Cadillac: How do you equate caddilac to Ford, Chevy and other american cars?

In 2001 I purchased a new Cadillac DHS. Due to its poor quality and
disappointing reliability, it will be my last Cad. In the past I've had two
other Cadillacs, a '84 Seville and later a '93 a Sixty Special. The '84 &
'93 were of high quality and reliability. I refer to the '01 as "My
Cadillac by Yugo."

Things that have gone wrong with my current 2001 DHS - Just turned 90,000
miles

The front seat heaters have failed twice and currently inoperable.
The paint on most of the steering wheel button has flaked off; same with the
radio buttons.
Wiring to the left rear door had a short in it.
The Suspension stabilizer warning comes on randomly - Requesting repair only
adds $350 to the bill and the light still comes on.
A seeping leak of an engine "cross-over" pipe - a $700 gasket replacement.
The air conditioner is unreliable - loss of heated air at times.
Motor mount broke at 52,000 - dealer wanted $550 to repair- expressing
disappointment in Cadillac, they did it at no cost to me.
The front doors' power windows "clank" when reaching top or bottom position.
~10% of the time when starting the engine, nothing happens when turning the
key to the start position. It requires wiggling the key or reversing the top
and bottom of the key gets the engine started.
On a maintenance visit to my local Cadillac dealer I shared my concerns with
the salesman who sold me the car. His comment, while chuckling, "Oh you
must have gotten a Friday car."

My wife's '90 Toyota Corolla repair history from 1990 through 2006 - one
burned out front turn indicator light. In early 2008 it was replaced with a
2007 Toyota Corolla

My future automobile needs do not have GM in the picture. Add to picture,
my opinion the new Cads (except for the overpriced XLRs) are as attractive
as Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi in underwear.

My horizons would consider Toyota Avalon & Nissan Maxima & Altima.

--
Don
Vancouver, USA



"joevan" <com> wrote in message
news:com... 

My experience has been better than Don's, but Cadillacs are not
without problems.

1989 Cadillac Sedan DeVille (Consumer rated 9.0). Ran it 130,000
miles with 2 problems: 1) ECM computer chip went out ($600 for
Cadillac to repair - took a chip out of an ECM at Brandywine auto
parts for $5) 2) Front motor mount went out repaired at Cadillac -
cost was not significant - recall about $200 - easy in the front -
hard in the back.

1996 Seville (Consumer rated 8.0) We ran it 140,000 miles and sold it
for $3,000. We've seen it around so it is still running. Needed a
significant tune up at around 100,000 miles. Heater hose blew out.
No other problems.

2000 Seville (Consumer rating 8.3). It has 120,000 on it and is
running well. Gas mileage is about 26 on trips - V-8 - gearing ratio
is economical. Some guy wrote a review on Edmunds and said he was
getting 32 MPG - no way.

1) It had a short in the wiring harness (repaired by non-Cadillac
dealer) $100. 2) Thermostat went out (bizarre OBD II code) - a lot
of crap has to come out to get at this - was $1200 including a new
water manifold gasket, water pump (good while it is apart), and the
thermostat. Non-Cadillac dealer repair. The thermostat that the shop
got from Cadillac was bad and they had to redo the job - ouch! 3)
The timing position sensors (I think that's what they were) were
replaced.

What Edmunds.com says (Accurate assessment for all Cadillacs in my
opinion - advice: buy used and don't invest too much. A $15,000 car
is a throw away - $50,000 lemon would be a problem for me.

If you're looking for a top-notch luxury sedan that favors comfort
over performance, the Seville is one of the smoothest rides this side
of Stuttgart.
Pros
World-class engineering, contemporary styling, smooth V8, superbly
equipped.
Cons
History of not retaining value as well as rivals, electronic doodads
could be costly to repair.

What's New for 2000

The Northstar V8s have been improved, and all models get a new airbag
suppression system and the revised version of GM's StabiliTrak. A new
ultrasonic rear parking assist feature and an advanced navigation
system are optional on both STS and SLS. There are also two new
exterior colors, Midnight Blue and Bronzemist.

Summary: They build excellent cars, but they have so many electronic
monitoring and control systems that the reliability has to be much
lower than a simple machine - mathematics tells you that. I always
buy them 2 years old so there is warranty time for me to get all the
bugs out. They depreciate rapidly the first two years so you can get
good deals. The 1996 was $12,000 and the 2000 was $15,000. These
were $40K - $50K cars new. I have a friend with a Toyota and he has
problems too.

On Sun, 8 Nov 2009 05:51:25 -0800 (PST), Blue C5
<com> wrote:
 
Thanks guys. Pretty much what I expected. I am in no hurry to waste my
money or rather my 19 year old daughter's who will take over when this
old man is done. I am 67 and want to do right by her as mommy died 5
years ago too young from cancer. Just thought I would explore the
options in case I want to try a luxury car for a while.