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One thing I've noticed is that the overall design philosophy seems to be intact. The basic lines and creases seem to be there. The nose of these three vehicles have a definite family resemblance.
But there are some important tweaks emerging. The air intake holes on the CTS extend the length of the front. The XLR and SRX's intakes are only as wide as the grill. This looks more balanced in my view.
The CTS's lines are very sharp at virtually every point. The CTS' grill comes together in the front at a sharp crease. The XLR softens this point, and the SRX blurs this further. The CTS has a grill has some space between the grill and the hood line. The XLR and SRX diminishes this space giving the grill more stature. It also makes this line less visable on the SRX; the XLR doesn't have it at all.
Finally, certain lines have been erased. The line extended from the CTS' mirrors across the front fender has been eliminated. The line that extends from the bottom of the grill across the side flanks and rising toward the rear deck is still there with the XLR, but the side flank line doesn't meet with the grill line on the SRX and the front fender line is very blurred. This is likely because of the high side flanks of a sport ute, but I expect future Cadillac models (STS, DTS) to take similar approach.
Bottom line? Changes are appearing that keep the new family look without alienating many of the buyers that believed the CTS was a little too busy. Now we just need some new drivetrains to go with the new products. And maybe a few new V-series entries...
Thanks!
-FAV002
My CTS Pictures
-FAV002
Great pictures! Even though we have a white diamond CTS, I must agree, Black looks really good. You have a super ride!
Question - I really need to have the windows tinted on both of our cars (sun gets in the eyes of our year old grandson in his car seat). Can anyone comment on the going rate for tinting the side and back windows? How do they handle the back window with the defrosting wires? Should I go the Ziebart or look for someone else?
automole,
Since winters are pretty messy here in the midwest, my wife would like to get a set of dark floor mats (at least for winter). We have the neutral interior and the mats get dirty pretty quick.
While I was initially reluctant to praise the CTS (Love my STS), the more I drive it, the more I like it. I finally found a seating position that doesn't make my right leg sore on a long drive. It's just a fun car to drive. I can see why my wife loves it so much.
Sevenfeet0 -
It would be interesting to hear why the salesmen didn't like the Nav system. As you state, their job is to sell options. While the system is toy, it does have it's uses. I'm sure it will get better as I learn to program "destination points" and handle trips that go between two areas (switch CD's).
Rich
You can buy the software at any computer store. I'm not sure where you live, but if you have a Fry's Electronics or Best Buy, they should have it. I have an older version(6.0) so I can't be sure on price of 7.0. Although it probably does not matter since it cost major deniro. For a new copy(non-upgrade) it costs $609. It's $149 to upgrade.
And the whole "just pull it off" school of installation didn't work for me, either. I had to "excavate" the knob to remove it. There's a clip holding the knob to the shaft that is very difficult to remove.
I haven't heard of a short shifter, but speaking of mods, B&B Performance offers a stainless steel single-tip exhaust for the CTS for $1065. Supposedly Lund Cadillac in Arizona offers a dual exhaust, but I haven't checked the price of that, yet. B&B hasn't dynoed a CTS with the new single exhaust, but expects a 7-9hp bump.
Also, I have an AC Delco part number (A2029C) for the CTS air filter. K&N doesn't offer a filter to replace that one, but I hope they will soon.
The going rate for tint in my neighborhood was $300, from a very reputable place. I think they used separate strips for the defrost wires, but I haven't really looked that closely at it.
Guess I'll have to take some pics of my CTS, too.
You will like it...Cadillac interiors will be very similar across the board. Much like Audi/VW does...
Since it's been quiet around here, I thought I'd shake things up with some CTS mods posted on caddyinfo.com.
What do you think? The headlights are not my cup of tea, but the bumper and hood aren't too bad.
http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/r/18368/View?n=56696
More later.
Richw5
On another note, someone from the GM Lansing plant called me yesterday to interview me about my CTS and the overall quality. I let him know about the minor gripes I had (console & driver door creak, intermittent low range of remote door opener, steering vibration at low speed that is now gone).
I also had a funny run-in with some lady at a restaurant tonight. She asked me if that was my 'Excalibur' in the parking lot...??? Needless to say, I said 'no'. Come to think of it maybe she was talking about my car and thinking that it was the XLR? MMMMM? I like the fact the car doesn't say Cadillac all over it but it sure confuses people
Speaking of run-ins I hope I can keep my car from being smashed. I don't know what it is about this CTS but it seems to attract other cars like a magnet. I narrowly escaped being sideswiped by some guy turning to the right of me (he wasn't in a turn lane but was trying to enter my lane). Yesterday some idiot kid almost ran fullspeed head-on into me in a parking lot when he came around a blind corner doing about 45mph. My wife said she almost got hit twice the day before by different BMW's...of course that was after she rammed the rear of my CTS into a shopping cart and put minor scratches on the rear bumper. Two weeks ago I had to clean off ballpoint pen from the passenger seat that my wife put there. If I can keep my wife and everyone else from destroying my car it will be a miracle. -The pain of owning a nice car!
