regfootball

(Edit)---write up (still) coming---

what a glorious find this would have been for a road trip machine! three rows of seats! throw cladding on it and call it a CUV! https://www.automobilemag.com/news/1994-buick-roadmaster-wagon-5600-miles-photos-auction/

built in USA?

DRIVEN: 2017 Cadillac CT6 Luxury 2.0E Plug in hybrid RWD (Used vehicle review) HIGHS: Always love driving the CT6, it's a nice size for me, nice ride height, car rides and handles lighter than it is. My other CT6 that I have reviewed you will see I really think its a great package. Quiet interior, once again. So quiet, that I couldn't discern electric operation vs gas, most of the time. Both modes very quiet. Comfortable seats as I have noted before. Some minor bolstering but wider and well padded cushion. Not many cars have this anymore! I have always liked how well layout the gauge cluster is on the CT6, it seems like it crowds the driver, but it is right in your face in a good way. ----repeat comments from before apply----- How does such a big car with such a long wheelbase feel like a mid size car? It doesn't feel heavy and ponderous in any way (it's a light car, actually). And it's fairly nimble, turns tightly. Outward visibility, you see a short hood, and looking out the rear view mirror, the car seems shorter than it is as well. Ride was just the sweet spot balance of cushy and firm for most driving. The steering had nice heft, but not too much. Steering quickness about right for most of the time also. I'd have no problem with a quicker rack in a sport model, but otherwise this was great. ----------------------------------------------- Electric powertrain had some delay and lagging at times but honestly for the duration of the drive it was little and didn't bother me. Maybe on a longer trip it would, although for highway driving in theory its not transitioning between gas and electric like it does in town. I think once you own the car, and learn its driving style, you will know how to work the throttle and drive it so the transitioning is less of an impact. There are a lot of ICE only drivetrains that have transmissions that react similarly slowly but more often. Apart from that, great torque and power. It really is a nice powertrain! Most of the drive was in electric mode but it was a nice; felt like it had turbo thrust without the turbo lag at times. Speed in electric mode built quickly when the drivetrain was not laggy. Would be a great road car, just like the other CT6's. LOWS: Since the battery takes up half the trunk, it makes the trunk fairly useless, and pretty much a deal breaker if this is your main car. The other deal breaker is RWD only; but if you consider California (this car's origin) was the primary market for this, I can a little bit understand not having it set up for AWD. But for me in the north, I would need AWD. GM interiors can look nice in places and cheap in others. Even though most of the CT6 interiors are good overall, at times the dash trim looks not like a luxury brand. Can we project the reliability and the battery life? And for 2017 the plug in range may have been good......... but for today its not great. The plug in hybrids were made in China. I don't think anything seemed different vs a US made car, but some may not like the location of build. SUMMARY: Someday I believe I will own a CT6....question is what year, trim,....and powertrain? After driving this, I could say the powertrain apart from some laggy behavior at times, is wholly good and fine for this car. It was smooth like the 3.6 but with more gusto. Quieter and more Cadillac like character than the 3.0t....that motor is a great motor but is more racy. I would wait over time to find a good 2019+ CT6 with the 10 speed transmission (and of course with AWD). But as for this hybrid, it is not out of place being in the CT6 engine family. And, it has the unicorn factor. Rare....unique. So I totally could enjoy and live with this version of CT6, it's great like the others. Just the trunk and RWD only are deal breakers for me if its as my primary vehicle. Now on to find a couple CT6 RWD only with the 2.0 motors, hard to believe there were more CT6 with 2.0 turbos than v8 engines. I sure hope someday to find an 8 cylinder CT6 to drive...

one reason for the screen sort of being where it is, this is a platform companion to the XT4. I recall reading something from Cadillac design where they had purposely lowered the screen relative to a lot of the new cars coming out (Ford Ipad on dash, that means you). Under the premise of it wasn't up so high blocking your view, and also to be easier to reach when using the screen, since it is similarly located as in the XT4. The screen here while very asymmetrical and a bit overdone, actually does put a bulk of that big screen within easy reach. The buttons to the left of the screen are sort of hard to get to behind the steering wheel though. I think Buick has a desirable ride here, but i think this may have been better as XT5 size rather than XT4 size in the market. Or they should have both sizes. The XT4 is still tight inside but not overly so.....snug, yes. Plywood prices the way they are these days, how can you afford to put those flat slabs of it on these car dashes... LOL "PLOOD"

Some asymmetry is ok but yes it’s ‘quite’ driver oriented in this. Better than the big vertical iPad tacked onto the dash like Ford is doing though, I figure. The interior quality is pretty nice I think for where it sits in the market. I like the interiors of both the new Envision and Encore GX.....I wish the Enclave would update the interior a bit. These new Buick interiors are still pretty consistent in design with my TourX.

Getting my TourX oil changed. Here are some photos of a 2021 Envision ST on the show floor.

we used to go to BUCA a lot but the last 3-4 years it seems their quality has gone down. so, either our running standard was low before, or they have lowered their bar of product quality.

Dealer i bought my TourX from has a new Corvette listed! Cars are sparse right now, so i get the 'market' adjustment. But when it says discount, shouldn't it actually be a discount and instead not be a 35,000 dollar markup?

the mpg drop in states like mine (no comment) have the specially formulated winter gas that is likely as least as much responsible for the mpg loss, as much as the cold weather itself is responsible. And even then, its sort of engine size dependent. My 1.5 Malibu would see up to a 25% hit with its tiny turbo, but normally was about 10-15%. Otherwise, the v6 vehicles I've had have seen about that 10-12 and when its really cold, 15%. On road trips in cold weather, not too much loss, especially once the car itself warms up from the heat by product of the ICE.

considering all batteries underperform once temperatures drop, its not really possible that GM will develop something that eliminates that problem, much less make a notable dent in that problem. that's going to be the unfortunate stigma electric cars will have for decades, notably to substantially less range in cold parts of the season. IOW, zero degradation is a pipe dream.

the AWD won't be ready at launch is what the criticism is, that and yes, GM will make it 10 grand or more, more, for all wheel drive. And even then you probably won't get a bunch of safety equipment or certain features like the HD surround view backup camera view included. the GM way.

