One and Done: Cadillac ELR

give it another shot in ~7 years...

Naw, Use the tech they have learned from the VOLT and BOLT and Build a True XT5 EV with 300 mile range and give Tesla a run for it's money. This should be on dealer lots by 2018.

Wait....not surprised here.....

I know it did bad because of pricing...

But the Cadillac we want will eventually be making these kinds of vehicles, just better executed. Maybe not as coupes, not yet anyhow.

I love the styling though, and to me it's a discount BMW i8 with discount performance. It gets better FE in gas heavy regen mode too.

I, for one, aint sad to see it go.

Good riddance is what I say.

Get lost! Scram!

I, however, cant wait to see what the CT6 'e' version has to offer.

And maybe from there, Cadillac could pick up the electric pieces and start fresh for an EV halo car sometime in the future.

There are a couple of these roaming the streets near my home and restaurant, and I must admit, its striking to see in real life. Nice car it is, bad pricing and maybe even a tad bad execution.

Oh well. Chalk it up to yet another modern Cadillac failure and quickly move on. There is no need to dwell on it as some great products are on the way.

Just to add to more drama to my post, I wanna take the time to add, that although I like the ELR, I dont have any passion for it. I prefer the Allante over this.

Strange but true!

Good move to kill it. They should have made a Voltec crossover instead. They still could, but at sub $2 gas that is a hard sell. Maybe an XT3 with Voltec around $42k could sell.

Cadillac needs crossovers in a bad way.

If the CT6 plug in is more than $59k it won't sell. I mean the CT6 will be low volume anyway, but the hybrid will be like 20 cars a month if they try to price it much more than the base V6.

Naw, Use the tech they have learned from the VOLT and BOLT and Build a True XT5 EV with 300 mile range and give Tesla a run for it's money. This should be on dealer lots by 2018.

But with such a large frontal area would the range take a big hit? Aero has been a big part of the range of the Volt so how much would it kille the range? also if you load one with cargo how much would it vary the range and make it more difficult to give an expected range. This is why i do not think we have seen a Chevy CUV version of the Volt yet. 

If they do a cross over I expect it will come only after more work is done with the batteries. Lets face it the Tesla X is pretty much a S model just slightly taller. It is far from the frontal area of most CUV models 

This was announced months ago. Bottom line is that the ELR at $75K was fine IF Cadillac only wanted to sell them to niche buyers. They didn't. They FAILED to sell the intended 3000 (last year about 1/2 of that) units annually because they did nothing to market this car after "Poolside" (LOVED POOLSIDE!!!) went viral and let's be honest, its a 2-seater (eff the back seat in any of these sports coupes/Verts from Cadillac to Benz), it has no sunroof, which is insane considering the market for this car would seemingly be the well-to-do, Silicon Valley, greenie types who love to show up in something sexy that lets's their hair blow around in the wind. 

 No it was not a wasted opportunity. What it was was a waste of time. Basically there should have never been an ELR, as beautiful as it is... especially when you had the new Voltec powertrain sitting in the wings getting ready to come out in the CT6. Fact is... ELR should have been the ATS coupe or sub ATS sports car with a normal power train

Shame.. because it's actually a fantastic car for what it was intended to be.  It was just priced too high.   I could be completely tempted by one once deprecation does its thing.

Ah yes....Poolside, and no follow up to that.

Double and triple yes to the sub-ATS comment Casa.

Maybe Cadillac could do a follow up to Poolside by sending off the ELR with the song  Wasted days and Wasted Nights!

Im on my tablette so you folk are spared any youtube links I was about to post!

Well Drew the problem is it was a good car not a great car. 

It was another perfect example of where you can take a Cadillac and dumb it down to a Chevy like the Camaro but you can not take a Chevy and beef it up to be a Cadillac so well. 

The car just was not to the level of a Cadillac or what a Cadillac should have been. It was not leading in technology as it was the same thing Chevy had been selling for several years at a lower price. 

It had a great design but like the SSR and even the last Camaro it has compromises because it catered to design more than ergonomics. 

Yes it will be a great buy on the used car market and may even be a great car to collect as it truly is a low production car. 

I would love to see someone take one dump the battery and put in a LNF Turbo Eco. That would be an interesting engine swap. 

