I have been checking out the STS since its introduction several months ago. I like what I see and I liked my test drive of the V8. The Feb. issue of Road & Track sold me on a STS-V. Last Saturday, I visited my old Cadillac dealer and inquired about placing a reservation deposit on on the 06 STS-V. They said they were accepting deposits, and I was the third already. Can't wait till the order sheets come out!

I previously owned a Mercedes 2000 E 55 AMG. It was a very nice car, but never exciting as I thought it would be. The E 55 at that time had no supercharger and was rated at 375hp. I did not like the transmission. It always wanted to upshift at any chance it could, and it always hesitated at down shifts. What was more frustrating is the fact its stability and traction control programs could never be shut off (even though there was a button to do so). You couldn't spin the car's tires on wet blacktop. That's not very exciting in my book.

I grew up with American muscle cars, where 0-60 and quarter mile times were important. The Germans seem to place most of their goals for high performance on a car's top speed. Good for the Autoban, but not much use on U.S. streets. I look forward to the STS-V as something that will match not only the quality of an E 55, but have American spirit in its execution. It's also nice that the projected price is at least $15,000 lower than what a comparably optioned E-55 would be.

Good to hear it. If all goes as planned, youll probably be our first official STS-V owner (though Im sure theres a buch of guys waiting to claim that title).

Did you drive the 469hp 2004 E55 AMG?

If im not mistaken the 99-2002 was 349hp.

Deposit already? We just do a interest list until the order specs come out. The customers who are serious are not asked to place a deposit without an order number. Interesting.

So what is the projected date of these cars hitting the streets?

I was going to start looking into it sometime late summer. I want my car delivered around Feb or March of next year.

Word from GM is last quarter of 05 as an 06 model. I would allow some leeway time there. The CTS-V was in very short supply in the same kind of time frame. If you are GMS or supplier, I would start looking for a dealer who honors it at least 6 months before you order it.

Do not buy unless u can test out to see if it has the dreaded cts-v wheel hop. Just MHO

Do not buy unless u can test out to see if it has the dreaded cts-v wheel hop. Just MHO

Our resident insdier/expert bbobynski says this will not be a problem with the auto trans.

Lab 4.4-V, I too owned a Mercedes, which was a piece of crap, but was still willing to buy another, in my case a new 2005 E Class AMG, loved the look. But after my experience and reading about other's experience with Mercedes http://www.mercedes-benz-usa.com/mlclass.php, I ended up buying a CTS-V. I have no regets and love it my V more every day. If you read the CTS-V forum, even with the wheel hop, we still love our cars, and that says a lot. V cars are a blast to drive. I think if you'll be very happy with a STS-V, built by the same folks who built the CTS-V - GM's Performance Division gearheads.