Ask the Car People.SM


2008 Cadillac SRX

38 messages,  Last post on Nov 01, 2011 at 11:31 AM

You are in the Cadillac SRX Forum.

What is this discussion about? Cadillac SRX, Navigation System, Engine, SUV

Messages Page 2 of 4

#9 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [steve_] by fastguy

Jun 19, 2008 (12:31 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 18, 2008 2:49 pm)
We replaced the SRX with a Honda Fit. My wife and I travel extensively by car and the SRX was the travel vehicle. Our second car is an 07 MB E350 Sedan which will become our travel vehicle. The Fit will be the vehicle for short trips around town and for Costco runs. The reality is the Fit has more usable cargo space than the Cadillac. No where near as comfortable but a heck of alot more fun to drive. And overall more functional
 
The depreciation on the SRX was outrageous. New it had a 53K sticker. The trade brought us 12K. That amounts to almost $1,000 per month in depreciation. The good side is that we no longer have to suffer with it's many issues.
 
We have been driving Mercedes for many years and somehow the looks of the SRX convinced us to take a shot at American. The lesson learned was a very expensive one.

#10 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [sls002] by fastguy

Jun 19, 2008 (12:48 pm)

Replying to: sls002 (Jun 19, 2008 7:39 am)
It sounds as though your are surprised that it uses no oil. It has been many years since I have added even a quart of oil to any vehicle I have owned. Oil changes are at factory intervals and in all of our Mercedes since from 1999 synthetic has been used with the 10K plus intervals specified by the maintenance computer. I would also add that the oil added to the SRX between oil changes has amounted to more oil added to all of my cars in 45 years of car ownership.
 
I can understand the sometimes a car will have an issue such as oil consumption. I cannot understand why the manufacturer would not correct the problem other than the sheer cost of engine replacement. This is unconscionable as all of the maintenance was performed at Cadillac dealerships.
 
Good luck with your car. I hope it treats you well for many happy miles.

#11 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy] by sls002

Jun 19, 2008 (1:46 pm)

Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 12:48 pm)
The FWD northstar V8's are known to use some oil. My 2002 Seville used about 4 quarts every 10,000 miles. My 1998 Aurora (small northstar V8) did use some oil, but the oil was changed at 3-4,000 mile intervals, so I don't recall adding more except at longer intervals.
 
However, part of my response is a result of the problems I see with the V6 in the CTS forums. My understanding is that GM's policy on oil consumption is that engines that use more than a quart in 1,000 miles are using more than they should. However the dealer has to confirm the consumption rate. Most of my cars have not used too much oil. The one exception was a 1976 Buick Riviera that I owned for a short time. It did use more oil and then started using coolant. About then I traded for an Oldsmobile diesel.
 
I do find that my SRX is a much more fun vehicle to drive than the FWD Seville was.

#12 of 38 The SRX is finally gone by sleeper41

Jun 19, 2008 (1:52 pm)

Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 12:31 pm)
Good for you. My next car will be a Honda. I have come to hate this SRX. Noisy on acceleration, an absolutely, positively useless GPS. 8 out of 10 times the built in GPS cannot find a business. I use my wife's Garmin now, sticking it on the dash. I'm getting ready to buy the new 800 series Garmin, which has voice recognition. Yipee! Now I don't have to buy a Lexus to get this feature. I have about 18 months left on my lease and I'm counting the time. I am dissapointed in myself for not figuring out what this car is costing me per month. Imagine, I'm paying $576/mo and am allowed 833 miles/mo, comes to $0.69 cents/mile! If I go over the limit I get a deal at $0.41 cents/mile. What a waste.

#13 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [sls002] by fastguy

Jun 19, 2008 (3:59 pm)

Replying to: sls002 (Jun 19, 2008 1:46 pm)
That is very interesting. Cadillac told me that 1 quart for each 750 miles (which was my experience) was normal. They did the monitoring routine, which cost me an extra oil change, and said everything was OK. My Mercedes (all of them) have never used one quart of oil in all the years I have owned them. They did not consider the color or smell of the oil which at 1000 miles was worse than my Mercedes at 10,000 miles. I believe that if I had stuck to getting the problem resolved, it would have been fixed. There were so many other issues that I just gave up. The water leak issue was unresolvable. It would have eventually lead to a rust issue in the pan under the third seat. The bottom line here is that Cadillac won by wearing me down to the point where I no longer cared. I am so relieved to not have that car in my garage. To top it all off, I discovered that in our travels, we could get as much into the Mercedes Sedan as the SRX. And it is much more a joy to drive at maybe $2,000 additional.
 
