cdelena

We have been looking for a new family sedan and driving all makes (mostly pre-owned to stay in the budget) looking for the right four door that has a back seat that will allow three people and still be a satisfying drive. As usual we want the miracle of good price, mileage, performance, and features, etc.

Had an extended test drive of a ’09 Cadillac STS yesterday and can easily say this car exceeded my expectations in almost every way. It was easy to jump in and simply drive in an aggressive fashion without compensating or adjusting in any way. It was fast and stable and pretty nimble for a full size sedan. Bottom line was that driving dynamics equaled or surpassed those of many large cars and simply blew away other people haulers like the Avalon, Taurus, and others.

The interior was comfortable and had all the features you could want although the materials and finish were a notch lower quality in many luxury sedans.

The deal we found was exceptional but still we did not buy but only because of conservative personal finance plans (wife is not up for the expenditure right now).

I had avoided looking at GM products up until now but may be more open to some after this experience.

fishfryer

GM still scares me with respect to quality, but I do like their cars, maybe when I get in the market to replace my Acura I will see how they rate for reliability and look closer at them, From a glance I like the CTS a lot.

Saki GT

What was the price?

cdelena

I was looking at '08 or newer, less than 25K miles, equiped with NAV. There is a good choice at less than $35K.

Although I would have rather a V6 the one I drove was a V8 with only 7500 miles. Original asking price was $39K but it was available for $34K (sticker when new was over $58K).

Daniel L

With that budget, an e550 or a high mileage s550 is in you range. Those would provide a great driving experience.

JonBoy

I drove one a few years ago and liked it. No, I wouldn't prefer it over a number of other slightly smaller cars but for big, spacious, and relatively powerful, it does the job well. If you need a big interior and huge trunk, it's a good car. It handles okay, it's definitely more fun to drive than an Avalon (which is also way cheaper), and the interior looked pretty understated (a good thing) without being too bland.

OverBooster

Nothing spells "great deal" like the maintenance costs on a high mileage S class

Vik2000

^ agreed.

cdelena

Actually the E class is smaller that the STS and offers no better a driving experience IMO from recent tests. You are right, since the E was just updated the value of the older model is not high so a good E350 can be had for about 30K (I would not really want the v8 and the S class is not really a drivers car).

The Avalon is not all that cheap and frankly after one drive I would not buy one.

The drive the wife and I liked best was the 5 series BMW but it is not all that big and holds it value well enough it is more expensive. And my past experience with BMW maintenance and reliability was not great.

Since we are not in a huge hurry, I will drive others. I started this thread only because the Caddy surprised me being better than expected.

sstodvictory

Used Mercury Grand Marquis LS models are an unbeatable deal right now. I just bought a 2005 LS Ultimate with 30K miles in spotless condition for $11,200 and have been driving it to work for a few weeks. I absolutely love it. Try one out, you might be surprised.

Steve