Used 2012 Cadillac CTS Consumer Reviews

After 7 years I am still in love with this car!

I purchased this car in 2012 and it is the longest I have ever had a car. I have 109,817 miles on the car and have done nothing to it except regular maintenance. I have had everything from a Borgward to a Rolls Royce and I believe this is the best vehicle I have ever owned

Nicely done by Cadillac

Performance is very impressive and the look is great. Handling is very good. Mileage average is 21.5 mpg measured over ten fill-ups. Rear window visibility a bit difficult and there is a paint blemish that should have been caught by quality control. Otherwise, the car's design and exterior fit and finish are good. Interior leather is well-fitted and the interior finish is excellent. Accent lighting is just right. Bose sound is excellent. Chose this car from among four in the class manufacturers I had narrowed it down to.

Quite a nice surprise

I drive about 40k a year so i go through allot of cars. After leaving American cars for German due to my excessive mileage I am glad to be back. I have owned an A6 (too uncomfortable) and a 528i (too unreliable) and came back to GM. Couldn't be happier. The rebates and incentives that I got were amazing and I have to say its nice driving something that not everyone else has on the road (528i). Mine is Opulent Blue and I get the thumbs up all the time.

Best car on the planet, IMO

When I was 10, my dad bought a used 73' black Deville. We were poor and had no business having a yacht like this but it was my dad's dream and what a car. Like father, like son; in 2009, I bought my first cadillac...a 2006 DTS and loved it every day until 2 weeks ago when I traded it in for a used 2011 CTS Premium, black raven with 26k miles, a real cream puff (I never buy new). It was way above my expectations and I fell in love all over again. This machine seriously performs and while it's much tighter than the DTS, it still feels and drives like a Cadillac, only better! I'm so impressed every time I get in and out of it. Couldn't be happier!

Handsome car

My first Caddy Performance CTS. Good value for a luxury brand. Trunk is a bit tight, but adequate. Good looking. After 205,000 miles later, the catalytic converters (4), muffler starting to wear out & shocks. Check engine on. Overall reliable.

Nice ride

I've had mine for about a year now. It is AWD Performance package and has the FE3 suspension and 19 inch wheels. While the handling is great with this package, the tires are a bit noisy. The 3.6 is well worth the price premium. The engine really pulls strong in upper ranges. Love the audio system that came with this package. Slightly disappointed with gas mileage, averaging about 19.5 in mixed driving. All highway trip managed to get about 25. CTS still seems pretty popular with older crowds, so be prepared for comments if you are younger and driving one of these.

Over all

I am mostly drive Germany cars drive, Mercedes E class and BMW 535i... Had the opportunity to purchase a preowned 2012 CTS with low miles on it...The ride is different...Actually I like the ride..Handles bumps and ruff roads very well...The outside is very Articulate ...It's a bit smaller interior the the E-Class benz and the 535i... The leather seats are harder...Could use a little more padding to make long ride a little more comfortable..Gas mileage in good...The driver front seat is not as comfortable to ride in and the Germany cars...When accelerating..It make this strange noise..Need to take to the dealer find out what that is...Its seem probably the reason the first owner got rid of it...Loving the panoramic roof...Have put about 6k miles on it in the last 3 months I use mid grade gas to get better performance..I still have my mercedes over all the cts was a good choice...

World class

Better than most Japanese and German sedans in its class in terms of design, features and value. many useful and well thought functions. beautiful inside and out. paid $3500 less than window sticker plus top trade in price. got a lot compliment for the pearl white paint

REAL success

Our Cadillac CTS recently withstood a big buck collision. Airbags deployed, OnStar called my wife (who was alone at the time) to check her status. Within minutes, police, ambulance, animal control, and a tow truck was there. She was 100% FINE...thank goodness. The CTS w/ all-wheel drive is SAFE, handles great in all four seasons, handles well, and (frankly) is a conversation piece among friends. Love it.

BMW to Cadillac

I'm a fairly young car enthusiast! In my past I have owned many Luxury vehicles, such as Saab, Lincoln, BMW, and other Cadillacs. This CTS is one of my favorite cars. I had a 3 series BMW AWD and loved the car, but after the warranty expired, it was time for it to go! So I bought the CTS preowned with 20,000 miles and the only complaint is the 3.0 engine. Its a great engine, but it lacks torque for those red light accelerations. Interior is superb, exterior is beautiful! If I was to buy this car over, I would look for the same car with the 3.6! But other than that I love my Cadillac!

The 2011 Cadillac CTS A Good & Reliable Asset

This car is a valuable asset for the money; very dependable, low maintenance, good on fuel consumption, Attractive exterior and interior, and a pleasure to drive in all weather conditions.

