jsaylor

For those who had had some teething issues with their 05 Mustangs here is something that may make you feel better. It seems that Cadillacs wunderkind CTS-V has been having differential problems....as in they go boom. There also might be a problem with bearings elsewhere in the rear-end too.

In true GM fashion it would seem that Cadillac is currently offering squat in the way of things to prevent this from occuring again. Unless something new has devloped Cadillac is simply replacing the differential and sending it back to the owner. Is this another Catera in the making?

I think I would be a lot happier with a skipping CD player or a computer I had to get reflashed than self-destructing rear differentials that GM is simply replacing with the same thing that went south to begin with. When the car costs twice what a Mustang does, that can only rub salt in the wound.

mlife

[quote=jsaylor,February 16, 2005, 4:06 PM]
For those who had had some teething issues with their 05 Mustangs.

I think its been a little more than some unfortunetly. You could apply this thread to Ford Also.
From what I have on read on Cadillac forms( I have a SRX along with the older Mustang) alot of these cars have been modified with extra HP.

TomServo92

Check these out:

http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/tsb/

I'm sorry, but many of these don't look like they have anything to do with "modified" engines.

jsaylor

[quote=mlife,February 17, 2005, 12:50 AM]
Actually, it would appear that the real problem is not related to extra power, as Tomservo alludes to above. It would seem that the diff's breaking occurs most often when you launch the car hard (as you would expect), but the actual breakage tends to occur when that hard launch results in axle hop. That would indicate weak componenets that can handle very little stress to me...strange in a 400hp performance sedan of this caliber and price wouldn't you say?

This is supposed to be a high-performance car and people dropping this amount of cash on what is supposed to be the entry level "baddy Caddy" are not going to care what GM's excuse for this vehicle breaking is, they are simply going to care that GM is giving them nothing but the same old, same old in responce to the problem at the moment.

Also, I have seen more owners of bone-stocks cars indicate having this problem on Caddy forums than people with modded cars. And, if extra hp is a problem then Caddy has a major issue to address with the upcoming 500hp version of this car as I would bet the farm Cadillac plans on using exactly the same read diff in both cars. Those things should be snapping diffs like twigs if standard CTS-V's are having these kinds of problems.

Finally, while I am no huge fan of either car I would roll the dice on a SRT8 Chrysler 300 before this car since it looks like the CTS-V is yet another Caddy reliability, servicability, and warranty disaster in the making and the Chrysler is 10k less. For the money Cadillac should deliver better than this.

mlife

[quote=jsaylor,February 17, 2005, 9:11 AM]
[ the CTS-V is yet another Caddy reliability, servicability, and warranty disaster in

Couldn't you say the same for Ford also then I mean you did start this post with
"For those who have had teething issues with their mustang"

Lets be fair it's easy to drop blanket statements when you have all this hatred for other vehicle manufacturers. Enjoy the diversity. Unless you work for Ford, GM or whoever does it really matter that much to you?

Majority of people that can afford that car aren't going to being axle hopping from light to light any way.

Joe

mlife

I'm sorry, but many of these don't look like they have anything to do with "modified" engines.
[/quote]

Yeah all the rear ends are just grenading for no reason.
Cadillac builds all there cars like that didint you know.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums...ad.php?t=23194
Yeah I can find threads supporting my case too.

Yeah and nobody mod's their Mustang on this Forum.
Yeah and I my 91 mustang is stock.
Yeah so on and so forth.

Joe

REDFIRESNAKE

Yeah all the rear ends are just grenading for no reason.
Cadillac builds all there cars like that didint you know.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums...ad.php?t=23194
Yeah I can find threads supporting my case too.

Yeah and nobody mod's their Mustang on this Forum.
Yeah and I my 91 mustang is stock.
Yeah so on and so forth.

Joe
[/quote]
hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

TomServo92

So what you're saying is that Cadillac, out of the goodness of their hearts, has issued a TSB to cover all those grenading rear-ends due to all those modified engines. Yeah...right. Since you believe that it's no wonder you believe people don't modify Mustangs.

I'm sorry but a few guys complaining on an internet forum about a bad rear-end in no way validates your assertion that it's not a "real" problem. On the other hand, a TSB from Cadillac clearly indicates there is a problem and that Cadillac recognizes it as such. You can put any kind of spin you want on it but it doesn't change that fact.

jsaylor

[quote=mlife,February 17, 2005, 5:28 PM]
Why would I say the same for the Mustang? Is Ford refusing to fix this car? Is Ford simply offering to keep putting the same defective part back on the car until the warranty runs out while acting as though, and actually saying at times, no problems exist and your car must just be a fluke? No, they are not...but that is exactly what Cadillac CTS-V customers are getting from Cadillac right now and if history holds true it is just as likely all they will ever get.

Having experienced Cadillac's personalized service firsthand I can tell you that no, it is not the same thing. My mother was one of the lucky owners of a 97 Cadillac Catera and I can tell you that getting Cadillac to do anything on those rolling pos's was a chore. Ford has had their share of bad calls in the past couple of decades, but seldom has it rivaled what GM can pull off when they want too and never has it been an entire car.

The SHO V-8 and the 3.8L head gasket are the only areas I can think of where Ford even rivals this, and even then it was just one component and was at least "fixable" even if Ford would not do it. (thye should have fixed them) I can think of multiple items on the Catera alone that surpass those. Several of these problems, like the timing set self-destructing at will and destroying the whole motor often with less than 20,000 miles on them, have no fix and GM never offered one. Want it fixed???, get a different motor. There are several other areas of this car that just could not be repaired with any assurance.