Fortunately my wife was paying attention behind the wheel. She used the CTS' cat-like reflexes to avoid the accident. It gave us all quite a scare (especially the sales rep!). But my wife is now sold on the car.
Last week when my wife was on vacation, there were so many posts I couldn't keep up (she said, ("you spend too much time on the internet"). It was CTS discussion heaven.
Since she went back to work, the conversation just died. I guess I stoked the fires. Here's more mods. (I promise I'll stop after this one, maybe).
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/mylego0/cts.html
Sorry to hear about the "Crazy Driver Magnet" that seems to have attached it's self to your CTS's. We've been lucky so far and my wife is a good driver, but I expect one of these days we won't be able to duck an accident.
Have a nice weekend.
Rich
If you could get this artist to recolor the grill of a standard photo to body color you would see what my car looks like. Sorry but I don't have a photo of my car and I don't have a digital camera to take a picture for the net.
Bingoman
Someone mentioned the driver info system being complicated to get to. Personally I would like to see this integrated into the instrument cluster like the Seville and Deville do. It's puts the message right in your field of vision and is easilly cued up by one or two buttons.
If you encounter performance parts info please keep it coming (Lund cad exhaust, K&N filters, etc.)
No problems to report. Incredible handling and enough power to suit. Two signature Cad features I miss... auto parking brake release and electric trunk lock (yes it unlocks elec, but I have to get use to slamming closed gain). Call me a traditionalist.
Understand the moron magnent comments. Live in NorCal where the worst of worst drive. Not sure if the CTS looks are distracting 'em or they're just idiots, maybe both.
Ciao
Highest insurance and highest level of ignorance in the nation.
First, the things we liked. The steering was great; as good or better than I remembered it. The tighter suspension didn't really seem apparent until you ran over something. It certainly felt harsher the Lux model, but not too harsh that we wouldn't get the option.
The cabin is pleasant enough. I think the seats are a tad tight, but since I'm 6'11", 300 lbs, I think I'm too much a statistical anomoly :-) My wife thinks they are excellent. The dash is ok, outside of the lack of a complete set of gauges. My biggest complaint in the doors. The hard plastic is too cheap for this price class. If I'm paying nearly $40K, I want something softer to the touch there.
One other note. We were all set to get a tan interior, but after seeing the dark pewter interior, we think it fits better with the dark pewter dash, and accents on the door frames. They stand out too much with the tan.
My wife thinks the brake pedal is too high up for her to reach easily.
Finally, the Navigation System. The good points were the size of the display. It was easy to read the radio station display, and getting around didn't seem too hard. But I couldn't actually test the navigation part of the system since they didn't have any of the CDs loaded. And as previously mentioned, the screen to see other information about the car is too difficult to navigate. Bottom line? My wife nixed it as not being worth $1500 extra. I can't say I completely disagree.
I was surprised to hear from our dealer that most buyers are going for the entry level CTS and not the Lux model. The wood trim in the Lux makes the car. I wasn't impressed with the entry level materials. Another nitpick for Bob Lutz.
And of course, we nearly got run over by a truck during the test drive. But that's another post. :-)
My 72 fleetwood 75 has it ! Gotta check out
moms 98 to see if she has it !.....geo
The pull down motor has been broken since '97 in the down position(thankfully).
Cost of a new motor is $360!!!!
It is something I can do without.
Feel up by the window sill, where you might rest your elbo, and you'll notice that it gives, it's soft, you can push it in with your finger. It's not hard.
I agree that the base model needs SOMETHING on the door pulls in place of the wood because there is a recessed cutout where the wood should go. I'll probably add aftermarket wood to the door pulls if/when I can find those four pieces without having to buy an entire kit.
The luxury model does have a harsher ride but I would have bought it if I could have found it on a properly optioned car (all the lux models I looked at had other options I didn't want to pay for like Bose or navigation). Although, the base model is plenty harsh considering the rough roads I have to frequently drive...I still like it though and prefer it to my previous cars more luxurious ride.
It kind of bugs me how Cadillac purposely tries to force you into getting the basic luxury 'rip off' package by requiring it if you want the sunroof, heated seat, stereo upgrade, or navigation packages. I also think that for a car in the CTS's price range driver's memory seat, compass, and homelink transmitter should all be included as standard features.
I am assuming they have gotten the damping wrong again. Just like they did in my Intrigue.
Why is it that BMW knows how to design a sporting supension that doesn't punish, and GM can't.
