regfootball

And now the XT6 ! ??????

I don’t have much time right now to go full throttle on this like I want to but why does this approach remind of a “Cadillac XL7 “. Practically same dimensions. Pedestrian 3.6 v6. Badge engineered stretched common crossover to plug a showroom hole. Done on the cheap. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/suzuki/xl7/2007/specs/xl7-awd-4dr-luxury-w3rd-row-287331 except they’ll probably sticker it at 70k The Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator will wipe Cadillacs ass off the floor I never thought I would go back to Ford products but it’s hilarious to see this train wreck but we also should not be shocked if this becomes Cadillacs main seller grandma and grandpa would have bought an XT5 if it had a third row, you know

Terrible

So maybe Johann got the CT6 and hot vee blackwing motor approved and then was told they were scrapping it. Maybe he had an Escala type CT7 in play. And maybe then he got the news that the new mob at GM wanted to axe it all. Probably said screw this and bye. Meanwhile Cadillac has to stretch an XT5 into an XT6 to hope for some sales volume. Have to sell some crossovers in order to raid the coffers to fund electrics. There are gas stations every few miles off the interstate. Would really like to see what the plan is for adding dozens of electric chargers at every Holiday and Qwik Trip before they put all these new electrics on sale. Shouldn’t the chargers be in place when they want to sell the cars ? How is this even relevant. They just introduced the XT6. Holy crap it’s terrible. Must be why they introduced this news on EV’s. To take your attention away from how comically terrible the XT6 is.

if you and your spouse worked a full day and to keep schedule, needed to haul family of four on a 4 or five hour trip up to grand dads for a family function the next morning. You would want to make as short of drive as possible. you can go 300 miles on your gas tank and no one needs 45 minutes to pee. the 45 minutes to plug in an electric is a major inconvenience and extends a day even longer. if you were driving from omaha to the black hills if you add two or three charging stops to your trip you are adding 2 hours of time that no one has.

DRIVEN: 2017 Cadillac XT5 Luxury 3.6 AWD (preowned vehicle review) HIGHS: -the 3.6 in this GM vehicle is decently powerful. -nice comfortable seats, good cabin space -dash design and layout is simple and effective -good commanding view of the road. -i do dig the steering wheel -floats along like Cadillacs of yore, sort of, give it credit for good comfort. LOWS: -milk -toast -What are you getting here any different than a trimmed out Ford Edge? -Doesn't feel like a luxury vehicle (to me) even though it is 'nice'. -Vehicle is bulky and not really nimble. -leather and plastics need to improve in quality and feel -Ride and drive is not much different than any number of vehicles priced as much or lower. Nothing special about the way it drives! -Cargo area should have more space -some people who buy Cadillacs only buy used ones, after they have depreciated heavily. This vehicle ensures there will be a steady and large supply of vehicles for those folks. SUMMARY Not worth writing much on my end. A pleasant transportation device but you're not getting something with extreme amount of benefit a luxury brand is supposed to deliver. That said, if your thing is a nice bread and butter GM vehicle with lots of trim and options, this is ok. Dissect your expectations and if this simply meets your needs, and you like the level of trim it provides go for it. I am predicting the 2020 Explorer will be a fantastic drive in comparison. I just think the XT5 is really not much different than a Ford Edge at the end of the day. So much for status.

On new years eve eve i attempted to drive my mom up and back 5 hours each way and ran into terrible roads, ice and weather. I didn't have time to charge a car, and i ultimately got stuck a couple hours from home and had to spend the night. the storm unleashed like a winter storm does with huge cold, wind etc. the type of stuff electrics has to demonstrate you lose no range, reliability, or ability to find fuel and refuel anywhere in all those harsh conditions. Much of the US is a north climate state and people who live in that climate won't compromise on their vehicle's ability to perform in terrible / unsafe conditions. face it, if they can incorporate full electrics / autonomous, they could conceivably control your car a lot easier. i.e. take over your car and you give up your freedom on how you want to drive. that is indeed part of the plan I bet. 45 minutes is unacceptable as car travel is cheaper than plane and takes less time and you don't have to get searched by dolts at the airport.

