... due to pending change of career, a BIG ONE (if you catch my drift...) I'm in the market again, and this one is for wifey.

Time to retire the Aztek. Been a decent ride.

Now, on to the DeVilles...

Drove two, a full-book DTS and a moderately optioned DeVille.

The DTS felt great, quiet as a casket, smooth and comfy. All kinds of nifty features too - NIGHT VISION ROCKS.

In fine womanly fashion, wifey fell in love with the Pearl White exterior color.

Gripes? None really. Took me about 5 minutes to get the instrument cluster to show the analog instuments as there are different display modes (digital only, analog only, both). The halographic effect on the analog gauges is pretty cool).


The standard DeVille wasn't as heavily optioned, so that's an obvious difference, but the other difference was more telling:

True to form, the stiffer DTS felt more planted, but the standard DeVille was more comfy. In the tradition of the greatest American luxury cars, it "floated". Road bumps were imperceptible, the seats were terrifically comfortable (I HATE European seats - hard as a rock, not enough adjustment, just darned uncomfortable.

DeVille is a terrific car, especially for those LOOOONG trips we take at times. You just can't beat the car for comfort and ride at normal crusing speeds.


She also drove a CTS at my urging. She didn't like it.

 

You should buy one used... it seems like most of the high-dollar caddys lose half of their initial purchase price within just a year or two of ownership, meaning you could probably save 20-30 grand if you can deal with a barely used car!

I'm surprised to hear you liked night vision. From what I've seen, most people say that it's kind of a useless feature.

Are they using xenon/HID headlights yet? Last I saw they were still strangely absent.

I've never been a fan of the caddy's seats or their boat-like ride. But damn that northstar sure can turn those boats into rocket ships!

A friend of mine has a late 90s Caddy and it was FWD... I was really surprised to see this. Is that still the case?

 

What car doesn't loose half its value in a year anymore. I think a one of the Art and Science cars would be better depriciation wise though.

 

Depreciation means little to me. I tend to drive them right into the grave.

 

I've seen cadillacs with HID's, so they must be using them.

Personally, i'd opt for a 5-series. They should be priced near each other. BMW owns me. Uncle owns a 7-series and i love riding in that thing. I've vowed to buy one the second i finish school and land a good job. Maybe ( a far maybe) the new RWD DTS or DTS replacement will win me over.

 

Depreciation is still significant to those who plan on driving cars into their graves. I plan to do the same to this Lexus, and even still it made much more financial sense for me to buy it used because I paid quite a bit less than I would have for one new.


Think, you can get (just for example) 9 years out of the Caddy for a purchase price of 25k. Or 10 years out of the caddy for the purchase price of 50k. Which makes more sense financially unless you just ooze money?

 

Does this mean your Aztek is already dead or do you have plans of sending it to an early grave?

 

Neither. I kill 'em dead in 5. Every car I drive regularly gets between 40,000 and 50,000 miles a year.

As the car is only a 5 year appliance, letting somebody else throw on 40,000 miles yields no advantage - ESPECIALLY since the warranty period is over in many of those cases.

 

128,000 miles and counting...

The fat lady is getting ready to sing.

Well, not really. It's still ticking along like a top, but I'd sure like to see wifey in a nice ride after all she has done for me.

 

Used cars use to be a much better deal then they are now. Once you take into consideration 0% financing for 5 years and huge incentives on new car when compared to 5% loan on used cars plus you are going to shelling out extra money since the warranty wil be over sooner on a used one. Sometimes you cant even get a 5 year used car loan and are forced to take a 3 year used car loan which makes your monthly payment the same (or even more) then a new car with a 5 year 0% loan.

I say if you got the dough go for the Cad.

 

My grandfather got a 2000 DTS (black on black with chrome 17s) and has liked it very much. The only problem he's had is they can't find a vibration problem.

I've driven it quite a bit and really like it. I would LOVE to figure out a way to put his interior in my impy ;D This would be the kind of car I'd want for my GF. The Northstar is quite an engine! I just don't like the FWD part

 

Johnsocal,

You hit the nail on the head there. You can't buy a one-year old car now at a normal interest rate for less than you can a new car with 0% (and a rebate over the top).


AdioSS,

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I prefer FWD for a non-performance, non-truck, vehicle - especially in snow.

 

Just to point out....the Deville is still Caddy's top selling car...they must have gotten something right