1999 Cadillac Seville STS – Classified of the Week

Well this seller certainly knows how to draw attention to a classified advert and it’s worthy of mention for the background alone but ingenious methods of advertising aside, once our eyes had adjusted to the explosion of colour, what we discovered was actually quite an interesting and left field choice for a usable, modern classic with a bit of grunt under the bonnet, along with a whole host of premium features. When most people think of Cadillacs it’s usually the grandiose land yachts that immediately spring to mind. You know, the hulking great beasts like Elvis Presley’s Fleetwood that we auctioned at the beginning of last year. But there are other, less imposing and slightly more refined models to choose from when it comes to the luxury division of American behemoth General Motors. Cars like this Cadillac Seville STS, for instance.

The Cadillac Seville, as its own entity, began life in 1975 but the Spanish moniker was first used as a model designation for the two-door hardtop version of the brand’s Eldorado line way back in ’56. Developed as GM’s answer to the sea of imported European luxury saloons washing up on US shores at the time from the likes of BMW and Mercedes, the Seville was marketed more in line with these smaller, more expensive cars and marked a departure for GM who would move away from producing bigger and bigger cars to offering more refined, premium vehicles.

Built upon Chevrolet’s compact, rear-wheel drive “X-Body” platform the original Seville featured a separate subframe and the car was much lighter and more nimble than previous models in the Cadillac range, all the while retaining a high-end, quality feel loaded with features. This was still an American car, however and so was naturally fitted with an Oldsmobile-derived, fuel injected 5.7-litre V8. Power output was fairly meagre for such a large engine though and the best the Seville could manage was 180bhp. This was in the midst of the emissions-controlled US oil crisis though, to be fair to the Caddy.

Spanning a 29 year production run, after which the Seville would segue into simply the Cadillac STS, or Seville Touring Sedan, it would go through a further four iterations, culminating in the fifth generation model in 1998, and the group to which this particular car belongs. It’s a 1999 Cadillac Seville STS, with the STS denoting the top of the range spec, nomenclature that was first introduced back in ’88 with the second-gen model Seville. It was at this point too that GM switched out the traditional rear-wheel drive format for that of a front-wheel drive layout that would remain in place for the remainder of the car’s lifespan.

But back to the focus of our article. The STS, in this instance, means that the car comes fitted with the most powerful engine in the range – a 4.6-litre, 300bhp V8 mated to a buttery four-speed automatic gearbox that could propel the Seville to 60mph from parked in a little over 6 seconds. Not only that but it has more bells and whistles than a campanology festival and a referee convention combined. We’re talking full cream leather interior, front and rear electric heated seats with memory settings, multi-function steering wheel, fully tricked out Bose sound system, automatic climate control, petrol flap and boot lid opening buttons and electric everything else. Toys, toys, toys.

The car, based in London, appears to be in fantastic original condition throughout but then it has only covered a mere 28K miles and despite being a Yank this particular Seville is a factory right-hand drive model, the first Cadillac to officially be manufactured and sold that way. Currently sans MOT the seller is happy to put a year’s ticket on the thing before moving it on but a quick look at the car’s history on the UK government website uncovers no nasty surprises and the car has a clean bill of health, at least as far as MOTs go anyway. What we have here then, is a rather fun and interesting alternative to the more commonplace European equivalents of the time so if you want to stand out from the humdrum saloon crowd whilst retaining a supreme level of comfort and luxury and yet still be able to turn it on and melt some rubber when the situation calls for it then this Cadillac Seville STS is most definitely the car for you. Background not included, sadly.