Cadillac CTS/CTS-V

ctsmanual

Took delivery last week of a Platinum CTS with the luxury package and a manual transmission.

What a great ride!!

Since it is a manual, placed an order from the factory on April 2, it arrived at the dealer on April 28 and I picked it up on the 29th. 0% and all that.

Because of the late manufacture date, I'm glad it has a temp gauge instead of an analog clock.

It was tough waiting for it to arrive, but thanks to everyone on this board, I was able to survive by keeping up-to-date with issues.

300 miles and counting...

wwhite2

Welcome to the manual club you will really like it , wish I had that temp gauge Bill

golfnut5

I am considering the purchase of a CTS. I was wondering what some of you paid for your CTS. Were you able to purchase at the published invoice prices or below invoice? Would appreciate any comments. Thanks.

wwhite2

In my local paper i see new CTS's being offered for 3000 to 4500 off msrp. THe 4500 price included a $750 military discount. My CTS was a GM owned car for a factory rep so I bought it as a certified car

cu95

Ctsjerry, I couldn't find anything in the OnStar manual, so I guess I'm going crazy. I may flip through the owner's manual but I doubt there'll be anything in there.

Golfnut5, I bought a base with automatic in April for ~$25 over dealer invoice which made it $29,750 before taxes and DMV costs (it had a build date of Jan '03, so was based on the previous price before the latest hike; invoice included GM advertising charges for the area). The sticker was $31,490. If you're buying from dealer inventory and can find a CTS with the previous sticker price, that's an easy way to save ~$300. The offers I got from other dealers were ~$100 over invoice (after a fair bit of haggling) and ~$700 over (didn't even bother to haggle), and both of those were based on the new, higher price.

mannytranny

Congrats on your CTS!!!!!!!

Glad to see another manual trans. Enjoy the ride!

mannytranny

When I bought mine last June the dealer didn't hesitate to give $1500 off MSRP. Actually it was about $100 over invoice if I remember correctly. At that time they did not give as much as they do now. I wanted mine and I bought it right out of stock. Because it was a manual trans I think the dealer went right to $1500. I heard that it was more to bargain on an auto trans. Now it's the same on both. I figured at the time the dealer was afraid of not selling the manual and wanted a sale. But not anymore. Although they sell more autos than manual they seem to have at least one manual in stock at all times.
     So bargain away!!!!!!!!!

ctsjerry

I am very lucky to work for a Company that is a supplier to GM, so I got the "Family & Friends" price which is 4% over what a GM employee would pay. There is no dickering, once you present the special form I got from GM verifiying my eligibility. That was it. Here in glorious high taxation California, the sales tax was around $3000. I did calculate that by having my discount I saved $4550 over what an average person would pay, out the door including all fees and tax (IF they paid sticker price). So with the discount I was able to afford a few more goodies than normal on my car. I got a loaded model that's only missing two options: NAV system & Moonroof. It's got everything else. The scary part is that even though this car cost me about $36,250 out the door, this is the cheapest model Caddy they sell. We couldn't afford a STS, Escalade or even a Deville! Our '91 Deville was $28K new out the door. My how times have changed!

golfnut5

Thanks for pricing information. Fortunately, I have $2000 worth of rebates on my GM credit card. According to credit card web site I can use $1000 towards CTS purchase, every little bit helps.

jeff06

I have owed my sport CTS for a year and a month. I have 34,000.00+ miles on it. (Yes I drive allot). Since, I have had my Navigation replaced because the buttons on the Nav are wearing out. The gray color is rubbing off and showing white plastic. I have replace 10 tires(17')all together so far. The problem is on the exterior inner sidewalls. My tires seems to be bubbling and starting to shred, it looks at first glance like the tires are rubbing against something on the inside of the car. I noticed it the first time when I was getting my tires rotated and the service mgr at Discount tire (I bought a life time balance and rotate from them when the car was 2 days old) showed me the wear on the exterior inside tires and said 'these tires need to be replaced something is wrong' So I took pics of the tires and went to Sewell Cadillac and they had people look at them and said yes the tires are defective and Sewell Cadillac gave me four new tires. Well 5 months later here we go again same problem accruing. The buttons on my NAV are showing white plastic and my tires are shredding again. Has anyone heard of any other CTS owner having these problems?

