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economy than the 04 Deville. The 2008 DTS has no major changes from the 2006 and 07. I suspect that the next major change will come around 2010. I would also suspect that Cadillac will at some point in the not to distant future come out with an adaption of a Northstar hybrid. While I much preferred the comfort and ride of my 2005 Town Car to my 2004 Deville I can now say that the two cars are about even in overall desirability for my tastes and preferences.
Next time try Hertz. They usually buy slightly upgraded cars from what the other companies buy. At least they have consistently in the past. When I buy cars at the auction, I always go to the Hertz sale, because their Tauruses for example, are often the SEL model, with leather, Sunroofs and power seats - whereas the Enterprise cars will always be SE models, with manual seats and no options at all.
My last Hertz rental was a Durango in Montana. It has XM radio in it.
Several rentals over the past couple of years, but I assume they were all the basic DTS with XM.
Depending on the outcome of all of this I will have to make some choices as to what to do about this. I have what has been a very reliable Lincoln Town Car as were most of my previous cars including the now defunct Plymouth Acclaims,
Chrysler LHS and of course my two previous Cadillacs. Have other DTS owners at this forum had repeated electrical problems with their DTS models? What have you done and what was the outcome. Any suggestions as to how to get maximum help from Cadillac corporate will also be much appreciated.
has occurred in the first month of ownership. I am working with Cadillac corporate to try to resolve this issue in that while NOW corrected I am concerned it will happen intermittently in the future. One really bad aspect of this is that Onstar goes dead so can not be diagnosed from the satellite and can't use the phone to summon help. Fortunately the car was parked in my garage when the most recent incident occurred. I had hoped to use this vehicle for longer trips but with this issue now a question I may use my Town Car in that I have not had any problems and my cell phone operates independently from the vehicle. It would be a good idea for Onstar to have a separate battery for its system for emergencies of this sort. Thank you very much for your interest and concern. I will continue to post significant updates and welcome follow up questions and information from other DTS owners.
If they have cleared up the problem that was draining the battery, you should not have any furthur problems. However, taking a wait and see point of view is right.
As far as hard starts and an engine that stalls goes, if the battery is able to turn the engine over as it should, then that is some other problem.
I was just working on an Onstar survey of customer satisfaction online and it was so long, ponderous and irrelevant that I zapped it about 40% of completion. I have a feeling that my power issue may not have not been resolved and that I may be slightly surprised when the car is again dead at start up some morning. Needless to say unless I start getting better results from this car it will in fact be my last Cadillac. My experience with Cadillac has been going downhill, my 98 Deville was a trouble free car, 2004 Deville had a quirky cruise control and oil leak,
this car has had three in shop repairs to the electrical system. I do like the appearance of these cars and they are good performers when they are working as they were meant to but the 2006 DTS with only 2600 miles on it has been a huge disappointment so far. If you buy a car other than DTS which cars and models are you considering? Many thanks for your reply and keep in touch so we as buyers and owners can help each other to get the best value and reliability for our money.
"There is a fix for the KNOCKING sound. Cadillac has a TSB out on this. They replaced my EVAP Canister Part Number 15941577 under warranty. Too early to tell if the replacement corrected the problem - will have to wait till the weather cools off to test."
Well, so much for the fix. Had a couple of cooler days (70s) and the knocking noise is still there. Back to the drawing board.
The trunk lid brake light was cracked and was replaced under warranty. The rear window-mounted subwoofer developed a very loud rattle, which turned out to be a loose electronics mount (also fixed under warranty). The constant display "replace battery in remote key" turned out to be a bad key fob which had to be replaced.
The wobble in the tires at highway speed is back again. We replaced one tire with the dealership, but that didn't stop it. We've taken it back twice since then (having to drop it off and carpool), but the service folks can't seem to "replicate the problem". I will now have to take an afternoon off work to make an appointment with the service manager because my dealership doesn't offer loaner cars for tire vibration issues.
While it's there I'll also have them fix the power driver's seat which has stopped lifting altogether. I will ask them about the B-pillar seat belt guides....the nylon seat belt has has sawed into the plastic on both the driver and the passenger sides. The plastic now looks just like a stick of cold butter that has had a knife dragged across it.
We also had the stereo replaced when it was new because the display gave out.
I still love the car and don't regret buying it (yet) but I'm becoming concerned about build quality.
Any suggestions on the tire wobble would be greatly appreciated.
but the service folks can't seem to "replicate the problem".
sorry to hear about your problems.
Regarding the tire wobble.
It's nothing worse than picking up a car from the shop and being told they didn't notice a problem.
Next visit, maybe take the mechanic for a ride? It could help save time and frustration if you could demonstrate the problem.
Hope all goes well on your next appt.
-jasper
like yours to help resolve problems. Do you have a good dealership service department? Are you satisfied with their work? With the problems on both my 2004 and 2006 Cadillacs I've had to work with more than one dealer service department to try to resolve problems. I am still not sure that the electrical failures issue is resolved. Fortunately, I keep my cars an average of three years and bought the 2006 new so I will have a full four years of complete coverage, reading your post it looks like I may need it. Unless I have better results in the future this may be my last Cadillac. I also like the car but expect better in build quality and service department competance.
Also as I recall, your cruise control problems with the 2004 only occurred part of the time, so I think you are jumping to conclusions regarding whether the loaner did or did not have the same problem. Your story about just how the cruise control did or did not work has shifted.
What I do not like about the DTS is the aging 4 speed transmission, and the aging northstar engine. My SRX has a newer version of the northstar with VVT and does not seem to use as much oil. I think that both the Lucerne and DTS are the last big FWD cars that GM will build. I think both will be replaced by RWD platforms in a few years (around 2010).
