Cadillac CTS/CTS-V

fjk57702

Here's what I did on my 98 Aurora with Eagle GA tires: I rotated first at ~15,000 miles, the car was a program car and I don't know it the tires were rotated prior to my getting it. After that I rotated about every 8-10,000 I think. Anyway, when I traded the car in, it had 52,000 on the original tires and they still had tread left. I moved the back tires to the oposite front wheels and the front wheels straight back.

There are some tires that have a tread pattern with a particular direction that should be on one side only. With those tires you must be very careful when backing up.

b4z

Pretty much echoes my driving impressions. Especially when it comes to the suspension changes for '04.

http://www.epinions.com/content_107936910980

jemiller

Once upon a time, radial tires as made by Pirelli, Michelin, Kleber et al were stiff and unyielding creatures. When Detroit finally caved in and went radial in the early '70s, they said to the tiremakers "Give us soft radials, and oh by the way we don't much want to pay Michelin's prices either."

So Goodyear, Firestone, Uniroyal et al went off and did soft-riding, cheap radials. The problem was you had a stiff steel belt sitting on top of a squishy carcass, and the end result was a whole lot of belt-separation problems. Traditional rotation patterns that reversed the rotational direction of the wheel tended to make the problem even worse, so along came the 'swap the tires on the same side' rotation patterns. Firestone - who, oddly, had probably more radial-making experience than any other American tire company, they'd had a line of fabric-belted high-speed radials back in the '60s which were said to be (no personal experience on this point) some of the best tires anywhere - did some of the worst tires (remember the Firestone 500?) in the '70s.

Nowadays tires are (mostly - I can't say I know much about the $25 chain-store rim-protector variety) a lot better than they were in the '70s, so I can't imagine encountering any kind of belt-separation problem purely from swapping sides, though I also see no benefit to moving the tires across the car except in some specific instances (the tires on my track car move around all the time to equalize wear.)

These days, some automakers recommend against rotation, but nearly as I can determine their reason for doing so is primarily one of minimizing dealer-service 'comebacks' - moving a tire from one corner, where it's worn in to that position, to another corner can result in louder noises (particularly with a block-type tread pattern like most tires today), a tire with a minor imbalance will be more objectionable on the front than the rear, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, if you can rotate (some cars have staggered wheel sizes that make rotation economically impractical) you should rotate.

Tires with directional tread patterns pretty much have to be kept on the same side of the car (you can have the tire popped off the wheel, flipped over, and rebalanced before moving it to the other side, which is also the only way to rotate tires on a car with staggered tire sizes, but this is of course costly and can't be done in your driveway.)

There's a very small number of tires that are both asymmetrical and directional - the BFG Comp TA KD is the only one I can think of off the top of my head - these are sold in 'left side' and 'right side' patterns. More pain than I want to deal with.

b4z

I think so.
It seems that SRX production is up to over 200 cars a week now and the 2 previous weeks less than 1000 CTSs were made.
This week 1100 were made. 3 weeks ago CTS production was 13,000 more than the same time last year.
This week that has been cut to 10,500 more than last year.
41,200 vs. 30,700.
I know the 2 vehicles are built in the same plant and they might be built on the same line.
I guess they need to run 3 shifts to get production back up.
My dealer is down to 2 cars!!

rsteph

Seems like some good information. I'll assume you're correct (until someone else comes along and says you're all wrong...which seems to happen a lot in these forums...lol). Makes sense anyway. I know a rotation was done on one of my company cars several months ago, after having not been done for several thousand miles. Afterwards, that car drove, for lack of a better explanation, just plain weird...for a few hundred miles before it "seemed" to settle down...or I got used to it..don't know which.

b4z

Drag your mouse over pic #5.

http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/models/gallery.jsp?model=cts

tetedepierre

good post but I think you are wrong in thinking that the old European radials had stiff sidewalls. I owned a 1958 or 59 Citroen with Michelin radials and the tires always looked under inflated. People were always pointing at them and saying they were going flat. But they were at proper inflation, can't remember what it was now. The ride on that car (I probably remember it as being better than it was) was fabulous. I could go on but apologize for being off topic.

cu95

Wasn't the '04 suppose to have the color-keyed license plate surround (pic #5 shows the translucent gray that the '03s have)? Or is that only on the V? Maybe they're just using '03 photos for the time being.

jemiller

True to a point. Radials have more flexible sidewalls than bias-ply tires, and most early radials were fabric-belted. I think Pirelli was the first to nail down their 'Cinturato' design for getting a steel-belted radial to stay together, which requires keeping the tread part of the carcass stiff, but Michelin was early to the party as well.

