mmarshall

Do you live in an area where the EPA requires annual or bi-annual emissions tests? Here in the D.C. area, because of the huge amount of traffic, we're in a zone where an emissions inspection certificate is required every two years...in addition to a yearly safety inspection, which is state-required, every year. Sometimes you pay for them....sometimes dealerships, to sell vehicles, will toss in free inspections (or partial free-inspections) as part of the deal. Sometimes, as you note, when not free, coupons will arrive in the mail for discounts, but, even when that happens, somebody has to end up footing it, as safety inspections, wherever they are done, are legally under the authority off the VA State Police, and the price tightly regulated. I have heard of bribes being paid to Safety Inspectors to pass questionable vehicles, and of close friends in the business with You-Scratch-My-Back / I'll-Scratch-Yours relationships, but, in general, the system is pretty honest.

Sorry you had that bad experience....but that can happen with any brand, as the many postings here in Car Chat, over the years, attest to. And, yes, sometimes Service Managers can be under pressure from unscrupulous dealer-owners to screw people. When me and my family had Toyotas, the SM at the Toyota shop I regularly used (a wonderful guy, as he and I were close friends in addition to me being his customer...he did a number of things for me and my family free, though I did my own oil changes in those days) had simply walked out of a local competing Toyota stealership, where he was formerly employed, because they ordered him to do some unscrupulous things in the service bays, and he simply refused. Some people you just can't buy off. That shop I used, BTW, also did some non-warranty work (at lower prices) on my Lexus IS300 (which was actually a Toyota Altezza) than the lexus shop would have done. But, in those days, Toyota shops couldn't do warranty work on a Lexus product and get re-imbursed from the factory. I understand that has now changed in some places.

If all you need is a Dexcool drain/refill, and you have an adequate place to work on it and/or to recycle the coolant, you can probably do that yourself. But a flush, or more extensive service, will usually have to be in the shop.

Again, sorry you had that bad experience. I have never actually had that happen to me that I know of, although it is possible (?) that it did once occur on a hidden level where I just did not notice. But I usually treat the service people with respect, and get treated that way in return.


My local Chevy/Buick/GMC shop generally gives good service (or at least better then average, IMO), though one particular Service Advisor is simply superb (like the service-manager friend I told you about at the Toyota place earlier). He, more than any any other person, is why I use that shop...and he gets a lot of service-requests from customers and good marks in Yelp-reviews. I also (vaguely) know the owner of the dealership,althogh he is very busy and usually doesn't run into me. I went to a local high school with him back in the late 60s.....we are in several of the same classes, and I knew his late father, who owned a local Ford shop.

Johnhav430

That's all it takes, I tell interns that all the time, is that you do just a little bit more, care just a little bit more, you will stand out, and it makes a huge difference. For you to be able to say a service advisor is superb, that person sounds awesome and maybe someday is the general manager of the facility Let's say his name is Frank, I can see it now.

I can help who's next? "No thanks, I'm waiting for Frank."

"But there are 6 people in front of you waiting for Frank, why don't you let me write you up?" "No thank you!"

Last Wed. when I walked in, 3 people avoided eye contact and it was literally about 4 min. standing there waiting. No exaggeration at all. One of the three is always cursing out loud complaining about the last customer he dealt with--he should be removed and put in the back room doing something else.

Yes, we have emissions in PA. And the law states you can inspect your car early--right now, July, August, September. So if you do any of these 3 mos., your month stays the same. If your inspection expires in October, and you do it today? You will get a July sticker because you are outside of 90 days. So for them to slap an 8 on, is simply careless.

You are right, I have had many not great encounters at BMW, one in which they broke something on my car, so it happens anywhere. But loaners and free maintenance is why people tolerate it. What they charge for inspection is lower than GMC or Toyota or Lexus, and provide a loaner.

