G. David Felt

In taking a look at BMW sales for 2012, while across the board with all divisions sales are up 15.2%, Manual tranny makes up only 1.5%. I wonder if the lack of manual is due to upper mgmt looking at it and asking does it make sense to offer it at the cost to build and test it? MB has about the same percentage and Audi is just under 1%. Now this was just looking at the US market. Compare to world sales and of course manual tranny jumps up big time. This then begs the question, if Cadillac is wanting to get back into Europe / Global sales, then why would they not realize the large percentage of Manual drivers and build the Tranny to support these engines as a Global Tranny.

I would totally agree with you that Honda and Toyota have fallen far behind. Be interesting to see what the next few years do for the auto industry.

What rust? That's just dust as far as dirt is concerned. It's way cleaner than my '81's engine bay and my car is stored in winter too. Looking at the firewall, hood hings, Brake system, I just see lots of rusts for a car that supposedly been always garaged. I agree it is very very clean overall, but then again, I am OCD about how I degrease and detail my own auto's. You're spoiled living in the North West. That is cleaner than they normally come around here. True, I do love not having to deal with the Humidity or winter road salt.

Would be interesting to see what the DB level is of this engine inside an ATS and compare it to BMW, MB, Audi with their equal engine and then post the results. Put up and shut up to the car magazines.

This car would be awesome with a nice set of BF Goodrich All Terrain tires! I could enjoy driving this and sitting up nice and high!

What rust? That's just dust as far as dirt is concerned. It's way cleaner than my '81's engine bay and my car is stored in winter too. Looking at the firewall, hood hings, Brake system, I just see lots of rusts for a car that supposedly been always garaged. I agree it is very very clean overall, but then again, I am OCD about how I degrease and detail my own auto's.

You crack me up with hitting the nail on the head! Nice statement!

For an east coast car it is amazingly clean, i do questions about it not being driven in winter due to the dirt and rust in the engine bay, but clearly it was kept cleaner than most cars.

IF this is true, it is very exciting indeed!

I agree, we ARE a GLOBAL Economy and as such it becomes a balancing act to decide what we build and export from here and what is built out of the country. In this case with Spring Hill coming back online and the increase in models that are built here, it is only logical that some continuation of building in Mexico and Canada happens. See the movie Bordertown with Jennifer Lopez. This is about the Nafta and large manufacturing just over the boarder and the death of thousands of woman. It is amazing to see the whole working to build a better life and yet the corrupt police / politicians both in the USA and Mexico to central america with the expansion of Nafta has allowed some crazy stuff to go on. I hope some day they can stop the brutal murders of woman in mexico who work at these plants. FYI - Border town is a well done movie but not for the faint of heart.

Bing me was awesome!!!!

I agree that for the most part the reviews have been great when you consider these writers love affair with the German and Asian auto builders. To have them list this as a consideration is Great and a start of better things to come. The CORE piece for GM is to stay focused and continue to improve rather than sit on their butts and just take in instant gratification. I think with a Global Economy, more companies are realizing the need to be quality all the time. In regards to the LTS, if they have a twin turbo V6 with Electric motor assist so that it gets out standing gas mileage along with performance, it will make many people happy. GM needs to do the following: 1) Keep ALL V cars supercharged or turbo charged engines for their class of car. Could be 4, 6, or 8 bangers, but should be best in class. 2) Use smaller turbo engines along with electric motor assist to be best in class in performance along with Fit and Finish of the car and quality materials. 3) Stay the course with long term building and we will have Cadillac back as the standard of the world.

But will they us balancers and other forms to make this engine silky smooth and luxury quality for the ATS?

That was FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!! Love Holland Drink and Repair Song!

I hope so, not really sure myself, but I can say that both the Kirkland and Bellevue Chevy dealerships have multiple ZR1 Corvettes on hand. Course with an average income of $89,000 a year for those cities, I am sure there are more than one or two high tech workers who can afford one. Just like the BMW & MB dealerships there they both have special departments for the M and AMG series of auto's.

WHY WHY WHY, THat is a freakin shame! There is a shop here in columbuis that continually has 10-15 older GM cars outside, they build tons of Donked vehicles. Saw a Olds cutty, 1969, with W-31 decals on the front fenders...IIRC W31 was a rare package...it had been donked....and it looked like they started with a high dollar nut and bolt restored car... Second W31 I've seen donked. I agree...but love the BRZ. That may well be my next ride, if I don't go for a Verano or a focus ST. Donking rare cares should be a crime. I never understood why you would do this as it just looks silly. Do you really get any better road handling? I think not.

Nice write up, you have been consistent in taking us on a journey. I have enjoyed it. I know you know your photography needs work, but always keep in mind is there things growing out the the person, the bike, the car etc. When you have poles growing out of the main object, it takes away from the image. It also helps people to show a before photo before disassemble so that one can get the right orientation of the part. I assumed based on your write up that we were looking at the inside of the fuel filling area. Very interesting design I will say that . Hope you have a good ride and nothing more goes wrong for the rest of the season.

Bummer sorry to hear you could not go. Did you at least get yourself a GMTruckGuy74 Sandwich? (curves)

This makes total sense. I really doubt you will find a dealership in the Ozarcs that would be able to sell a Viper. Same with a chevy dealership in boondocks of Idaho trying to sell a Corvette ZR1. When your dealing with 6 figure auto's, they should be kept to those dealers that can truly offer the best experiance available to the buyer.

+SRX Very True, I had forgotten about the SRX baby.

"The naturally aspirated four-cylinder idles smoothly enough, though that's thanks largely to some cleverness in the engine mounts." no... it totally has nothing to do the fact that it is a brand new engine that was designed with NHV control in mind... "We fully expected the turbo four-cylinder to be the sweet spot in the ATS line, and while it feels properly quick, the engine still lacks the buttery refinement of offerings from Audi" ... uh... has the dude actually driven a 2.0T Audi? Fun engines, sure, but I don't dare call them "buttery" "On the street, Sport Mode simply devolves into a button to make the transmission worse. The overly sensitive programming will kick down a gear and hold it on mild freeway onramps, sticking the transmission in third or fourth gear and keeping it there long enough for us to wonder if we've broken something. In the end, it does exactly what shift logic shouldn't do: make the driver aware of the transmission." .... you mean that when you drive normally in sport mode, you don't like the way the car is performing? My CTS had this sport mode... it was meant solely for hard driving situations. Put it in sport mode and drive it like you stole it, otherwise, let the transmission stay in normal mode. Very true I agree with both your statements, my CTS with sport mode is awesome when I drive it hard the way it was engineered. All luxury vendors have price value engines and I have yet to meet one that is truly buttery, I would say the writer would have done well to avoid making that statement about engines.

I actually have to disagree with you, I felt the whole story was a fair assessment of the ATS. We all felt the base 4 banger was the entry price value leader. It is just sad that the writer bangs it without mentioning that BMW and Audi also have their price leader. Over all the rest of the car was very positively reviewed.

Interesting, Interesting, Interesting. I think this is the right approach to not have this in Europe. Focus on the ATS and CTS for Europe and then add other new models as Cadillac's fortune grows.

I have to say that the grill is a knock off of the BMW, the headlamps scream Honda to me and the dash screams Subaru. Does Hyundai /Kia have any of their own DNA / Style trends or is it just copy bits and pieces from other car companies? Over all long term reliability and Resell value along with them finding their own style is their biggest challenges.