pukka

bighersh,

Thanks for the comments! Your story is a bit amusing since burgundy was the color I originally chose. I already signed the purchase order and GM cashed the check when they called and told me they were no longer making cars in that color and to chose another. I told them I'd think about it and call them back after I made a decision. When I realized they were breaching a contract I threatened to break the deal and make them pay back my money. The GM rep offered to include T-tops for no additional cost AND still let me choose the color - so I chose teal. I've been fortunate enough to keep it all this time (16 years of military life, two wives, numerous girlfriends, my child, other people's kids, and a few pets).

No its not a BMW, but some folks don't seem to understand that its not necessary to have leather pressed against your butt, a posh interior, or German engineering for a car to be an absolute thrill to drive.

As for the $750 you saved, go on and put it down on a new 2010 RS/SS or wait until 2011 when the new Camaro convertible is released

bighersh

Did you order yours on active duty, or prior to joining the military?

I was in the Army from 1987 - 1997, 9-yrs and some change- Desert Storm Vet.

A good friend of mine had a Camaro RS (1990), which is what turned me on to Camaro's. Prior to that, the Trans Am was my favorite. Those T-Tops were cool when it was not raining, or sunny. But, as soon as it rained- as long as we were moving- no problem. Soon as the brakes were applied, you'd get a lap full of water. After I saw that, I passed on the T-Tops option.

I had a shot at one in 1998. Ford dealer had a 1992 on the lot with 105K on it for $5,000, I got them down to $3,500. I test drove it, but it had a loud drone coming from the rear end. The sales man tried to tell me that was normal in high performance cars. I told him, "No it isn't". I wasn't in the vehicular restoral mode, so I passed on it. I probably should have snagged it, and took my time rebuilding it.

studavis

If we stipulate on this thread that you want to race around Nuringburgring and win, bring two things: Horst von Saurma and a Porsche. The fastest non race time recorded was 7:32 in a Porsche Carrera GT. The fastest time Horst ran a E60 M5 around the course was 8:13. No recorded time for the Caddy yet. Seriously though, would you really want to trade in a E60 for a Caddy? I'd wait and see how well the resale value holds up for a true comparison. The entry price might be less expensive on the caddy, but I doubt it will hold value like the M5.

bighersh

CTS has one of the best resale value of any production car by a US manufacturer.
With any car, you're lucky to have 50% MSRP value after 36 months, Lexus and Acura usually hang around that range...

Official Nurburgring time of: 7:59.32 seconds, source: cadillac.com/09CTSV (2008), 14 seconds faster than the known best time for an M5. (So, gone is the notion that the CTS is only good in a straight line- clearly it can handle curves too, as evidenced by the 'Ring time, and on the road test video I posted.

On Edmunds.com- 2007 CTS-V's are $27,9K - $32,5K, whereas 2007 M5's are $51.9K. So, they both lost about 50% of their MSRP after 2 years.

CTS-V is solid... No denying it.

Not saying I'd trade the E60 for a CTS, but the CTS is a sexy car- and if I were in the market for a new car- I'd drive a new CTS, be it the 306 HP V6, or the CTS-V. My point for the post was to show how M5 performance can be had for 30% less $$$.

studavis

Good points...But i did not see an official according to hoyle time recorded for the CTS-V. One other point to consider is the M5 is essentially 2005 technology. The new F-10 M5 will no doubt improve on the numbers against the CTS-V.

Moopai

But I thought the guy in the second video was shifting with the CTS-V! It looked like it was standard

bighersh

No doubt. The M5 will reclaim the crown, and be knocked off again with the next E63, or CLS63, or CTS-V, or all three.

I gotta tell ya, at this point BMW's M5 (0-60 in 4.1 sec.) will be pushing in on Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini territory to knock the CTS-V off it's pedestal. They (Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari) have a pretty decent cushion on the Nurburgring in terms of lap time (In the 7:30 - 7:45 range). But in terms of the American race (red-light to red-light) getting faster than a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds (CTS-V speed) and quartermiles in the high 10's low 11's- is getting mighty close to 911 Turbo times, and stepping directly on Viper, Z06, Gallardo and F430 toes.

nvpaluvoi

I have no idea why people still hate on Cadillac even though theyr car is faster, less expensive, and looks amazing. I forgot who said it but someone brought up the point of the CTS-V being cheaper and less exclusive than the other cars it competes with. The CTS (or V) is not a direct competitor to the 5, E, etc...its in between the sizes of the 3/5, C/E, A4/A6 etc. An M3 sedan base is 55k, i believe the CTS-V base is 60k. Thats one hell of a value to me. And I dont know how some of you guys find the CTS V ugly. To whoever said that BMW is innovative and even though Cadillac made the superior car, that BMW is gonna come back and kill it with the F10 M5 is not making a valid argument. You can't compare something that you have no idea about and no numbers to compare with to the CTS V. And another youtube link was posted with a guy street racing against the CTS-V but im pretty sure that was the 03-07 model CTS-V which is not even comparable to the current model CTS-V. To me, people need to get over that stigma that American cars are trash and are inferior in every aspect to Euros. The CTS-V performs whether you think American cars suck or not. There is no bias in what im saying either because I used to have an 05 CTS and currently I have an 07 e60. Ive driven the e60 M5 (one of the fastest cars ive been in) but never the current CTS-V.

bighersh

Someone has the CTS-V Nurburgring run on You Tube, quoted teh same time: 7:59.32,

If you watch this entire thing, pay attention around the 7:35 mark when he just runs it on the final straightaway.

e60hodzic530

The F10 will be shitting on any CTS-V..the M5 has been around for roughly 5 years and Cadillac comes outta nowhere with their V and think theyre the dog now?