2009 Crystal Red CTS (Direct Injected, AWD, Performance Package). White interior.

Overall it's not a bad car. The 304 HP is nice enough, but the 278 LB/FT of TQ is lacking in my book. Just cruising around town it has plenty of power, but when you try to pass out on the highway I can notice it lacks the power the GXP has. Eventually once you get it downshifted a gear or two it gets move pretty damn well.

The 6 speed shifter, with a sport mode and a sequential do it yourself mode is pretty fun too. I'm really missing the HUD though. You have to look down on the dash to see what gear you're in.

Oh yeah and the 10 speaker sound system, amazing. I can feel my filling freaking vibrating in my teeth when I crank that baby up.

My only bitch so far is that the digital display is crappy looking. You can see individual pixels on it and stuff. It's like GM had a bunch of old LED screens from the 1980s laying around and shoved them in here. Seriousily, I've seen Ataris with better graphics. I guess that's GM way of punishing a consumer for not shelling out for the popup display. Also check out the hood, it seems GM doesn't expect Caddy owners to do their own work.

My apologies for the picture quality, all I have around is my cellphone, my digital camera is back at college.

Edit: Just got my first email from OnStar. Recall for the passenger side airbag, the car doesn't even have 50 miles on it yet. ******* GM quality.

 

Nice looking, I have always enjoyed the looks of the CTS. As far as GM quality and your recall, you can't really blame GM for that, likely one of their subs. . . blame the Chinese airbag mfr instead. . .

Overall they are lacking a little feeling of torque, but I guess that is why they make the -V

 

I've been looking into the recall issue. Spent some time on the phone with Cadillac Customer Service [which Onstar tells you to call]. According to what I've been able to find the Recall Campaign 2008373 was begun on 18 Nov 2008. The vehicle was purchased from Sutliff Cadillac of Mechanicsburg PA on 13 December 2008, without the dealer having taken care of the recall issue, at least accordingto the Onstar Diagnostics report.

So it appears that I should be blaming the dealer here. Way to go Sutliff. Somehow, despite the fact the recall has been known for ~1 month you don't fix it before you sell it. Needless to say she'll be going to a different dealer for her service needs.

 

they look so good together

superb,........

 

Damn nice caddie. Can't say I'm crazy about the color but direct injection is a must have option in my opinion so good choice on that. How's it ride?

 

Damn that's the exact car I'm planning on getting for my wife! Sweet ride, love it!

 

The Dealer cannot fix a car from Dealer stock. They have to wait until it is purchased

 

Nice car man! planning on taking it to the track? im sure with the performance package and AWD it doesn't really get the best of mpg right?

 

My monte is down right now and I have been driving my dad's CTS, his DD, around in the mean time. I love that little car and how it handles. But you really have to wind it out to get some actual power because it lacks torque and makes HP so high up in the RPM range. Anyway I thought it was funny because I am driving the same exact car right now, same colors, same package....same everything.

 

I want interior pics!

 

why keep the gxp? pretty sure the caddy would beat it. so might as well get a sports car.

 

pretty stupid comment big bird

 

The CTS is a few tenths slower than a GXP stock for stock. Although I kind of agree if I'd have the AWD Caddy that would make a sufficient DD why not get a fun toy. However that's irrelevant cause not everyone wants that or has the need. Perhaps he doesn't want a 2 door car, perhaps someone else will be driving the CTS. Don't really know and it doesn't really matter.

Regardless, the CTS looks great. Off topic...where in PA are you?

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Cruised her around a little this afternoon it was awesome. I was feeling like a proud parent when people were looking at it and someone came up to me in the parking lot and asked me how I got the car so clean.

Really different than the W-Body. It just kind of floats, whereas the W-Body feels more like it is glued to the road. She's real agile and a real light touch to corner. I'm still getting used to the differences between the cars, so I'm being ginger in the turns, but overall its a really crisp handling car.

No tracks around here. I'll likely take it down to the track out in MI once or twice just to play around with it, but I'm not overly concerned. I hear tell I'll see ~6 second 0 to 60 and a high 13, low 14 quarter mile. It's a DD so it won't ever get modded, at least not while under warranty. I really want to go run it on a road course though.

