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Comments
Having been driving my LS for nearly 2 months now, I can tell you that I really appreciate a well designed and balanced chassis. The Lincoln could probably be dinged for some cheap parts in the interior(heck, I'm sure someone will say a Passat has a nicer interior) but the Linc more than makes up for it under the hood and beneath the sheet metal. Those who own a CTS or similar RWD luxury sedan will know what I mean. So okay, I'll confess your Passat may have a nicer interior than my LS does, but let's pop the hoods and see who's better looking then:)
Suggestions:
If you could offer the seat heaters as a standalone option I'd appreciate it. It's the only thing I want in that package.
If you could offer the 18" V series wheels (a la AMG) on the regular CTS that'd be worth $$ to me.
And oh yea, hurry up with my 3.6 6M CTS already. ;-)
Brian
Is this dearth of CTSs in So. Cal. true or did I just manage to be in the wrong spot? I did notice that there was a higher percentage of luxury cars in So. Cal. than in St. Louis. I used to drive Grand Prixs and had observed in the past that Grand Prix is not a popular car in the San Diego area. I did see a few older Cadillacs, but no recent ones.
Has anyone else observed this trend? Does anybody have any data on the demographics of CTS ownership?
In the Bay Area you don't see quite as many Rodeo Drive Shopping Carts, the > $100K models like Bentleys, Benz SLs, etc. but you see more midrange models e.g. Benz Es, BMW 5s, M3s, X5s, LS400s, LX470s, etc. It's not uncommon to have 20 BMWs/mile on I280 on the mid-Peninsula.
Can't speak for Sandy Eggo.
Toyota took over from the Detroit brands as the 'normal' middle-class car purchase in California about 1980, and since then it's largely been Honda and Toyota fighting it out among themselves. Frankly, around here whenever I see a newish Grand Prix I assume it's a rental unless/until proven otherwise (off-topic comment: those new ones are SOoooo ugly...)
There are CTS's on the road in the Bay Area, a pretty good number considering how long the car's been on the market, but around here many of the factors that go into determining why a person chooses a particular brand (number of dealers, friends' experiences, etc.) push people toward BMWs and Audis.
I've got, for instance, about 2x as many BMW dealers within 30 miles of my house as Cadillac dealers, and that's *after* BMW bought out at least one of 'em about five years ago so that it wouldn't be so close to another, larger one.
Anyway, right now there are no rebates, other than the $1,500 Conquest rebate which we can take advantage of (my wife's current car is a Mercury). We are waiting until there is a compelling reason to make the purchase, such as a rebate. I kind of think there will be some sort of reabate or enhanced pricing between now and the end of the year. Anybody have any opinions on that? Also, I have heard that the best time of year to buy a car is the week between Christmas and New Year's. Any opinions on that idea? I also read in the past on this board about some sort of discount coupons for GM employees to pass out to their friends; are any of these around right now?
Thanks for your input and advise.
Oh, one more thing. My wife wants to get a black CTS. I had a black car once, and it was hell to keep clean, and it showed surface scratches like crazy. Is that still the case, or are the paints improved since my '81 Pontiac?
Thanks again.
Richard Moore
Fountain Hills, AZ
(Don't say you weren't warned.)
been working on it for a long time.
Good to see that Cadillac finally has the base cars with the PDX Sport Package in the pipeline.
Yes, there are wood trim kits for the '03, so the '04 should be covered as well since I don't think there are any changes to the interior's form factor.
manuel, I was in Chicago on business a week ago and noticed that not only there but throughout the midwest in general, you see more American cars. Here in TN, Cadillacs(including CTSs) are pretty common and you don't see alot of the really expensive imports, but run of the mill imports like Camrys and Accords are a dime a dozen. Another thing I noticed in Chi-town was that I saw alot of late 80s GM sedans(LeSabres and Delta 88s) and despite their age, they seemed to be in relatively good shape. Here, most of those are either on their last leg or have been lowered and are rolling on some dubs that are probably worth more than the car.
tateos, my previous car was black and when she was clean, she was a beauty. However, the black did show alot of dirt and was a real oven during the summer here in TN. My LS is dark red and while it tends to show dirt fairly easily as well(all dark colors do), I was surprised at how cooler the interior of the car is. Maybe the Lincoln has a better A/C system or better tinting in the glass but even sitting in the sun, it is now where near as hot inside as my black Intrigue was. Having said that, my favorite CTS colors are black and the dark blue. I haven't seen one in the new red in person to see how it looks.
