dont buy american cars they are **** for reliability and resale. do the right thing and wait for the gs or buy an 07 for a deal. ive had so many friends who have been burned over the past 3-4 years buying new american suv's and luxury sedans. IN cali where i grew up it was the worst thing you could do was to buy an american car. i hate the quality , the feel, the service, the desin and lines of their cars. the only nice about american cars is the price and the ridiculous financing they offer to move the ****ty cars they make. also you dont want to buy the first year of any car, especially not an american car. the american car companies have been producing trash for decades (literally) and now that they cant sell cars based on their old reputations they are freaking out. the japanese car companies are kicking ford chevy and chrysler in the ***. And unfortunately for them over the past 20 to 25 yrs they have bred an entire culture of gen x members that freakn cant stand american cars, dont trust them, and will never buy them. even if cadillac beat lexus for 5 yrs running i still dont think i would ever buy an american car. In LA they used to say cadillacs are for **** kickers and farmers. look at cadillacs reliabilty ratings just 4-5 yrs ago. i dont think im going to take their word for it. american car companies have been robbing their customers for 20 years at least. they have the corporate mentallity when producing their cars. produce the cheapest product you can and sell it in volume. cut costs anywhere to make another 2 cents. also how is it that america has the bightest people in the world, but yet we are just barely finding people in the auto design industry who can copy a dash board and console from the japanese. cadillac is in my opinion the lowest of the low in the luxury market. The thing could drive like a Ferrari and i still would never trust an american car. damn man just look at them. sooooooooo damn uuuugggly and cheap looking.

 

damn man they just make me sick. i am very passionate about cars. sorry just my opinion. I know that the american car thing is a must for some poor morons who still buy loyally bec they are american. what they need to realize that under capitalism the consumers win. the car companies have to compete in an open market to produce the best products for the consumers. They keep producing trash and keep losing market share, and the old farts who used to say "BUY AMERICAN" are dead and dying. The days of the big 5.7 liter V8 procing the same hp that a 3.5 liter japanese engine are gone. people wont stand for it. I think that its amazing the growth the japanese car companies have made in my life time. People used to clown the little datsuns, hondas, and toyotas for being so small. they used to call them foreign jobs in LA in the 70's and look at you like you were crazy if you bought one. now in just 30 years they have turned into the cars with the strongest overall rep for reliability. The most important quality in a car should be reliabillity. Man they mention lexus even in rap music. the japanese car companies earned it and now the american car companies are going to need at least 15-20 years yo try to slavage what they can of their old rep. no matter what they do i term of quality, the old record will always hang over them

 

Which rap song(s) mention Lexus??? Just curious hehe...

 

I8AMBR, why don't you tell us how you really feel I've never really considered any domestic cars until now. I think they have done a nice job with the CTS and it's a competitive product. I say bring it on. More choice for us.

It's interesting what people feel are dealbreakers. Bluetooth is nice, but not a dealbreaker for me. I think the 40G hard drive with iPod connection is cool on the CTS and not available on the GS, but a cassette is

A car is coming in with pre collision and radar cruise a $2850 option I did not want. It also has leather steering wheel and no parking assist and a whopping $55K MSRP. I can take that one, wait, or buy a CTS or something else.

 

You can integrate the iPod connection in the 3GS which also gives you the ability to play videos while keeping the car looking/performing stock. There's no such integration solution for bluetooth though.

Leather steering wheel in a 3GS?!

 

I've never seen one with a leather steering wheel other than a Canadian or UK car.

Any idea of the story behind this? Personally, I'd love to get an all leather one.

 

Wood wheel and shift **** are options on the 2008, although most of them come with the wood wheel and ****.

I have two other options without the pre collision and radar cruise. A black with M/L or a Starfire without M/L.

Decisions, decisions.... need to decide tomorrow.

 

Any idea of the color combo? The car you describe would be my perfect car -- and I AM in the market to buy one now -- but only if it is red with cashmere interior.

 

Black Sapphire and Cashmere. It has my name on it unless I decide on the Obsidian or Starfire (or a CTS )

If you want one like that, you will have to special order it. This combo is rare.

 

Hmm, I did not know you could order a leather steering wheel.

 

Well final decision made.... Decided to go with a 2008 GS350 AWD in Black Sapphire with Cashmere. The decision was partly based on the the lack of availability of a Cadillac in the configuration I wanted. Had it been year 2 for the CTS with Bluetooth and better supply, the decision could have been very different. Now a two week wait as it gets to port and the dealer.

 

good choice man . im sorry about going on the offensive on american cars, but it is something that I feel strongly about. congrats man. I do agree that GM is making improvements but it just pisses me off that to finally make the improvements it had to go almost to bankruptcy. I watched an interview with the CEO of GM and he actually said we knew our products had reliability issues, but now they are going after Lexus. they think that can beat out the company that has been the number one most reliable car for the past 12 yrs in a row. I dont know if thats been done before, but I would be willing to bet the american car companies will never do that. I do know that lexus slipped this year, but its a fluke.

 

I was going to trade my loaded 2005 CTS in on a 2007 GS 350 AWD, but ended up springing for a loaded LS 460 SWB instead.

In the 2 and 1/2 years and 25k miles that I had the CTS, I had two problems- the express down feature of the driver's side window did not work when I took delivery and the driver's seat heater broke a month before I traded it in.

I had already read about the 2008 CTS, but initially decided on the GS 350 because I did not like the Caddy dealer's 3 hour oil changes and the perceived reliabilty/depreciation issue everyone mentions. After further consideration, I decided against the GS because of the hard riding run flats and the car was much harder to get into and out of than the CTS for me (I am large framed). Then I made the mistake of driving the LS 460 and that was the end of the debate.

By the way, I note Consumer Reports says the GS 350 now has worse than average reliability and the depreciation is not as good as other Lexus models. Also, my dealer said demand for the 05 CTS dropped after announcement of the new one, so they could give me "only" 21k on trade for a car I paid 36k for.

If the choice is between the CTS and the GS 350, I would take the CTS if I could find a good Caddy dealer.

 

I have both a GM Mastercard and a Lexus VISA so I guess I have trouble taking one side or the other, but American car bashing is no longer appropriate. One thing for certain- if you are pissed off at GM, you are pissed off a the wrong entity. The fact that Toyota does not have to deal with the UAW is one huge reason why they can arguably provide a better product for the same money. Check out this article from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/public/article...500439816.html

Meanwhile, the reality is that Buick just tied Lexus for 1st place in 3 year reliability and Cadillac placed 3rd. Toyota placed 6th just behind those notoriously unreliable (much sarcasm) Hondas. How can anyone assert Cadillac has reliabilty issues based on that study?

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/j-d-p...-study/346679/

All I know is I just discovered a squeak in the console of my LS 460. Maybe I should trade it in for a Buick. Of course I am just a "moron" because I still like American cars, even though I have an engineering degree and a law degree.

 

Thanks for the update. COngrats!