IF you were driving in the mid-2000s in the UK you may have caught a glimpse of an American legend.

I'm talking about the late and very great Cadillac STS which was a rear-wheel-drive powerhouse of a car.

Not the average billowing ship you would normally expect from the States, this car was as sharp as the suits the drivers usually wore and in terms of brute power it took few prisoners.

STS meant Seville Touring Sedan and by American standards it was judged midsized. But in the UK it was huge, and the only sad fact about it was that there not enough of them reaching UK shores.

It was sold from 2005-2013 and was Cadillac's highest priced sedan.

There were two engine options in Europe, a 3,564cc V6 or the pick of the bunch - massive aluminium 4,565cc Northstar V8.

The latter was one of the best engines to come out of the United States and I was lucky enough to sample its power with one of the handful of top of the range STS models that reached here in a UK sales push by the company.

The STS was built around the rear-wheel-drive Sigma platform which was one of GM's better projects.

It was a taut and responsive car to drive, mainly due to its magnetic ride control which was hailed as the fastest reacting suspension ever, before it was utilised in sports cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Ferraris.

The V8 had 155mph in its sights and could accelerate from 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds. As would be expected economy was not a strongpoint as under 20mpg was the norm.

If you wanted more there was the STS-V of 2005, a 469bhp supercharged version, tuned to perfection at the Nurburgring circuit, which could hit 60mph in under five seconds. However, this was a very rare bird.

The final STS was assembled on May 4, 2011.

Because this is a more recent car, there are still a few on British roads. But if you do see one don't blink because you will miss it due to the fact that they most definitely do not hang about.