vacuum the trunk.  I forgot this one
  • Remove your toll tag and garage door opener from the car before you sell it

What did you learn from selling your last car?  Please leave a reply.

Shots of the new-to-me STS-V

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Here are some shots in day to day driving patina to highlight some of the features of my new 2008 Cadillac STS-V.  I apologize that it is not immaculate, but was just enjoying grabbing some snaps.

Click on images to see larger versions.

The STS-V was made from 2006-2009; this is a 2008 Model.  The 2008 gained a Heads-up Display compared to the 06/07.  The 09 was similar to the 08.  Under 500 of this year/model were produced starting at $78,775.

The V-Series for Cadillac means a performance tuned model that is capable of operating well on the road or track.  That is what a ‘sports car’ used to mean.  This car has a tuned suspension, high performance Brembo brakes, high output powerplant, and extra cooling for all systems so that it can run flat out without misstep.  It has a competition mode for the stabilitrak to yield more control for the Driver in high dynamics. This is a gentleman’s racer.

Cadillac has used a metal mesh as a consistent V-series theme.

Engine Shot – Supercharged 4.4L DOHC VVT V8 making 469hp.  That is a beauty cover, under which the Supercharger sits atop a 4.4L Northstar engine.  For the STS-V the engine actually sits 2″ lower in the chassis for balance.  This also perhaps helped the composite hood fit with only a small power bump.

Each of the STS-V engines, designated LC3, were made by hand by a single Engine Techician.

Here is a dyno graph of the STS-V LC3 engine output:

Tail View; note continued V-theme mesh grill at the bottom

At 17K underside still looks fresh enough.

Nice V touch on the door threshold.  Interior needs a vacuum, but I let that go for the weekend so I could write this for you.

More pics to follow soon with other details.

What do you think of the STS-V?