They always come off as harsh.
I have read plenty of different model BMW reviews commenting on a "harsh" ride though. They always do seem to get a very good compromise between sport and comfort, but just like the CTS, the sport models ride a little harder. Some like it, and some don't. For instance, I love driving and riding in cars with a very tight, firm, feel that doesn't necessarily hide all the bumps, and can't stand "float boats" as I call them. My father on the other hand, likes a lot of Cadillacs and Buicks because they "ride so well"--I call it floating.
If you talk to most BMW and Mercedes drivers, they will tell you that they bought their cars for the "european" firm ride. They will say that they "hate" the mushy ride of the big American cars. Some of that it "hog wash" and snobbery, some of it is the truth. The CTS and a few other sporty models attempt to answer the problem.
My CTS is a great handling car! It does not take the bumps as hard as my STS, which is a great car. It does take the bumps harder than a standard DeVille or other standard model American cars. But it will out handle many of the entry level BMW's and Mercedes.
I don't know how old you are, but younger people want sportier cars, sedans that handle like corvette's. If American manufacturers don't give it to them, then we will all be buying foreign.
I will say it again, the more I drive the CTS, the more I like it. Cadillac will fix it's few flaws. They have finally decided to compete in the automotive world.
Rich W
People have criticized the CTS for having a harsh ride but personally I like it. I prefer a more performance oriented ride where you have good road feel as opposed to a floaty luxury ride where you are more detached from the road and where you have to brace yourself for oncoming bumps and dips in the road. What I was trying to say is that for a 4 door daily driver sedan the CTS has a plenty stiff (harsh?) suspension. The CTS has a very sporty/euro BMWish feel to it which I like but if you're looking for it to have a traditional Cadillac ride you're out of luck.
IMO the CTS's suspension leans towards the performance side and is less luxurious than other sedans in its class; one of the main reasons I picked it over the Jaguar X-type which had a much softer ride and looser steering. I truly believe the CTS has an great suspension that's equal or better than its competition including BMW.
However, there are many engineering pieces which say moving the wheels further from the occupants does have an impact on how the ride is felt by the occupants. Among other reasons an engineer may chose the extended A-arm format over the BMW strut format is that it pushes the wheels further from the occupants.
Frankly, I like the BMW ride and handling. I also think the BMW ride is much more firm than most american (and really most cars no matter where they are from) car rides. But I think the A-arm (or wishbone) is a good format, and may in the end give the engineers more flexibility.
I also think that a driver going from, say, a Pontiac to a CTS will at the outset notice the firm handling a lot more than a driver going from a 1994 BMW or MB to a 2002 BMW or a CTS. If there is any credibility to b4z's post, most likely people are taken off guard at how unlike any other GM product - save maybe the Corvette - the CTS is.
We needed to liven things up around here.
The euro style tuning of BMW and Mercedes has alawys been what I wanted out of my domestic cars.
It seems that whenever GM tried it they would slap on some stiff springs, Huge swaybars and stiff shocks and wondered why customers complained. Plus their cars turned into a bucket of bolts after only 6000 miles.
I thought the Intrigue would be different and I was fooled. Impact harshness on small bumps was unacceptable, yet it took big bumps and potholes with aplomb.
It seems GM needs to find out how the "Euros" can make a car corner flat, yet soak up the small imperfections in the road.
I want a car that can handle the small bumps reasonably well and if it rides hard on the big ones that is okay, I'll just slow down.
My other car is a '87 IROC-Z, so I know what a harsh ride is.
My original comment was directed at those who said the sport/luxury version rode to harshly.
probably in the 43-45K range.
This is quite a bit more cars than the 30K Cadillac was thinking it would sell.
I am guessing we will see about 60-70K model year 2003 CTSs built.
Personally i think Cadillac should keep production down to around 40K a year and not start a second shift.
Next thing you know they will be offering $3000 rebates on the things.
Thanks to everyone for the trunk close update. I had no idea they discontinued it, but the rational makes sense. No complaints about the CTS trunk, I used "slam" relative to pulldown. It closes easily, especially now that it's been operated a few times and I've recalibrated my motion.
Speaking of recallibration, true confession time... I've popped the hood twice thinking I was releasing the parking brake and twice forgot the parking brake wasn't auto-release. I regard these as newbie mistakes. Anybody reading these posts, Caddy driver or not, please don't construe as complaints.
Right now, Cadillac is selling all the CTS's they can make. There are no dealer incentives. According to the dealership I'm buying from, 95% of them are automatics. Most of the stickshift buyers bought early on, and now the demand has slowed down. The Copper Sunburst color doesn't sell well (or Jade), but every now and then you get an extrovert who really likes the color. Popular colors seem to be Black (I'm ordering Black), Blue, Red, and White Diamond.