Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Winter has hit the Motor City, reports Detroit editor John Clor, and with the arrival of the cold our long-term Caddy has started to suffer a bit. The Caddy's fuel economy slipped as it went from city driving to highway, to back to city driving. All of this gallivanting averaged 15 mpg for the month -- the worst numbers since the car's arrival in Detroit.

Unfortunately, that's just the beginning of the Caddy's problems this month. Her Northstar V8 is beginning to feel less smooth at idle, and, says John Clor, in ever-so-scientific automotive journalism: "Things are wearing out."

The first thing to expire this month was the engine oil's life. Our "change engine oil" monitor went on, so we called the local Caddy dealership -- Don Gooley Cadillac Inc. of St. Clair Shores, Mich. We couldn't get in that day (even though we'd called before noon), so we scheduled an appointment for the following day.

When we arrived the next day, we were greeted by a service consultant and decided to wait for our 30-45 minute oil change. And why not? Gooley's dealership had just moved to an all-new facility and the waiting room was brand-spanking clean, there was the morning Detroit Free Press for our reading pleasure, and all the piping hot java you could drink -- for free. But Clor wasn't impressed. He reported that there were no magazines and, get this, no TV! Clor suffered the hour's wait without C-SPAN.

When the service consultant returned, she told John that something else had worn out on the Caddy: the front brake pads. Clor was surprised and asked, "You can tell that from changing the oil?" (emphasis added). The service consultant said, "Well, it was up in the air," and that's where Clor's report gets murky, vague, as if he's trying to hide something from us or you, our readers. What other words were said? What was emphasized? Did the piping hot java wind up somewhere else? We honestly don't know. And we apologize for the possible lack of professionalism on the part of our staff member.

OK, so, after the service consultant insisted that these Caddys, at 27,000 miles, just start to wear down brake-wise, Clor reluctantly made an appointment for the following week, took the freshly oiled Caddy home, and stuck it right up on his floor jack (Note: Don't try this at home. Clor was once certified in brakes, when his state license was still valid for auto repair.). Clor pulled the front wheel and checked out the pads, only to find -- by golly-- she was right! The pads were quite thin and could stand replacement, though we're a bit concerned that at 27,000 the pads were already worn. Although there was no sign of brake fade or squeal while Clor drove the Seville, he did notice a huge amount of brake dust buildup on the front chrome rims.

What else is wearing out, you wonder? Well, there's still that alleged front-end shuddering upon takeoff under light throttle, says Clor. He notices it from time to time, but his wife says he's crazy. Clor decided best to leave it to the experts, and ask them to look at the problem when the car goes in for the brake job. Clor complied a whole list for them to attend to, in addition to the brake pads and front-end shuddering, there was the malfunctioning key fob and the no-longer-mounted wastebasket on the right-front kick panel.

When Clor brought the car in the following week, the service advisor (yep, same one) took one look at the list of problems and asked if he could leave the Caddy overnight. Clor didn't start any arguments. He left the car hoping that they'd be able to fix everything right the first time.

Next day, Clor got a call that the brakes were fixed and if he brought both fobs down to the dealership, they could reprogram them. The Clors got down there in a jif and in 20 minutes the fobs were done and they were on their way. As a memento, the service advisor gave John the old brake pads.

The new pads and turned rotors worked fine, and the bill said a new remote receiver and transmitter was installed under warranty. Cool beans. Even better, the fob actually seemed to be working properly. Key fob "1" made the info center read "Driver 1," so Clor set the seat and mirrors and drove off. And, almost as great as a functioning fob, Mrs. Clor discovered new Velcro helping to keep the waste bin mounted to the kick panel. Things were looking good in chilly Detroit.

But John quickly discovered that while the Driver Information Center did recognize the proper key fob being used to run the car, it didn't always return Driver 1's preselects upon entering or exiting, sometimes rebelliously deciding to remain at Driver 2's settings. "Which goes to show you what we've always said about all this new electronic gadgetry stuff," Clor says, "it's nice when it works right, but frustrating when it doesn't." Again, Clor riddles us with profundity.

Oh, we almost forgot to tell you about the "front-end shuddering" John's been complaining about. Well, even though the dealer found nothing wrong, John's still feeling it. He promises he's going to get to the bottom of this before Christmas (but we kind of agree with Mrs. Clor about John's mental health).

Despite this month's problems, the Caddy is a fine and comfortable car for the Clor family. John and his wife are getting lots of seat time, taking the Caddy 'round Detroit's metropolitan area, and are coming up with quite different impressions. Mrs. Clor still thinks there's too little storage space up front for her CDs, and says the cupholders are lousy and fit only for soda cans. Clor, on the other hand, rarely listens to music or sips soda while he's driving, so these things don't affect him much. He's too busy listening to the sounds being made under the hood on full throttle coming down an on-ramp to merge into traffic. "But then, I'm a little odd that way, I'm told," says Clor.

Total Odometer Reading: 27,600
Best Fuel Economy: 18.6 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 13.6 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None.
Maintenance Costs: Oil and filter change: $22.51; reline front brakes: $234.24.
Problems: Storage bin repair. Front-end shudders occasionally during slow takeoff. Key fobs 1 and 2 don't always revert to pre-set driver memory positions.