New York 2018: 2019 Cadillac XT4 Kicks Off A Product Renaissance: Comments

[balthazar]

Murano is where Pontiac would be had they lived and continued their over wrought styling, but since nissan isn't a domestic brand, it's uncool to bag on them for design.

Edge is pleasant, but it's certainly not sporty looking. I liked the MCE 1st gen, looked at them back when new.

[ocnblu]

6 hours ago, balthazar said:

Murano is where Pontiac would be had they lived and continued their over wrought styling, but since nissan isn't a domestic brand, it's uncool to bag on them for design.

Edge is pleasant, but it's certainly not sporty looking. I liked the MCE 1st gen, looked at them back when new.

Ford Edge looks just as sporty as the bulbous Europeans posted here.  It is actually sharper, Benz and Break My Wallet look like something you wouldn't want to pick up off the communal shower floor.

[frogger]

I just think the Equinox is small vs the class leaders so bigger options would be welcome.  I guess the Acadia might be it like Santa Fe/Sorento third row optional offerings.

What ever happened to the Bronco..

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by frogger

[regfootball]

circle the wagons, the XT5 is the only size and configuration match to the Edge.  So GM can support Cadillac in this size class, but is not doing so with Chevy and Buick, which both of those brands could sell the hell out of that size of 2 row crossover.

[ccap41]

5 hours ago, frogger said:

What ever happened to the Bronco..

We have another year yet... I think it's supposed to be offered as a 2020 model year. 

[Robert Hall]

25 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

We have another year yet... I think it's supposed to be offered as a 2020 model year. 

I think we will be seeing a lot of new CUVs and SUVs for 2020...new 'Blazer', new Explorer, maybe some new Jeep products..

Edited April 6, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

29 minutes ago, regfootball said:

circle the wagons, the XT5 is the only size and configuration match to the Edge.  So GM can support Cadillac in this size class, but is not doing so with Chevy and Buick, which both of those brands could sell the hell out of that size of 2 row crossover.

I get that you've had a hate boner for the Acadia since it was released, but really, it is GM's most direct competitor to the Edge.  You wouldn't consider the Rogue to be a different segment from the Equinox just because it has a 3rd row.  They sell at the nearly the same price and at nearly the same numbers. 

[ccap41]

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I get that you've had a hate boner for the Acadia since it was released

I've always had a hate boner for it as well.. Something about it just doesn't look near as good as any of its competitors and comes off as bland and boring with one lone engine choice, at least the first and a half gen. Now it has a turbo 4 as a base, right? 

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I've always had a hate boner for it as well.. Something about it just doesn't look near as good as any of its competitors and comes off as bland and boring with one lone engine choice, at least the first and a half gen. Now it has a turbo 4 as a base, right? 

I've got an apathy softy for it. I think GM messed up on the Acadia in styling and interior. They saddled it with the weaksauce 2.5 liter 4-cylinder which I'm sure is only sold to rental fleets. The put a lame base AWD system in it and charge a bunch more for the slick twin-clutch AWD that the XT5 and Lacrosse get. Most trims come with the 6-speed auto instead of the 9-speed (From memory, only the All-Terrain can some with the 9-speed, but I could be wrong) It drives dull, it does nothing special, it gives you no reason to buy it over the competition.  It is the epitome of mediocre.  I would pick virtually any other vehicle in the class, including the Edge and any of the imports, over the Acadia. I'd even pick the Traverse or Enclave over the Acadia as both are substantially better looking, both come with the 9-speed, and neither get the lame 2.5 liter. It the most forgettable in the sea of forgettable crossovers out there.

Yet GM sells about 12k of them a month..... so what do I know.  The fact remains that it is only about $1500 more than the Edge and Ford sells about 12k Edges a month.  With or without that third row... they compete with each other.  Ford has an advantage here in that they also have the best selling Explorer in the same showroom, GMC no longer has direct competition to the Explorer, and the Explorer is about to get a heck of a lot better than it already is. 

[Robert Hall]

Sat in the Acacia and Terrain at the local auto show last month.  Wasn't impressed with either inside and out.  Both had big blind spots in the rear quarters.  

[ccap41]

20 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Both had big blind spots in the rear quarters.  