You can add in my girlfriends 99 Grand Am that she had to get out of before 75,000 miles too due to the same kind of issues the Catera had. To put this one simply the car required far more money for repairs over the course of those 75,000 miles than my Thunderbird Turbo Coupe did between 100,000 and 185,000 miles. Frankly, the price disparity was huge and my worn out old TC was a bargain. The Grand Am did get the same old "nothing wrong with it" line, and kept getting the same defective parts put on it until the warranty was up just like the Caddy, and my buddies old Monte Carlo (traded at under 40k), and my brothers old Le Sabre (long one too). All but one of those cars was bought new, and every one was bought under warranty btw.

My family has owned several Fords and all of them together did not pose the frustration the Catera or the Grand Am alone provided. Not one has offered as many problems as any of the GM's I have mentioned. If these were isolated experiences I could just attribute it to unbelievably bad luck, but if you are inclined to think this may I suggest an internet search on the Catera? Try Grand Am and see what you find? I hope you have a while to wade through the myriad of problems these cars have and the list goes on.

That said it is strange that you mentioned working in the auto world as I have indeed done exactly that in the past, including a stint at a tier 1 auto supplier who supplied components to both Ford and GM. (other car makers too) I worked on a different auto-makers toys for most of my tenure, but I did have a short stint with Ford's stuff and an even longer one with the General's toys. There is no comparison between the quality standards these two companies employ. IMHO GM gets away with the above as much as they do because people frankly expect nothing better from GM.

Also, I managed an auto parts store for a time on my trek through college. This gave me unique insight into individual brands and cars, as well as the problems that plague them. Lets just say we stocked a vast (and I do mean vast) majority of our hard parts shelves with GM stuff, and not because there are so many on the road. I think you get the point

I am indeed disgruntled with GM, but I have seen so much of their incometence first-hand that I know there is no comparison between the General and Ford. In this regard I actually think your statements were of the blanket variety, not mine, as you had no way of knowing what my previous experience with either company was and just assumed it was another guy with no basis for his statements.

That said, the biggest difference between the Mustang and the Catera is that in five years the Mustang will likely have had their issues addressed fully and owners will have long forgotten any woes. From experience I cannot say that CTS-V owners can reasonably expect the same thing. If GM actually does the smart thing and takes care of their customers good for them and the consumer, but I would not bet on it.

TomServo92

You're absolutely right about that. Check this thread out:

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadil...ic/24974-1.html

There's no talk of modded engines. Just a lot of pissed off people talking about bad diffs, some of whom are on their third one.

mlife

The majority of this board will agree with you, just not the majority of the United States. GM is still King in market share. If GM is as bad as you say, they would have fell to second or third place along time ago. You are right there is no comparison between GM and Ford. GM has 10 more percentage points in Market share. I wish FORD could do that!

As far as the TSB's go there are 8 or more for the 2005 Mustang.
One is the for the rear end noises.
Does that make the 05 Mustang a bad $25,000 car.... heck NO!!

If I owned a Kia, I guess I would feel better about how the new Mustang is having a few problems. It would make the problems I having with the Kia seem like they didn't even exist. After all people did pay alot more for their Mustang's.

Joe

TomServo92

The majority of this board will agree with you, just not the majority of the United States. GM is still King in market share. If GM is as bad as you say, they would have fell to second or third place along time ago. You are right there is no comparison between GM and Ford. GM has 10 more percentage points in Market share. I wish FORD could do that!

As far as the TSB's go there are 8 or more for the 2005 Mustang.
One is the for the rear end noises.
Does that make the 05 Mustang a bad $25,000 car.... heck NO!!

If I owned a Kia, I guess I would feel better about how the new Mustang is having a few problems. It would make the problems I having with the Kia seem like they didn't even exist. After all people did pay alot more for their Mustang's.

Joe
[/b][/quote]

I'm not saying the CTS is a bad car (and I don't believe jsaylor is either). What's bad is that it appears GM is putting the same bad part back in car. That thread I posted seems to indicate that since many of them are complaining of the same problems after the new diff is installed. That's not good for a car that's mission is to attract buyers from the German brands. The perception, whether it's true or not, is that BMW, Audi, and M-B are superior. It's already a tough sell for Cadillac and problems like that won't help.

jsaylor

The majority of this board will agree with you, just not the majority of the United States. GM is still King in market share. If GM is as bad as you say, they would have fell to second or third place along time ago. You are right there is no comparison between GM and Ford. GM has 10 more percentage points in Market share. I wish FORD could do that!

Joe
[/b][/quote]

You are simply comparing apples to oranges here as history does not support your apparent theory that these two companies handle problem in the same way. That said, I spent just long enough in business school to know that if you truly want to see somebody surpass GM in market share, and would possibly even like to see Ford do it, you wont likely have to wait long.

GM's market share has shrunk gradually relative to Ford over the past thirty years, even though both have lost share overall. If GM continues to be managed as it is now I seriously doubt that they will even be #2 in market share within a decade.

Some make the point that Ford has lost some market share of late, but this is not uncommon for a company that is rethinking a lot of strategy and revising their lineup. Short term this can be painful, long term (even the relatively near long-term) this should play well for Ford as everything they have done in the last yeart or two looks sound indeed. GM is simply providing more of the same.