Luxury and Class

Fun to drive ! Got black ice, shines like a diamond , turns lots of heads ! Drives like a dream ! So much more luxury than BMW!

145K plus miles (12/21/2019)

Have owned a 2011 CTS, 3.6, awd, performance version, for over 145,000 miles and I am very satisfied. The CTS offers good handling, acceleration, ride and decent mpg. I keep up with scheduled maintenance and so far reliability has been good. One compliant is wheel bearings. I've replaced all 4. Other than the wheel bearings I've not had to repair anything else. Also, I think it's less expensive to get work done because all major components are USA / GM based... Trying to decide what I should replace this with but, can't find a vehicle that gets me excited so I'm sticking with the CTS, for now.

Love my CaddyO. USA, USA!

For less $$ than entry level new Accord, Camry or Altima, I bought a used 2011 silver Cadillac CTS. And I love it! It had 18K miles, looks great. Didn't get the extended warranty (the car still had 11 months of factory warranty remaining). Nice simple yet elegant interior design, exterior looks great too. Radio backup camera are nice. Heat seat warmer works fast as well as the air and heater. Now the new CTS looks even better. I did had a chance to drive the 2014 CTS last year. However, CUE touchscreen was not my thing (hard to touch the right button while driving).

happy car happy owner

this 2011 cts has been the best car I have ever owned. I love this car but if your getting older this car is kind of hard to get in and out of I have arthritis so its kind of hard in climb in and getting out but once your in its a awesome car. its so easy to drive and so comfortable and very smooth riding.

2012 CTS looks great, drives great! Update

My beautiful 2011 cts was totaled. Wanted close to what I had, so I bought the 2012 as a replacement! Interior the same as my old one, and in great shape! Exterior is a pearl color. Really wanted black, but this car had low mileage and is in great shape! Like the discount I received from Edmunds! No haggle, just paid the asking price! It is now September 2020, still love this car! Just a note about the CTS made between 2011 and 2013. These vehicles have a defect in the power train. The bolts back out and break off, which means you could loose you transmission. I was told by the dealer that the problem had been fixed on the 2012. Wrong, I heard something rattling around under the car in 2019. Took it to the dealer and guess what the bolt had backed out on this one too. I had purchased a warranty so no problem getting it fixed. When I get a oil change I always have them check the bolts on the powetrain. Other than that defect its still a great car! I have now owned this car for over 3 years! With regular maintenance, this car runs and continues to drive great! 90,000 miles and counting!

Audio System Atrocious

There are lots of things to love about the Cadillac. The incentives are what got me, the design, the handling, the power... However, ALL of that isn't worth the car for one reason and one reason only. The absolutely complete MESS of navigation and especially the phone system. 1) when you get a call, the number appears on the DASH but the CONNECT button is on the NAV SCREEN and it pops up MAYBE 25% of the time. The audio voice will instruct you to hit a button, but when you do... nothing happens and you will lose calls ALL THE TIME. It CANNOT put your iphone contact list into its system (are you kidding?) and the "hands free calling" is worse than the Prius (which was horrific).

Looks as Good as it Drives

Trunk is a little on the small side. The CTS is a beautiful sport luxury car. Lots of nice features and comfortable seats. Enough get up and go and handling to make it fun to drive. I love the body style. Had to replace the front wheel bearings at 85K and the "oil change reminder" won't reset. No other issues.

Cardiaccadillac is a awesome vehicle

Did alot of research before buying. Cadillacs offer many options and we got what exactly wanted. We did not settle for something less even though we were tempted by other nice Caddy's. To bad this site doesn't allow pictures of personal cars to be uploaded. We chose Red Tint Coat paint with Cashmere/Tan Wood Trim interior it has a huge Sunroof Update review 09/30/18 Six months later..... Still love the car took it in road trip up north. Ran great took it to Cadillac dealership for service treated us like royalty! I bought this car cuz I always wanted a Cadillac and a heart attack at 56 years old convinced me to purchase! We well worth the wait!

First Caddy

I had read many of the reviews from many sources, and so far my new CTS is living up to them, both good and bad. It's a very quiet and smooth riding car and the styling is awesome, especially in the crystal red color that I have. However, my old $25K, 4 cyl Nissan Altima I just traded in has several things my new CTS lacks: More storage, folding rear seat, much quicker acceleration

My dream car

Love this car,car of my dreams,finally bought it and now the reasonable thing to do is sell her due to moving to the montana mountains! NowI need a suv.This is a beautiful car and gets a lot of attention.Beautiful black diamond tri coat that sparkles in the sun.BEAUTIFUL!