Tesla's growth has hardly been a product of free market. Tesla has benefitted from subsidy like lots of other green initiaitives back a few years ago. No doubt the demand is free market as a rich guy toy, but Tesla doesn't even turn profit. Really would be best if Tesla folded like it might, and even if GM buy it, carve the meat off the bone and feed the rest of the scraps to the dogs. In general, legacy marques still can survive just fine, it's just that more and more of these makers have to collaborate on projects, platforms, powertrains, and technology. It just a question of who wants to get into bed with who. In theory GM should have been able to make Opel work or ever work with PSA, but Europe is a cultural world mess these days and I can see why GM would want to stay the eff out of it.

DRIVEN: 2019 Cadillac XT4 Premium Luxury AWD 2.0t, sticker north of 50 for sure HIGHS: -Pretty spot on size for compact class for Cadillac, this will be easy to park for urban dwellers or those who park in ramps. -A Cadillac with some personality, whoa. -Despite what you've read, this is actually a smooth engine, and it revs nicely. -I felt the acceleration was very good and more than I expected following reviews I've read. And the transmission really kicked down nicely when i needed it. -Very nice responsive steering. Perfect quickness and a very nice size steering wheel to work with. This wasn't a sport model yet to me this is sportier than so many other vehicles out there. -It's an all wheel drive vehicle, but you wouldn't have guessed during the drive. I didn't feel excessive weight or drag like on most AWD vehicles. The AWD may have been fully turned off but even then on other cars you still feel the car carrying around all the other stuff all the time. I didn't feel that here. Overall the chassis felt tight. -I feel very good cabin space front and rear for a compact class. Right size, I even had what i felt was decent elbow room -I felt the seat height and dash location was very good. I didn't feel like i was sitting up too high like a lot of CUV's but i still could get a nice leg extension for CUV comfort. -Really liked (and I didn't think I would) the dash layout. Gauges were nice, the chiclet buttons for climate i would eventually figure out what each was for but they are RIGHT there. The steering wheel buttons don't feel cheap even though there are a lot of them crammed in there. Dig the size and shape of the new shifter, and the knobs for multimedia behind the shifter initially seem helpful to cut down pawing at the dash for audio functions. The in dash screen is at a nice angle and doesn't dominate the dash like say, the 2020 Ford Explorer's. Overall I was very surprised that I didn't really take issue with any material quality inside. -No complaints on the front seats. I would always like to spend more time with them but initially they seemed supportive for even a bigger guy. -I think this is a vehicle that would appeal to the target market of younger women, if they can look past the badge, and if you can get them in the seat. -Overall, this vehicle has a much different feel than the milquetoast XT5 I drove immediately prior. Really its quite evident very quickly between the two how different they are when you get it on the road. -A really good vehicle for singles or DINK empty nesters, who won't be carting around a lot of extra people and stuff often. A good second vehicle for those who may already have another larger utility vehicle in the fold as well. LOWS: -Exhaust is loud, and I think this is what some reviewers perceive to be coarse powertrain. Admittedly I think Cadillac needs to tone down some of the exhaust sound and add some more sound deadening inside the cabin). "Luxury" does mean a certain level of tuning out noise levels and certain types of road noise. I won't classify it as egregious, just a bit different than what those shopping Cadillacs are used to hearing. -Car had good power but I hope to see them offer an optional state of tune of 300hp or so (and more mid range torque snap); the vehicle is spunky and more power available would really add to the aura of sportiness. -While I loved the steering, it's almost awesome, just asking for a bit more steering heft and weight to go with the quickness. -If i recall, the rear seat backrests don't recline, that should be something you'd expect in a 50k vehicle. -Shfter / console does tend to cut into your leg space more than it should I think. -GM still wants to push this shifter with an odd operation. I guess it just takes awhile to get used to, but I want to really know what the benefit is to it being different. -There are those that criticize the styling as either being too much like an old Ford Edge, or too much old school GM folds and creases. I would not call the XT4 sleek, I will say that. I wish the design was less safe, even though it's just fine. -Not having driven a lot of the competitors of this class of vehicle it is hard for me to know if it is really deficient in some areas like some reviews suggest or if it's just media bias. -Pricing is pretty ambitious, let's see what happens with that. Value is decent at lower MSRP's but like other GM's the pricing gets comical when they start adding a ton of stuff; then at that point there isn't good value there. -Be absolutely certain you don't want something larger than a compact class vehicle, especially if this is your daily driver and needs to serve all your passenger needs. SUMMARY I am usually pretty homer on GM stuff, so this was probably going to get a good review from me anyways, and I really do put out the disclaimer that I don't know what an X1 or XC40 is like. But to me I judge this in two significant ways. I think it could potentially appeal to younger women who take the chance to drive it (which is exactly what GM is hoping for), and I think some of GM's usual fan base.... I will be curious to see the reaction. I've already read some owner reviews of this vehicle on other websites and such and some typical Cadillac fans think its not posh like they are used to. I think the liveliness of the XT4 is something new for pedestrian Cadillacs and I think its a good direction that we shall see if it sticks. But I liked it well enough assuming lower trim spec and a careful control of the price. No letter grade here, I just enjoyed driving it, it was fun, i could live with it apart from overall usually just wanting a larger vehicle. Plenty of opportunities to fine tune little things as far as perceived refinement and maybe adding more power. Once they do that, I hope to see this do well in the market .

