Well, I've heard two votes here that liked the Nav system...and two sales reps at seperate Cadillac dealerships that didn't like it and recommended against it. Strange for a sales rep to recommend against a $2700 option, but I appreciate their candor. I guess I'll have to find a model with one to see for myself.
The orange coupe and the red convertible, also I've heard that the 2005 STS will be a 4 door XLR, so maybe you could try to lengthin the XLR, make the roof line a little higher and add two doors, I'd just like to see what it looks like, you should probally try to shorten the front doors, since coupes doors are usually longer than sedan. Also where do you get the photo shop program, I'm sort of dumb when it comes to that type of stuff but thought I might try to make some of my own, just couldn't find out where to get it at. Thanks.
Wow, what an SUV!! That sounds like it will be strong competition for the Mercedes and BMW competition. I definitely like the A&S look better on the CTS, but the SRX looks pretty good.
The only thing I would change would be have the body be all one color instead of a little bit of a different color at the bottom, also those powertrains should be good, I think I read the 6 will be a specially tuned one of the 251hp to make 260, and the 8 will make 330, the 6 is shared with the next base engine in the CTS the 8 with the XLR. I like it better than the RX 300, X5, MDX, or ML.
With the new SRX picture released and the unveiling of the XLR, a pattern is beginning to emerge of how Cadillac's Art & Science styling is going to extend through the product line. It's also possible to see the "Lutz" effect. Specifically what changes GM product czar Bob Lutz has asked to make of Cadillac exterior design since the release of the CTS.
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...
Hey, about that shift knob, what is your reason for replacing the stock one? I personally think the stock knob feels and looks great, so I wonder what your new Momo Combat piece looks like. Can you post a picture of it for us? Also, has anyone heard of any aftermarket companies making a short-throw shifter for the CTS's Getrag 5-speed tranny?
I noticed that your CTS has the 2 tone grey interior but the floor mats are darker than the carpet. Did they come that way or did you buy them aftermarket? The dealer gave me light colored mats that match the carpet but I'd much rather have the dark.
Actually they are stock and the same light grey color as the carpet. If you look on the second page of picts, you'll see a better picture of them. I think that picture on the first page gives the illusion that they are a different color.
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).
adobe photoshop: 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.
You can find Momo's pictures on their website at http://www.momo.it . I'll try to take a pic of it in my car this weekend and post it. As to why...I was looking for something a little smaller, a little more agressive, and a little lighter. I got all of those things with the Momo, with the added benefit of more "transmission feel", if you know what I mean. It just feels more in tune with the gearbox, like I can sense all the little notches better. I dunno. I definitely like it better than the stock knob, though, which felt a little mushy to me.
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.
The SRX will feature the same interior as the 2004 CTS will have. It is the same instrument panel as the CTS, also, but in black. The interior is a similar in many ways to the one in the XLR, however, it is less upscale.
You will like it...Cadillac interiors will be very similar across the board. Much like Audi/VW does...
Those pics you linked to are horrible! They make the front of the CTS look like that lady in the Enquirer that modified her face to look like a cat. Gee, let's make the CTS look happier (yuck)! The thing I like so much about the current design is that it looks so 'evil' and stealthlike.
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!
Gee, this happened to you too? My wife and I were out test driving a CTS Luxury Sport this afternoon when a complete moron driving a lowered magged-out Chevy pickup truck with "Lexus rear lights" nearly smashed into us. We're stopped at a light in 3 lanes of traffic when Mr. Idiot figures out he needs to make a right hand turn. Problem is he's in the left hand turning lane. When the light changes, he attempts to gun his engine and move over into our lane. Trouble is he nearly took out everything from the CTS' A pillar forward to do it.
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).
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.
Stretching the grill makes the car look lower, but pulling the headlights further into the fenders does nothing for the appearance.
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.
