Parted ways with my 04 Deville several years ago. Now I find myself looking to fill the void with another Caddy.
Locally I've found an 07 DTS Performance and an 06 DTS Luxury. Both are accident free and have approx 75K miles.
From the photos available both look clean and well maintained.
Would one or the other be less likely to to have problems based solely on year and model?

When inspecting and test driving the cars what critical items should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance

K Gee

 

I am a auto tech and the best piece of advice I can give you in looking for a car is to have it looked at by a good mechanic BEFORE you buy it. Carfax reports are useless they only report what is reported to them. If the car is involved in a accident and is repaired by the owner or with out the involvement of a insurance company than it will not show up on the Carfax report! I have seen cars that have been rolled end over end not show up on Carfax. Look under the car for signs of rust if it is rusty stay away. Check under seats and under the dash as well as under the carpet in the trunk for signs of water or mud as this is a indication it has been flooded. open up the oil cap and check the underside for contamination milky sludge ect. Check the antifreeze overflow bottle make sure it only containes antifreeze and no oil residue on the inside of it. If you have a pocket scanner hook it up and check the readiness monitors and make sure they are all complete without faults. Also check for a P1000 code if this is there it will indicate that someone just cleared the codes to get rid of the check engine light, it could also indicate a repair was just completed but the car hasn't been driven long enough for the computer to run all of it's checks. Check for uneven tire wear if ta tire is wearing unevenly that indicates improper alignment or bent components. Good luck in your search and remember get it check by a mechanic Before you buy it.

 

I'm new to this forum,but I've owned nine new Cadillac's from about 1992 thru 2006 (Eldorado's,Seville's,Escalade,and a DTS),and everything Short Fuse stated I agree with 100%.Through my experiences with North Star motors I would check for any oil leaks,and why? Every North Star I've owned leaked oil,and repairs can range from a couple of hundred dollars to about $5000.00 dollars. To be honest,and I hope I don't upset anyone,but after 2006 (because of the North Star engine) I stopped buying Cadillac's. I just purchased a 2020 Escalade,and to be honest I still own that 2006 DTS Luxury 3 that I use as a back up vehicle,but I've replaced the oil pan gasket twice,valve cover gaskets twice,and the oil filter adapter gasket twice. They're great vehicles,but proceed with caution.

Tony

 

Interesting replies .
I own a 93 DeVille , bough it new , never a oil leak but the engine sounds tired , was thinking on rebuilding it but instead I decided to buy a 2011 DTS with 50K on it .
Reading the replies , I’m staring to think that I perhaps should’ve work on the 93 that take my chances with the DTS .
So far I haven’t had any problems wit( the DTS , however I only had it for a few months .
I heard about the oil leaks being chronic with the North start .
A question for short fuse , where do you get the hand held tester and where do you plug it in , in order to diagnose?
Short fuse and Tony had great information , I wish I had known this before I bough my DTS .
I hope they answer your question .

 

TonyB
Please understand that I wasn't bashing DTS's,or bad mouthing North Star motors,but the truth of the matter is this,and you can be guaranteed that your North Star motor will leak. I was told on many occasions by a Cadillac mechanic where I purchased all of my Cadillac's, that the North Star motor leaks due to Cadillac using inferior or cheap seals.Tony enjoy the DTS because they're beautiful vehicles,but at some point once the engine seals begin to leak,and then you'll have to decide whether the price of the repair equals the value of your DTS. Tony

 

I like the 2011 dts also, I have owned many caddies from 1954 to 2014,will not get a dts because of the northstar,
if the dts had the 3.6 Holden engine I would probably buy one, I have owned a 2010 camaro and 2014 cts with the holden engine, great engine, my caddy now is a 1991 brougham with the 5.7, I love it.

 

My favorite Cadillac was the Eldorado,( 1992-2002),and I agree with you pertaining to the Holden Engine.You have my respect for owning as many Cadillac's as you have. I had a Cadillac mechanic,and service rider state to me (where I purchased all of my Cadillac's) Tony if GM didn't cut so many corners,and spent a couple hundred dollars more on good seals,and took the time to properly design the North Star engine,and it could have been a great engine. They also stated due to the North Star engines,that they've lost many repeat customers (I'm guilty) to Mercedes and BMW. Please understand that it wasn't just the North Star engine that kept me from purchasing a new Cadillac for over fourteen years,and to be honest, I just wasn't a fan of the new body styles. Have a great weekend. Tony

 

I had owned 2 92 eldos., great cars, style wise and mechanically they are very good reliable cars, I sold one of them with over 200,000 miles
on it, I still see it around, my 2014 cts was a very good car also, but I actually sold it to get my now 91 brougham, I enjoy my brougham more
than the cts., I also own a very nice 88 monte carlo s.s.

 

The testers are available online at ebay, amazon, or your local parts stores. They work on 1996 models and up. The amount of money you spend on one will greatly effect the features it will have and the information it will give you. Most scanners out side of the professional models will only download what is known as OBDII generic codes which are the minimum required to work on the vehicals. It will give you basic information on what system is malfunctioning NOT which part is bad! This is a common misunderstanding of how these scanners work. People think that is it gives you a code for a bad oxygen sensor than that sensor is bad. That is not how it works, this only means that something in the oxygen sensors system is malfuntioning whether it will be the sensor, fuse, computer or wiring for it. The system that tell you iwhat the other system on the car are doing such as the abs, body computer, hvac and other systems require you to spend generally over a $1k to get one that will do that. Do lots of research before buying one.