The best tires being made in the US in the '70s were the fabric-belted police radials, at the time the only US tires rated for 125mph use.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled CTS discussion...

b4z

I seem to remember that the US manufacturers could not get the cars with radials to ride properly.
The European manufacturers, especially Peugoet had it nailed.
it was more of spring and shock design issue.
You guys probably recall how most American cars would bounce 3 times over a bump while European cars would bounce once.

automole

If you saw the 'blingy' CTS 3 or 4 DAYS before your post (I've only had the wheels a couple of weeks) it could have been me. I was headed that way on I-205 last Thursday (5th). I've seen quite a few CTS's in the Portland Metro area but not as many as other new cars (Mini's and Hummer H2's are a dime-a-dozen). Most of the CTS's I see are cashmere or silver.

I might actually do my own oil change next time on the CTS (I still change the oil on my wife's PT cruiser myself). I have curbside recycling that will pick up the used oil for no charge. My only fear is the potential driveway mess caused by the membrane filter.

As for tires...I've been enjoying the new wheels but am debating what to do about the tires. I must have some of those soft radials because my tires seem to be developing flat spots while sitting in the garage over night. It reminds me of the bias ply tires my Grandpa had on his old Ford pickup. I've already had these tires balanced twice; it rides smooth as silk on the trip home from the tire shop and then the next day the ride is rough even on smooth pavement. The ride seems to improve if I drive for awhile but I don't see myself looking forward to miserable ride quality for half of my trip to and from work for the next year or two.
Any suggestions? I'm trying to decide if I'm being overly sensitive or if the tires are truly crap. I've driven plenty of cars with low profile tires so I'm used to the enhanced road feel; this is more like an up/down front/back surging over smooth pavement at 25-45MPH. At higher speeds it's unnoticeable. ??

capriracer

Modern radial tires should be rotated using the "Modified X" pattern. Keeping radials rotating the same direction is from the early days of steel belted radials where the steel to rubber adhesion wasn't very good and reversing the direction of rotation aggravated the situation.

As far as I know EVERY vehicle manufacturer recommends tire rotation and the reason is that each wheel position will develop a wear pattern peculiar to that position. Rotating the tires prevents this wear pattern becoming so large that it develops into a noise or vibration. Typically if you rotate a set of tires and get a new noise or vibration, then the tires were overdue for a rotation, the inflation pressures were low, and / or the vehicle is misaligned. Rotating the tires puts a new wear pattern into the tire and cancels the old wear pattern, thereby prevent any pattern from becoming severe. BTW if you don't rotate tires you will be guaranteed to get irregular wear which will cause excessive noise and vibration - the only question is will your tires wearout before the irregular wear becomes bad enough to be perceived. The front tires on a FWD wear so fast they usually don't, but the rears wear so slowly, it's almost impossible to avoid irregular wear and you wind up throwing away a tire with lots of tread left.

BTW the stiff belt was not the cause of belt separations in the early days of steel belted radials. It was a combination of the adhesion of the rubber compound to the steel and the rubber compound breaking down to form a weak acid causing corrosion. All the tire manufacturers had the problem, but Firestone seemed to be the last to understand that a change in rubber chemistry was needed.

Also, the belts do not "take a set" went first used, nor do they "shift". These 2 phrases are used to try to describe why certain things happen. Unfortunately the explanations aren't accurate and they lead to misunderstandings. Belts are a composite of rubber and steel. Once cured, the tire will flex but the relative position of the belts is fixed. UNLESS something goes wrong. That's when these "explanations" are trotted out.

Hope this helps.

wwhite2

.....bad rubber chemistry....I can attest to that , as a teenager working in a garage in the seventies I changed MANY Firestone 500s that failed. Then they changed the tire to 721s, they had their problems too. I remember an on the road salesman with a big old Oldsmobile and a VERY heavy right foot he had a major blow out almost once a week .

b4z

Anybody remember what that stood for?