The ELR as for being a waste of time? Well that is a glass half full or a glass half empty deal. To some they may consider it a waste of time. Well Cadillac really did not lose much as the car did not take much time or money to finish since it used off the shelf parts and a design that was pretty much done. As for did it accomplish much with that time not really. I call it a draw. Other than some negative press from the critics they did not lose or gain much here. 

To be honest it at least got people talking Cadillac when the XTS was all we had to talk about. 

This work in progress takes time and patients.  

The way I see Cadillac is I relate them to the Cleveland Browns. For years they were mismanaged and really un-cared for properly. GM put people in charge that really should not have been in charge as they were insiders that just took orders and did not fix much. 

Now like the Cleveland Browns they have a new Coach. This time it is not a first time coach. He is well liked and respected. This in turn has attracted some real talent for his staff for once. We have three guys now that have been a head coach at one point and they were not bad where they were. 

As for the NFL it is much like the auto industry and pretty mediocre. To go from the bottom to the top does not really take much anymore as the top teams are not untouchable anymore. The perenials like Dallas, Washington, SF and others are not like they once were a given to be there at the end. Teams like Charlotte can go from no where to the Super Bowl in a couple years. Even the worst team can go from last to the play offs in one year. 

I see the same for Cadillac. They finally have leaders that know a bit about the industry no first time insiders. They have the money needed to pay for the needed changes. They only need the time to get the product out. Unlike the NFL where you can put a new product on the field any year cars take a little longer. 

Now Cleveland may still never get to the Super Bowl but at least they appear to be competent and headed in the right direction. I expect in 2 years to make the play offs. They are getting rid of past sins like first time coaches and Johnny Football. I see Cadillac as the same. Not a bad team but they needed to fix some things and they will be at least competitive and profitable. 

The ELR was just a car that was not really handled right and was at a time that Cadillac may have not made some good choices. They did not lose much in the deal but did not get much either.

I expect to see a true Tesla like plug in at some point. Possibly in the Omega and it will be done right. While it may share some GM tech with Chevy it will never be confused with the Chevy or even sharing. Now if it does share it will be passed down to Chevy not up to Cadillac.

I am ok they did this car the only thing I regret is it did not help Cadillac as much as it was hoped. I can't say I was surprised as I expected so much.  It was just not different from the Volt enough to make it matter. GM and Cadillac has moved on and I expect those in side that did not know better do now. 

Too high a cost and not enough power too

much for the design and fantastic interior to overcome. Too much under the skin commonality with the first-gen Volt too.

I appreciated the sports analogy Hyper.

I feel the need to explain my point of view of why I dont feel bad about the ELR going away.

The ELR...falls into the same trap as every other GM produced car that was killed off way before it should have, but its like GM had no choice to kill them off because the cars were released half baked...

The Fiero comes to mind.

The Chevy SSR.

Cadillac's own XLR.

Even the Allante and its sister ship the Buick Reatta.

Ill take a different approach here than Hyper's approach about wasted time. (Casa thinks it was wasted time and Hyper does not believe it to be)

And even Casa's approach about he not seeing it as a wasted opportunity but as wasted time.

I think it was a COLOSSAL wastage of time and an even bigger wasted opportunity.

True that it may not have cost Cadillac that much money....but technically it cost Cadillac time....and time IS money.

Because although it may NOT have set Cadillac back, but it did NOT move Cadillac FORWARD either, and Cadillac NEEDS to MOVE FORWARD in LEAPS and BOUNDS whenever possible, then the ELR experiment DID cost them time and...yeah...opportunity.

Remember....Cadillac STILL does not have that wow factor car to put asses in the seats of said car...

POOLSIDE promised us THAT type of Cadillac car...to go with that type of arrogant lifestyle Americans like to talk about....

You know...the American dream....

NOT taking off for vacation the full month of August...

Working hard to achieve whatever tinkles our fancy...

You know....putting man on the moon because...well the U.S. is the GREATEST country on earth and phoque it! Americans left the keys to the GM car on the moon because Americans are the only ones to go back there!

And what kind of car did Neal McDonough drive off in the sunset so to speak?

Yeah...THE CADILLAC ELR....but that Cadillac gets nixed...because NOBODY bought the damned thing, because NOBODY saw it like they still see an Eldorado! 

Big waste of time and opportunity.

This Poolside commercial just BEGGED for an incredible arrogant, badass Cadillac.

