Cadillac Owners Forum banner
  • BEWARE OF SCAMMERS. Anyone trying to get your money should be checked out BEFORE you send anything anywhere.

Looking at a 2008 DTS Base - Any special issues to check?

2.3K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  Mojo88  
#1 · (Edited)
As stated, looking at possibly buying a 2008 DTS. It looks nice enough, but it has 78k miles (not a whole lot, but I've been hoping to score one like Ranger did, with 20k miles). Just wondering if there are any special issues I should be checking for on this vehicle? I had a wonderful '03 DeVille, which literally just kinda fell apart after 103k miles, even though it looked new. I really want another full-size Caddy, but am a little gun-shy now, LOL. These older Northstar cars seem to need a lot of repairs.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. ;)

PS - I'm a 'car guy'. I have all the tools and a 4-post lift in my garage. Honestly, if I wasn't set up to work on cars, I likely wouldn't look at another big Caddy, sorry to say. But when they are running right, there's no better ride IMHO.
 
#2 ·
You can do better than 78K.

25,000 miles

9,000 miles

32,000 miles

25,000 miles

26,000 miles

22,000 miles

15,000 miles

24,000 miles

15,000 miles

29,000 miles
 
#3 ·
Man, you are good at finding them! Thanks very much.

The only real issue I have is that all of these would have to be a remote buy. I'm not sure I have a lot of faith in car dealers to give me honest answers, so I was hoping to find something I could go look at and drive prior to buying. Is there any sort of automotive surveyor service available, do you know? I would have no problem paying a disinterested third party a few hundred bucks to check out the car.

Thanks again! :)
 
#4 ·
I am sure that you can find that type of service in most cities, but I've never used one. Guys buying classic cars (usually from private party's) use them all the time.

I purchased an 11,000 mile SLS in Akron and my last DHS with 17,000 in Dallas. CarFax was posted on the site or they can send you one. Negotiated a price over the phone and gave them my credit card number to put a $100 hold on the car. I then said, "if the car is not what I expect or don't like it for any reason, will you refund my money and give me a ride back to the airport". Both said yes. I ended up driving both cars home. I felt more comfortable buying a car like that from a dealer than a private party. The lower the miles (in both cases the cars where certified and still under factory warranty) the less problems the car is likely to have. Both transactions went very smoothly.

Having said that, I have one advantage in that I fly for free, but the price of a plane ticket is not bad for the right car.

P.S.
That list I posted was just maybe a :30 minute search (I got tired :)).
 
#5 ·
Can't argue with anything you are saying. The only car I really like so far (colors, options) is the one with the 78k miles; 90 minute drive from my house. It's White Diamond with black interior, and every option that I want (except Bluetooth).

As you said in another post, sometimes you have to make concessions. My only concession on this car would be miles. So my biggest gamble is how many things are just now ready to go wrong with ~80k miles?????

Decisions, decisions.............................. thanks
 
#6 ·
White over black seems to be a hard find.

White over beige 15K

Then again, white over black 56K (no price and a bit of a jaunt)

I'm getting tired again. :)
 
#9 ·
The color combo looks awesome. As these cars age condition and maintenance is everything. 78k miles isn't bad, these Northstars go easily well past 200k miles. Age related issues will probably need to be addressed rather than mileage issues. That DTS probably has most of it's eom parts from when it was built. If you plan on using it everyday parts will begin to fail and need to be replaced. That is true for any car though. If you can do most of the work yourself like I do parts have come down a lot in price even oem parts are cheaper now.
 
#10 ·
The color combo looks awesome. As these cars age condition and maintenance is everything. 78k miles isn't bad, these Northstars go easily well past 200k miles. Age related issues will probably need to be addressed rather than mileage issues. That DTS probably has most of it's eom parts from when it was built. If you plan on using it everyday parts will begin to fail and need to be replaced. That is true for any car though. If you can do most of the work yourself like I do parts have come down a lot in price even oem parts are cheaper now.
Thanks for chiming in. I really like most things about the car, but it does have some rust underneath, and it's got that 78k miles. I can do most of the repair work myself, BUT, my big decision is: do I want to be bothered by repairs all the time????

Damn, I love these cars, just don't want to have to keep working on one. I may keep looking for that low-mileage car. There are a few out there. Ranger seems real good at finding them! I'm still trying to get Ranger to sell me his, haha.