Great Machine !!

This car is a very nice looking car and get great performance. The back seat is nice but not much leg room.

first cadillac bought brand new

I bought this car brand new in June of 2012. The car is great, no repairs yet. I do all the maintenance myself. The ride is so smooth it's like sitting on your sofa. I recommend using the mobil 1 for oil changes. Also the comfort is great and I get many compliments on the look of the car. Best car I ever had. I had a 1968 Cadillac Coupe Deville and ride wasn't as good as our 2012 CTS. This is something new beginning 2019 with about 58000 miles and 6.5 years of ownership electrical issues are drivers door lock stopped going up and down automatically. The seat no longer goes to selected drivers position upon entering or exiting the vehicle. You have to do both issues manually. No big deal, but time to start thinking about something new. Still a great car the best thing about the car are its looks and the diamond white paint job.

Sade, was a smooth operator!

I drove Sade, (I always name my cars) for about 8 years with no issues, not one. I kept her maintained and she performed everyday. Her body style still rivals a lot of the newer cars on the road. She now has a new home giving top notch performance for someone else. Now I am looking for another CTS. It will be my third. Love Cadillac and made in the 🇺🇸

Caddy comfort

It's really great in winter weather with all wheel drive and is very comfortable to drive. I love the dependability of my car.

Wife loves it

slightly disappointed

Ok, this is my third cadillac in succession and i have driven the DTS and STS for a while before i finally ended up with a CTS 2012. Style and Design are the best in class, which I must say is the biggest lure to buy a CTS. Performance is great, has good power and handles better in corners. I am surely disappointed with the drive comfort level, seats itself aren't bad, something about the drivers position and may be the suspension. It gave me a neck ache after a couple hours drive. Love the pop up nav screen.

Stay away! Keep family Away

I bought an 2012 CTS Lux. It was used with 11,000 miles on it by an one owner who upgraded every six months. In May 2014 I had to take it in due to my airbags randomly being deployed while it was parked in my garage. Under warranty Cadillac replaced both driver and passenger airbag and also said the wiring was messed up and they corrected it. November of 2014 the airbag light came on and I took it down to Cadillac (45 minute drive from where I lived. Same dealer that I bought it from) get there and was told they would get right on looking at it because it was a slow day. 4 hours later I get told they couldn't find out what was wrong with the car and just reset the light. April 21, of 2015 my car now has 32,000 miles on it and I'm on vacation visiting family 900 miles away from home. i drove to a friends house to pick her up to go get my oil changed before I headed back home. My car is off and parked. My keys are in my pocket my wallet and cell phone along with a newer MacBook Pro is in my car locked. My cars electronics for the navigation and airbags and everything else catches fire and destories my trunk and everything in the back seat before the fire is able to be put out. My insurance totals the CTS but they get out of paying GAP of 5,000 dollars. Granted I paid a lot more on my car payments then my 500 dollar a month payment. I contact Cadillac and my insurance both because now I'm stuck with a 500 dollar car payment on a car that is now torched. Cadillac want nothing to do with it since no one died and insurance said they don't care and not there job too. We've always bought GM products and now I think we will be sticking with paying higher repair bills with European cars then with American anymore. So if you are serious about buying this car ask yourself is your life or families live worth the risk?

Buyer Regrets.. Cadillac should only be leased..

We bought our son a cadillac there 10 years ago.. We took really good care of it with regular oil changes etc It only had 73,000. When we got it already had 13,000 so he really only drove it 60,000 and in June the engine quit. We took it to Banks and they said it would be like $7000 or more to fix it and it wasn't even valued at $7000. I really felt bad as there was absolutely nothing wrong with this car as far a rust or dents or scratches and the interior was in really great condition. I can't believe that Cadillac doesn't make a car that can't go more than 73,000. I have had an oldsmobile that went to 218,000, a blazer that went to 140,000 and I still have a Hyundai that has 115,000. These are all just regular cars, I really thought if we got a Cadillac..It was built to last. but I guess I was wrong. Last April 2016.. We bought a 2016 truck and 2012 Cadillac in the same week. Paid cash. We paid $21,000 for the Cadillac and I just took it to a dealer who now says that it is only worth $13,000. wow an $8000 loss on a car we have had a year and a half. It had 47,000 when we got it and it now has 57,000. It is in the garage most of the time now as I am afraid to use it to have happen to it what happened to the 2007. We had a Cadillac previous to these to that the head gasket went on as well. I guess I should have done more research on these cars and looked at reviews.. I really regret buying this car... These cars only meant to be leased I guess so you only have them for 2 years and get rid of them. I will be posting my reviews of these cars on all sites that I can. It is definately Buyer Beware. I won't EVER buy another Cadillac..nor will I tell anyone else to do so. Thank you for reading this Rita Richardson

