Cadillac CTS | Shed of the Week

We haven’t had many Cadillacs in Shed of the Week. In fact the number of Caddy sheds is the smallest full number possible, so it’s nice to see that number being doubled today by this CTS, a car described by Autocar magazine as ‘maybe the best American saloon ever made’. 

Cadillacs have always been marginal propositions in the UK, though. They’ve never had a full dealership network here. Back in the early ’00s the CTS was going to change all that with an 18-strong network on the cards and a commitment to build right-hand-drive versions of the CTS to help the brand make a splash in the mid-sized executive market. Unfortunately, that market was already awash with established and mostly excellent European and Japanese rivals and, as good as the CTS was, the awful Seville STS that sat sulkily alongside it in Cadillac showrooms dragged the brand down in this country. 

Not that there were many Cadillac showrooms. The network dream never happened. By 2010 there was only one Cadillac outlet left in the UK, Bauer Millett in Manchester. Even that one went down the tubes in 2015, splitting as we know to form the Bauer publishing company and Milletts, the High St camping gear retailer.

Given the chance, the CTS you’d have would of course be the CTS-V with its 5.7- or 6.0-litre 400hp V8, or better still the ’09-on version with the 556hp 6.2, but there are none of those for sale in the UK at the moment. Even if there were, they’d be a lot dearer than the £1,950 being asked for this 3.6-litre V6. Our shed is the only example of its type that Shed could find for sale. He did stumble across a 210hp 2.8 V6 with 58,000 miles on it, but the price of that one has been dropping every month since January when it was put up for £4,000. It’s still unsold at £3,000. 

Our 81,000-mile 3.6 will definitely be a stouter drive than the 2.8. You’ll need to rev the 24-valve aluminium motor to 6,200rpm to get the full 255hp but you’re more likely to be enjoying cruising around the 3,200rpm mark where the 252lb ft torque peak lives. Pressed hard, the 3.6 will deliver a 0-60 time in the low sevens and go on to hit 145mph, but it will also hit your pocket with an average fuel consumption figure of 25mpg and a top-rate VED bill of £790 a year. On the plus side, it is rear-wheel drive and it does handle surprisingly well. 

Most owners rate these Caddies as comfy, roomy, decent to drive and pretty reliable. A minority don’t. If you get a bad ‘un it could spoil your life. A poorly maintained 3.6 engine could coke up, drink oil or suffer from premature wear and failure of the ‘wet’ timing chain that relied on a good supply of lube to stay alive. Warning lights might appear for no obvious reason, windows and horns could play up and you might find yourself unable to get the key out of the ignition. Cars built between ’03 and ’07, like our shed, were the worst for electrical issues.  

This might be a good ‘un though. It looks like the last owner (who had it for 16 years) took their maintenance duties seriously, and that counts for a lot with these. The car was MOT’d last week and it came out with a clean ticket. Last year’s advisories for rear brake discs and a worn track rod joint were apparently sorted at the time. Even the grease-covered rusty brake lines – easily the most widely ignored of all the MOT advisories – appear to have been replaced.

What sort of support can you expect if you buy this CTS? Well, in terms of new cars Cadillac is having yet another go in the UK, talking last year about bringing premium electric SUVs to the UK. Thing is, they were talking about that in 2021 too, and so far all they’ve managed to bring over the water is the near-70,000 euro Lyriq. They’ve only been put on sale in a select few European countries, the ones with money, an eye for the unusual, and no issues about the position of the steering wheel. Places like Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, in other words. The chat has been about a ‘direct to customer’ business model which in plain English means aftersales support from ‘partners’ rather than a formal dealership network. Having said that, Clive Sutton has recently been appointed to develop a UK dealer network for GM Speciality Vehicles, selling things like Escalades (up to £230k for a delivery mileage car) alongside SUVs and pickups from the Chevy and GMC ranges. 

Whether UK motorists will be enticed into buying Cadillacs in any serious numbers remains to be seen. They haven’t in the past. The products still aren’t a shoo-in choice against the opposition, and the commercial climate between the USA and everywhere else right now isn’t exactly positive. Anyway, all Shed is interested in is whether you can get parts for a 2006 CTS. OEM parts are getting harder to find, but most of if not all normal consumables are available from outfits like GSF, Autodoc and EUspares. So fill your boots, ideally without putting boots on the ground.