Northern climes buyers will expect AWD on the option sheet for this expensive of a crossover; i don't care if the vehicle itself weighs 5600 pounds and actually has good weight distribution...you don't tell buyers what they should get, you provide what the market says it wants, which is AWD for a crossover. We went through this fight 10+ years ago talking about luxury sedans and heard all the 'learn to drive' excuses for rear wheel drive, in the end what the market wanted for the sedans also was all wheel drive, now all the lux sedans have all wheel drive options. (except the high end performance Cadillacs).

you found the sales data I recall reading recently about the XT6 and the XT5. Sales guy when I test drove the XT6 said it was the biggest seller now for their store. XT6 was way overpriced and they didn't put discounts on it till recently, which explains the 18% Q1 increase....likewise you see the slight down number of the XT5 year to year, this despite the XT5 being less expensive. I would imagine by end of this year the XT6 will outsell the XT5. People do want three rows. That said, for a 'make a splash electric' this with just two rows is better. This is a long 'low' (for an SUV) sedan imitator. I think as a prestige vehicle out of the gate, a two row SUV that is LONG and LOW to evoq the feeling of an old Cadillac sedan makes sense. Cadillac has historically been LONG and LOW. I like the look including the deft looking tail fin lights carved into the butt. What bothers me is that despite 'looking' ok, a console between the front seats that is separated from the dash with a couple pull out drawers is so very reminiscent of the Pacifica we just turned in. It always felt cheap. Our new Pacifica has the console flowing into the dash, its far more functional, a real place to put the phone, extra cubbies, feels more luxurious. WTF was Cadillac designers thinking with the pull out drawers. People are going to hate that. WHERE'S THE ALL WHEEL DRIVE

how did I miss this thread until now>?

meh. did the Fusion and Escala breed?

https://jalopnik.com/the-evos-is-the-future-of-ford-sedans-like-it-or-not-1846721014 https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36166446/lincoln-zephyr-concept-revealed-china/

yeah we have a few of those in the garage come to think of it. they are handy.

sure thing, i'll get some soon. One huge downfall to the wagon is the load floor is up higher than it is on the sportback. This is where my ire is with GM here. The sportback may actually have more of a useful cargo area when the seats are folder due to the lower floor. PLus i have already had several instances where the cargo falls out of the trunk when you open the hatch. I need to figure out a barrier solution, as the load floor slopes lower towards the hatch opening. Already had shampoo fly out of the hatch, rool down the driveway and all the way across the street. The problem with the Sportback is that is doesn't have the power hatch like the wagon, and the sunroof on the Sportback is way too small to be anything enjoyable. So the wagon, can't get the v6 and has the higher load floor, but you get power hatch and huge moonroof. The Sportback has lower load floor, and V6 option, but a fairly unimpressive sunroof and no power hatch. If the wagon had the same low load floor of the Sportback that would have made for a lot more cargo area and the most useful load floor. The actual cargo area height of the wagon is not that impressive, actually.

Seen enough of these to say I can’t warm up to the exterior. Still has a faux / unfinished design look to me. The front end is really yucky. creepy actually. interior isn’t too bad I guess. k5 design by KIA is much more palatable but they should have kept the Optima name. Especially since it looks so similar like a mildly evolved version of the last Optima. Wtf is a “K5”? Sort of like wtf is a CT5

Changed back to the all seasons a couple weeks ago. Out about 4,000 miles on last year. Just about at 15,000 on the odo. Despite the strong 2.0, I think it would have been nice to have a v6 option in this car. still agree with one of my own earlier comments. This car on a larger chassis would really more fully realize the concept. Still, enjoying the ride. Another young German car fan gave me the cool car chat when I was getting the tires changed over. ‘Cool wagon, I love those!’

Whoops. Wrong thread. I thought I posted this in random thoughts

At moms. Last chance for me to see both her Cadillacs in one place. She’s sold the 2002 and the buyer is coming to pick it up in May. Then she’ll just have the 2011 left.

I wouldn’t risk towing 5000# with a Traverse and it’s small v6 on anything more than an incidental time or two. Anyone that plans to tow -frequently- just go for the full frame model. With a v8. That will be the most durable over time. we had friends with a Honda Pilot that wanted the Honda so bad and then it was not the best for towing their boat to all the fishing tournaments. I couldn’t imagine buying that used Passport and all the strain on it. If you’re shopping used CUV’s and you see a hitch on it and in particular if you can if that person frequently towed with it often, run. Since then he’s had a ram and Nissan Titan pickup. I maybe could consider a Durango but keep in mind it’s got a Hemi available.

‘Pre-production’ by 2023. That is nothing of substance. That’s an evasive schedule. No production date. Not a number of units available for sale and when. 150,000 miles of testing only? To really test a new technology there should be a few million aggregate miles on prototypes. If you’re talking a ground breaking technology you are going to invest millions of miles in it. more typical GM PR fluff. It shows you what they are blowing through money on instead of keeping their model lines fresh and competitive. check back to cheers and gears in 10 years there will be a recycled version of this story saying similar things. It’s been many years since the EV1 and we still don’t have millions of electrics on the road. That is the pace of how GM works.