Jeffery Sims (jeff06@speakeasy.net)

P.S
Other than the mentioned problems I am very happy so far.

bingoman

When I had my car serviced about a month ago, including a tire and balance, with 14,000 miles, I had to replace one tire because of a strange cut or damage on the inside exterior sidewall reported to me by the service department (I did not see the actual damage as the service people had the tire replaced at a tire dealer near the Cadillac shop with which I had previously done business. In fact they had installed the tire pressure sensors in the CTS tire for me just after I bought the car.) I wonder if this was caused by an action similar to that which damaged the tires on jeff06's car. I shall have to watch the tires carefully in the future.

ctsjerry

What does that mean guys? Please explain. Do you mean the inboard side (backside not visible side) of the side walls, or the outboard side (visible side) of the side walls? My outboard or visible portion of my tires look great thus far. For reference, I have the Luxury Sport with the 17" V High Speed Rated tires. Thanks for the interesting post. We all should check. -Jer:>)

cu95

Ok, I'm NOT crazy, well, at least as far as OnStar is concerned. I was certain that I had read in the OnStar manual that it could be used with automated systems but I couldn't find it the other night. Turns out that the two OnStar manuals I have (one was handed to me by the salesperson with the some other paperwork, the other was in my trunk when I took delivery) are different versions. Looking at the other manual, this is what you do (for those who don't have this info):
1. While in a call, press the Talk button (the talking head on the steering wheel), which puts your call on mute; OnStar will ask for a number.
2. Say the number(s) (OnStar will repeat each one after you say it) --saying "pound" for # and "star" for *-- and when done say "Dial" (btw, you cannot use a nametag to send a string of numbers, you must recite the numbers).
3. OnStar will then send the number(s) to the automated system and you'll be returned to your call.
4. Repeat as necessary.

bingoman

The interior of the tire is where the air is, the exterior is the outside of the tire. The outside sidewall is the side of the tire you see when you are outside the car and looking at it. The inside sidewall is the side of the tire facing the middle of the car. I hope this clears up everything.

rsteph

Where I live, I've found there is air both in the interior as well as the exterior of the tire. Even though I can't see it, I'm fairly certain it exists in both places. (Ok Ok Ok...I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.)

wwhite2

wow lots of confusion over interior /exterior LOL . I will keep an eye on my 17" Goodyears .

mannytranny

What do the manuals look like? All I recieved was a brochure packet in the mail from OnStar about 3 weeks after I bought the CTS.It had a window sticker and a laminated OnStar info card inside. That's all. I never got anything from the dealer. I was told that the info is in the CTS owner's manual.
    I will go back and ask the dealer for the "manual" once I know what to ask for. Thanks!

cu95

It's called "OnStar Owner's Guide". It came in a thin navy blue box/envelope (9L x 4.5W x .5H) that also says "OnStar Owner's Guide" on it. Inside the box was the Guide, a quick reference card (sounds like you got that or something like it) and two OnStar stickers for the car's windows. The box is labelled part # 12451373.

thebug

Anyone: Are the 17" tires wider than the base 16's?

cu95: In post 2922, regarding the use of OnStar, are you saying that you can pause an in progress call to add the digits for an automated, (you know press 1 for this and 2 for that) system? If so, that's cool. So far if I call into an automated system, (I've only encountered one, my office number) it will automatically transfer me to the operator (which is very time consuming) without offering the usual prompt. Please explain further.

thebug...

oldsman01

My Intrigue came with a blue packet containing a quick reference guide and a users manual for Onstar. After it was activated, Onstar sent me a packet in the mail that contained a window sticker and a laminated card.

rsteph

Seems like I saw somewhere where the 17" tires were 1/2 inch wider than the 16". Don't quote me on it.
OnStar finally came up with a number to issue me (only took 3 weeks.) So now I can play with it to see how it's really gonna work for me. I, too, got the blue box owners packet, complete with extra spiffy window stickers.

