Time to say goodbye to Cadillac, at least for this time.

[Jan Olsson]

I haven’t been in touch lately. A lot of work, long travel distances every day, a four year old daughter and so on. Anyway I thought it was time for me to upgrade to a newer car or at least to another one.

I’ve been driving my 2002 STS since 2007 and have put 130.5 k miles on the car myself! The best car I have ever had! It reached 150k miles the other day. It is still in great shape, no rust, Magnaride works like new, everything in order except from small stuff. But I want an upgrade in performance and in nice toys to tinker with J

I really don’t care too much for the newer Cadillacs. Escalade, SRX , ATS and XTS won’t do the trick for me. I can consider the CTS but it really needs a V8 option to give a smooth power and sound sensation. What was left then? The last generation STS but with a 6-speed transmission, heads-up display and every option sounded nice, but no real gain in performance. The STS-V on the other hand seemed like the perfect choice. They are really rare and still pretty expensive over here. Test drove one of 3 registered here in Sweden but the previous owner must have been a real hooligan. Broken and missing interior pieces, no mufflers, damaged and soiled interior etc. So I thought I would give the CTS a chance. Found a reasonable fine exemplar, test drove it and…naah. The wrong sound, fever options than I already had and so on. It felt like driving an Audi, BMW or whatever. Thanks but no thanks for me. What if GM had made it through a couple of years ago? Then I would probably have been driving an Ultra engine

I was thinking about importing a fine STS-V from the US but the Swedish crown is worthless these days. Then I started to look for a car that felt like a car and not like a juvenile wet dream over worthless gadgets and “fine, exlusive” plastics. No BMW then. No boring Audi with strange electrical problems either. No Mercedes because I’m not a millionaire and will not waste my money on a personal mechanic. I also thought about Chevrolet Camaro, but it seemed too rough for me. At one time I even felt so desperate than I for a brief moment considered a Chrysler but came to my senses.

Then I had a revelation! What about a Jaguar? I knew from rumors that they made utterly crappy cars when British Leyland owned them. Strangely enough Ford raised their quality (strangely because Ford must be the worst cars ever made here in Europe, I’m sure that the US ones are better). Well I found this 2005 Jaguar XJ Super V8 and knew that I finally found my next car. Classy looks and what every cool guy considers being an outdated interior. Who needs to manually shift an automatic transmission? The only need is in German cars because they don’t know how to program one! I really love it. Almost felt like I found an upgraded Seville, even the same interior color scheme. 396 Euro ponies with a nice burble and compressor scream. 0-60 in a bit over 5 seconds without having to feel you are driving a sports car with overly stiff suspension as it is in every other car these days. Even in a soccer mom’s Volvo. According to owners on different internet locations they seem very reliable, which is important to me. Not a lot of useless gizmos but quite a tall list of useful equipment. A 6-speed tranny to keep the revs low, adaptive cruise, navigation, front and rear parking sensors, Brembo brakes, air suspension, great sound system and lots and lots of wood and leather. Heated and electrically adjusted everything, including a rear sunblind (!) etc. etc. I’m going to pick it up tomorrow and acquaint myself better to it.

So now the STS have to go. It has served me extremely well but unfortunately we don’t have space, time and love for two cars. I hope the Cadillac board comes to their senses and realize that there still are people who believe that a luxury car can go fast and look good without trying to resemble a BMW or Mercedes. I drove faster with my 1988 Eldorado than every average BMW owner seems to do. Without all that uncompromised“sportiness”. Cadillac should offer a true luxury car. A sedan with a 400 bhp V8 with lots of equipment to make driving easy and fun that really gives the driver a feeling that the car is built for driving. For instance, what happened to night vision in the Deville and with heads up display in the STS? Not to mention the adaptive cruise. They seem to have been so obsessed with making a hot, euro style interior that they forgot about engine smoothness and luxury feeling.

Just my two cents!

[rockfangd]

I feel I am in the same boat you are. I have tried the newer ones and I just cant get past the cheapness and lack of signature cadillac options.

So as a daily I stepped away from cadillac also. I bought a nissan. We have 2 nissans with a combination of over 500k miles between them and they are smooth running, riding, have good power, and are very reliable. I just took a 1000 mile trip with my Seville last week and know for sure I will be keeping that one for as long as I can. It is truly a trademark cadillac. My 96 Deville was my DD but when the torque convertor went and the subframe wouldnt budge I had to let it go. Have not found another like it.

