An open letter to "The Experts,"
I've been reading these postings on and off for about two years now, and it seems like many of you have a pretty good understanding of Cadillacs in general, and STS's in particular. So if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a question, and ask for your opinion.
But first, let me give you some background. I have an 05 STS, Loaded, (only option missing is the Tuscony leather), and there are 40 days left on my lease. I need to make the buy or bye-bye decision.
I like (love) the car, but I have some serious quality concerns. This car has been in the shop so many times, for so many days, it qualifies as a lemon under the California Lemon law. I've tried to get in contact with somebody at Cadillac to vent my concerns, but I can't get past my dealer to get a name.
Here are some of the problems that I've had to deal with:
- It took 2 dealerships, 6 trips, and almost 2 years to finally get the ACC working correctly.
- I've got the whinny rearend problem. The first time it took 4 trips, 2 dealerships, and 2 years to resolve. Now it's starting up all over again.
- It took 2 dealerships and 3 trips and a year and a half to get rid of the "fart" in the dash. It was funny at first, but it stopped being funny after about 6 months.
- I don't dare use any of the voice commands while I'm driving, as the seat or steering wheel could start moving on me.
- Car's in the shop getting front rotors and pads, as they're worn out at 42K.
- My radio has Alzheimer's -- it forgets radio pre-sets from one driver to the next. I've given up on this one after 6 trips trying to get it fixed.
And there are may other items not listed above. It just seems like one problem after another keeps cropping up. Sometimes I feel like I've been a Beta tester for the 08 CTS -- only I had to pay dearly to do so.
So my question is do you know anybody at Cadillac that I can speak to about this? I'm struggling to find some way to keep this car at lease end, but paying $36K feels way overpriced. If I could get this down to fair market value of $25-26K, that would most likely cause me to keep the car. But right now, I'm leaning towards walking away from the car (and Cadillac), even if it costs me $2k at lease end. This could be my first (and last) Caddy.
As for the opinion, what sort of life-span should this car have? This car has a ton of electronics on it, and repairs will be costly once out of warranty (one more year or 8K miles). This scares the crap out of me. If I do decide to keep it, how can I prevent this car from bleeding my wallet?
If you want more details, I'll be happy to provide them.
Thanks in advance to all that take the time to read this and comment,
Larry
