Used car prices

Scanning the used car mail box stuffer today, just to see what's what.  We have one year old Cadillac CTS (the four passenger Beemer wannabe) for $30K.  Whereas we have bunch of pickup trucks going for more.   Used to be a Caddy was worth twice as much as a pickup truck.  Not anymore.  For real value, try a Chevy Suburban for $47K.  Plain four door drive-to-work and go-to-the-store  sedans, Toyota, Chevy, Kia, and Ford run in the $16-$20 K range.  Used. 
   I wonder what will be available when my Mercury Grand Marquis wears out and needs replacement?

GM to kill Cadillac

According to this, GM plans to drop the Cadillac DeVille, the real Caddy, within a couple of model years. GM officials admit that DeVille is the largest seller in the Caddy lineup with 58K units sold this last year, but that ain't enough.
Real problem is the DeVille is getting old, it's still front wheel drive when rear wheel drive is hot. The car has been on the road for better than ten years, with just a bit of rear end restyling in 2000. GM probably doesn't have the money to develop a new version. Plus it's nearly the last of the big six passenger cars in the GM lineup, a body style that is out of fashion.
Of course GM lacks anything else in their lineup that is in fashion. So drop a good seller 'cause it's too much trouble to redesign it after 10 years of good sales. Thinking like this has gotta have something to do with GM losing money and market share.
Too bad. My '99 Deville is a wonderful car, and it looks like you won't be able to buy anything like that again.

Cadillac, the economy car

Four year old DeVille: $9K. Less than a new econobox. Gas Mileage 23 city 27 highway, better than any SUV or minivan. As good as some new econoboxes. Repair cost to 100K miles: zip. Life expectancy: another 100K miles. How can you go wrong?
Deals like this aren't hard to find, there are plenty of Caddys out there and many of them are in excellent shape. The Northstar aluminum double overhead cam V8 has enough power to get the car well above the speed limit in no time at all. Passing campers on two lane roads becomes a pleasure. Enough trunk room to take children and their gear to camp or college. Unbeatable prestige factor. Back seat with real leg room. Front wheel drive and antilock brakes for snow. Quiet and smooth riding, really takes the curse off commuting to work.
Buying tips: Make sure the head gaskets haven't failed. Head gasket leaks allow hot combustion gases to get into the engine coolant causing overheating. Repair cost is $ManyK. Take a test drive, work the engine hard and watch the temp gauge. Temp should stabilize at 195-200 degrees. If it runs hotter it's a bad sign. Radiator cooling fans don't come on until 230 degrees, if stuck in traffic you may see the temp ease up to 230 and then drop down as the fans cut in. Check all the fancy gadgets, power trunk latch, power windows, power seats, air conditioner and heater, power antenna, power door locks, radio, tape player, dash instruments, compass. Some gadgets you can do without, some you can fix your self. Gadgets fixed by a dealer will be costly. The gadgets are pretty reliable, all mine still work at 100K miles.
Pull the error codes. Find the heater/airconditioner controls. Press "OFF" and "Warmer" simultaneously and the car will display all the trouble codes remembered by the car's clever microprocessor. Write them down and when you get home look them up on Google and see if there are any deal breakers. Most codes will say "hist" meaning the fault was detected once or twice and then went away. I wouldn't worry about "hist" codes, concentrate on the active ones.