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Quick Review Of My 2011 DTS After a 3700 Mile Road Trip


Texas Jim

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Thought I would do a quick review of my 2011 DTS Platinum, just in case anyone is interested.

Just got back from a 3700 mile trip to the East Coast...

Ft. Worth TX to Charleston SC with a few side trips on the way back.

Darling Wife's brother had a stroke and we needed to go to Charleston to see him.

First, the DTS is a great road car.

Personally I don't think there is a better one out there for the price.

When you take into consideration the room it has, the comfortable ride, all the nice amenities like Side Blind Zone Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Speed Limit Notification, Air Conditioned seats, a NAV system that tells you that there is a traffic problem up ahead and offers to find you a way around it, the huge trunk that has room for Darling Wife's wheelchair AND all the "STUFF" we take with us and relatively good fuel economy, it is hard to beat.

I bought it a little over three weeks ago.

I had been looking for one for over a year and in this area, they sell as quick as they come on the market.

My son found this one about 175 miles west of Ft. Worth.

I called the dealer and we immediately got in the 2006 DTS Performance Sedan to go look at it.

Traded the '06 Performance for the 2011 Platinum.

For anyone that doesn't know, the Platinum replaced the Performance model.

It has the Magnetic Ride and the higher HP engine and almost every option is standard on the Platinum.

About the only real OPTION is Adaptive Cruise Control, which this one does not have... but since I very seldom use cruise, that's ok.

Driving back from Abilene to Ft Worth, it seemed to want to run along at about 70/75 on the Interstate.

That's kinda OK, but the two previous 2006 DTS's that I had always seemed to want to run faster than that...

You had to be real careful not to be running way over the speed limit with them... :)

Drove it around here on the freeways for a couple of weeks... ran it up (a good bit) past 75 several times... it would do it easily, but it still seemed like it was more comfortable running around 75.

About 300 miles into our trip, most of the time at WELL OVER 75... we had to make a pit stop and get fuel.

Back out on the Interstate and it seemed like I had a completely different car.

Now it wanted to RUN.... it was now more like the other two... which was fine with me... LOL

I assume the computers finally adjusted to my driving style.

The 2011 is a good bit softer riding than the 2006 was and does not quite have the PLANTED TO THE ROAD feel that the '06 had.

I am not totally sure I like the soft feel... I kinda prefer a little more firmness.

The steering is also different... this one steers real easy, but it does not have the road FEEDBACK thru the steering wheel that I like.

The steering is just a little bit NUMB... if you know what I mean. It is kinda hard to explain.

The seats are very comfortable and you can drive all day... (which we did almost every day)... and still feel good at the end of the day.

We covered 800 miles a day more than once while on the trip.

This one also seems to be a fair amount quieter on the road than the '06 was.

The fuel mileage varied from 20.5 to 22.5... but on one tank, where I drove closer to the speed limits, it was 24.9... LOL

In summary, I like it very well...

It is a great road car, very competent and will just eat up the miles, hour after hour, at any speed you want to run, in smooth quietness, while you listen to the XM radio and look at the scenery... :)

Any questions... I will try to answer them.

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Nice review Jim and absolutely beautiful car .Glad you're enjoying it but what is not to enjoy .It is the last of the great full size Cadillacs.Very disappointed they quit making them.I'm looking at a 2006 DTS luxury lll one owner with 49000 miles.I'm in love with my 2001 ESC and want another Cadillac.For some reason I like the front wheel drives best.Again enjoy your Caddy ,they just don't make them like that any more!! Till next time Tom.

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Nice review Jim and absolutely beautiful car .Glad you're enjoying it but what is not to enjoy .It is the last of the great full size Cadillacs.Very disappointed they quit making them.I'm looking at a 2006 DTS luxury lll one owner with 49000 miles.I'm in love with my 2001 ESC and want another Cadillac.For some reason I like the front wheel drives best.Again enjoy your Caddy ,they just don't make them like that any more!! Till next time Tom.

Tom,

You are right. They don't make 'em like that any more.

Did you see the pictures in my other thread??

I love the big cars and the ones they have now just lack SOMETHING... I don't know what, but they just don't appeal to me at all.

The new (to me) 2011 only had a little over 20,000 miles on it when I got it.

I love it.. it is smooth, comfortable and fairly quick too.. :)

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There are still a few low mile DTS Caddy's out there.I'm glad you got one.It should last a long time .I hope you get as good of service out of it as you did the 2006. As I recall it had a good amount of miles on it . I have already seen a lot of 2006 and 2007 DTS with 150000 to 200000 miles on used car lots and they still run excellent!

