I've had nothing but good experience with Fender CS basses, the first one I had, a custom classic in blue, with maple neck, was a joy to play, but it didn't sat long as I was playing 5's all the time. I picked it up in the shop, didn't notice what it was and it played like a dream!
The reliced Dakota red bass you saw, I think is a limited run of basses with a mahogany neck, 50 I think, hence the high price! I have played one, it wasnt as good as the CS i owned, I used it for some recording, but had to do some minor set up to get it to work right for me and the recording!
I now have a sea foam green custom classic, it's sweet, plays and sounds great and was about 1/2 the price of the one you played. I waited for ages for either a SF green or sonic blue bass to appear and ended up taking a chnace on one from the US, based on my previous experience of CS basses the risk was minimal!
I do think the deluxe basses are close to team built custom shop models, and I have played some great mex' jazzes!!!
Tony