No it is not a new Cadillac.

Radial Tuned Suspension.

My aunt and uncle had a '76 Pontiac 4 door(grandAm?) that had beautiful ride quality.

wwhite2

Sure it wasn't a Grand Prix ( two Door I think ) I liked those cars .

pmdriver

Hi guys,
Sitting here with my six week old daughter (getting her up to speed on the auto industry) happy to see you're still enjoying your cars! Sorry I haven't been around for a while, it's been a bit busy with the CTS-V coming up to speed in the plant and other launch activities (not to mention the little one!). Has anyone bought an '04 yet? I've been driving one for the past three months and the jump in torque is very noticeable, especially part throttle. Overall it makes the car seem a bit more nimble

b4z

We figured you were driving around the Nurburgring or something. LOL.
Kids can change your priorities, but I bet you are having fun.
We have some '04 owners here. But I think some people are waiting for the Base and 1SB cars to be available with the Sport Package.
There was a production problem with the non chrome 17" wheels.

v8lincolnguy

Funny you mentioned Firestone 500s from the 70s. Now I obviously don't remember them, but when I was having the tires on LS(Firestone Firehawks) balanced and rotated yesterday, I started talking with the guy at the shop and asked him about the tires and if I should be concerned. He said the Firehawk is a good tire and that it was not one of the ones that caused both them and Ford grief a couple of years ago. But he said that one bad tire(meaning a particular model) can ruin a brand's image and then he brought up the 500s from the 70s. I will say this for the Firestones on my LS, I like them a heck of alot better than the Goodyears that were on my Intrigue.

b4z, thanks for those pics. I've been meaning to check out the updated website for some 04 pics. You still thinking about a CTS? Saw an 04 last night(or else an 03 with aftermarket dual exhuast) in traffic. I cam upon it so I noticed the dual exhaust and frankly, did not pay attention to the license plate surround. At one point I was next to it and the couple in the CTS seemed to be checking out my LS as much as I was checking out their CTS.

jmh4

"We have some '04 owners here. But I think some people are waiting for the Base and 1SB cars to be available with the Sport Package."
This is my first post to this board so I hope this does what it is supposed to do!
I ordered 1SB with Sport package and it was on restriction until 8/14. I talked to the dealer on Thursday and it has been manufactured and is in transit! I will have the Sport package on the Luxury model. Waited as I didn't want the moonroof or fancy sound system. I know you will all welcome me with a "why not?"

b4z

Thanks for the update on the Sport Package.
Don't care for sunroof either as i am very tall.

No CTS for me right now. Refi the Impala or a '95-97 lexus LS 400.

wwhite2

It was a nice day here in New England . My oil filter was delivered by Fedex yesterday, I decided to change my oil . After jacking and jack standing my car I grabbed my creeper and rolled underneath . I started to flip out !! I noticed that the two bolts attaching the transmission cross member to the unibody frame rails were hanging by a good inch. (I have posted that my car required a new manual transmission about a month ago ). Obviously the imbecile technician who swapped my transmission hand started these bolts and never tightened them. Now I was thinking ....are the transmission to bellhousing bolts tight or maybe missing, how about the saddles on the u-joints at the pinion flange. I called the dealership no one around (3:30 pm ) except the sales manager . I read him the riot act . I really want the tech fired . This only proves my opinion that there are no good techs out there no matter how good they tell you they are. The Factory training is nonsense and ASE training is written at a fourth grade level( I have seen test questions ) . I am bringing the car to them Mon afternoon ( No waiting) and demanded that I watch as a Tech TORQUES EACH and every bolt to factory specifications . All I can say is that is really dangerous- bringing your car to any dealer. You really need them to provide a written inspection report documenting that a Flat Rate mechanic didn't rush or take short cuts, They need to record that each bolt has been tightened to spec and each step completed . I bet this guy BRAGGED how he beat the factory time allowance. To my danger and extreme aggravation

mannytranny

I'm still waiting for the transmission replacement in mine. I think that it will be awhile til I hear about all of the things that you needed corrected.
    About loose bolts--- I had my CTS repaired after being hit by another car. It was fixed in May. About two weeks ago. I was in traffic and a friend of mine was behind me. He pulled alongside and told me to check my rear bumper. He said that it looked like it was moving? When I got home, I touched it and realized that it was very loose. I drove to the dealer and called a service person out to look at it immediately. It was repaired there. When I opened the trunk , he pulled back the trim and carpet. Of the four bolts that were to hold it (the bumper) in place ...two were missing and the other two were so loose that they were about to fall off. He added the missing bolts and tightened the loose ones.
    Not as bad as your transmission job, but a careless error nonetheless....another Flat Rate Tech?