Black diamond

I bought this car new and the only driver It's always garage kept, I use full synthetic motor oil ( mobil one ) It's been at the dealership for It's recommend services and one minor issue, The car is painted black ( black diamond paint ) black leather upholstery and full amenities, bluetooth, xm , back up camera, heated and air condition bucket seats, tint windows, the list goes on and on, the only reason It's for sale, is I'm up in age (78 ) and I don't drive it much, and to let it set in the garage is a shame. there has never been any passengers in the back seat. this car looks brand new with 39000 thousand . and It always draws a lot of comments.

What a car

Drives superb. Gm quality better then a Lexus or Acura..

Engine went at 65000 miles... no light warning

Cadillac charged me $11,000 for a new engine installed. What was my choice? A car loan or get the engine on a car that is lovely runs well. So hopefully I will get another 3 years out of it. The car overheated no warning. Let it cool and topped up antifreeze. They say I put too much in and when the pressure went up(drove from Maine to Florida) and the stay was releasing it just continues and lets out too much anti freeze.. and it overheated. Woke up to leave from Jacksonville and engine light and stability lights on. Topped up fluid. again too much as per Cadillac, drop to Daytona where that dealer after $800 got me on the road again. Five minutes of driving and lights on. Drove to South Fla. Brought it to dealer limping running on 4 cal... needed new engine. They said $5k used engine. 6k rebuild this one 11k new one. I said used on(from a rear end) went to pickup car and it was $11k they said they coundnot get the used one so they put in the new one... $10. what was my choice at that time? I hate car shopping and do like this car. Cadillac explained they put in a new engine with a 30,000 mile guaranty. They have followed up making sure the car runs well. And invited me to bring it back in 30 days to make sure all is running right. I still do not understand the fill line on antifreeze///

Don't ever buy or lease a cadillac from Moss Robertson Cadillac in Gainesville, GA

Two weeks after leasing what we thought would be a wonderful car the cadi started making a terrible knocking noise when started! Brought it back twice and was told BOTH times that it was manufactured that way and for us to just DEAL WITH IT! Tried to turn in our cadi for another model and Nick Jones, our original sales rep, did NOT even have the courtesy to call me back! So disappointed with this dealership in ALL regards. We turned in the Cadi and r now driving a 2011 ES 350 Lexus!!Guess what! We turned the car in and now own a brand new Lexus ES 350! So disappointed with this dealership cannot even put anything else into words except that they need to be ashamed of themselves.

Super Car.

I’ve had my 2012 since 2014. It came in off a lease. It now has 92K miles and I drive it on all our trips except to the beach. The only trouble I’ve had was the air conditioner compressor that had to be replaced. I’ve complied with all maintenance when scheduled. The car continues to run very strong and when I get on it hard it blows no smoke at all while still pinning you in the back of the seat. I have never kept a car this long. Never! Love this car.

Car performance is good, style is good

Car performance is good, style is good . Storage is very poor, struggle to find a place to put my cellphone...

2011 CTS Premium AWD is an excellent ride

I purchased the 2011 CTS Premium AWD in October 2011 in lieu of the 2011 BMW 535xi. Although the Edmunds reviews are rather critical of the CTS, I found the ride extremely comfortable and the handling very nimble for normal driving (I don't take curves at 80 mph). The fit and finish in this car is exceptional. The top of the line Premium AWD has every conceivable option that a car enthusiast could want. My opinion of Cadillac has certainly changed for the better. With 306 horsepower, the car does not lack for acceleration.

Cadillac CTS

Fabulous car, more fun to be in than a Mercedes or BMW. Dealership is the best I have been to, complete car service and education provided.

Not Bad... But

A 47,000 dollar luxury car for 34,000 with all of the rebates and incentives just blew away the Audi, Lexus and Acura for deals. I've owned MBZ E350, G35, Porsche 911, Acura TL. So far, it's OK and there are little "annoying" things about the car (especially the phone system), but it DOES drive smoothly despite being a "heavy" car. Pick up is "pretty good" but not "excellent" (guess I'm spoiled)

BAd audio

The audio system is terrible. I swapped it out and now they say they cant reset the security alarm for it because it is not factory. What a crock [non-permissible content removed]. I'm moving to a foreign made vehicle.

Happy with my caddie

I like the look of the vehicle and although it has a few body spots of damage the vehicle performs well

Best mix of ride and handling

Pleasure to drive.