Repair-It

I will say there are enough little things that when you combine them all, and with the red not being my favorite color, maybe this isn't the one. The price drop sure got me interested though.

I guess the major selling points are the low miles, and I really don't need anything with that low of mileage, the clean exterior (and assuming the interior is just as clean), the painted roof and the factory moonroof. The moonroof being the standout rare option.

Interior pics incoming. The thumbnails are promising.

It was promising except for the driver's seat.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdgqcjgrsskvw5SU4QhQ

- It has twilight sentinel
- It has dual power seats with memory
- It has electrochromic dimming rear view mirror
- It has hail damage
- Dash is not cracked
- Driver's seat is not great

The hail damage is a deal breaker. Nice car though. I will keep looking.

I need to repeat: I will not find a good deal at a used car dealer. Really, for this or the STS.

https://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/6091586325.html

Not new but I was ignoring due to the thumbnail size pictures.

05 CADILLAC STS - $5400 (Clifton)
05 Cadillac STS 4.6 V8
116789 MILES
BLACK LEATHER INTERIOR
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
RWD
MOONROOF
POWER WINDOWS, LOCKS
REMOTE START
FACTORY ALARM
NAVIGATION
DVD,CD BOSE SYSTEM
AC AND HEATED SEATS
HID LIGHTS AND FOGS
18 INCH FACTORY WHEELS

I reached out for better pics and the VIN. What he sent was more thumbnails which is hilarious.

He says it is RWD in the ad. With all the options this has, and the 18s, there is a chance this is my first true unicorn car, meaning 1SG, RWD, FE3, and so on. It is very likely NOT adaptive cruise but as I said before that is no longer a deal breaker. Not being 1SG is, however.

I like the black on black. It has what looks like the STS-V grill which I also like. That probably further diminishes the chance of adaptive cruise. If everything else is great, I really don't care.

My thoughts are with the 5L50 trans on the 05-06 cars, the 3.42 axle and lighter weight without AWD will make a significant drivability difference to one with 3.23s and AWD. With 18s and RWD, that does mean winter traction will be compromised but with good all seasons and all the electronics (and the fact that the Caprice is RWD), it should work fine. RWD is what I originally wanted anyway, I just wrote it off as unlikely to be paired with the options I wanted.

This is a theoretically perfect example of properly priced private sale cars. It's not $3500 so it shouldn't be a total disaster (I reserve the right to discover flaws). With the thumbnails only, people may have just skipped right over it. I did.

I priced that 06 with all the options, AWD and 110k and it came to $6k for Edmunds. Well, this is an 05 with RWD and 116k. $5400 sounds damn near right on. I could confirm with Edmunds.

It is in NJ (bad) but it is the closest NJ location yet. 180 miles and 3 hours without traffic. That isn't bad.

Edmunds private is $5,138 so his price is right in the ballpark of reasonable if it is in Clean condition.

I think I might be dealing with a contender here.

Getting pics via text now.

But it looks like exactly what I want minus adaptive cruise which means it is exactly what I expected. And yeah this is a unicorn. This is one of 175 cars with the 1SG, RWD, FE3 and black on black configuration. If we exclude the color combo and just focus on the configuration, it is still one of 1,295 cars in 05. So this is one of that 25% of the 2005 cars that is what I originally wanted. And a black on black one is quite a bit more rare than that.

Calling. Here are my notes from the call and I will sort out.

- plumber friend move to florida, sold car to him.
- Had it for a year, haven't used much.
- oil change, front brakes
- passenger seat back cover, falling off. Needs to be clipped on.
- replaced plastic cover drivers seat
- used to work for chevy dealer service tech
- Had 98 M3....car guy. I guess a GM guy who kind of got into BMWs. Obviously mechanical.
- Some kind of side swipe damage on a rear 1/4 which I guess is the main focus. Waiting for pics of that.
- Wife, 3 kids. Has a business of some sort. Leaving for FL on Monday for 2-3 weeks. Said he could leave the title with a friend if I wanted to buy while he was gone.
- He's had low ball offers, but declined to say what they were. Also had many folks asking to buy the grill which I believe is the STS-V grill.

He already said he'd take $5,000 and I didn't even ask. I dunno, I'm kind of still interested though that body damage bothers me. We'll see what the pics show.

I will post the 23 pics but where I am at right now is $5500 if he fixes the rear 1/4 hit and the rust on the other side in front of the wheel. I mean while it is in the shop it makes sense to me. I did ask if the car was rusty and he indicated no, clean and no leaks. Usually rust like that indicates it is a rust bucket and it is rare to see that on these cars. So it might have just happened from a paint chip that got through the primer and started.

All flaws in decreasing order of severity:
- Driver's side rear wheel well 1/4 panel hit and run
- Rust on passenger side in front of wheel
- Rear tires
- Panel popping off passenger seat. Either needs some TLC or at worst a new panel I would think. No idea what this would cost if it did.
- HVAC buttons starting to peel (not bad at all at the moment), and I'd consider fixing that if I kept it longer term. This is probably cheap but a little time consuming.
- Front seats somewhat worn but really nothing crazy for the age and miles. I could live with that, maybe after some reconditioning....unless it already had that.
- Steering wheel wear on left spoke. Common. Not that big of a deal.
- Headlights cloudy? Couldn't really tell in the rain. I do like nice clear headlights but this is kind of a DIY thing. Buying replacement lights is a whole other cost prohibitive thing so if it bothered me about the only thing I'd do is try to buff and seal myself.

He said the TPMS light came on a couple times but not recently. I am sure one or two of the sensors is just getting marginal. That just comes with the territory. He said no lights are on at all right now.

If I heard him correctly, he has not actually registered the car but also seemed to suggest he drove it somewhere once. Anyway, it's been sitting and he did know to start it and stuff instead of just letting it sit. I think this is alright. He also said everything works down to the heated steering wheel.

So yeah, a unicorn and even the right color combo. But the body damage is a problem. Let me post the rest of the pics.