I have yet to test drive a CTS with the navigation system. I do like some of the features that is has(like connecting to a palm) and I think it actually cleans the dash up a bit, but for me I'm not sure it's worth the extra $$. Question to those who have it, does it come to life when you open the driver's door? I remember the Buick Riviera from the late 80s had a touch screen similar to this sans the navigation features and it was pretty neat, especially for that time. When you would open a door it came on and said "Riviera by Buick" then did a brief demo. I'd like to see Cadillac integrate the hands free phone with the navigation system. I have heard that a DVD based system is coming soon. Funny thing, the Seville and Deville offer DVD navigation systems.
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.
Will compete with the BMW M3 more than the M5. Even if the CTSi is close to $50K(should be quite that much) that is still much more less than an M5. For the most part the CTS now competes with the 3 series, not the 5. That will be the next generation STS's(and hopefully STSi) job.
Anyone notice the CTS was absent from C&D's newest $35K comparison. What was strange was they included an MB C320 which stickered at $48K and an VW Passat W8 which was over $40K. All were automatics in this test and none had 0-60 times below 7 seconds. The fastest was the G35 at 7.1 and the "almighty" Bimmer was 7.3 seconds. As you can guess, their BMW(and Audi) lovefest nested a first and second place(respectively) rating. Sorry, but I'm starting to see bias from those guys. Anyway, had the CTS been included I think it would have probably scored third or fourth place as looking at it's numbers from other tests would place it near the top in this pack. C&D's usual gripes of controversial styling, foot operated parking brake, and lack of manumatic transmission would have kept it from first place.
Just wanted to thank everyone for their posts, some amusing, some...well the usual fare for car chats on the internet. Traded in a 95 Seville STS and picked up my CTS a couple of weeks ago. Lovin' it. I loved the Seville, too..but it always felt a little big. The CTS is White Diamond w/ the LuxSport pkg and auto trans. A dealer demo with just < 3K mi and nice discount. WayneSteadCad in Walnut Creek, CA prepped it like new before I took it home.
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.
Regarding the trunk pull-down feature, Caddy doesn't have them anymore, at least not on the '98 to present SLS/STS (not sure about the Deville, but don't think so). So, you didn't give up that feature by going "down" a class from the Seville to the CTS.
Said the CTSv will have 405hp and a six speed manual, I don't know who told him that, but I would think that maybe GM told him that it will have the Vette's LS6 but didn't tell him it would have 400 instead?
My wife and I test drove a black CTS LuxSport with Navigation yesterday. I wanted to compare it to the Lux model I'd driven a week before, and give my wife a chance to give her opinion on this future purchase consideration.
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. :-)
Cadillac did away with this decades-old feature because of the need to have an emergency escape latch inside the trunk. Apparently there wasn't as nice way to combine the two, so the power pull down was nixed.
My '87 Camaro has it mainly to keep the large rear hatch properly aligned so that there is no metal to metal contact. 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.
Coming from an STS with a 300 hp V8, how does the CTS's engine sound and feel? I had a 2002 SLS as a rental a couple of weeks ago and while it certainly did not handle as tightly as the CTS does, the Northstar engine alone was nearly enough to more than make up for it. And the interior was nicer as well, although the Seville is a higher end car so that is expected. As for the old trunk pull down feature, the last Caddy to have that was the Eldorado which just went out of production. The Seville last had it in 97 and the Deville in 99. It was a neat feature, but grocery store courtesy clerks and hotel bell hops were bad about slamming them. And to be fair, the newer Caddies have very good body and latch fit so it doesn't require a heavy slam to close the trunk anyway. Now the automatic parking brake release is something that the 02 SLS I rented had and certainly something that I wish the CTS had. Not a must have, but certainly a nice feature as was the power adjustable steering column which remembered it's position along with the driver's seat and outside mirrors. Hope you enjoy your CTS. The only other thing I wish the CTS had was the STS's electroluminescent instrumentation.