I am really glad you enjoy you car, but I do feel compelled to tell the world of my experience.

#14 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [sleeper41] by fastguy

Jun 19, 2008 (4:09 pm)

Replying to: sleeper41 (Jun 19, 2008 1:52 pm)
You are doing OK. My depreciation was 68.3 cents per miles plus the lost opportunity paying cash. I did not finance or lease. Be happy you do not have to try to trade it in. All of dealers I talked to said it is a truck and we don't take trucks on trade. I had to go to a rural dealership to make the trade because I was unable to sell it myself. BTW Cadillac dealers said the same thing.

#15 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy] by ericzoom

Jun 20, 2008 (6:26 am)

Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 4:09 pm)
I've had no problems yet with my 6 month old 08' SRX V6, but i'm glad i only lease it. When lease is done, it goes back.

#16 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy] by sls002

Jun 21, 2008 (6:54 am)

Replying to: fastguy (Jun 19, 2008 3:59 pm)
Some oil should be used if the engine is lubricated as it should be. In particular, the oil on the cylinder walls should burn. However, if the rings are seated right, they should reduce the oil on the walls to a minimum so that oil consumption is minimal. Engines designed for synthetic oils will probably use less oil. My Seville was designed for conventional oil, and when I used synthetic in it oil consumption was probably more than it would have been with conventional oil. The RWD northstar V8 is a third generation design, and was designed for synthetic oil (I think), so I am not surprised that oil consumption is less, but I think my engine may be better than average.
 
I think that your dealer must have determined that your oil consumption, while more than it should have been, was not a result of a leak or bad head gaskets. My guess is that your rings were not seated right or were not as tight as they could have been. Your service department may not have been interested in doing something about it too.
 
I will say that I would probably have bought a BMW wagon, but the nearest BMW, Mercedes or other upper end lux brand name dealer is more than 300 miles from where I live making service exceeding difficult and expensive.

#17 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [sls002] by fastguy

Jun 21, 2008 (1:31 pm)

Replying to: sls002 (Jun 21, 2008 6:54 am)
It was not the dealer that said oil consumption was within normal parameters but Cadillac. I agree that the issues was most probably rings. That does not excuse Cadillac from denying the warranty claim. Particularly since the vehicle was always serviced at Cadillac dealerships and always before the computer said service needed to be done. If this had been the only issue, then I would have kept the car. I went back and looked at my service records, there were 97 warranty claims in 41 months of ownership. That does not count the water leak which was never submitted. The sunroof alone accounted for a third of the claims and it still creaked and rattled at the time of sale. The remainder of the claims were all sorts of problems anyone of which would not have been an issue, but together made life extremely miserable.
 
BTW Synthetic oil was specified for this car and was the only oil authorized to keep the warranty in force. I am also very compulsive when it comes to my cars. I do make it a habit to check the oil every Saturday along with washing and periodic detailing and primping. During our last driving trip I the car needed a quart almost every day.
 
Don't get me wrong, the SRX looked great and was a joy to drive, but the price paid in depreciation, trips to the dealer for warranty repairs and the abuse from Cadillac were more than I could bear

#18 of 38 Re: The SRX is finally gone [fastguy] by sls002

Jun 22, 2008 (9:50 am)

Replying to: fastguy (Jun 21, 2008 1:31 pm)
It was your dealer who determined whether or not there was something wrong with the engine. While I would not have wanted an engine that used that much oil either, I can see that even at a quart every 500 miles, the engine would only require 200 quarts in 100,000 miles at a cost of about $1000 or so. Replacing the engine would have cost a few thousand and is probably not worth doing.
 
I have not had 97 warranty claims total (or that many repairs) in the last 40 years of driving.

Messages Page 2 of 4

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement