We’d be fairly knackered without our fleet, and as such try our best to take good care of it. This month though the Dubai streets have taken their toll on our Fast Fleet Cadillac CTS.
[Not a valid template]Where usually the digital speed readout lies on the information screen just in front of the driver, there is now a message: ‘put air in left front tire’ (we’ll look past the Americanisation on this occasion since this is a Cadillac). The fact that the system specifies which tyre in particular needs pumping up is a feature we found very helpful, and one quick trip to the petrol station later, the errant Continental was back up to 35PSI. All was well again.
Briefly. A few days later the message re-appeared, sparking another trip to the petrol station to pump up the left front tyre. A few days later, the same thing happened again.
At about the same time, we also noticed the driver-side rear quarter losing a lot of grip through the corners, and since the Caddy’s front left tyre was already full to bursting, we decided that the rear right Continental was in fact the guilty party. Another trip to the petrol station and less than 20PSI in the tyre confirmed this to be case, so it looks like we have a sensor problem as well as a slow puncture.
Consequently, temporary hooning in the CTS has taken a backseat, and our battle-scarred workhorse will be heading to the service centre. We’ll let you know how it gets on.
We’re rather keen not to end this month’s instalment amidst doom and gloom though, and one instance on a journey from Al Ain to Dubai demonstrated just how effective the Caddy’s Continentals can be. During the course of the two hour sojourn, it started to rain. Hard. With the windscreen wipers risen from their respective slumbers and the de-misters on high alert, we were impressed to find that despite the tricky conditions (not exactly aided by already slick tarmac), the CTS did not wallow or even hint at pitching us off-road. It’s good to know that during the two hours a year in the UAE when rain is a problem, we have a reliable member of the crew to get us from sodden A to sodden B.