wwhite2

Mannytranny you have just listed another example . I wouldn't use the word careless in your situation .I would say the tech didn't think you needed those bolts and decided to leave them out because they wanted to beat the factory time allowance for the repair .
  When We drop off our CTS's for service we must demand a written inspection report documenting all work done,from a major job to even correctly tightening an oil drain plug or rotating tires .Each step must be listed . Dealer service departments completed work inspection practices are still in the stone age because they can get away with it . Flat Rate Techs who screw up a job should not get paid for that job at all . NEVER mind they have to eat the time for the come back. They are playing the odds with our lives and time wasted going back.
. Having us come back to fix their incompetence while telling us that they will cheerfully fix there problem has to cease. It would be relatively simple to institute an inspection process into any dealership . Would the techs complain ----you bet --- All of there incompetence would be immediately exposed , but any manufacturer or dealership owner who really cared would DEMAND it . does anybody do it ? YES,there are many independent shops who do it to some degree and I have heard a commercial of a large chain oil change outfit who has started an written inspection report . I would go to them for any services they offer.
    To improve quality Cadillac uses the latest and best of available inspection techniques to give us a very good CTS . The dealers have done NOTHING to improve the quality of the work /services they provide

jemiller

For what it's worth, BMW for one does not recommend tire rotation. At least in the US market - not sure about Europe. It's easier, I guess, to sell new tires when the old ones wear out than it is to put up with comebacks from NVH complaints due to rotation. I'm quite happy to ignore this non-recommendation, though one of our Bimmers has a staggered wheel setup that makes rotation economically unfeasible.

'Belt slip' is a very commonly-used term to describe the movement of the steel belts relative to the carcass, and it still occurs in some cases today though not as frequently. Whether you regard it as technically accurate, it is a reasonable description of the problem.

I'd heard somewhere that in the '721' Firestone attempted to correct their belt-corrosion problems by coating the steel. May or may not be accurate.

jemiller

I'd just mention that manufacturers - and I'm sure GM falls into this boat - like to chisel down the 'flat rate' reimbursement on many jobs to the point that the dealerships and the techs have to take a variety of shortcuts just to break even.

This doesn't excuse sloppy or dangerous work, but it does indicate the kinds of pressures that techs work under.

v8lincolnguy

Was one of the reasons that I ditched the Olds. Now, I haven't experienced Lincoln service yet(and hopefully won't) but the number of times I had to take the Intrigue back to get the problems corrected was ridiculous. Then, if it needed a part, it was a good week or more before that came in. After I got my car back, I always looked it over well to see if everything was put back the way it was and also after my experience in summer of 02, I check for body damage. BTW, does Cadillac send you a satisfaction survey after your car has been servived? I used to get them on the Intrigue, but after I blasted the service department in one of them, I mysteriosly haven't received them anymore after service work is done.

calicadi

Just got back from the Bob Bondurant school. I'll submit more detail later, still getting the return to home together. For those not in the know, this is the high performance driving school that uses CTS's and Corvettes. All I'll say for now is that if you own a CTS, you owe to yourself to take the 3-day high performance driving class. You will find out in no uncertain terms exactly how good these cars really are. And learning how to drive them is even more important than what they can do. I can honestly say, before taking this class, I didn't have a clue about the car's total envelope or my abilities.

Gotta run now, more details later including a run down on the mods they do to the class cars.

PS PMDRIVER... nice little commercial they show on day-one. Now I know what you look like! And keep us posted on the -V with whatever you can, please.

sevenfeet0

Most of us are 2003 owners (loooong model year!) so there are very few field reports from 2004 owners yet, but I'm sure they will come.

Like you, I have a young child for my CTS to transport (11 week old boy) and I'm happy that this car is safer than average when we strap him into his car seat. Truthfully, if we were in the market now, we'd probably be more SRX customers because of the baby, but my wife and I still have lots of smiles every time we drive this car.