Sadly, I think that's just a sign of the times now... Modern crash standards and styling leave massive blind spots and sadly(again) blind spot monitors or the little extra angled mirrors within the mirror are almost necessary. My escape had a terrible blind spot because the size of the tiny furthest window and most of the CUVs are like that. 

[G. David Felt]

55 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I've always had a hate boner for it as well.. Something about it just doesn't look near as good as any of its competitors and comes off as bland and boring with one lone engine choice, at least the first and a half gen. Now it has a turbo 4 as a base, right? 

Agree, GM should have had at least 2 engine choices and they should have rolled out the VOLT powertrain long ago across multiple auto's.

[Robert Hall]

14 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Sadly, I think that's just a sign of the times now... Modern crash standards and styling leave massive blind spots and sadly(again) blind spot monitors or the little extra angled mirrors within the mirror are almost necessary. My escape had a terrible blind spot because the size of the tiny furthest window and most of the CUVs are like that. 

True.  And the tiny opera windows in the Terrain C-pillars are useless.  My GC (WK2) has decent outward visibility, the blind spots aren't bad, but the total glass area seems much less than my old WJ GC had. 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[regfootball]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

I've always had a hate boner for it as well.. Something about it just doesn't look near as good as any of its competitors and comes off as bland and boring with one lone engine choice, at least the first and a half gen. Now it has a turbo 4 as a base, right? 

My hate boner for the new Acadia is that GM took an out of the park market success, downsized it, made it less useful, and ugly. Thus, ruining the Acadia brand equity

[ccap41]

21 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Agree, GM should have had at least 2 engine choices and they should have rolled out the VOLT powertrain long ago across multiple auto's.

Volt powertrain should be in like 5 vehicles at this point. 

2 minutes ago, regfootball said:

My hate boner for the new Acadia is that GM took an out of the park market success, downsized it, made it less useful, and ugly. Thus, ruining the Acadia brand equity

I hated the first gen too though.. just something about it. Actually, exactly what Drew said about it is why. 

[frogger]

I wasn't a fan of the first gen either, just felt like a throwback to bankruptcy times in all regards...a cheap feeling vehicle that would probably start falling apart prematurely.

 

 

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, regfootball said:

My hate boner for the new Acadia is that GM took an out of the park market success, downsized it, made it less useful, and ugly. Thus, ruining the Acadia brand equity

That's about 90% of their recent releases. I wouldn't call the Acadia ugly.. just dull and no character compared to the prior model.

Ditto Cruze.

Ditto Sonic.

Ditto Malibu (pretend the generation immediately prior didn't exist)

Ditto Equinox and Terrain.

Ditto Envison.

Ditto Regal and Lacrosse.

Ditto XT5.

There are very few GM vehicles that I feel are a not a step backwards and most of those have been out for a while.

1 hour ago, frogger said:

I wasn't a fan of the first gen either, just felt like a throwback to bankruptcy times in all regards...a cheap feeling vehicle that would probably start falling apart prematurely.

 

 

 

 

The sweet spot for the SRX is the final year of the first generation. They gave it a facelift and nicely freshened the interior and it was still Northstar powered if you wanted. Good luck finding one because they only sold about 12.

[frogger]

Good friend of mine still has a 2008 SRX V8..  He has had a fair number of issues, but then he drives his cars into the ground (has 380,000km on it currently).  He would like another one of them with the updates but after having a few rentals with Android Auto he has been spoiled...

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

5 minutes ago, frogger said:

Good friend of mine still has a 2008 SRX V8..  He has had a fair number of issues, but then he drives his cars into the ground (has 380,000km on it currently).  He would like another one of them with the updates but after having a few rentals with Android Auto he has been spoiled...

 

 

I"m there with him on Android Auto.  I've already scoped out my Android Auto options should an Avalanche join the fleet. 

[G. David Felt]

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I"m there with him on Android Auto.  I've already scoped out my Android Auto options should an Avalanche join the fleet. 

Been looking at buying an Audio update for my auto's as the Android auto feature is the way to go. Lucky a number of 3rd party stereo systems with Android / Apple are compatible with the steering wheel buttons without having to hack the electrical system.

[Drew Dowdell]

6 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Been looking at buying an Audio update for my auto's as the Android auto feature is the way to go. Lucky a number of 3rd party stereo systems with Android / Apple are compatible with the steering wheel buttons without having to hack the electrical system.

Crutchfield is great for that.  the newer Cadillacs aren't all that compatible with aftermarket head units, but the Avalanches are fine.

[G. David Felt]

21 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Crutchfield is great for that.  the newer Cadillacs aren't all that compatible with aftermarket head units, but the Avalanches are fine.

Drew, do you know if there is a backwards compatibility list of a head unit that is in this model can work in these older ones?

Example, The Head unit in my 2008 Trailblazer SS looks just like the Head unit in my 2006 Escalade ESV. The new unit has far better volume control and other features, so wondering if it would work as an update in my older escalade. 

Have not found any backwards what was used in this product line can also work in these others.

[Drew Dowdell]

8 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Drew, do you know if there is a backwards compatibility list of a head unit that is in this model can work in these older ones?

Example, The Head unit in my 2008 Trailblazer SS looks just like the Head unit in my 2006 Escalade ESV. The new unit has far better volume control and other features, so wondering if it would work as an update in my older escalade. 

Have not found any backwards what was used in this product line can also work in these others.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother. If you're going to rip the dashboard apart anyway, then just put something modern in. 

[regfootball]

21 hours ago, frogger said:

Good friend of mine still has a 2008 SRX V8..  He has had a fair number of issues, but then he drives his cars into the ground (has 380,000km on it currently).  He would like another one of them with the updates but after having a few rentals with Android Auto he has been spoiled...

 

 

those first gen SRX's got really bad fuel economy especially the v8

[frogger]

7 minutes ago, regfootball said:

those first gen SRX's got really bad fuel economy especially the v8

Yes for sure.. and he puts on 20,000 miles a year.

 

[ocnblu]

Taken by our very own GMTG74 at the NYIAS.  Looks good!

[regfootball]

The Impala name could live on as a crossover, if it trended in the direction of this (but was far better looking)

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2018-bmw-640i-xdrive-gran-turismo-test-review

 

On 4/7/2018 at 5:27 PM, ocnblu said:

Taken by our very own GMTG74 at the NYIAS.  Looks good!

 

that xt4 has a similar rear end to the missabushy

 

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by regfootball

[ocnblu]

OMG Reg... you are totally right, too... so sad... how far the mighty have fallen... 

[regfootball]

 

 

 

The SIGNIA ^^^^ would have been a great hearse

I miss my old aztek  cadillac should BRING IT BACK  there's a touch of this in the XT4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by regfootball

[balthazar]

It's good to curtail heavy drinking to the weekend.

[regfootball]

oh cmon, you don't think the concept aztek influenced Cadillac Art and Science design?  HAHA

[oldshurst442]

The Aztec was too far ahead of its time. At the time it was ugly.  But I think time has done it justice. It aint as ugly or weird to look at anymore. Especially when Chevrolet styles its cars that same way today. 

It all start it 2009 with a good looking Malibu...

Not that the 2018 Malibu is not good looking, because it is...

But let's be honest now...

Especially on the Equinox, where the Bow Tie resides, and its very prominent in the 2009 Malibu, but we say that the 2009 Malibu was a sharp looking car...

That Aztec look that was sooooo weird to us now has become the norm with the bigger radiator grille openings being below another set of smaller radiator openings separated by a bar...

And Chevy even stuck a Bow Tie on top the way Pontiac did it with the Aztec on the latest generation Equinox...A crossover...

Wasn't  an Aztec a crossover too? The thing is an Aztec was a minivan based crossover rather than a car platform...

But look...the Montreal Police used an Aztec as a police car???!!!

YEAH! JUST like how we have this:

 

And I dont think Arts and Science REMOTELY resembles what the Aztec was doing.

What the Aztec was doing was...out-RAGEOUS

Just a tad less Trans Am-y and more mini-van-y.

And the Sport part of the SUV moniker was redefined for more of an outdoorsy vehicle rather than a track vehicle.

And the name fit it quite well I think...

I see Aztec art in the Pontiac Aztek.

