Imbued with the power of today’s Corvette Good price or no dice The CTS-V is a model that opened a new door for Cadillac, introducing the brand to a new world of fast car fanatics. Let’s see if the price of this one opens that door even more.
The most relevant question for 2001 BMW X5 we reviewed last Friday was, “How far have they driven it?” The car was something of a puzzle, as even though the ad claimed almost 300K on the clock, it was in far too good shape for anything that had gone that distance . And there was a manual! A price tag of $2,950 sealed the deal for most of you, with many suggesting you dive it until it breaks and then just walk away. The result was a whopping 72 percent gain on Nice Price.
In 1955, singer-songwriter Charlie Ryan came out with a little song called Hot Rod Lincoln. The song tells the story of a Lincoln-powered Model A that beats a Cadillac in a race on Southern California’s two-lane Grapevine Road, a precursor to the I5 freeway. Since then, the song has been covered many times by a number of different artists, with details changed here and there, but the one constant in all versions is that the Cadillac loses the race. Maybe if the entrant drove a Caddy like today’s 2005 CTS-Vthe song could have ended differently.
Cadillac introduced the CTS for the 2003 model year as a smaller, tighter-handling, more avant-garde addition to its then-old lineup. Powered by a series of V6 engines and designed to allow the installation of a manual transmission, the CTS looked and performed like nothing else in the Cadillac catalog.
With the CTS-V, Cadillac took things up a notch, giving the car the 5.7-liter LS6 V8 from the C5 Corvette and pairing it with the Tremec six-speed manual transmission from the ZO6. This combo gave the car 400 horsepower and 395 lb-ft of torque and the ability to use all that power. Eager to alert unsuspecting Lincoln hot rod drivers and everyone else to what the Caddy had to offer, designers fitted the V Edition with a mesh grille, a deeper front air grille, and larger, more aggressive wheels and tires.
This CTS-V is said to be stock except for a cold air intake (woohoo), black-painted wheels (which show a bit of curb rash), and a set of aftermarket LED headlights (with halos.) At just over 156,000, it has about half the mileage from last Friday’s Bimmer and, at least in the ad, it looks just as good. The black paint appears flawless and the seller says there are no pitting or fading. They warn that the car is almost 20 years old, but promise that it has been well maintained during that time.
The cabin looks… well, as you’d expect from a 20-year-old GM product. There are quite a few scratches on the driver’s seat leather, and the shifter cover is completely worn. There’s also some nasty flapping on the driver’s door armrest that the new owner will probably just have to live with. Plus, it looks clean and has plenty of buttons in the center stack for people who miss that feature in today’s screen-laden interiors.
Mechanically, it also looks solid. It has relatively new MOMO tires and an engine bay that proudly displays the Corvette brotherhood along with a K&N intake. The title is clean and the price tag reads $10,900.
How about this Caddy hot rod and the $10,900 it’s asking for? Do you feel like a fair price given the condition and description of the car? Or would you buy a Corvette for that simple?
You decide!
Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslistor leave here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Don R. for the link!
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