The Cadillac XLR?

[Spitball]

Does anyone know anything firsthand about these cars? My 26 year old car-nut daughter is sitting in a sales room right now dickering over a price. I looked at the car with her last Thursday, but I thought she had decided to wait. I was hoping the phase would pass because it seems like too much car for her. She has a Nissan 350Z right now.

I know it is basically a Corvette with a Cadillac body. She watched them being made in Boling Green a few years ago.

Anyone familiar with the car?

[Reds4Life]

They are fairly rare cars, they were made from model year 2004 to 2009, about 14,000 or so were produced for the world market. It was discontinued in 2009, mostly because it was overpriced. Sticker price on the XLR was about $100-$115k brand new, and GM still had a reputation of spotty quality at the time. For that price range, it was competing with AMG Mercedes, Porsche and a host of other high end cars. The Corvette ZR1 (supercharged Vette) also came out in 2009 and had similar pricing as the XLR, but with much better performance numbers. From a car nuts prospective, why spend $110k on a 415 horsepower Caddy when you can get a 630 horsepower Vette for pretty much the same price?

Even though she's buying it used, insurance is going to be high. High dollar car when new, plus limited production, means parts aren't going to be cheap or easily available, which will drive up the insurance rates.

It was a pretty cool car, but it just never caught on. Most people who are looking for american, ultra high end, fast cars are going to be drawn to the Vette, better performance and cheaper price.

Hope that helps.

[Spitball]

Thanks a lot, Reds4Life. She has wanted a XLR for a couple of years when she found one at a local car dealer. It is a 2009 and they are asking $41,000. She was close to closing the deal when she decided to check the insurance. As you said, it was very high at $1,400 every six months. With the $500 monthly car payment she backed out ...for now. She told me she was going home to do some more figuring.

After your helpful information, I hope she decides against this car. She won't really listen to me on this matter. If it were about baseball, she would listen to Dad, but cars (especially fast cars) are her passion.

I'll cut and paste your info and send it to her. Maybe it will do some good. Thanks, again.

Unassisted, the salesman kept telling her that on Thursday when I was with her.

[Reds4Life]

Thanks a lot, Reds4Life. She has wanted a XLR for a couple of years when she found one at a local car dealer. It is a 2009 and they are asking $41,000. She was close to closing the deal when she decided to check the insurance. As you said, it was very high at $1,400 every six months. With the $500 monthly car payment she backed out ...for now. She told me she was going home to do some more figuring.

After your helpful information, I hope she decides against this car. She won't really listen to me on this matter. If it were about baseball, she would listen to Dad, but cars (especially fast cars) are her passion.

I'll cut and paste your info and send it to her. Maybe it will do some good. Thanks, again.

Unassisted, the salesman kept telling her that on Thursday when I was with her.

That is the other issue you run into with $100k+ american cars, depreciation. That car was over $100k just 2 years ago. Now it can be had for $41k. That's a 60% loss in 2-3 years, ouch.

I did a quick check, 2006 and 2007's are going for under $30k, so she wiill need to factor in more depreciation. If she's taking out a big loan to finance it, chances are she'll be upside down in the loan within a year.

The upside, if you want to call it that , is that 2009 was the lowest production year for the XLR, making it the most rare. GM only produced 787 XLR's in 2009.

A girl who likes fast cars, is she single?!?!

[RedsBaron]

Until its final model year I believe that the XLR used a Northstar V-8 instead of the Corvette V-8.
I agree with Reds4Life's posts. I wouldn't buy an XLR as my primary car and I would want to have a decent amount of discretionary income before getting one as a second car.

[Reds4Life]

Until its final model year I believe that the XLR used a Northstar V-8 instead of the Corvette V-8.
I agree with Reds4Life's posts. I wouldn't buy an XLR as my primary car and I would want to have a decent amount of discretionary income before getting one as a second car.

You're correct sir. Most of them used 4.4 or 4.6L Northstar V8's. Some of the 2009's came with the 6.2L out of the Vette, along with an increased cost.

[Unassisted]

I saw them being made in Bowling Green a few years ago, when I toured the plant with my Vette-loving father. It looked like the process to make those was closer to handmade, while the Vette assembly process was faster and more automated.

I keep hearing Clark Howard say on his radio show that this is a great time to buy luxury cars, especially new luxury cars. Prices are down.

[paintmered]

Before she asks, I'm happily engaged.

[Spitball]

Before she asks, I'm happily engaged.

She will be crushed...especially if you have a muscle car.

[paintmered]

She will be crushed...especially if you have a muscle car.

No muscle car, but it is aero limited to 160 mph.

[Spitball]

No muscle car, but it is aero limited to 160 mph.

If the aero is that plane-car, she won't be real impressed, but my 87 year-old dad, a former pilot, will be really interested.

[GIK]

I say get it. Life's short.

[Spitball]

I say get it. Life's short.

This seems to be her thought. Right now she is single and making money. She figures she will marry and have kids one day, and her dream car will never happen.

Coming from the parts end of the business, all Cadillac parts are expensive. When you get into the rarer models of cars the parts become much more expensive and very hard to come by. The car will be expensive to maintain.

I have used this argument, but she doesn't seem convinced. She has been driving a Nissan 350Z for the last three years, and it has had no mechanical problems except with tires. And, I'm sure that is because she has these big rims and thin little tires (maybe called high profile). The XLR has tires without air which seems attractive to her.

[GIK]

She figures she will marry and have kids one day, and her dream car will never happen.

I'd say she's probably right. Since marriage it's been an endless string of automotive "blah" for me.

But in all seriousness, I love exciting cars and they were very important to me in my teens and 20s. Now, I just can't see a good reason to put my money in a severely depreciating asset. If she needs something quick, a C6 Vette would be the safer play (lower mileage examples can be found all day for $25-30K) or, like R4L said, an older model XLR.

If I were in her shoes, I'd probably opt to spend half of that on a very nice pre-owned vehicle, put $5K into a Roth IRA before 12/31, and then add another $5K after the first of the year.

[bucksfan2]

I have used this argument, but she doesn't seem convinced. She has been driving a Nissan 350Z for the last three years, and it has had no mechanical problems except with tires. And, I'm sure that is because she has these big rims and thin little tires (maybe called high profile). The XLR has tires without air which seems attractive to her.

Just a quick search led me to this. If the Alternator goes bad just the part will cost around $500 and then you have to tack on labor. Then couple that with the fact that it isn't a stocking item for many people and you will have more downtime than expected. Cadillac parts in general are expensive but when you get into their more specialized models they become even more expensive and tougher to get your hands on. Oh and those air less tires cost you a fortune and their ride isn't as good as ones with air in them.

I am not a car guy. I see it as a vehicle to get you from one place to another. I want something that is nice, comfortable, gets good mileage, and will run for a while. To me flash and a big engine are avenues to get in trouble. I just know that when we get calls in for XLR and Catera parts we generally laugh because if we do have them (which is very rare) they are outrageously expensive.