So maybe Johann got the CT6 and hot vee blackwing motor approved and then was told they were scrapping it. Maybe he had an Escala type CT7 in play. And maybe then he got the news that the new mob at GM wanted to axe it all. Probably said screw this and bye. Meanwhile Cadillac has to stretch an XT5 into an XT6 to hope for some sales volume. Have to sell some crossovers in order to raid the coffers to fund electrics. There are gas stations every few miles off the interstate. Would really like to see what the plan is for adding dozens of electric chargers at every Holiday and Qwik Trip before they put all these new electrics on sale. Shouldn’t the chargers be in place when they want to sell the cars ?

or perhaps we can figure when exactly and what exactly the global charging and power supply infrastructure will be, roll it out and have it in place for that EV we are all going to buy. Any chance we can carry a spare battery in case the one on the car dies?

And is this platform at the expense of other Cadillac ICE vehicle platforms that people will actually buy. It should be in addition.

XT6 spy shots suggest that the dash of the Xt6 is the same as the XT5. Imagine if cadillac just makes the XT6 a three row XT5......

I watched part of the reveal, yes that was pretty whack how they created that landscape! New Explorer looks like it fits right in fine in the Ford showroom without any ripples. Looks a bit wagony to me, but that's ok. Interior is nice and simple. I don't care for the vertical ipad on the dash, i would be fine with a smaller screen in landscape. Overall I can't say I would really change anything about this, not often you can say that about new vehicles these days. This would be a good choice to be as a base or XLT 4WD with cloth and power seats and not much else. Well, heated seats and remote start too. Is the new Blazer priced higher than this Explorer? Hybrid and turbo six both appealing to me.

still nergy as hell, we've long since past the point where in order for electrics to become mainstream, they have to look mainstream, and not continue to appeal to the greenies primarily

FUGLY

and yet it's a yawner to drive.......... if it had a decent engine it would be something possibly. by decent engine, i mean it is begging for a twin turbo v6.

Yes, I like that idea. Isn't the new v8 being built here? Would make more sense to keep building the CT6 here. If Cadillac continued to do styling tweaks and maybe went with new interior (some of the recent improvements help but i am thinking a new knock it out interior) it really usually comes down to pricing and packaging for Cadillac. Even though most folks want crossovers nowadays there are still plenty of folks who like the idea of large Cadillac sedans. I still think it may happen where Cadillac reverses on its decision to kill the CT6 here. I wonder if the aluminum intensive construction influenced the decision to kill it.

it is true the market is saturated and diluted. I still don't see how if Audi can sell 3100 A8's in the US and keep it going, why can't caddy continue to sell the CT6. I suppose that would mean bringing them over from China.

So if it takes 15 years or 25 years to get to that point why divert all the resources to the stuff that won’t sell for 15-25 years. Let that development support itself. Gm still has to build and develop competitive ICE lines of cars and trucks that are among the best offerings out there until that time, and they need those R&D resources to do that. You cannot lose your market share by not reinvesting In What people want to buy now.

why can't they do both. take risk and invest for the innovation. don't skim the R&D money off the successful products and not put it back into the big sellers. what is GM's payoff for dumping all this money of R&D into autonomous and electric? are they just doing this out of the kindness of their heart or did the government hold them ransom to do this? Or is it for PR reasons? Infuriates me that all this money going into electrics and autonomous and no one can say when in the future i can stop anywhere on the highways, plug in my car for 3 minutes, and fully charge to 300 mile range (that doesn't die in cold weather). Until that day is known, GM still has to put full effort into their ICE cars and make them competitive. Just now we'll get chevy blazer for example. where ford edge and murano have been around forever.

i love how GM is taking the profits and not putting them back into products to serve the market now, they are throwing the money for stuff people want to buy out the window at automation and electrification.

yes, this is a great platform for all the products mentioned above, but i guess FCA doesn't want to make any of them! Just starve Dodge and Chrysler and spend more on Fiat and AR. Chrysler really needs an Enclave type vehicle, and also a Ford Edge type vehicle. Dodge could use a Journey replacement. Chrysler certainly could do a 300 replacement off this. They could always continue to noodle the Charger on the platform it is on for those that like that.