It should have been the Escalade in the commercial because an El Miraj still does not exist!

Hold on... a 'V' Series Cadillac would have been better.

Its true what Casa says...

JDN is searching for a sub-ATS car.

A non-electric ELR with a 2.0T making 270-300 horsepower and a 'V' variant making north of 350 is that answer....

Yup...2- 3 years have gone by with the ELR plus another 3-5  years for that sub-ATS called the CT3 to arrive IS wasted time and wasted opportunity...because that sub-ATS/CT3 was needed YESTERDAY....and THAT car could have ALSO fit nicely in the poolside commercial...All 'V' variant Cadillacs actually.

If the ELR is FWD only, maybe they could have found a way to make it AWD to distinguish it from  the Chevy/Buick/Opel  Delta II platform.

And THAT is why I dont feel bad for the ELR...

Because the true believers at Cadillac were not in charge at that point in time when the ELR was given the green light.

The ELR, like I mentioned before...and so has Hyper, is just another half-baked, poorly marketed GM vehicle that GM has a history of doing...

The XLR died because it was a Corvette, more or less. Not an enormous investment for Cadillac, but not a good idea. Even BMW largely avoids attacking the Benz SL head on, although I guess a 6-Series Droptop kinda fits the role.

The ELR wasn't a missed opportunity so much as it was an opportunity compromised by the fact that it was a trickle-up idea. And it doesn't matter who pushes trickle-up ideas, they rarely work in today's automotive marketplace.

I get the XLR part being a Corvette...never a good idea to sell a car with less horsepower, crappier interior (Im not necessarily talking about quality either) and COSTLIER than a car that its based on, especially a holy grail of a car that it was actually based on.

It still doesnt change the fact that the XLR was still half-baked...

It could have been a much better effort.

Bulgari....or I should right it as Bvlgari...did the clock and the dashboard gauges...

Yikes!!!

That is about as perfect of an adjective  I could think of in describing Bvgalri's work on the XLR.

They overpaid Bulgari for the gauges. But I have fonder memories of the interior, especially in the XLR-V. It was a nice place to do business. Similarly, I don't think that a 440hp V8 was underpowered for a C5 variant. It's just that it's primary conpetition was in-house and a well-established name.

I could see this car as some kind of Audi TT competitor if it had a different power-train.

But wait... it's probably a segment better covered by Buick. And the Buick Cascada is not the optimal attempt to compete there.

And uh, I gotta tell you, the poolside commercial wasn't universally praised. At first I liked it.

But then I thought, Cadillac should not be carrying some smug baggage, because if the company tries to tie itself to some past American ideal, then it just keeps holding itself back.

I would like Cadillac to not even mention the past, atleast not the last 4 decades. In between those pockets you find some great Cadillacs, but it was an overall decline. 

Being quietly smug while watching the segment incumbents scratch their heads, and then laughing in the security of a bank vault - yeah, I'm okay with that. 

They overpaid Bulgari for the gauges. But I have fonder memories of the interior, especially in the XLR-V. It was a nice place to do business. Similarly, I don't think that a 440hp V8 was underpowered for a C5 variant. It's just that it's primary conpetition was in-house and a well-established name.

Yeah...440 horses for a C5 is definitely not under powered...

 I forgot about the V variant.  

I still wanna see a XLR down the road, but as a BMW Z5 competitor rather than a M-B SL roadster competitor.

I still wanna see an ELR down the road. But a 100% all electric Karma Fisker type body Cadillac...4 doors and sexy.  Or 2 doors and sexy. Like a new Aston Martin DB10.  Not that the outgoing ELR aint sexy, but it aint long hood/short deck and majestic kind of sexy.

I didn't think the poolside ad was all that great. First off you have a dressed up Chevy Volt, not exactly aspirational. And even the statement out people going on vacation for a month is a shot at Europeans, yet the Europeans have been beating Cadillac for over 30 years.

I tend to like ads that promote your own brand image and own product and don't even mention anyone else. For example, you don't see Apple ads that talk about Samsung and how you can get an iPhone cheaper than a Galaxy. Apple sticks to their logo and their image and ignores the rest.

Pool side ad was good, no better than what MB or BMW has done. 

No your wrong SMK, this is not a dressed up VOLT, you can put them side by side and they clearly are not the same. The interior was decades better than the volt. Exterior made a clear A&S statement.