I will say that my expectations are lower with the nissan which makes it a little easier.

I have seen Jaguar go downhill but by the mid 2k they seemed to be improving a bit.

I have driven some very snappy Jaguars. Especially the the V12, (likely no longer used).

I wish you the best of luck and think you should share some pics and experience with it.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Good luck with the 2005 Jaguar XJ Super V8. Please share pics and stories once you get the Jaguar.

Cadillac is going to all custom engines, and more turbos than large displacement, but the power is still in the right place. I do see adaptive cruise and HUD on most new premium models.

[winterset]

I had to dust off my Deville the last 2 weeks. The comfort, and ride of my daughters 2014 ATS4 turbo was just not there for my parents visit, so they wanted to use my car. Dont get me wrong, my teenage daughter loves her car, but it is just not comfortable for 4 or 5 adults. I don't think this comfort/size issue is unique to Cadillac either. Good luck Jan, i am going to miss your insight from overseas!!

[Jan Olsson]

Thanks for all the kind words! I will post pictures and stories after our vacation to Germany. My wife and I will celebrate our 10th wedding aniversary there! I expect to test the Jaguar to its limits. I have already discovered some irritating vibrations at speed. Driveline or just the infamous Pirelli Pzero tires? Well I guess that every car has their problems. Especially uses ones. I have a 1 year warranty that hopefully will cover this. Will drive the car for a while first before I get back to the dealer to let them sort out my findings.

Emissions and fuel economy calls for smaller engines for the average user. But for the ones that uses the power it doesn't matter if the car has got a small turbo engine or a large displacement V8. It is easy to make a small engine with good fuel economy, provided that one doesn't use the top power frequently. Smaller, lighter cars also contributes. But there are also cars like the Corvette and Camaro that gets surprisingly good fuel economy. Displacement on demand, low engine speeds with tall gearings, variable valve events etc. An engine is an air pump. Naturally aspirated large displacement engines at low rpms and small turbo engines at somewhat higher rpms can use the same amount of air (and fuel) with the same results. The larger engines usually suffers at part throttle because of pumping losses when the engine needs to draw air through the throttle body.

I do expect luxury buyers to buy everything in that range. Some will go for smaller, high performance sporty cars and some will go for large sedans with a V8. At the moment there aren't many options left at Cadillac. Buy a 4 or 6 cylinder or change brand. There is almost nothing a V8 can do worser than a smaller engine. Easier to balance out vibrations, closer between power pulses, compact for its power. Of course it is heavier and costs more to make but in a large sedan one won't even notice the extra pounds.

[JohnnyG]

Good luck on your Jag Jan! I've been contemplating a new Caddy too, and local dealers keep sending me letters saying they want my car, but that's another story altogether. Let's just say that my next car probably won't be a Caddy either. Saw one in the paper the other day for $21,000, and the dealers are offering $10,000....ain't gonna happen.

Anyway, those Jags, when equipped with the AWD option, had some issues. Something about transfer case problems which were very expensive to repair. If you have that option be sure to get the driveline checked out thoroughly. I know it would be hard to find one in Sweden, but the best looking Jag sold in the USA was the Ford Thunderbird Convertible! Yes, it was a Jag frame with the "Retro" look of the old T-bird sheet metal!

[KHE]

I'll chime in here also - Cadillac doesn't make anything I'm interested in anymore... They don't want customers like me - ones that like comfortable seats, a smooth ride, and power steering that doesn't make my wrists sore. They don't make a full size car anymore and try to pass off that XTS as the Deville replacement. The seats are so uncomfortable in that thing, my butt hurt just sitting in it lookling at it. It felt as if it was squeezing me sideways.

Oh - they will offer a full size car for 2016 but they will price it so high, no one will buy it and then they'll drop it after a few years.

[Jan Olsson]

I'll chime in here also - Cadillac doesn't make anything I'm interested in anymore... They don't want customers like me - ones that like comfortable seats, a smooth ride, and power steering that doesn't make my wrists sore. They don't make a full size car anymore and try to pass off that XTS as the Deville replacement. The seats are so uncomfortable in that thing, my butt hurt just sitting in it lookling at it. It felt as if it was squeezing me sideways.