Aztec art is not as easy flowing  like we are accustomed to from classical Greek art. Its aggressive in nature. Its rough.

Its different than what we are used to. But beautiful non the less. And ,like I said, Chevrolet has adopted Pontiac Aztek styling. Therefore the Pontiac really was not that bad.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, regfootball said:

oh cmon, you don't think the concept aztek influenced Cadillac Art and Science design?  HAHA

Uhh; NO.

I also see no more association between the XT4 and whatevs Mitshubishi above, and just about any other of a dozen SUVs- there's just not a lot of great differentiation in profile here.

Then again, I do understand what a 'rebadge' is.

[G. David Felt]

Cadillac is taking PreOrders on the XT4 Luxury Edition and offering a nice Lease deal.

$309 dollars a month.

[Drew Dowdell]

How are you?

[G. David Felt]

4 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

How are you?

I am at a total loss on this. Is there something wrong with me? 

[Drew Dowdell]

Drugs are bad m'kay?

I have no recollection of posting that. I was looking at the thread because the price interested me. I don't think I even used that phrase this morning to anyone.

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Drugs are bad m'kay?

I have no recollection of posting that. I was looking at the thread because the price interested me. I don't think I even used that phrase this morning to anyone.

It was your evil Twin that posted it then.  

I agree that the pricing is very enticing for the XT4 lease.

[Drew Dowdell]

30 minutes ago, dfelt said:

It was your evil Twin that posted it then.  

I agree that the pricing is very enticing for the XT4 lease.

That's less than I paid for my Encore lease.   I get the Honda back from the body shop today (had a bad hinge replaced) and then it's getting cleaned up and going on Craigslist and Auto Trader.

[frogger]

Is Cadillac putting something like Leatherette in their base models now?  The "Premium Luxury" adds leather seating surfaces (one trim level up from the base "Luxury").

 

[G. David Felt]

33 minutes ago, frogger said:

Is Cadillac putting something like Leatherette in their base models now?  The "Premium Luxury" adds leather seating surfaces (one trim level up from the base "Luxury").

 

It does seem weird to see the Luxury is the bottom level, then premium luxury and the top level is Sport and yet with sport you have Leather seats like Premium luxury and you get Leatherette trim which makes no sense to me.

I would think Sport would be bottom, then luxury and top would be Premium luxury.

I like the CUV, but am a bit confused by the packaging of the trim levels.

[Robert Hall]

57 minutes ago, dfelt said:

It does seem weird to see the Luxury is the bottom level, then premium luxury and the top level is Sport and yet with sport you have Leather seats like Premium luxury and you get Leatherette trim which makes no sense to me.

I would think Sport would be bottom, then luxury and top would be Premium luxury.

I like the CUV, but am a bit confused by the packaging of the trim levels.

Sounds like cheapassing...'leatherette' has no place in a Cadillac...

[G. David Felt]

10 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Sounds like cheapassing...'leatherette' has no place in a Cadillac...

So totally agree with this statement, UP VOTE it +1000!

Leatherette should not ever be in Cadillacs and only in low end Buicks and all things Chevy.

[ccap41]

Leatherette sure doesn't seem like the "Standard of the World". 

[Drew Dowdell]

47 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Leatherette sure doesn't seem like the "Standard of the World". 

It doesn't seem like "The Best or Nothing" either...

GLS and all below it come with Pleather seats standard.

[ccap41]

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

It doesn't seem like "The Best or Nothing" either...

GLS and all below it come with Pleather seats standard.

Exactly

[Robert Hall]

So Cadillac and M-B don't offer cloth interiors in the US?   I'm not a fan of cloth interiors, but I know some people like them. 

[ccap41]

Cloth is absolute garbage.. I hope to never own anything with cloth seats. 

[Robert Hall]

I had cloth a long time ago...'80s Fords.  But my more recent vehicles have been leather..leather is so much easier to keep clean...

[ykX]

23 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Cloth is absolute garbage.. I hope to never own anything with cloth seats. 

I disagree, cloth is not hot in the summer and not cold in the winter. Leather looks better and it is easier to clean but they need to heat and cool it to be comfortable.

Really expensive cars put alcantara now I believe, because it is better than leather.