On top of this how can you say this about the ELR when MB has clearly done this with multiple models of just dressing up a pig with lipstick.

2016 ELR and Volt

2015 Volt more equal to 2016 ELR but still very different.

^^^ You're comparing the wrong Volt there. The 2nd gen Volt shares almost nothing with the ELR.

^^^ You're comparing the wrong Volt there. The 2nd gen Volt shares almost nothing with the ELR.

True, good catch, Updated post with the 2015 Volt that does share more in common being powertrain but otherwise nothing else. Different sheet metal, different interior. Cars were very different.

They overpaid Bulgari for the gauges. But I have fonder memories of the interior, especially in the XLR-V. It was a nice place to do business. Similarly, I don't think that a 440hp V8 was underpowered for a C5 variant. It's just that it's primary conpetition was in-house and a well-established name.

True that. The Issue with the XLR is that it, like the ELR, existed with a new better version of itself under the skin over at CHEVY. WTF!!!??? The XLR was based on the C5, introed in 2003, while the C6 Corvette debuted in 2004. The deal should have been done where the C6 tech and platform debuted under the XLR.. then onward to the Chevy.. same as the ELR coming after the Volt. In that situation the XLR.. the now flagship of Cadillac and kinda GM, was behind the flagship of Chevy. The 320HP Northstar was smooooooooth.. smooth as butter.. and the VSeries version with 443HP was even better. Bit neither held a candle in HP to the LS2 (400HP), and certainly not the LS3 (436HP). Then what made it worse was the debut of the LS7 in 2005 as the new Z06. OK..OK.. How the XLR could have been made a winner:

1) Styling was, imo, perfect.. better than the C6, where it died for me was the fact that I hate HARD-TOP convertibles. Adding an optional soft-top convertible in contrasting colors would have been primo. A White XLR with a burgundy or tan top??? Ahhhhhhhhhh.. I just creamed

2) Interior. The interior of all Cadillacs at that time were comprised of some damn nice materials. The issue with the XLR was that it incorporated a lot of the CTS (Gen 1) and SRX (Gen 1) A&S Styling INSIDE the car. IF teh XLR had of had the Gen 2 A&S it would have been fine. COuld U imagine a revived GM.. .revived Cadillac ELR type interior in the XLR? How about the sweet supple look of the new CT6 or even XT5?

3) Engine. Eff my long windid-ness.. The XLR should have had the Small-Block. or at the very least the 443HP version of the SC NorthStar should have been the (detuned)base engine.. and the LS7, as an interim engine should have been the VSeries. As soon as the LSA debuted in the entry-level Cadillac (at the time) CTS-V it should have been in the XLR. The LS9 shoudl have been in an XLR Super-V or rather.. the VSport name should have been introed then and the line would have been:

XLR 400HP 4.4L SC NS(2004-2007) 430HP 6.2L LS3(2008-2013) (Meaning it should still be avail) 430HP TT3.6L (2014+)

XLR-VSport  443HP NStarSC (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 556HP LSA

XLR-VSeried (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 635HP LS9 (2014+) 640HP SC LT4

^^^

Casa's speech just proves to me that the XLR was a half-baked idea...

1. Corvette under the skin or not...in which the Chevy was better than it or not...

And I forgot....thanx Casa for the reminder....the C6 was debuting...maybe the XLR should have been a C6 instead of the C5 under the skin...

Visions of Mercedes Benz old roadster and old engine being transferred to Chrysler for the Crossfire...and we all know how that turned out for Chryco and the Crossfire....so why would THIS situation be any different? 

2. Engines being what they are...a supercharged Northstar SHOULD have been the standard engine in the XLR....and like Casa states, why shouldnt the 505 HP  V8  been a part of the XLR?

Because its a Chevy engine?  That did  not stopped Cadillac from using that particualr Chevy V8 engine later...

3. The interiors of GM at that point in time...well, we all know what it was...no need to go back there.

Sure, maybe Cadillac had some nice materials then, people did not notice, because whether Bvlgari was over paid or design simply sucked, the interior of the XLR simply did not woooo and wow anybody. Like I said...half assed rather than half-baked. The C5's interior might have been cheap, it was better than the C4...but at least it looked better than the XLR....it looked more sportier AND more elegant...

How the eff could that be?

Well, it was...

And this is where the ELR comes in.