On wood kits, Vogue makes them (www.vogue-tyre.com). Also see www.woodtrim.com. I think both sites have pretty good pictures of what they look like installed. My opinion but those things are like tattoos. Make sure you really want it. I like the Spartan and functional look of the stock layout. It has a technical elegance and beauty as opposed to the aesthetic beauty through adornment look. I don't even look at it much anyway. I programmed the steering wheel controls to do the button pushing necessary. But if that floats your boat... anchors aweigh!
Did you happen to pick up on what is build date range that the service bulletin applies to? I have a Jan '03 build date and am wondering if I need to make a visit to my dealer about this. Thanks.
Best-case, you're barely moving and there's something under it to restrain it, it goes 'thumpthump' and puts a dent in your (a) floorpan or (b) exhaust system.
Worst-case, you're zipping down the highway at 100mph and it drops free and no crossmember or exhaust system catches it, it snags on the pavement, tears loose from the final drive and makes like a javelin through the car's rear structure.
Its like they designed the stack. Then said, "we have to put something around the gearshift."
The two are not connected visually in any way.
I am not saying it has to be one piece. It just has to have 1 design theme.
It can be two different parts and even have a seam or gap whee the 2 meet meet.
As long as they look integrated.
I have never seen this before in any car.
As far as adding wood and aluminum trim bits that is fine too. I guess we will only have to wait 8 more months to see the 2005 interior redesign.
Needless to say I didn't come in complaining of "launch shudder" but Wayne Stead always does their research, they found this related bulletin and gave me the upgraded assembly. Oh jemiller... drive assured, the CTS has a "floor panel tunnel brace" to catch a wayward driveshaft in the worst-case scenario. In the tech bulletin instructions it's the first thing removed when doing this work. Cool, huh?
I'm serious when I say they do they research. Here's the first - missouri2 you out there? - This just came out this last Monday... "Product update 03019 is a product update for tires... We have inspected the tires and noted DOT codes.. Customer will call for an appointment to replace 4 tires... This update will expire on 10/31/04". So I guess my tires fell in the range. (Sorry kids the range is not listed on the work order, just what I typed above.) They inspected my tires, found no signs of the defect (which is not safety related), and told me I could make arrangements at my convenience to get the replacements.
Second, they found "Perform 11276 Malfunction Indicator Light Recall per bulletin 02-06-01-013". This is apparently a software bug that causes spurious Check Engine Light illumination with no codes. I never experienced this fault.
And finally, they installed the new C-pillar air bag covers (properly referred to as "Rear Sail Panels"). The part numbers for these new better fitting parts are 25758095 and 25758096.
All the above was done under warranty. So I got my flanges bolted, software debugged, sails set and new rubber in the pipeline. Can we say "Road trip!"?
If you find your current luggage doesn't fit, you can always buy new pieces. It's a small price to pay compared to what you'd miss not owning one.
When I was shopping for my CTS, I thought the trunk was large enough for my needs, but was a little concerned about whether or not my golf clubs would fit across the width of the trunk and still allow room for luggage. I did a test similar to yours and found that my clubs and bag would fit if I removed my driver from the bag and placed it in the trunk outside the bag.
I also took my wife along to see how she liked the CTS. If she hadn't liked it, I was prepared to follow your luggage advice and get rid of the old bag. :>)
Calicadi, any idea what doing this software update entails?
Still haven't brought it in to find out whats happening with the gas gauge