gmpartsgirl

I don't ever see it happening. For the majority of dealers, especially the smaller dealers, the service/parts departments are the bread and butter of the dealership. We're already beating sales this month, which isn't entirely unusual, and some dealers have such giant parts departments that they only have sales departments because they have to.

I'm not sure exactly how long it will take. Alot of it comes down to how much of the "crap" emissions stuff you keep. The transmission will be fine. I've had lots of 307's, and we always yank all that stuff off, plug off the EGR, get a mechanical quadrajet and a vacuum advance distributor and yank the computer, and cut off the converter. It would make the swap easier and way fewer potential problems, but it also will kill the gas mileage, but the performance improvement is astounding. Mine all had the above done and true duals with Flowmasters and a neck snapper TH400 with a 3:73 out of a Monte SS, so I got like 5mpg. LOL Its a good deal if the engine is good. If it isn't and you're going to end up rebuilding and still want to yank all the emissions junk off, you could build an old non-emissions 350 Rocket or something.

And not all of them have the stupid expensive struts on them, most do but not all. I did some double checking since I'm at work. That bulletin applies to many GM vehicles with ESC but only goes to mid 90's, so the newer ones you're pretty much stuck.

Any GM dealer can work on any GM vehicle except in the case of original factory warranty repairs unless they sold it used. If special tools are required, we just borrow them from one another. Really parts prices are bad across the board, Caddy isn't necessarily more expensive in terms of parts prices, they just typically have more parts to go wrong and more to go wrong electronically which in terms of labor can be very expensive to chase down. Also, the Northstar is alot of engine stuffed in there so book times tend to be high because its difficult to work on as is the 4.0 Aurora. The ride isn't bad, just different, not quite as smooth as boaty as one is accustomed too. Maybe a bit stiffer in the back.

The struts on the '92 fit up to '95 and aren't electronic. The fronts come as a set of 2 for $270. Not bad really. The rears are discontinued though unfortunately.

They offer a replacement set of struts that aren't electroncially controlled and a relay to turn off the suspension light so people can have suspension without having to pay so much for struts. Pretty cool really, but most people opt to pay the money in order to maintain the ride for which the Caddy is known. Honestly, call a service writer at a local Caddy dealer and pick his brain a bit. Everybody is dead right now, we're all just sitting around, unless you get an a-hole, you should get good info from him or her. I love bull$h!ting with customers, fine by me. Maybe they'll remember me and come back.

I think overall they are good cars, but most Caddy owners take them to the Caddy dealer so we don't see many. With proper maintenance and blowing out the cobwebs once in a while yes I think could make all the difference. I have sold tons of struts on them but theres a bulletin out to do away with the $900 a piece struts if you don't want to pay for them. Theres always some risk of course with a car that advanced, but it could be worth it to some. If you really want it, go for it. It is a Caddy afterall. :AH-HA_wink: I adore them, just don't have the means to repair them if necessary. Oh and the 4T80E is quite bullet proof.

All the 00's are K bodies according to my catalog except for the RWD D cars like limos and hursts. The North* is a nightmare from hell to work on and mechanics hate them. They are fantastic engines and tons of power and the cars are beatiful and ride magnificently as long as everything works. I disagree about the interior on the 90's Pontiacs at least if its a Bonneville. The Caddy's cool as long as you get a good enough deal and are prepared to pay for the repairs and the possbility of only getting a dealer to touch it whereas with 3.8 car anbody can work on it. Caddy's can be pretty scary to own out of warranty. Just the suspension alone could be a nightmare. There is just so much more to go wrong versus say a Bonne SE. It just depends on how much you can afford to spend on repairs.

LOL he is HOT!!

Helz yeah!! Congrats, beautiful car!! Love that 3.8 bullet proof little engine!!

Yeah everybody is broke, its a weird Christmas. For me the first one wthout my husband since I was 16 and broke and the boy getting the car, I didn't even put up a tree this year.

I'm good with either, I like the dark, metal head, tattooed kinda guy with callusses (sp?) and dirt under his nails, and I like big guys, since I'm 5'9".

LMAO!! I did get kind of a big bow.