Next time you look at the CTS (on the inside), check the door panels again for material feel. Upon closer inspection, I think you will find the material to actually be soft. I know that it "looks" very hard, but the last time I sat in a CTS I began poking around and I discovered that in most areas, there is actually a mushy-ness, or a very discernible "give" in the surfaces. The door panels really are not a hard plastic.
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.
The 'entry level materials' are exactly the same as the luxury group with the exception of the luxury group having wood on the door pulls, steering wheel, and shifter. IMO it isn't worth getting the 'luxury package' for $1500 when all you get is a passenger power seat, seat memory, a compass, homelink, and 6 pieces of wood. The door panels are soft. Do yourself a favor and get the dark interior...the light interiors pick up stains easily!
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.
...to clarify what I was saying in my last post; I don't think the basic luxury package is worth the extra $$ but the performance luxury package seems like a good deal considering you get the active suspension, speed sensitive steering, bigger wheels and tires, and all the other stuff that the basic luxury package has.
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.
The CTS has been out for about 7 months now and customer feedback is starting to come in. It looks like GM has designed another "sport" type suspension with a harsh ride. 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.
None of the owners here have said anything about a harsh ride. There is no way an extended A-arm frame would have a more harsh ride than a more compact (meaning wheels closer to occupants) strut frame.
I don't recall anyone saying it had a harsh ride, except for automole when comparing it to his past cars. I've never been in a CTS, but have been in an Intrigue which has a very firm ride, but it's never harsh. I'd assume from everything I've read and seen, that the CTS is very tight, tighther still on the Sport model. That's the whole point of the CTS, not to beat you up on bumps, but to corner like it's on rails at any speed.
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.
The suspension geometry doesn't determine ride stiffness - the springs/shocks/struts do. Keeping the vehicle flat when cornering yet allowing the suspension so soak up bumps is tricky, and BMW has been given many kudos for pulling this off so well with struts. It's all in the tuning of the springs/struts/shocks.
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.
Ummm...'harsh' is a relative term and as for my previous cars the CTS rides less harshly than ALL of them with the exception of my last car (300M). Believe me, that's a good thing that it has a stiffer suspension than the 300M!
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.
I got some good activity out of my post. 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.
About 27,000 CTSs have been produced this year and over 1100 last week. If you add the ones that were built in 2002 and the 16 weeks we have left in the year production will be well over 40,000. 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.
There's a lot of psychology going on comparing the STS and CTS engine sound and feel, so this is all very IMO, but here goes... I found the power of the STS masked by the quiet interior and smooth ride. You know the power is there, but sensing it requires perceptions tuned to subtleties. In the CTS, the power is more easily perceived. I presume this is from the more audible exhaust note (which I find a pleasing though a somewhat alien experience for a Cad driver), the gearing (5 v. 4 spd, and the CTS 3.46 rearend ratio), and the overall sensation of the suspension, vehicle weight and weight transference during acceleration and decceleration. It could be just my perception, but the power of the CTS feels like it's more where I need it, in a total package that's more balanced and responsive.
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.
I think unfortunately GM will try and sell as many of these cars as they can. GM is a very profit driven company (more so than smaller makers like BMW), so they will try and sell as many as they can. Good or bad in the long run, who knows.
BMW sells about 80,000 3-series cars of various stripes a year. GM would love to have those kind of numbers. 2003 will be a very long model year, but the numbers are encouraging for Cadillac that they are on the right course with the strategy. The love-it-or-leave-it Art & Science styling isn't scaring off that many customers. It is truly unique on the road.
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.
The door panels maybe aren't a hard-hard plastic, but it's still harder a feel than I would like in this price class. My friend's brand new G35 has a much better feel for materials on the doors than the CTS, and I thought the G35's interior materials were a little on the cheap side anyway. The Acura TL Type-S kicks both of them for the quality of materials. The G35 is cheaper than the CTS and the Acura is cheaper than the G35.
Comments
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.