And unlike some of the recent reports, I have nothing but nice things to say about my dealer in Nashville, Andrews Cadillac. Their work is fast and their prices are fair. The reps who handle your car have all worked there for years and know you by name. For my last oil change, I pointed out that one of the 5 chrome bolt covers on my polished 17" wheels had fallen off. They found another one from parts, screwed it on, and said "Have a nice day". I would have paid for it, but they wouldn't have any of that. Nice folks to do business with.

berrycherry

After 3 weeks they can not get the cell phone to work. The On Star seems to work but after it says On Star Ready, then if I say DIAL it says personnel calls not available.

Any body else have this problem??

They initionaly said one day. Each time I call them they say 3-5 days to fix. This has happened twice.

Today after 4 days of the 3-5 days,some one started to work on it. I call on MY Cell Phone from the car and let them hear the messages.

The system was designed around Analog cell technology and wont work with the digital towers that are close to my house. I have also tried it a 100 miles south near San Diego.

They even called me up last week and gave me a number for my car, it worked ONCE when they called, but today they tried again and it did not work.

They are redesigning the cell phone system for digital and it is under beta test. Apparently they will have to change all cars with On Star from analog to digital with a full recall.

If you have the same problems check with the dealer and see when you can get digital. Analog will only good for a few years,maybe 2006,then it will become all digital, so those with a 2003 might end up with something that will NEVER work before the 4 years or before you get to 50000 miles.

Lets BUG them.

I am really upset as we were going away on a trip, would like to use it. They gave me more minutes. I am sure that in the future, when they get digital working, it will be great for hands free dialing, and probally a LOT cheaper than it is now.

Unless it works soon will go to Better Business and report this. They should not put out a system that is obsolete and I have a 2004 car made in July.

Today I waxed 80% with Mequires, alot of work, will finish tomorrow if it is cloudy.

berry

v8lincolnguy

The FCC announced earlier this year that in 5 years, they would not require carriers to support AMPS(analog) cell phone technology. That doesn't mean that it will go away immediately then, but many carriers will quickly convert that spectrum to digital. And even though they are still required to support analog now, I seriously doubt anybody is adding new analog towers so the coverage and capacity isn't going to get any better. This is the one drawback to Onstar as it uses analog technology, although Onstar does pride itself on being availabe in areas where cell phones might now work(i.e. the middle of nowhere) and there are a few remote placed where analog service is the only thing available. My hope is when Onstar does switch to digital, they will utilize CDMA-1X technology. Since Verizon Wireless is their primary provider and Verizon uses this technology, it would make sense for them to do so.

As to why your personal calling isn't working, my guess is it has to do with either your vehicle's Onstar unit or Onstar's system of tracking minutes. If you can call Onstar from your car, then the cellular part of the system is working. Being analog should not have anything to do with this.

automole

berrycherry: You have to sign up for Onstar personal calling in order for it to work (even for your free 30 minutes). Assuming you're already signed up the next thing you can do is push the onstar button and say "units". When it replies with "verify or add" say "verify". That should let you know how many minutes (if any) you have. If you have "0 units" that's the problem.

Another test is to push the onstar button and say "my number". It should tell you your car's phone number and display it on the DIC. Dial that number from your home and/or cell phone while you are in your car with the engine running to see if you can receive calls.

-Hope that helps.

On another similar note, my wife was shopping in a local trendy yuppie [non-permissible content removed] shopping district when she ran into a lady with a cute dog that my 1.5yr old wanted to pet. As she was talking to the lady someone walked by and told the woman that she saw her on TV that morning. My wife asked "are you famous?"...the lady replied "I'm the voice of Onstar". My wife told her that we had the CTS with Onstar and enjoy using it. I told my wife that she missed a golden opportunity. She should have interrupted the woman while she was talking and said "slower"..."again"..."sounds like"..."goodbye".

If you don't know what I'm talking about now, you will as soon as you get Onstar "working"...good luck!

berrycherry

Yes I know about the 30 minutes, in fact they have given me 60 now and more to come, when it works.

It says ON Star Ready, then when you say anything it says Personal Calling Not Available.
Even tried SEX and it says goodbye. Very smart!