After 3/4s of a tank I'm seeing ~14 mpg, mostly driving around town. Also lot sof aggressive driving.

What do you think of the ergonomics of the car? I love all the features, but its a pain in the *** to access half of them while driving. The buttons on the steering wheel are nice for the basic stuff, but like playing around with XM or the Hard Drive is a pain in the *** while moving.

Well, it stopped being dealer stock when the dealer was handed a check for the vehicle. The dealer could have taken care of it right then and there instead of just handing us the keys and saying "have fun."

I'll get you some if its nice out tomorrow. I doubt my camera phone will do it justice, but I'll give it a go.

20SS07 handled the stock on stock arguments pretty well.

The Caddy starts to weaken around 70 to 80 mph. The engine is nice, but the fact it is a N/A V6 does catch up with it. We ran the two cars on the highway from a 40 mph roll and only thing the Cadillac saw on the GXP were my tail lights. From a dig the Cadillac jumped out a little, much better 60', but once the GXP has traction the CTS is done.

Beside while the CTS now I can afford to take the GXP apart , work on it and maybe think about cramming a A6 and a Turbo Kit into the GXP or something. Although I think I'll try to steer clear of mods and save for a CTS-V.

Also I live in MI right now for most of the year, RWD cars don't do so well out there. If I got a CTS-V or a Corvette or something it would just sit there and hide from the snow Nov - Apr, whereas the GXP is a year round toy. Also I like sleepers. I just love the look of horror on a muscle car owners face as a 4 door sedan begins to pull away from them.

Slightly Off Topic:
The CTS already has its first kill, a RX8 came cruising up next to me, looked over and revved, I put the car over in Sport mode and we both jumped off the line and that was the end of the RX8. When the kid in the car pulled up beside me the kid just kind of stared sadly over at me and shook his head.

I'm in Lancaster (so right now 222 from you) for the holidays with the folks. We're heading back to Michigan on Monday. I basically live and work in Ann Arbor, but I'm a grad student so my plate stays registered to my home state address. Is there any kind of LS4 or car scene up your way? I see ricers down my way, and the occasional Mustang or F-Body, but very few V8s.

 

Ah gotcha, so you're normally in Mich. I wasn't aware of anyone really being around here but I saw the PA plate and recognized the Sutliff dealer name so I was confused haha.

And no essentially no LS4 scene. There's a GXP a few blocks from my house driven by an older woman, and there's one or 2 Imp SS's I see around from time to time, driven by old people. Unfortunately no enthusiasts.

 

I saw an older couple (aka elderly) in a gxp the other day. Too bad i didnt have my phone out of my pocket! Those 4 door granny ls4s...

 

I've seen a few gray hairs in them as well. My 60 year old mother was riding in mine today for that matter and yelling at me about my dirivng habits too.

Yeah, 20SS07, there used to be some muscle cars that hung out on 222, but I heard a year or two ago the PA State Troopers swept through and shut that down, lame *** state. Beer distributors and all this crap. Out in Michigan I can buy beer anywhere and everywhere and I don't have to randomly swerve in to the other lane to avoid horse **** that the Amish buggy horses left on the road.

I'll likely end up moving back here though this summer since I have job offers from this area and no one out in Michigan is hiring right now, damn auto industry tanking. We'll have to chill or something, go to the track or whatever. Play 'slap the rice' around or something.

The only auto scene I know of around here is are the monster trucks down at the Buck and I'm a mullet short of being into that kind of ****.

 

It's funny, aside from a buddy of mine with an 06 Imp SS and some of the people here and on NAIOA.com ALL the LS4 drivers I see are old....errr I mean non-enthusiasts. I guess you can't just say old if they're old and enthusiasts thats all that matters. Most I see driving them though I don't think they know what they have.

And LOL, yea, 05CherryGXP, gotta love all the freakin horseshit in Lancaster county. Although whenever I feel like going on a random back roads drive I almost always end up in Lancaster county haha.

 

there was a monster jam marathon on speed channel the other day. once in awhile is ok, but a marathon what the hell is wrong with them.

 

very nice car man....very nice!