DRIVEN: 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe SEL 2.4 AWD and 2.0t Limited AWD HIGHS: -Pleasant new shape, and a new larger size. Not a tweener anymore. -Value for the dollar. Sticker prices comparable to Equinox / Terrain in a much larger package. Lots of standard safety equipment that is not yet standard in even near lux or lux makes. -Nice space inside, both rows, Nice cabin width, ample leg room, nice driving position with really comfortable seats, even the back seats comfortable. Super hot heated seats. -Not a luxury interior but nice fresh design, and some interesting new materials for non-luxury. Dash plastic is nice, door plastic decent, even the fake wood in the SEL trim, even though its obviously fake, is unique and interesting; blends in to the overall level of design nicely. Fresh and interesting looking seat cloth which looks nicer than a lot of other competitors average seat cloth these days. Some of the roof / liner material simulates a linen and is a nice change from the normal stuff you see from everyone else. Excellent and precise fit of interior dash and panel pieces. -Nicely effective center stack and gauge layout. Maybe too simple for some, but very easy to use and identify. Gauge / display are crisp and look good when lit in blue. Touchscreen in a nice spot up high. -Sport drive mode is available and actually is a noticeable change in engine shift points and aggressiveness. -Nice size cargo area, very usable. Seats easily can fold down when at the passenger door. -Steering wasn't objectionable. The average consumer would be good with it. -Turbo 2.0 engine is fairly pleasing in noise and smoothness. While not much quicker seemingly than the 2.4, it does feel like a choice most owners would be far more happy with over the life of a lease or payment book. LOWS: -Lane keep assist is too damn determined to keep you in the lane; it's very aggressive to point of being creepy. Makes me concerned how well Hyundai does the safety systems in terms of reliability and proper functioning. -Really hated how the gauge lighting changed to Pontiac Excitement! red when you selected the sport drive mode. -Touchscreen is pretty small by today's standards.... it could stand to be angled up a little more to the eye, too, actually. -Even with as decent as the interior is, it clearly remains a non luxury / non aspirational interior. -2.4 engine is spunky, but pretty noisy and maybe average smoothness or below at best. In combination with a power sapping all wheel drive, it's not an endearing powertrain combo. It takes a lot of coaxing to get decent motion out of it. -2.0 engine as mentioned above is better, and is smoother overall. The issue with the 2.0 and AWD combo is that it maybe isn't as much faster than the 2.4 that it should be. I almost think they should make the 2.0t standard on all trims but the base trim. And they should try to get more tune of the 2.0 if they can. In both cases, overall, the powertrains just don't feel anything besides average or a below average in overall feel and performance. -I mentioned creepy above, in fact at the end of the day there is just an overall little bit of a creepy feel to each Hyundai I drive and this has that in spades as well. Something that is slightly unfinished and unpolished about it. But maybe it's because I am so used to driving domestic vehicles that Hyundai just feels weird each time. Sort of like, this is reverse engineered greatly sort of feel. SUMMARY: Perfectly pleasing and a more than adequate for most of Hyundai's buyer base.....those who want cheap payments, easy credit, value, good list of standard safety features, and lots of warranty. It's hard to know where this sits compared to Hondas and Toyotas etc. The size upgrade to the Sante Fe really makes it a good 'value' choice vs. a Ford Edge, for example, although I am guessing i would much prefer the Edge each time. The SF is definitely no longer a tweener you'd compare to something in the compact SUV class. The perfectly acceptable interior and the space it affords will also be seen as a plus among buyers. Drivers seeking class leading driving dynamics may not go for the Santa Fe, but those who don't really care will be absolutely fine with how it drives. It's what I call a B, scoring lots of points for value and being appealing to a wide buyer base, and having lots of space. There are many of those buyers out there. But be sure to look at other choices, many of which would be a more satisfying rig overall. the Santa Fe is still nothing aspirational for sure. It's nothing that is a great disappointment though, either.