32caddy

Do you use a pull thru car wash?? And how is the car moved??

cu95

thebug,
Are you saying that a call via OnStar to your voicemail causes your voicemail to respond differently than a call from an ordinary phone? If that's the case, I can't guess why. What I read indicates that you should be able to use your voicemail system via OnStar. The manual even gives some example dialogues. I've scanned the pages in question, hope this helps. You can get to the image of the pages at: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/letsgored95/onstar01.jpg
The image may only be there for a little while, so I recommend that you save the image to disk.

cu95

The prior one should download pretty quick but image quality is so-so. Here's a higher detail greyscale version, but it may take a little bit longer to download: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/letsgored95/onstar03.jpg

bingoman

I believe (but I am not sure) that the car wash I use pushes the car via a chain pulled wheel behind the front or rear left side tire. The chain is on the outer side of the tire and the pusher wheel pushes against the back of the tread. Nothing should contact the inner side of the tire where the damage was done.

I suspect the tire was cut by a stray piece of metal on the roadway.

thebug

Thank you. I will try this in the morning.

thebug...

cjs2002

first of all I wanted to say thanx to everyone, cause I love reading all of your comments about your cars, its been really helpful... I'm currently in the middle of deciding on which car to buy.. CTS, 3.5SE altima, or a MB C230 sport sedan... I like all three but I'm having trouble decidning which one to put my money into... when equiped the same there all with in a thousand dollars of each other.. (before we haggle prices) so I'm really trying to figure out which I like more... I like the interior of the CTS over the Altimas,but I like the prestiege that comes with bein an owner of a MB... could ya'll please advise me as to what to buy or look at ... thanx

cu95

I think some people --particulary on this board-- may take exception to your prestige comment. I'm "only" thirty, but I'm an old school, American pride sort of guy. To me, Cadillac is the end-all, be-all prestige automobile. But, to each his own. [Stepping off of soapbox]

As to the cars you mentioned, I didn't consider any MBs (we own a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, so in a sense we already own one :-) ), and I only gave the Altima cursory consideration. I'd say between the two, the CTS is a driver's car that can adequately accomodate family man needs and the Altima is a family car that can adequately accomodate a driver's desires. If we didn't have the family covered with the Jeep, I'd have given a car like the Altima more consideration.

batmanscts

I can't imagine a CTS owner recommending either the Altima or MB over the CTS. I looked at those cars as well as BMW 3-series, Audi, and about everything else with four wheels. To me, the CTS is the best looking and best value. I'm happy with every feature and completely satisfied with the performance.

When I looked at the small MBs, I thought my wife's 97 Accord Special Edition Coupe was a better looking car and a far better value.

I think the Altimas look great in some of their commercials, but I have yet to see one on the street that causes people to turn a stare at the car the way they do when they see my black CTS. I caught myself doing the stare last week when a Blue Onyx CTS drove through an intersection where I was stopped.

Several folks have asked questions about prices and discounts. I bought my CTS through the GM Employee Family Purchase Program. I was very pleased with the no-haggle price offered through that program (several thousand under MSRP). When my car was ready for pickup at the dealer, the salesman called and told me to bring my Honda registration papers when I came to pick up the car. They gave me another $1,500 off under a program called "Conquest" which attempts to attract owners of certain other makes to the Cadillac family. (I did not trade the Honda or anything else on the CTS). I recommend that you ask dealers about every program in effect to see if you qualify for any of them. I hadn't asked because I incorrectly thought that I wasn't eligible for other discount programs when I used the GM Family Purchase Plan.

One last comment about what to buy. While I preferred the CTS to all other cars, the way the people at the Cadillac dealership treated me compared to the way I was treated at other dealerships convinced me that I wanted to do business with them. The folks at other dealerships all seemed like the stereotypical pushy hustlers that we've all met while shopping for cars. BMW and MB salesmen were pompous and condescending. The folks at the Cadillac dealership were friendly, courteous, and treated me and my wife with respect. They have followed up with phone calls and mail several times since my purchase to ensure that we are "completely satisfied" with the car and their service. Can't ask for much more than that.

willngayle

Does anyone have any info on what the interior of the 04 CTS will look like? I am interested in getting a CTS but don't like the 03 interior. I read some comments on this board that the 04 model may have some changes such as more wood trim and warmth. Also the fact that the 04 will have a more powerful engine definitely interests me. Your comments are appreciated. Thanks.