Trying to make a very long week into a short story:

Tuesday afternoon, I found that I couldn't shift into reverse at all! I somehow managed to drive (forward only ;) ) to drop it off for service. They found out that it was a nylon bushing that had a ring that broke on it...or something like that.

Thursday afternoon, after picking up the (supposedly) repaired vehicle and after driving on a traffic-infested one-lane each way highway, my shifter knob/boot assembly fell off and the whole shifter (and shaft) fell while I was shifting! Horrible experience (and quite embarassing)

I had to drive with the metal shaft and pull up on it before placing it into gear. After calling GM/Cadillac and complaing about the dealership that worked with it...I finally got them to repair it by Friday afternoon. Needless to say, I am a little skeptical about the whole transmission and shifter assembly on my car (and am curious to know if it is even fixed correctly).

Anyone else heard of any problems like this? I have only had my car since June.

Trying to make a very long week into a short story:

Tuesday afternoon, I found that I couldn't shift into reverse at all! I somehow managed to drive (forward only ;) ) to drop it off for service. They found out that it was a nylon bushing that had a ring that broke on it...or something like that.

Thursday afternoon, after picking up the (supposedly) repaired vehicle and after driving on a traffic-infested one-lane each way highway, my shifter knob/boot assembly fell off and the whole shifter (and shaft) fell while I was shifting! Horrible experience (and quite embarassing)

I had to drive with the metal shaft and pull up on it before placing it into gear. After calling GM/Cadillac and complaing about the dealership that worked with it...I finally got them to repair it by Friday afternoon. Needless to say, I am a little skeptical about the whole transmission and shifter assembly on my car (and am curious to know if it is even fixed correctly).

Anyone else heard of any problems like this? I have only had my car since June.
How does the shift knob go onto the actuall shifter? We have had problems (in my Saturn Ion Redline, same as the Cobalt SS/Supercharged) with the press on knobs actually coming off while shifting as well, but on a more widespread basis.

How does the shift knob go onto the actuall shifter? We have had problems (in my Saturn Ion Redline, same as the Cobalt SS/Supercharged) with the press on knobs actually coming off while shifting as well, but on a more widespread basis.


I believe the shift knob is more of a friction fit on the CTS-V. ekool has had his shift knob come off while shifting in the quarter mile... I can honestly say I am becomming more and more displeased with the build quality of the V each and every day.

The situation finally got resolved after 1 week, 15 hours of sick leave, 3 loaners, 2 dealerships, and a dozen headaches. The service manager of my dealership finally used his own stock nylon bushing (to connect the shift linkage to the transmission) on my car (because he went aftermarket - shifter) and now it seems that my car shifts better than it did when I first drove it off the lot. I'm groovin once again in good ole CADVETT!!

I'm glad to hear you got your problem resolved. I'm still waiting on getting my electrical problems worked out.

I'm glad to hear you got your problem resolved. I'm still waiting on getting my electrical problems worked out.
What kind of electircal problems are you having. My father is looking at new cars, and he wants to look at the SRT-8 version of the Charger, and we've looked at the CTS-V before (sort of on accident, but at my insisting). He has had 4 shoulder surgeries for torn rotator cuffs, and one elbow surgery (tommy john surgery for the ballplayers out there). The only thing that is making him look past the CTS is the fact that he doesn't know if he can physically handle shifting everyday (eventhough the throws are SO short). SamShady, with that aftermarket bushing in the shifter, how much easier is the shifting? And torch, what other issues have you had with the build quality? If my dad is going to pick this over the SRT, I would like to know he'll be happy. Either way, I should get to drive one whenever I head back home from my university, so I'll be in a win-win situation.

What kind of electircal problems are you having. My father is looking at new cars, and he wants to look at the SRT-8 version of the Charger, and we've looked at the CTS-V before (sort of on accident, but at my insisting). He has had 4 shoulder surgeries for torn rotator cuffs, and one elbow surgery (tommy john surgery for the ballplayers out there). The only thing that is making him look past the CTS is the fact that he doesn't know if he can physically handle shifting everyday (eventhough the throws are SO short). SamShady, with that aftermarket bushing in the shifter, how much easier is the shifting? And torch, what other issues have you had with the build quality? If my dad is going to pick this over the SRT, I would like to know he'll be happy. Either way, I should get to drive one whenever I head back home from my university, so I'll be in a win-win situation.


I'm fairly certain my problems are one of a kind. I honestly feel my V is a lemon car. The personalization option has been the most frustrating feature to date. It seems to work off and on... the exit feature (where the seat moves for ease of exit) also only works sometimes and only for driver/fob 1. The CD player (only on CD's though, not XM or NAV) will seemingly lock up occasionally. When I say lock up, it continues to play but will play where the other driver left off at with the display lock up (counter not counting).

Lets see; as far as other problems... the dealer found a wire that was somehow grounded out and was causing the break light (center light on the trunk) to be stuck on when the headlights were on. They have also, in trying to fix the personalization stuff, replaced the entire NAV system. This did not fix the issue. The screen on the new nav system has had some random digital distortion at times too but this has been rare. Also, since the new nav system install, the tire pressure monitor system has randomly decided not to display the graphic of the car and only will show the pressure measurements. Again, this has been rare and will be one of those issues the dealer won't be able to reproduce I'm sure.

One final electrical problem has been with the tire pressure sensors themselves. It seems to me they are 2lbs low pretty much all the time. The dealer assures me that they can be recalibrated but we're going back in for visit #2 on that issue (visit #3 on personalization).

I am having one mechanical issue as well. At 70-80 mph the car have wheel balance vibration. The car has 9100 miles on it at the present time and has never been curbed so it should have no alignment issues. The vibration is very obvious but the dealer could not reproduce this issue on my last visit. I am going to take the service advisor for a ride when I go in tomorrow. Also, the front (yes, FRONT) tires are extremely worn on the outer edges of the foot print. I seriously think this is premature and could be due to the factory alignment being out of spec (the car does seem to pull to the left).

The $1 million question: Would I buy a CTS-V again? Well, I do think that my problems are one off. I would probably buy from a different dealer next time (Lund Cadillac, I'm heading your way for my next one!) but other than the issues I'm having with the dealer and this car in particular I believe I will pass on the Cadillac for a while. If I can get the dearler to take this car back under the New Mexico lemon law, I am considering purchasing another Corvette until I can get together the cash to buy a STS-V.