Buying a 2011 Caddy DTS with 19k miles - bad idea?

N

northestPM

Joined
Apr 4, 2020
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51
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USA
See one for sale near me for $17k in NY.

Thing looks like it is from the showroom. I need a new car and have owned Crown Vics and Lincoln Town Cars, and my heart is set on a V8 4 door, large sedan. I really don't like the looks of anything but the Devilles, DTS and Ford Panther Platform. I can't imagine owning anything else.

Life is too short to drive a Toyota Corolla.

Test drove a DTS and it makes the Town Car look like crap in terms of handling! Wow! The LTC wins every day in terms of reliability and maintenance costs though. I've owned Panther Platform cars for years, and they are archaic compared to even a mid 2000's DTS or DeVille.

But this is a 12 year old car with 19k miles. Not cheap either. This would be a daily driver for me. Advice appreciated, thanks.
 
Well, It sounds like this is what you want. I like Cadillac's so I'm biased & would not talk you out of it. 😄

It sounds like a car that could get you a long ways but I'd try to insure it with actual value for the foreseeable future since it's in good shape & a need to protect your investment for many years. When it reaches a certain mileage point or age perhaps drop down in coverage costs. Any pics?
 
northestPM said:
See one for sale near me for $17k in NY.

Thing looks like it is from the showroom. I need a new car and have owned Crown Vics and Lincoln Town Cars, and my heart is set on a V8 4 door, large sedan. I really don't like the looks of anything but the Devilles, DTS and Ford Panther Platform. I can't imagine owning anything else.

Life is too short to drive a Toyota Corolla.

Test drove a DTS and it makes the Town Car look like crap in terms of handling! Wow! The LTC wins every day in terms of reliability and maintenance costs though. I've owned Panther Platform cars for years, and they are archaic compared to even a mid 2000's DTS or DeVille.

But this is a 12 year old car with 19k miles. Not cheap either. This would be a daily driver for me. Advice appreciated, thanks.
Click to expand...
If it has the northstar I think they had short head studs causing coolant issues but this might be late enough in production where they Ironed that out.
 
Watch rainman rays recent Northstar v8 reseal. My guess is you will be in for the same. Alot of work but you will have a low mile easy rider.
 
I would look into if those issues were sorted out by 2011...I believe I had read (perhaps on this Forum) that they were by 2011...

good luck with your new car :cool:(y)

Bill
 
Look under it.

This video shows rust on one. DON'T let it scare you. But people get burned everyday buying an old low mileage cream puff. The one you're looking at might be very clean underneath.

 
The early N* had some problems but by 06 IIRC head gasket issues had been addressed. I have had 2 N* cars, I really liked these engines. For all the hate on these engines I found them reliable, powerful and got great fuel economy for a car that size.
Neither of my cars had any trouble whatsoever, I gave my sister one that was 5 years old and 30K on it and she drove it over another 100K with no trouble only maintenance.

 
northestPM said:
See one for sale near me for $17k in NY.
Click to expand...
I considered one myself, a 2012 or 2013 I think. Belonged to the widow of a friend that had passed. He had a couple other cars including a C5 Corvette which she had to sell at bargain prices. The Cadillac was gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous inside and out, not a spot of wear anywhere on it. But it had a nagging check engine light issue and I never heard how that was resolved, and by that time it had been sold.
 
Checked it out today. Meh... horn doesn't work, vibration at highway speeds and seems like there was a minor fender bender where the front quarter panel and door do not meet up right.

This was being sold at a major area Lexus dealership for top dollar and they have no flexibility on price.

No thanks, the thing should be gone over and perfect for that $$$. That is absolute top dollar for one of these cars.
 
14Accent said:
33k mile 2009 DTS

This one is on BAT right now with 2 days left, currently sitting a little over $10k. Nevada car, SPOTLESS underneath.
Click to expand...
Beautiful caddy! But they're finnicky enough where I would never buy one sight unseen. I've been burned driving from Mass to Ohio or Deleware on "great condition" cars from Craigslist that I'm keeping it local for now.
 
10WSmuckers said:
That's a "hitting the crack pipe" kind of price for a FWD Cadillac
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For real. Dealership would not budge on the price at all, which was unexpected for a used car and the type of dealership.

No way am I gonna spend that money on a DTS. They are a commodity, not a collector car.
 
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