While DTS is similar to Deville there are enough differences that it is fair to say that the 2006 DTS is a new model. One of the disappointments for me has been the poor gas mileage I get on the DTS vs the 2004 Deville: about 26 avg highway and 20 around town on DTS and over 29 on the highway and 21.5 around town for the 2004 Deville. If I can answer any other specific questions regarding my own experience with these two cars please post here and will try to help you make a choice that will satisfy you. Best wishes.
to me. The fact that your car is trouble free is a very important factor and should weigh heavily in your decision.
The 2006 DTS rides well is less likely to lean in turns, the T.C. is very quiet on the road, handles very well for a car of its size, gets about 29 MPG on the highway and 22.5
in the city. The interior materials are more pleasing to me than the DTS, the seats are very large and comfortable. There was a recent customer satisfaction survey that ranked it among the highest in customer satisfaction (don't remember the source). The US plant was recently closed but the car will come back in 2008 and will be made in Canada I am told. Lincoln technology is not as modern as Cadillac but for ride and comfort I am very pleased and strongly suggest you rent one even if it means going out of your way to find a rental company that has them available. And yes the value is one of the strongest advantages for this car. I bought mine, a Signature Limited with sun/moon roof and in dash CD stacker with a little under 17,000 miles on it
in excellent condition, 14 months old and for less than half the new price. It is in Gold and turns heads all the time. Amusing aside is that for the big car it is it handles extremely well on the road especially in winding and steep grades, often the folks in small sports coups can't keep up with it in that many sports coupes don't have the road holding capability of T.C. . The transmission has real braking power on steep grades where as my Cadillacs have required much more braking to keep the car in good control. Suggest you rent one for a week and see what you think. Please let me know if you have other questions and will help as much as I can.
You might check Consumer Reports reliability pages in their annual booklet. I don't place much stock in their test drives and opinions but the reliability pages reflect input from owners.
improved the handling of the newer cars. Only way you will
know is to drive one and see. Probably as suggested for a moderate to long trip. I find I have difficulty in evaluating a car if driven for a few hours or less. Think it is Budget Rent a car that is connected to Ford but not certain. Best wishes, keep me posted and feel free to ask additional questions as needed.
Parts have been ordered to repair the power seat and replace the seat belt guides, so another trip to the dealer will be required to fix those issues.
When they call to tell me the additional parts have arrived (to fix the power driver seat and replace the seat belt guides) I'm planning to rent a car and leave mine with them until they can fix it.
This is all very frustrating. The mechanics at the dealership seem to be trying their best, but I am just amazed that no one can fix this issue. I am an extremely conservative driver and don't abuse the suspension in any way, so this is mind-boggling.
in most states. In most cases the car qualifies if it is less than thirty months old and cannot be repaired after a certain number of service visits. You might want to check Lemon laws in your state, laws vary from state to state. Please be sure to share your progress and follow up questions with us. Best wishes for a
quick resolution to this problem.
I was very happy with the tires that my 2002 Seville came with, Michelin's.
My thinking on what is probably going on is that the tires are starting to get belt separation. If they were not rotated soon enough, that can happen. Some tires just do that anyway. His description of what was happening seems like that, unless of couse the lug nuts came loose.
Yet.
I'm waiting for the parts to arrive to repair the driver's seat lift mechanism and the b-pillar seat belt guides. It seems strange that it would take a week and a half (so far) to wait for those parts, but still no call back yet.
My guess was tread separation from the outset. However, replacing 2 of the tires and rotating them hasn't helped. The tires were rotated regulary from the time I bought the car, so there isn't a concern about maintenance (dealership asked about that, too).
Here's a new question for everyone: would a faulty suspension cause this? I asked a friend to follow me on the highway the other night, and he didn't notice wheel wobble but thought the rear tires looked like they had an excessive amount of up-and-down activity over smooth highway pavement.
I've been re-reading the forum, and have seen posts about thumps in the rear exhaust/suspension area. I'm wondering if maybe the self-levelling suspension has developed a problem. The Luxury III (I believe) has the magnetic ride control, which might cause this?
I promise to keep everyone posted. I'm trying to remain patient while waiting for the additional parts so I can do this all in one trip.
I would suggest that you try to get the dealer to replace all 4 tires with another brand to see if that helps. There has been a lot of complaints on the WEB regarding Conty tires.
My guess is that the belts are separating in one or more of the old tires. This will result in problems which can't be fixed by balancing. I agree with fmoeller that replacing the tires with another brand is a good plan. Getting Cadillac to pay may be another matter.
In addition, yesterday, August 28th, the car stalled out at second ignition and message came on "service security system", I waited a moment and car started without further issues for the rest of the day. I was near a Cadillac dealership so stopped by to report and the service advisor
cleaned my key off saying that it might have been a piece of dirt on the key. Needless to say having had all the previous issues with the electrical system on this car there is a lingering concern about what might come next.
This is my third Cadillac and as stated in previous posts
each car has had a little more problems than the previous one. I like the Cadillac vehicle but am already thinking in terms of Lexus, Toyota Avalon or Mercedes. I think Cadillac is better value than any of above but reliability is very important to me. Oh for those days of my reliable Plymouths, LOL, they just ran and ran without issue. Of course they didn't have the comfort, performance, and power of the Cadillacs. As a final thought, my Lincoln Town car
has been pretty much trouble free since my purchase in July 2006, As stated before these cars are one of the best values in the luxury car market. Ford will be bringing Town Car back later in 2008 and build them in Canada.