The dealer in Westchester is too far, but if they were local, I'd likely go there. I was amazed how they treated my Lexus--asked them to use anti-seize on the rotors, sure enough, the rotors are loose and I see the anti-seize. Asked for all the parts to be returned, sure enough, all the Lexus boxes to include the caliper bolts and sensor wire, returned, and the two discs that were on the car (I see they turned them--this must have been prior to the manager agreeing to replace with OE).

Dexron VI/tranny I DIY as it's treated as oil, but coolant, hard to capture and dispose of properly....

Glad you have a good dealer. Who knows, maybe if we did up here I would consider another GM vehicle...

mmarshall

arentz07

I guess my last Camry was a "nice" car then. Actually I am pretty sure every car I've owned has had the gas struts, even my 2001 Buick Century.

Really cool to see your one-year update. I think the brakes are kinda a weird subject though. It seems like any surface corrosion would be worn off by braking. I guess some of the longer-lasting parts of the brake would be interesting to see. Here in KC where we have snow and salt and the associated heightened corrosion, I haven't noticed any issues with any of the (admittedly at the very least new-ish) vehicles I've had here.

bagwell

Johnhav430

It does, and I'm not sure if this happens with fixed calipers (haven't had those until the LS430, since my Volvos), but with floating calipers, the phenom is that once something is able to embed in the pads, or the sliders bind a little, the width of the swept area gets smaller and smaller. This happened all the time on my Maxima rears (such a stupid design where the parking brake actually squeezes the pistons, there's no drum inside). But on my wife's GM, after 6.5 yrs. on the road, AND the FNC discs from the factory, this happened on the piston side of the caliper. You're basically trying to clamp down on nothing, there's no smooth surface at all. But if you read the GM article, their primary concern was reducing warranty claims (most cars are only 36 mo., some are 48), and they said they did by 70%. At the same time, I think it's good that a GM buyer gets a BMW like rotor as far as fighting corrosion. Because let's face it, with any old car, you roll into a dealer, they want $1000-$1200 to do all 4 rotors/pads (M cars $3700 lol), so the longer you can put this off, even if you DIY, the better...you go to a muffler shop and get some $200-$300 per axle special, they're putting $20 retail rotors and you're back in 2 yrs again...

I grabbed this from the web--but my wife's GM OE's were perfect on the outside, but looked like this on the inside or piston side. Imagine the pads trying to stop when the surface is like that....

mmarshall

While I respect all of your opinions (and input), this thread is about more than just rust on brake rotors.

arentz07

I saw a POV drive video of the Regal GS recently - looked like a fun car. It has the same engine and transmission as your car - makes me wonder if the Lacrosse drives similarly. Seems like the 9 speed will shift pretty darn fast if prodded.

mmarshall

Almost anything with the 3.6L and 9-speed will get out of its own way....several different Chevy, Buick, and GMC vehicles use that combo. The main difference between the LaCrosse and Regal (particularly the Regal GS) is that the Lacrosse, particularly with the standard 18" wheels, thogh still a decent handler, is designed mostly for comfort (the way I like it), whereas the Regal (which will probably the last of the rebadged Ope-Buicks that we see in the American market) is much more of a sport sedan, again, particularly in GS form. The new 2018 Regal also comes in an interesting AWD wagon which, except for a somewhat lower ride-height, competes with the Subaru Outback and Audi All-Road. Also, another difference between the Lacrosse and Regal is that the Lacrosse is a traditional sedan, whereas Buick dropped the Regal sedans from the American market and now offers it only in the AWD Wagon and sedan-type hatchback.

mmarshall

After almost a year of ownership, I am still firmly of the notion that the Lacrosse (a Cadillac version of it) is the sedan that Cadillac should have replaced the former DTS with....not the XTS or CT6. The XTS admittedly has a nice interior, and the CT6 has nice styling on the outside (decent on the inside), and both, like the Lacrosse, offer the AWD option for bad weather that the DTS (and Lincoln Town car) lacked. But, for several different reasons, I just was not impressed with the way that either the XTS or CT6 felt and drove, behind the wheel. To me, neither one really felt like a true Cadillac flagship...the XTS, IMO had some chassis-engineering problems, an the CT6 was trying too much to be an American BMW 7-series.

