20k: Seller Submission: 2007 Cadillac CTS-V
For a fast/fun late model sub $20k sedan, it doesn’t get much better than the first generation Cadillac CTS-V. The V cost about $50k new (before options) and the early LS6 powered (2004-2005) have been the cheap ones to get, but today’s seller submission gets you into the refreshed LS2 powered (2006-2007) version at a good price. Find this 2007 Cadillac CTS-V for sale in Wilton, CT for $18,400 via craigslist. Seller submission from Peter.
The early first gen CTS-V cars suffered from poor interior materials (fit/finish felt like a rental econobox) and rear-diff issues, but the refreshed 2006+ cars fixed these issues and gave a bit more torque with a bigger engine. The old advice of avoiding the first few years of any new model is well considered here as GM fixed the rear diff problem, but it took a few years.
Pop the big angular hood and find a 6.0 liter GM LS2 V8 with all of its pushrod-valve glory putting out 400 horsepower and 395 ft-lbs of torque. GM only offered a 6-speed manual with the 1st gen V, no sissy slushbox for this beast.
The CTS was sized somewhere between a BMW 3 and 5 series, but the early interiors weren’t universally loved. This one with 100k miles on the odometer looks in decent shape but the hard plastic painted parts require a soft touch to avoid scratching.
See a better LS2 powered sedan? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
If you've never driven one of these, you don't know what you're missing. I owned one for eight months and still miss it every day. Rear diffs are fine if you don't launch it like a drag car-the gears move around in the early cases and cause cracks in the aluminum after repeated hard launches.
A-freaking-men man, these things are vicious. Late in my 5th or 6th (undergrad) year at a large, engineering-focused midwestern university I lucked into a trip up to a track west of Chicago with some SAE guys, the CTS-V engineering unit and some university PR tag-alongs.
They even trotted out a few year-old press-beater E39 M5 so the V could thrash it around the circuit a few times for the crowd. I actually felt bad for the E39. It was like a very past-its-prime prize-fighter, worn out and weak after a lifetime of trashings. It was a sorry looking / sounding car. 45,000 miles, valve noise, blue smoke after engine braking, lumpy idle, even lumpier acceleration… the CTS's stomped it thoroughly but it was hardly a fair fight.
Anyways, the Vs were loud, angry, unrefined, glorious monsters. A complete handful with stabiliwhatever off. I've wanted one ever since. Badly.
The 2007's like the one in this advert also didn't come from the factory with messed up oil temp sensor calibrations / fuel starvation issues like the earlier cars.
Also: 6 lugs! Like a Viper! And a pickup truck.