Is this a good deal????

[Zack]

I have always wanted one of these cars. I can make one good one out of the 2. And Ill sell my Town Car to my Mom and almost break even.
Check it out and leave your thoughts...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cadillac-STS-2-1998-Cadillac-Seville-STS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategory Z124117QQitemZ4651789066QQrdZ1

[ADE 1000]

We have had several Cadillac STSs in the family. I love the way they look and they are excellent cars to drive.

However, long term reliability is not their strong point. All of ours were short 2and 3 year leases and the cars did make a lot of visits to the dealer for warranty work. Most people I know who have had these cars for near 100K miles have had a ton of problems, but some have no problems at all. Parts are expensive and like any V-8 FWD car, they are not easy to work on. Given the mileage and condition of the cars in the auction, I would suggest you stay away.

[bryanthomas]

Screw reliability. :D LOL

Get 'em! I love STS. I like a lot of "run of the mill" cars that a lot of people wouldn't think of as uber-desiable. The STS happens to be one of them. A couple other cars along this same caliber(to me) are late seventies Town Cars and late 80's 442s. I say buy the Caddys!

[KillJoy]

These aren't too far from Barry.

Hell, get em! it's not too much money!

KillJoy

[the_pack_rat]

Meh.

He likes to push the envelope .....

He should tinker with one of these & make it run & handle with the best of the best.

http://images.traderonline.com/img//img/10/dealer/1169549/82861584_1.jpg

One of the last cars really worthy of the Cadillac name IMHO ...... things are becoming waaaaaay too generic looking & far from their roots.(ok so I'm a dinosaur).

The disposable 4.1 alumnimelt motor will make for a nice oversized custom mailbox when you yank it out.

[MM03MOK]

Auction ends in 17 min. It'll prolly be listed again with a lower starting bid. Either that or call him and make an offer if this is what you want to do.

[69marquis conv]

Those late-90s Caddys are indeed great driving cars and the Northstar engine can deliver a phenominal amount of power and torque. However, we had a 97 DeVille that we ran up to 130k miles before we replaced it with a TC (yes, back to Ford). Although the engine still ran great and never smoked or dripped, it would use close to 2 quarts of oil on an 800 mile road trip in a single day. Everyone else I talked to that had one with the NS engine reported the same thing. Like someone else said regarding FWD V8s: they are big bucks to work on and will break the bank if taken to a dealer for repair. The guy that runs a local tranny shop near me said the starter on these engines is somehow mounted beneath the intake and involves numerous hours to replace, and that the climate control blower motor replacement requires the engine mounts to be unbolted and the engine jacked 6 inches out of the way to get the old blower out of the firewall.
I have been told that head gaskets are a common problem on engines over 140k, along with the gasket between the "block halves"-- yes it is supposedly a 2 piece block.
My opinion in short: Great drivers, but maintenance nightmares when they get a little age on them.

[Zack]

Thanks everyone, I learned a bit.
I passed on this one.

[kj31067]

Those late-90s Caddys are indeed great driving cars and the Northstar engine can deliver a phenominal amount of power and torque. However, we had a 97 DeVille that we ran up to 130k miles before we replaced it with a TC (yes, back to Ford). Although the engine still ran great and never smoked or dripped, it would use close to 2 quarts of oil on an 800 mile road trip in a single day. Everyone else I talked to that had one with the NS engine reported the same thing. Like someone else said regarding FWD V8s: they are big bucks to work on and will break the bank if taken to a dealer for repair. The guy that runs a local tranny shop near me said the starter on these engines is somehow mounted beneath the intake and involves numerous hours to replace, and that the climate control blower motor replacement requires the engine mounts to be unbolted and the engine jacked 6 inches out of the way to get the old blower out of the firewall.
I have been told that head gaskets are a common problem on engines over 140k, along with the gasket between the "block halves"-- yes it is supposedly a 2 piece block.
My opinion in short: Great drivers, but maintenance nightmares when they get a little age on them.



zack
my father-in-law is a caddy man. he has a mint 89 and presently has an 04 dts that has tranny problems. prior to the 04 he had a
96 sts with n/s engine. he always complained about the oil use and made me the pump jockey and oil checker whenever i was in the car. sounded like a cement mixer when you turned the key.
these cars are nice when new , but when thay get some miles on them, forgettaboutit......... labor intensive to fix too!!!! check the labor rate at a caddy dealer and i m sure its always gonna be book time ..... my advice..........keep looking