On Star is VERY FAMILIAR with my problem, the girl I talked too says she has had three similar problems recently. She is the technition that will trouble shoot it with the cell towers. Takes another day for the ANALOG guy to respond. Will call me each day and give me progress, but each time you complain , will take 3-5 days to respond.

I am in Orange County CA where we have towers everywhere, big population.

Got to get on the beta test for digital.

I also do hot believe Analog will survive the 5 years, probally go away in 2006, according to ON Star. In fact it is gone now other wise they wouldn't be doing digital beta testing.

Berry

rsteph

My early OnStar issue had to do with (they said) unavailability of phone numbers to assign. Took like 3 weeks before they had one for me. I'd agree, though, that if you can talk to OnStar from the car, then the integrated phone is working. Do you have any friends that live close to you that have OnStar, and if so, does their's (personal calling) work okay. And, even though you're in a metro area and all, is personal calling available there? While it could be a system problem (towers, etc.), I'd guess that maybe they don't have your information entered correctly in their (OnStar's) system. Sometimes these providers can't see the forest for the tree's. I had a cell phone problem once where my internet access went out. I could go 10 miles in either direction, hit off another tower and it would work fine. But at home, it was dead. I went through all kinds of over-the-phone reprogramming stuff with them but kept telling them it appeared to me that my local tower had lost it's synch. Took about 2-3 weeks before they finally came and checked it. Guess what...the local tower needed to be "re-booted" 'cause it lost it's synch. Jeeeeeez.

v8lincolnguy

Onstar will probably go digital within a year or so(they need to), but the analog cell network in place will be supported until at least 2008. Now again, you won't see Verizon, AT&T, Cingular, or anyone else spending anything on improving the analog system, but they must support it per the FCC. Aside from Onstar, many vehicle communication systems(including UPS's tracking system) still utilize AMPS. Can you contact Onstar from your car by pressing the blue button? If so, the problem is not with the cell network but either with your car's Onstar unit or Onstar's personal calling system. I believe personal calling is availabe in your area. Orange county is part of the LA MSA so your Onstar system is likely running on Verizon's system(which is SID 2). In fact, I'd throw the Onstar tech for a loop and ask her which carrier Onstar uses in your area(it will either be AT&T or Verizon). Good luck on getting that resolved soon.

wwhite2

Today I met with the owner of the dealership explained the problem and of course he was very concerned . He asked what I wanted .....I told him I wanted every fastener removed to swap the transmission checked for proper torque ,as I watched . He agreed . A tech raised the car and the foreman grabbed a wrench/socket and checked each bolt . The only loose fasteners were the ones I spotted . I now have confidence that everything is ok and I can continue to enjoy this great automobile. I am counting on Cadillac quality to keep me away from that service department.

bingoman

I just discovered a second tire cut on the inside sidewall. My tires are the seventeen inch sport tires. Both tires were on the left side, one rear and one front. the cut follows the curve of the tire halfway between the rim and the tread. The cut was about a foot long through the outer casing and exposing the inner casing. There were also scrap marks all around the tire.

I know one other person reported a similar cut a couple of months ago. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I am wondering if there is any connection between this and the fact that the car was I use has a guide track on the left side. I think I will use another car wash in the future.

beach15

I know most of you are aware of a hold on cars with the Sport Package and the silver 17" wheels. However, one of the first '04s a local dealer (Delaware Cadillac/Olds/Saab in Wilmington, DE)got and still has is an '04 in Raven Black with Ebony leather, 10 way power passenger seat, the 3.6 engine, the Sport Package, and the Bose stereo. It stickers for $36,305.

This seems like it would be a very HOT optioned car. Black over ebony, no sunroof, the Sport Pack., 3.6, Bose, and power pass. seat. No extras. Very attractive to me to, but I don't think the '02 Avalanche is worth enough on trade....bummer!