It's still a very nice look. That pic before the trim reminds of James Hetfield for some reason. Pretty hot pic, tell her shes a lucky girl. :AH-HA_wink:

It sucks but GM does need to condense. Too many nameplates, too many twins and everybody knows it. It'll be interesting to see what they finally do in the end. It worked years ago but the only competition was other domestics and came down to a matter of brand loyalty. Not this case now, people are fickle and stupid and have no loyalty to anything anymore. It's every man (manufacturer) for himself. Catch up and modernize or die. The old school mentality and ego is whats killing GM, they were the big dog for too long and they got complacent and stale.

It's not something thats going to change anytime soon I don't think. I've heard that GM is considering forcing out some of the big dealers in the bigger towns so there is less market saturation. And more competition for the smaller more rural dealers. They are trying to make it so that is more return from the smaller dealers because they do realize the importance of having them and the comfort it gives their buyers and the sense of loyalty and family feel that one gets from a small town dealer.

I agree, it was incrediby sad and made me so angry that they let Olds die. It'll be just as pathetic if they let Pontiac die.

I would have to agree, much more vehicle for the money. My only concern is the new engine. It hasn't been road tested yet per se. The new 5.3's have had a few hiccups, we've seen a few come through for heads.

HATE IT!! I always waited until Christmas Eve to wrap my sons presents, by the time I was done, my legs were numb, my back hurt so bad I couldn't even get up out of the floor. Thank God this year is the car, no wrapping for me. LOL

From my own experience with GM and working in a fairly small dealer in a small suburb, GM is pretty protective of its small town dealers. They want them there so their customers can obtain service, etc without driving an hour or more. Generally if a small dealer goes away its their own choice not GM's. GM takes pretty good care of its dealers. Just like only Saturn dealers can look up and order Saturn parts or perform Saturn warranty repairs, its to insure they don't lose service business to more plentiful GM dealers.

My understanding was they didn't want their Buicks mixed with other brands, so the Buick franchises that were mixed were given to Pontiac/GMC dealers. Pontiac and GMC are always together here. The talk is it was done to protect those dealers when Pontiac goes away, and that was done a year or more ago. Buick was always a stand alone here like Oldsmobile except for some of the rural dealers who are BOPC, and it was that way always until around the time Olds went away one of the Buick franchises became, Buick, Jeep and BMW. So yeah they wanted them to have Buick too. Caddy is still on its own here except like I said in some rural areas.

Thanks

Yeah there was a movie 2005. The Notorious Bettie Page, and I believe her last public appearance was the 50th Anniversary party for Playboy, she walked in with Anna Nicole Smith.

Depends on yo' woman. I wouldn't have called, I would just change it myself. Roadside assistance could take hours, trust me my ex drove a wrecker and if roadside assistance called about a flat, chances are he was "busy". It doesn't pay enough for a guy to leave the comfort of his home or his dinner table to change your flat for you. In case you didn't know, those guys work day jobs and are on call all night, so they're at home with their family usually when you call them. Teach her to do it and make sure all the tools are there and the tire is good. LOL Unless she's some poor pitiful ultra femme can't doing anything for herself bitch then you have to go rescue her.

In Tulsa, Buick was mixed with Chrysler/BMW. What I heard was that GM wasn't allowing that anymore and took the Buick franchise away and put them all with Pontiac/GMC dealers. We have 1 Cadillac/Saab dealer thats been here forever, they were a Lotus dealer too years ago. All of our Chevy dealers are Chevy only with the exclusion of one who sells medium duty Isuzu. The local Ford monopoly bought the Hummer franchise, but it was taken away as well I'm told because of GM and given to one of the Chevy dealers on the south end of town. Our Olds dealers were always Olds only, one shut down years ago, the other turned into KIA. All of the new big shiny stores are out south and are all Nissan, Ford, Chrysler and the big import dealer who's Inifiniti, Jaguar, Benz and I don't know what else. Theres a rumor that Sonic is pulling out of Tulsa which means two big Chevy dealers and a redundant Nissan dealer, but it hasn't happened yet. We closed our satellite used lot down the street and even closed our on site used building and moved everyone into the new car building. Lots of managers have been fired at all the stores in our area across all makes, lots of paycuts, people doing double duty. My own personal feeling for taking the Buick franchise and giving to all the Pontiac dealers is a sign of the closure of Pontiac. Not sure why they didn't give back to the Cadillac store where it began.