The Cadillac CTS-V Wagon has a wicked combination of serious performance, great looks, low production numbers and a big novelty factor—it’s a freaking factory-made hot rod luxury station wagon! One of the nicest I’ve ever seen, and one of the few clean ones left, has just sold in an open auction giving us a good idea of what these things are worth now.
This 2012 “Vagon” with low mileage, no modifications, great tires, a six-speed manual transmission in the rare and slightly lighter “no-sunroof” spec has just changed hands for $53,000.
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That’s around the MSRP of a brand-new BMW M2, and just about $10,000 shy of what the Caddy’s list price would have been when it was on a show room five years ago.
There was a lot of late-auction bidding as offerings on this car increased rapidly from $40,000 to the final selling price, but as several Bring A Trailer commenters pointed out, there are very few Cadillac CTS Wagons for sale in the country right now, even fewer V’s, and pretty much only one (now zero) manual-shift ones.
Obviously, the manual is the one to have. And the V, of course, is a completely different car from a regular CTS.
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While the second-generation Cadillac CTS wagon did get a few different engine options, they were all V6s that landed in the neighborhood of 300 horsepower. The heart of the CTS-V, however, was a 6.2-liter LSA V8 derived from the engine that powered the mighty Corvette ZR1. And that fire-breather was rated at 556 horsepower and 551 lb-ft of torque, while the Vagon kept all that energy moving along smoothly with GM’s impressive Magnetic Ride Control suspension.
This unmolested Vagon will continue to hold its value with a kung-fu grip unless its new owner starts feeding it modifications (please don’t, whoever you are.) By the time I’m old enough to be caught sauntering around a classic car auction in a Tommy Bahama shirt with a bidder’s paddle myself, these things will probably have increasedin price from this listing—if any are still around.
But I hope the owner doesn’t get too concerned with resale value. Cars were meant to be driven, after all. And this one’s got just enough scratches and imperfections to make even an uppity collector cool with taking it out on the road. Which is what makes it, practically speaking, perfect after all.
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