While the ELR is a striking vehicle to look at...it aint majestic.

Many people have different views on poolside: American arrogance, self indulgence, and over confidence is seen both positively  AND negatively by different people.

The ELR WAS NOT the RIGHT car for that commercial.

The ELR, while being a coupe, fits perfect for that stigma...its a GREEN oriented car.

The looks itself, while beautiful, it aint IMPOSING enough.

Its too small. Aston Martin cars are also small, but Aston Martins have a majestic look about them. They have that road presence as if they were a 5 ton SUV...The ELR does not possess that.

Going back to the XLR...there was a sight lost in translation from the Evoq concept car.  The front end with the head lights and the back end with the fins that were prominent and the somewhat widebody effect were scaled back considerably on the XLR...

Although the XLR was gorgeous, it lost all the Cadillac aggressive presence that made the Evoq such a jaw dropper...and the name just suited it perfectly...

What we got was a watered down Arts and Science car with a name like XLR...a dirt and grime cleaner rather than such a befitting name for a Cadillac roadster...Evoq!

Cadillac hopefully learns who they are, and maybe they could give the world what they want from Cadillac.

Poolside is EXACTLY what people want from Cadillac.

Including Europeans...

Especially Saudis and Americans!

For the asking price of the ELR it should have performed like an ATS-V AND had the Volt's electric range.

People are still not willing to pay a premium for electric cars with average or less than average performance. Tesla sells cars because they are faster than a Corvette. The P85D can accelerate like an Aventador and it is a 4 door sedan.

XLR just had shortcuts all over the place. And that segment has basically died with the SL as the last car standing. Lexus SC and Jaguar XK died too.

 

They overpaid Bulgari for the gauges. But I have fonder memories of the interior, especially in the XLR-V. It was a nice place to do business. Similarly, I don't think that a 440hp V8 was underpowered for a C5 variant. It's just that it's primary conpetition was in-house and a well-established name.

 

 

 

True that. The Issue with the XLR is that it, like the ELR, existed with a new better version of itself under the skin over at CHEVY. WTF!!!??? The XLR was based on the C5, introed in 2003, while the C6 Corvette debuted in 2004. The deal should have been done where the C6 tech and platform debuted under the XLR.. then onward to the Chevy.. same as the ELR coming after the Volt. In that situation the XLR.. the now flagship of Cadillac and kinda GM, was behind the flagship of Chevy. The 320HP Northstar was smooooooooth.. smooth as butter.. and the VSeries version with 443HP was even better. Bit neither held a candle in HP to the LS2 (400HP), and certainly not the LS3 (436HP). Then what made it worse was the debut of the LS7 in 2005 as the new Z06. OK..OK.. How the XLR could have been made a winner:

 

1) Styling was, imo, perfect.. better than the C6, where it died for me was the fact that I hate HARD-TOP convertibles. Adding an optional soft-top convertible in contrasting colors would have been primo. A White XLR with a burgundy or tan top??? Ahhhhhhhhhh.. I just creamed

 

2) Interior. The interior of all Cadillacs at that time were comprised of some damn nice materials. The issue with the XLR was that it incorporated a lot of the CTS (Gen 1) and SRX (Gen 1) A&S Styling INSIDE the car. IF teh XLR had of had the Gen 2 A&S it would have been fine. COuld U imagine a revived GM.. .revived Cadillac ELR type interior in the XLR? How about the sweet supple look of the new CT6 or even XT5?

 

3) Engine. Eff my long windid-ness.. The XLR should have had the Small-Block. or at the very least the 443HP version of the SC NorthStar should have been the (detuned)base engine.. and the LS7, as an interim engine should have been the VSeries. As soon as the LSA debuted in the entry-level Cadillac (at the time) CTS-V it should have been in the XLR. The LS9 shoudl have been in an XLR Super-V or rather.. the VSport name should have been introed then and the line would have been:

 

XLR 400HP 4.4L SC NS(2004-2007) 430HP 6.2L LS3(2008-2013) (Meaning it should still be avail) 430HP TT3.6L (2014+)

 

XLR-VSport  443HP NStarSC (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 556HP LSA

 

 

XLR-VSeried (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 635HP LS9 (2014+) 640HP SC LT4

 

Again you can not dumb up a Chevy to a Cadillac but you could take a Cadillac and dumb it to a Chevy. 