Oh - they will offer a full size car for 2016 but they will price it so high, no one will buy it and then they'll drop it after a few years.

It seems that almost all cars today are like that. Hopefully Cadillac will realize that they only scare their loyal customers away. Why try so hard to be like BMW or Audi? Make something great and different that will attract customers like they always have instead.

[Jan Olsson]

Good luck on your Jag Jan! I've been contemplating a new Caddy too, and local dealers keep sending me letters saying they want my car, but that's another story altogether. Let's just say that my next car probably won't be a Caddy either. Saw one in the paper the other day for $21,000, and the dealers are offering $10,000....ain't gonna happen.

Anyway, those Jags, when equipped with the AWD option, had some issues. Something about transfer case problems which were very expensive to repair. If you have that option be sure to get the driveline checked out thoroughly. I know it would be hard to find one in Sweden, but the best looking Jag sold in the USA was the Ford Thunderbird Convertible! Yes, it was a Jag frame with the "Retro" look of the old T-bird sheet metal!

Thanks!

[Jan Olsson]

This one has an all-aluminum body and a supercharged 4.2 l V8 and RWD. Let’s see how things hold up after a week in Germany. According to JDPower and Edmunds.com people seem to be very satisfied. According to various internet sources suspension faults seem rather common. Really expensive struts!

I do think that my STS is a great car and it is hard to replace. The Jag is a typical European car. You know, the feel in the materials and in door handles and so on is rock solid. That makes people say “ohh and ahh”…as if I ever cared about other people’s opinions...I always says to my wife that I am a functions over form kind of guy and believe that a solid feel has very little to do with how things actually hold up in the long run. There are some things I already miss from the STS. Subtle things like how the navigation unit works, instrument cluster info and capability to check codes from the IPC The brakes are touchy and the throttle took some time to figure out too. But the good parts and main reasons I bought it are: better brakes, 6-speed tranny which helps fuel economy and performance and a s/c 400 bhp V8. Of course it is nice to have adaptive cruise control and a larger navigation unit which accepts maps from 2011/2012 instead of 2002 but that was really not an issue for me. The suspension is extremely capable of hiding road bumps, holes etc. Not as good as Magna-ride at speed though

I know the Jaguar car is ten years old and I think it has held up pretty good but a few minor things needs to be fixed. Hopefully my dealer will take care of it after our Germany trip without too much fuzz. The interior and exterior are in great shape. Just need to rust prof some of the suspension components and fuel tank braces.

The tires are awful to say the least. Noisy and easily steers on their own but that’s not really a big issue since it is easily rectified.

I am also quite positive that the exhaust system got louder after some heavy throttle inputs. I’m used to Cadillac exhaust systems that seem to last forever. This one sure doesn’t.

But with good tires and some new mufflers or whatever they have to fix/change and some minor stuff, the car will be like new. I have a 1 year warranty and our consumer laws on my side so I’m not really worried about having to pay more than some small fee.

So when all is sorted out I’ll have a European STS with a little extra of everything!

[Luke]

I have driven an XTS, ATS, and CTS. The XTS felt massive. And that was after I had driven a 98 DeVille for years! And with the 3.6, performance was lackluster at best. Very underpowered. It's only redeeming quality was the cool gauge cluster. The CTS was okay. My favorite of the three was the ATS. Certainly a different beast but with the turbo 4, performance was surprisingly adequate. I wouldn't mind having one for a grocery getter but to get one optioned the way I am used to, it would cost $50k+. Not really worth it.

I was in Ireland last month and rented a Jaguar XF. I was actually very impressed with the quality of the car! The shifter knob that rose out of the console and the AC vents that rotated when the car was started was pretty neat. It certainly wasn't a performance car with the turbo diesel I-4 but performance wasn't too bad and it averaged 44 mpg over the 1645 km that I drove it! We are actually planning to move to Ireland in about 3 years and I'd consider buying one! Although, to save money, I'll likely buy a used BLS turbo diesel. If I decide to go with performance over economy, I'll test out a BLS 2.8t. If they made RHD DTS's, I'd buy one but I don't think they did.

Good luck with your Jaguar! I'm sure it's a beautiful car!!