3.6l AISIN 6-speed - Don't waste your time
joekh
10-03-2004, 02:16 PM
To anyone doing prepurchase research - if you want a manual transmission in a sport sedan, buy european or japanese.
My experience is the following:
1) Started research on new car in April for a sport sedan. Manual tranny, four door (business vehicle) was a personal requirement.
2) CTS, Acura, Infinite where on the short list. I work in Detroit, and the CTS with the manual was to be available on the 2005 CTS 3.6l
3) After several discussions regarding the start of of production on 2005, I placed an order in July for supposed production start in September. Now, every month since May, I was told the 3.6 6-speed production was to start "next month".
4) My build date was once again moved out to the week of 10/11. This is the third time it has been moved since I was promised it would be build "next week".
5) If you monitor other forums - only one person has admitted to getting his.
6) Cadillac continues to state that the 6-speed is still awating engineering validation, causing the delays to schedule the builds. mmmm - offer it for sale, but don't know if you can make it. Now, that sounds like a domestic car manufacturer.
Other factors -
1) Manuals are a very small segment for a domestic mfr. I give Cadillac credit for recognizing their is a market for manuals. But the execution is pathetic.
2) It is obvious they consider manuals a "special order". Dealers will not order them for inventory.
3) The only consumer that demands manuals on mid-size to full-size vehicles is foreign. If I was a betting man, the manuals well be validated when they need manuals for sale in Europe. By the way, GM is disappointed in their sales of CTS's in Europe. Maybe they don't act like US consumers. The idea that a manual isnot available just wouldn't fly in Europe and would just reinforce european's stereotype of US manufacturers. (I travel to europe on a quarterly basis and work in the automotive industry.)
4) I had to travel from Detroit to Toledo to test drive a 2004 CTS 3.2 5 speed. WOW - home of Cadillac. The largest cadillac dealership in the world - Massey - didn't have one on the lot for all of 2004. The sales manager seemed quite proud of it! As he stated, there's no market for a manual in the US, why would we stock one! Let me answer that - so potential purchasers may have a chance to try one. In all fairness to the dealer - Cadillac should be sure there are some available in certain markets for test drives.
Question -
Why would Cadillac move from a very servicable, proven 5 speed Getrag tranny to a new, unproven 6 speed AISIN tranny? Based on my experiences with GM - it must be lower cost.
Enough of my rant.... If you go in this direction - you were warned.
My experience is the following:
1) Started research on new car in April for a sport sedan. Manual tranny, four door (business vehicle) was a personal requirement.
2) CTS, Acura, Infinite where on the short list. I work in Detroit, and the CTS with the manual was to be available on the 2005 CTS 3.6l
3) After several discussions regarding the start of of production on 2005, I placed an order in July for supposed production start in September. Now, every month since May, I was told the 3.6 6-speed production was to start "next month".
4) My build date was once again moved out to the week of 10/11. This is the third time it has been moved since I was promised it would be build "next week".
5) If you monitor other forums - only one person has admitted to getting his.
6) Cadillac continues to state that the 6-speed is still awating engineering validation, causing the delays to schedule the builds. mmmm - offer it for sale, but don't know if you can make it. Now, that sounds like a domestic car manufacturer.
Other factors -
1) Manuals are a very small segment for a domestic mfr. I give Cadillac credit for recognizing their is a market for manuals. But the execution is pathetic.
2) It is obvious they consider manuals a "special order". Dealers will not order them for inventory.
3) The only consumer that demands manuals on mid-size to full-size vehicles is foreign. If I was a betting man, the manuals well be validated when they need manuals for sale in Europe. By the way, GM is disappointed in their sales of CTS's in Europe. Maybe they don't act like US consumers. The idea that a manual isnot available just wouldn't fly in Europe and would just reinforce european's stereotype of US manufacturers. (I travel to europe on a quarterly basis and work in the automotive industry.)
4) I had to travel from Detroit to Toledo to test drive a 2004 CTS 3.2 5 speed. WOW - home of Cadillac. The largest cadillac dealership in the world - Massey - didn't have one on the lot for all of 2004. The sales manager seemed quite proud of it! As he stated, there's no market for a manual in the US, why would we stock one! Let me answer that - so potential purchasers may have a chance to try one. In all fairness to the dealer - Cadillac should be sure there are some available in certain markets for test drives.
Question -
Why would Cadillac move from a very servicable, proven 5 speed Getrag tranny to a new, unproven 6 speed AISIN tranny? Based on my experiences with GM - it must be lower cost.
Enough of my rant.... If you go in this direction - you were warned.
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