I think they finally are to a point they no longer have to do that. Even with the engines in the future. 

Like many things in life they all flow down from the top. You can not push things up from the bottom.  Yes even the Corvette. 

Cadillac to be successful needs to be Cadillac not a Chevy reboot. Only the Escallade has over come that but nothing else. 

My buddy has a XLRV and like he said it is a great car but only a great used car for $30K. His stickered at $100K and there was no way this car was worth that. You could buy a Vette that was nearly as good and still have money in savings. 

 

 

They overpaid Bulgari for the gauges. But I have fonder memories of the interior, especially in the XLR-V. It was a nice place to do business. Similarly, I don't think that a 440hp V8 was underpowered for a C5 variant. It's just that it's primary conpetition was in-house and a well-established name.

 

 

 

True that. The Issue with the XLR is that it, like the ELR, existed with a new better version of itself under the skin over at CHEVY. WTF!!!??? The XLR was based on the C5, introed in 2003, while the C6 Corvette debuted in 2004. The deal should have been done where the C6 tech and platform debuted under the XLR.. then onward to the Chevy.. same as the ELR coming after the Volt. In that situation the XLR.. the now flagship of Cadillac and kinda GM, was behind the flagship of Chevy. The 320HP Northstar was smooooooooth.. smooth as butter.. and the VSeries version with 443HP was even better. Bit neither held a candle in HP to the LS2 (400HP), and certainly not the LS3 (436HP). Then what made it worse was the debut of the LS7 in 2005 as the new Z06. OK..OK.. How the XLR could have been made a winner:

 

1) Styling was, imo, perfect.. better than the C6, where it died for me was the fact that I hate HARD-TOP convertibles. Adding an optional soft-top convertible in contrasting colors would have been primo. A White XLR with a burgundy or tan top??? Ahhhhhhhhhh.. I just creamed

 

2) Interior. The interior of all Cadillacs at that time were comprised of some damn nice materials. The issue with the XLR was that it incorporated a lot of the CTS (Gen 1) and SRX (Gen 1) A&S Styling INSIDE the car. IF teh XLR had of had the Gen 2 A&S it would have been fine. COuld U imagine a revived GM.. .revived Cadillac ELR type interior in the XLR? How about the sweet supple look of the new CT6 or even XT5?

 

3) Engine. Eff my long windid-ness.. The XLR should have had the Small-Block. or at the very least the 443HP version of the SC NorthStar should have been the (detuned)base engine.. and the LS7, as an interim engine should have been the VSeries. As soon as the LSA debuted in the entry-level Cadillac (at the time) CTS-V it should have been in the XLR. The LS9 shoudl have been in an XLR Super-V or rather.. the VSport name should have been introed then and the line would have been:

 

XLR 400HP 4.4L SC NS(2004-2007) 430HP 6.2L LS3(2008-2013) (Meaning it should still be avail) 430HP TT3.6L (2014+)

 

XLR-VSport  443HP NStarSC (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 556HP LSA

 

 

XLR-VSeried (2004-2007) 500HP LS7  (2008-2013) 635HP LS9 (2014+) 640HP SC LT4

 

Again you can not dumb up a Chevy to a Cadillac but you could take a Cadillac and dumb it to a Chevy. 

I think they finally are to a point they no longer have to do that. Even with the engines in the future. 

 

Like many things in life they all flow down from the top. You can not push things up from the bottom.  Yes even the Corvette. 

Cadillac to be successful needs to be Cadillac not a Chevy reboot. Only the Escallade has over come that but nothing else. 

 

 

My buddy has a XLRV and like he said it is a great car but only a great used car for $30K. His stickered at $100K and there was no way this car was worth that. You could buy a Vette that was nearly as good and still have money in savings. 

 

 

Look here.. I think its quite clear that I said that the XLR shold have been the donor and not the "donee". that's all I'm gonna say because I think my post stands 

You mean the post with all the Chevy engines or Cadillac engines that had issues? 

I can see putting in the Corvette engines would have really set it apart. 

I understand as the time GM could not have done a new true Cadillac engine as they killed the one they were building due to cost and money they did not have. But putting in a Chevy engine would not have saved the car as the Corvette was nearly as good and a lot cheaper. 

The truth is the money in this car should have been put into the sedans at the time as the DTS was living in the past and the STS was a disappointment. But with where GM was there was little they could do so I understand.