Actually, to some extent, it was the same way back in the 1960s. The big Buick Electra 225 and Oldsmobile 98 flagships, I thought, offered much more value than the Cadillac DeVilles themselves. They were built on the same platform, had almost as much engine, had the same (if not better) smooth silky ride, and cost substantially less.

Johnhav430

With regard to the powertrain, are you happy you are not driving a turbo engine?

Does your engine consume oil, which many of those 3.6's do? I don't subscribe to the Scotty camp as far as having to add oil means defective. I wish I could find it but BMW wrote a technical document regarding the need to add oil. Knock on wood mine doesn't consume any oil, though I'd hate to take a look at my intake valves right now (never had a walnut blast). Of course none of us would like to have to add oil between changes...maybe part of it is an effort to reduce friction, they've reduced tension. But the jury is still out (Honda was stone cold busted)...

p.s. I had a XTS rental and nothing to write home to mother about, same bad tpms showing one tire low, then same, then low. CT6 I have never driven and would love to try

Toys4RJill

I really wish people would clarify to themselves that oil consumption is not a negative for any engine. This is not a knock against you Johnhav430 Consumer Reports like to cause alarm for no reason whatsoever, they are clearly full of it...They are trying to attract attention to themselves.

FYI Johnhav430, your LS430 is in spec if it burns max 1.1qts of oil per 600 miles.

mmarshall

Yep, big-time, for several reasons. I'd much rather have a larger, N/A power plant than a smaller turbo one. I liked the 2017 Lincoln MKZ (and its mid-cycle refresh, that year), overall, almost as much as the LaCrosse, but two things that turned me off to it were the somewhat shoddy workmanship and the lack of a non-turbo power plant. It was a choice of a 2.0 turbo four or the 400 HP Boy-Racer 3.0L twin-turbo V6. The Lacrosse's N/A 3.6L V6 finds a happy medium between those two. I will admit, though, that the VW/Audi 2.0T four is arguably the best one in the business, particularly with the dual-clutch transmission.

No sign of it yet, though it admittedly doesn't have that many miles on it yet. And there have been several different versions of the 3.6L over the years....each one with substantial durability improvements. The new Lacrosse, of course, has the latest one. It does, however, emit a slight thrumming noise, most noticeable on acceleration at low speeds...I think that is the sound of the DI (Direct Injection) pulses in the fuel injectors, and is characteristic of some DI engines.

Yeah.....they did a nice job on the XTS interior/dash and seats, but, other than that, I wasn't impressed much with the ones I sampled, either. And the one I did a full-review on had a slight but constant shimmy in the front end and steering wheel at cruise-speeds. It was NOT traced to any tire/wheel runout or balance problems....Cadillac later admitted that there was an engineering problem in the chassis.

mmarshall

Don't blame CR. Auto manufacturers set "normalcy" specs like that simply to avoid the cost and hassle of having to pre-maturely rebuild or replace engines under warranty. But, given the tolerances of modern engineering and assembly-line techniques, the piston-rings and valve-seals, if not abused and given a proper-break-in (which means taking it easy for the first 500-1000 miles) should form a seal good enough to prevent oil-use of anywhere near that frequency. The clear majority of today's engines do not require any oil addition (or, at the most, only a small amount) between normal-frequency oil changes. Stretching those changes, though, as some oil-monitors do through the computer, might be a different story.

GM itself, BTW, is not immune to producing oil-burners, as we saw with the former Northstar V8 engines and the more recent 2.4L in-line four that is used in several Chevy, Buick, and GMC models. Recent Subarus have also developed an oil-use reputation with the 2.0L and 2.5L non-turbo flat fours. Subaru is currently dealing with a class-action suit on those engines, and, from what I understand, one could (?) also be filed against the GM 2.4L.

SW17LS

I actually like the CT6 a lot, the interior is kind of drab in anything but the Platinum trim, and the Platinum trim is too expensive for what it is.