Did they make very many non-LuxSport cars with the Sport Package, or is this just a very rare car, being as it was one of the first '04s? Anyone interested?!

wwhite2

I think you need to speak to the people at the car wash they may owe you an expensive tire .

bingoman

My dealer, in Reseda, CA, has a Silver '03 California Sport CTS, manual trans on the showroom floor. MSRP approx. $35,500, tagged for $29,990, if anyone is interested. The california sport is the full sport package without the Lux components. No wood trim and no metal on the steering wheel.

v8lincolnguy

I think that a CTS equipped as the one you described will represent a good portion of the car's 04 production. Speaking of sport packages, I don't know the numbers(guess I should ask over in the LS board) but now that I have an LS with the sport package, I know what to look for and a good number of the LSs I see have the sport package. And why not, with an excellent chassis(CTS or LS) underneath, why not take full advantage of it! This is another reason I decided to hold off on the CTS as the only way I could have possibly been able to afford one, would have been a base model with no options.

sevenfeet0

I'm not sure about that. I recently visited my dealer and they had five 2004 CTS's on the lot (amongst a sea of Devilles, Sevilles and Escalades). One car was a demonstrator for customers to drive. The rest were three 3.6L automatics and one 3.2L manual car. All were basically stripper models, MSRPing for less that 32,500.

I remember my previous dealer in Atlanta telling me that half of their buyers wanted a base car with almost no options to they could get out of the dealership in the low 30K's. That may be still holding true.

sevenfeet0

Perhaps you were thinking of my cut tire on my 17" wheel some months back. In my case, it was the right rear tire and it quickly developed into a flat. I think I probably ran over something and the effect was quick. In my case, the slash happened at the point of the sidewall and tread union. Since my car has never been inside an automatic car wash, I can't help you there.

b4z

Available in January.

MSRP including destination is $49,995.

http://media.gm.com/

berrycherry

Still cant make cell phone work, may take a few more days. I can talk to them, the technition doing the work, but minutes are pending, 60 or more.

Then when I say My Number, it comes back with number they dont know about, it is different from what they told me. An area code they have never heard about. Can Dial a number now but says no units, minutes Pending according to the units gal.

Cant find out just what the problem is, they do not understand. Says it should be working by Sunday. They call me every day or so.

Going on vacation this week, so want to try it out as we drive north, maybe to Canada, depending on the weather, at least Montery CA.

It is cold as hell in western Canada now so may wait till next year to go to Vancouver. I like the OC weather, usually great about 80 high, 60 low.

They still say cars will be changed to allow dual mode, at least my car 2004. Maybe it has dual mode, they do not know. Or it may be analog/digital, would be nice to know. They say it will change by flipping a switch fron analog to digital at On Star

See the site below for a description of the Federal ruling on On Star.

http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/faq/not_faq_main.jsp?topPage- =not_faq_federal.jsp&id=16&title=Federal+Ruling

Berry

tetedepierre

Good Post and that was an excellent link. Now can anyone advise if Cadillac CTS 2004 is being shipped in the US with analog-digital Onstar. Of interest to me as I will buy a CTS while in the US before returning to Canada next April.

v8lincolnguy

Just curious, what is the NPA-NXX(area code and prefix) of the number your unit displays? I can tell you who owns that number(the cell phone carrier that is) and what city and state it is based out of. Sounds like the system in your car is working properly and the problem may be with how it is communicating with their system of tracking minutes. I would imagine Onstar uses a system similar to what cell carriers use to track usage of their prepaid customers since Onstar personal calling pretty much works like a prepaid phone.

b4z, a little more than I expected but considering the serious hardware the CTS-V packs, that price can be justified.

berrycherry

Number is 594 245 8528

The voice repeated it so fast even the technician had to have me replay it back 5 times.

She did not recognize the area code. I want a 949 area code.

berry

rsteph

Did an internet search for the number and it continually shows that 594 is not a valid area code anywhere. (If I read it right, it did say it's the country code for Guiana). 949 shows as a valid area code for Irvine-Anaheim areas but 245 shows as invalid prefix for 949 area code. Maybe lincolnguy has better info, but it sounds like your problem is that assigned number.

sevenfeet0

In addition to the $50K pricing for the CTS-V, GM also had this to say:

"In August, Cadillac had its best sales month since October 1990. CTS had 4,278 deliveries in August, a monthly sales record, up 30 percent from last year and 62 percent calendar year-to-date. Total Escalade sales had its best-ever sales month with 5,616 deliveries, a 7 percent improvement over last year."

sonjaab

Happen to have 1 of those GM coupons!

Got 2 in the mail today, but my buddy snagged 1 to buy a new truck............geo