Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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At this point, I still have to pick a dealership (greater Atlanta area). I also still have to drive a Luxury Sport model so I can compare it to the Luxury model I already drove. I'm a big fan of stability control in cars, but Stablitrak is only available with the Lux Sport package, and I need to see if the Lux Sport tuning is too harsh for day to day use. I need to chase down attractive financing. And finally, I'll probably need to order a vehicle rather than getting one off the dealer lot. Looking through the inventory of the dealerships here, virtually every CTS comes with a sunroof. I like sunroofs in theory, but for most cars my height (6'11") makes them unpractical.
For example, the Northstar V8 was a technological tour-de-force in 1993. There wasn't another V8 on the planet that was significantly mosre advanced in power delivery and overall usage of advanced technology.
But Northstar was also held back by Cadillac's platforms of front wheel drive cars. It's difficult to properly deliver more than 300 HP to the front wheels without significant torque steer. Since there wasn't any reason to make the engine better, GM didn't, outside of nominal upgrades.
Now in the last few years, several automakers have exceeded Northstar's capabilities by adding variable valve timing and squeezing more power out of their designs. Northstars are still at 300 HP (until the XLR comes out). There's nothing wrong with Northstar as an engine platform. But as Cadillac migrates the lion's share of its offering to rear-wheel drive, its going to have to show that its engine offering can still be as powerful as BMW, as sophisticated as Mercedes, and as smooth as Lexus.
like the bucket seats or shift on floor!
Its White Diamond not pearl. With the
GM employee deal,Caddy bonus cert., Gm
card earnings,rebate,, I only paid 29k
minus trade !
Heck they even gave me 6000 for my 96
Deville with 90k miles ! I did the deal
over the PHONE ! They drove the car to
Alexandria Bay NY from Auburn NY with
paper work and picked up my 96 trade !
Told the sales man that we were jammed
at our motel. He said no problem WE
will come to you !...........geo
If the V-series has a V-8, that may be our next car.
Add a few grand for tires and suspension and there is probably another 10-12K in aditional profit over the regular CTS.
Reminds me of the huge price increase that Mercedes Benz charges for the 500 S class when the 430 S class has the same engine block. Just the pistons are different.
Initial impression is: what a very nice automobile. Handling is very crisp and ride is controlled, not harsh, IMHO. It's what I would expect from a sports sedan. If you want float over the bumps luxury, look elsewhere, like to the DeVille. Now my last ride was a Probe GT Turbo, and the CTS ride is vastly superior while also about 200% better in handling. This suspension rocks!
I love all the personalization features and the Nav system - what a great toy! And as a engineer computer geek, I was impressed with how you can beam your addresses from your Palm Pilot into the CTS! Cool!
The sound system also is just a joy to crank up - it does not sound loud (distorted), just crystal clear.
So far, no problems, and my dealer has treated me with the utmost respect and courtesy. Car was ready to go and spotless at exactly the promised time and I was out the door in less than an hour, including a test drive to verify that all was working perfectly (we used the GPS to nav to my house and back to the dealer).
I have had one two lane highway passing exercise and it had plenty of guts to blow off the turkey with only a limited passing zone. I am trying to take it easy during break in. Engine power and smoothness is fine by me. I can barely tell its running at idle.
Sevenfeet; The $2000 Caddy loyalty bonus
cert. came to me a few months ago along
with a buick 3000 cert. in a GM Family
Savings promotion. I am on a mailing
list for GM employees family eligible for
GM EMPLOYEE discounts. I get a bunch of
promo, stuff all the time. I am not sure
how it works for GM supplier discount.
Heck I wanted a CTS but no Caddy dealer
near Syracuse NY would do GMO/GMS on one.
So I will be happy with my new Deville.
I can wait for a V-8 CTS,,,,,,,,,,geo
Is the user interface easy to understand?
Are the integrated radio controls easy to understand, or have they been made a nuisance?
Does the system seem resonably accurate in its ability to give directions? Are the directions easy to follow?
Does the CD-based navigation limit too much the scope of available maps (as opposed to a DVD system)?
Do you miss not having the cassette (still used for old music, books on tape, and cassette adapaters for other electronic music players)?
You said that you can beam contacts from your Palm? How well does that work?
Is the price justified compared to paying $34.95 a month for the Onstar directions service?
Any other features you can think of that wouldn't normally come to mind?
Thanks!
Pardon me if I am confusing you with another poster, but I thought you were trying to buy this car for your wife, who I think I remember you saying wanted a Buick. If this is true, what car did she finally get? If this is her car, shared or otherwise, she is a lucky woman.
Happy Driving.
And every comparo puts the CTS well behind the 3-Series! And the Lexus GS even has trouble with the 5-Series, so the CTS is a far cry against the extra-juicy German horses!