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What it sounds like is that you had a tank of bad gas in the car that dragged down the performance a little. When you ran it down below 1/4 tank and filled up, that problem went away. Not unusual for buying a car off a lot, particularly if it has sat for a week or two.

The car has speed sensitive steering. It's implemented with two wires between the EBCM and the Variable Effort Steering Actuator; they are GY/PK and WH. The connector is on the steering rack right next to the steering column pinion.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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What it sounds like is that you had a tank of bad gas in the car that dragged down the performance a little. When you ran it down below 1/4 tank and filled up, that problem went away. Not unusual for buying a car off a lot, particularly if it has sat for a week or two.

The car has speed sensitive steering. It's implemented with two wires between the EBCM and the Variable Effort Steering Actuator; they are GY/PK and WH. The connector is on the steering rack right next to the steering column pinion.

I had used the tank they had put in it driving back from Abilene and used most of another tank before we headed out on the trip.

I filled it up again before we left and ran most of it out before I made the pit stop.

I will check the wires. Hopefully it is just unplugged... but I suspect that they lightened up the steering effort due to complaints about hard steering.

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If they can program the steering feel, it will be the Variable Effort Steering Actuator logic in the EBCM. The dealer should be able to do that for you.

I recall a long trip in a car that had been driven around town for a couple of years. After 1,000 miles on the road it was a whole new car. And, it would run on regular gas, which it wouldn't do when I left for the trip.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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If they can program the steering feel, it will be the Variable Effort Steering Actuator logic in the EBCM. The dealer should be able to do that for you.

I recall a long trip in a car that had been driven around town for a couple of years. After 1,000 miles on the road it was a whole new car. And, it would run on regular gas, which it wouldn't do when I left for the trip.

I will ask and find out... I really would like more steering FEEL and road FEEDBACK... it is too light to suit me.

I can tolerate it, but if I can get it changed, I will.

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They can do that while they are fixing the seat ventilation. [Dodge, duck & tuck]

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jim,

I also have a 2011 Platinum DTS. Love the car. Have not taken on a long run yet.

Just wondering what you thought of the 3:70 axle ratio at highway speeds?

I would hope for an OD that would lower the RPM's a bit more at 70 MPH.

Your thoughts?

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Jim,

I also have a 2011 Platinum DTS. Love the car. Have not taken on a long run yet.

Just wondering what you thought of the 3:70 axle ratio at highway speeds?

I would hope for an OD that would lower the RPM's a bit more at 70 MPH.

Your thoughts?

Actually I think the axle ratio matches the engine real well... but that being said, if it did have one more gear to lower cruising RPM, it would probably get better mileage.

I don't think I would want a higher final drive ratio because it would hurt the overall performance in the other gears.

If you ever do any semi-spirited driving on a twisty road... the ratio is matched really well with the lower three transmission ratios and keeping the engine in it's power band.

But then again, most people that drive a DTS (me included) don't have much opportunity or inclination to do that.

But it sure is fun that everything is matched up so well when and if you ever DO want to do it when the road looks like this... LOL

20140806_144954_zps04c9669b.jpg

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This was well written and enjoyable to read.

Take good care of that Platinum DTS.. That is the end of an era. I extended the GM warranty until 2021 on mine.

Thank you..

I am gonna get a really long warranty on mine too... I plan on keeping it a long time.

The factory warranty is up the 30th of Dec this year... I will be calling GMPP before long.

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Jim,

I suggest the new Gm Warranty. Not the old one now owned by Ally bank.

Look up James Black Cadillac in Ebensburg Pa Talk to the owner Alan Black. Suggest you read his website comparing the GMPP and the new GM warranty. You can reach Alan at

1-877-472-9550.

No sales tax!

Good Luck

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Jim,

I suggest the new Gm Warranty. Not the old one now owned by Ally bank.

Look up James Black Cadillac in Ebensburg Pa Talk to the owner Alan Black. Suggest you read his website comparing the GMPP and the new GM warranty. You can reach Alan at

1-877-472-9550.

No sales tax!

Good Luck

Thanks... I will do that for sure.

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It was a very entertaining write-up Jim! It seems like a wonderful car and I tend to agree with you about the new Caddies. The only one I like at the moment is the previous generation of the CTS. Sure, the new ones are very nice but they seem to be short of that special Cadillac feel. I haven’t got used to the new CTS model yet. But that is how I felt when they released the first gen CTS and the last STS so I guess time will tell. I’m anticipating the next full size Caddie though, but it will probably take quite a few years before the price tag is in my reach.

I’ll just have to settle with a STS-V in a year or two ;)

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