A lot of people still can't get around the styling to look at it as a realistic 5-series competitor.
I don't think BMW is missing any sleep over the CTS.
out whether or not it's worth the nearly $1500 premium over the lesser Bose
in-dash 6 CD radio.
Is the user interface easy to understand?
I think it is. It does take a few monents to learn.
Are the integrated radio controls easy to understand, or have they been made a
nuisance?
Radio controls are very easy, again, once you get used to it.
Does the system seem resonably accurate in its ability to give directions?
So far directions given are good, but I have not dopne any long trips. You can tell it to avoid certain regions, or favor interstates, or go for shortest distance vs fastest time.
Are
the directions easy to follow?
Very easy to follow. It tells you when a turn is coming up and again just before you turn. It talks! "Right turn in 1/4 mile" etc.
Does the CD-based navigation limit too much the scope of available maps (as
opposed to a DVD system)?
This is often cited as a big drawback. Yes, it has 10 CD Nav disks. 95% of the time, I will stay on one disk in the northeast coast area. Now a DVD holds about 4 GB of data vs 6.4 GB on 10 CDs, so I suspect the info is a little more detailed on this system. From what I have seen, only one road (development) built in the last 3 months is missing in my area. It has very detailed point of interest data - gas stations, rest stops, schools, churches, restaurants, hotels, etc.
Do you miss not having the cassette (still used for old music, books on tape,
and cassette adapters for other electronic music players)?
Cassette?? What's that?
You said that you can beam contacts from your Palm? How well does that
work?
Works like a charm!
Is the price justified compared to paying $34.95 a month for the Onstar
directions service?
I think so, though it might be a tough call for some. I did get the package way under cost via GMO.
Any other features you can think of that wouldn't normally come to mind?
You also get voice recognition commands for stereo and nav with, a nice toy.
http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/models/cts/index.html
I have to agree with Cigar_surfer, the navigation system is good. Mostly accurate and fun to use. However, I've had a problem setting a destination when traveling across geographic areas (change CD's). Maybe I need training.
The nav system is always funny when I don't follow it's directions. First, it trys to recalculate a new path, if that fails, it keeps telling me to make a u-turn.
Radio controls are good and I don't miss the cassette.
Then there's the information system. Normally, I like to see the outside temperature. In addition, I like to see the average gas mileage or any of the other info system components. This requires a lot of extra button pushing and knob dialing. A real pain in the neck while driving or when resetting the info. On my other car, you just push one button to move from "info field" to "info field" and another button to reset the info. I hope they correct this on the '04 model.
I would definitely buy it again.
Necros -
Thanks! That needed to be said. "whotheman" sounds more like "whothelittlekid". Most of the discussion on this thread has been positive or constructive criticism about cars we love to drive or would like to own.
Besides, most BMW's are overpriced, uncomfortable "little cars" that ride hard and are expensive to maintain. Quick doesn't always mean "worth the money".
Rich
sticker !
But a Park Ave was in Deville price area !
A Lesabre custom was 17k out the door tho !
Tempting ! I wanted a CTS badly but no dealer in
Syracuse NY area would do GMO/GMS deal !
My 96 Devile needed those 2500 front struts
and had over 90k troublefree miles (except
for a fuel pump last year). Been so busy
with our bar and motels haven't had time to
play with it much ! One thing I DO like is
the with trac control off it starts off in 1st
gear. The 96 started off in second with trac
off. I LOVE suprising unsuspecting folks in
their lesser mbs,bmw, lexus, etc with a smokey
BURN OUT ! 275 horses V8 on tap ! Next time it
will be a V8 CTS. Will post more reports on
the Deville thread !............geo
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE CADILLAC STYLE !
Why did you go for a DeVille over a Seville?
shift ! Seville was more $$$$$$ with the
same goodies. Was gonna buy a used 02 in
Gan. Ontario for 25k amer. delivered to me
in the 1000 islands. But I think the sale
man was trying to fool me cuz it was a 01.
This new one was 23k plus tax and tag with
trade, rebate, bonus cert, GM card, GMS
discount etc.................geo
The point that I tried to make was that the CTS's engine is european. In fact the MT comparison shows that the automatic CTS holds its own with the "other" european car. Once the CTS gets the 3.6 with VVT, performance should improve a bit.
http://carpoint.msn.com/pebblebeach2002/CadillacPress.aspx
Only a used one. I hear on the smart shopper
thread GM, Honda, and some others won't
honor warranty work to Can. imported vehicles
to the USA !....geo
Enjoy the DeVille though, it's a nice car.
One question though, do you want me to lengthen the doors on the orange CTS coupe, or the red convertioble/hatchback? Or both?