Cmicasa the Great

^^^ And the S-Class is Mercedes' HALO car for all intents. It is their Flagship and it is the epitome of what Luxo is supposed to be about since Cadillac left the Big Flagship foray 20 years ago. So often so many of U foreign car defenders will go out of your way to excuse the makers of these cars but absolutely fail or refuse to see the reason behind a domestic issue. Often I wish U'd effin leave this country.. go live in Europe or Asia and be done with it. That's obviously not gonna happen so implore U to wake up and see the logical truth. The Stop sale on the Corvette was for an Airbag issue and a parking brake fix on cars that for the most part have not even left the factory or lots. Your bringing up of the engine issue that C&D experienced could have been attributed to several things.. including them not following GM protocols that are explicitly gone over in the owners manual.

Well that's part of the problem. They don't have the LTS yet. The LTS actually justifies the higher pricing of "under" models. In fact, based on sales, the CTS is not actually selling bad. GM idled the plant because the simply built to many, quite possibly based on GEN2 numbers. That car sold for several thousand less, but again I point to the fact that had some of the new CTSs built been coupes or VSeries, they may not have had to idle the plant. I love the CTS.. but I want another GOD DAMN COUPE CTS.. so I'm not buying one. Stand pat. No budging. Not even gonna look at another CTS until I see a coupe version. I could look at an Eclass Coupe though. Or a 6series. They actually make those. Bottom line is that if GM doesn't build "them" they will NOT "come." Its that simple. I am almost at the point where I see very little with the actual car, ATS or CTS, pertaining to the public. What I see are gaping holes that the competition fills thus adding to their sales numbers under each particular model. For instance.. the Honda Accord. Honda Accord sells a coupe and a sedan. The Sedan is their large and mid-car. At Chevy mid is the the Malibu sedan, an Impala large, and a Camaro coupe. Even with Honda type marketing, positive word of mouth and no Buick Regal and Lacrosse taking sales, can GM catch those numbers on a single Chevy model. Luckily the Malibu and Impala are essentially the same car

And this sort of factual nonsense is continually brushed aside as if insignificant. I will state it again, Cadillac is NOT here to push volume, but still people -clinging to Old World Think- believe Cadillac needs to outsell every competitor or it's 'floundering/failing'… yet no such talk about the A6 or GS, for example. Wonder why the standards are so different for some people?? I think it is because in the case of Audi they have had growing sales, up about 10% per year for what seems like 5 years in a row now. Only 30% of Audi sales are A6 and higher, so 70% of their sales come from A3, A4/A5 and Q5. They are selling well on the bottom end, which if those are younger buyers that trade up could mean Audi has a bright future. If they can't get people to move to A6 and higher then the future isn't so bright, I don't think they'd be in trouble, but they'd always be seen a bit as a 2nd tier brand if they can only sell in that $30-45k range. Lexus GS and LS sales are crap, but they sell so many RX and ES, the overall brand numbers look good. But Lexus has sold a lot of those 2 cars for years, and they haven't been able to get people to trade up to a GS or an LS, in fact LS sales are probably worse now than they were 10 years ago. The IS has been a bright spot for them, sales of that really picked up this year. If the RX and ES sales dropped 20% and the brand got in trouble, people would be saying the GS isn't carrying its weight and make a deal out of it. The problem for Cadillac is they don't have an 8 or 9 vehicle lineup, and the ATS and CTS are 2 of their newest products and both are down. Cadillac needs the ATS and CTS to survive, Lexus could sell zero GS350's and it wouldn't really matter. The Lexus example is the ultimate example of BS perception. Its a Toyota staple since for as long as I remember. The two top sellers at Lexus are near luxury at best with nothing truly unique versus their Toyota brethren. Example of the ES versus the Avalon or even Camry leaves me scratching my head, right on down to the engines. I could make a better argument for the Impala versus Buick Lacrosse because at least the Buick boasts AWD and truly unique styling and more sound insulation. I won't even go Cadillac XTS because despite its underpinnings it on paper is actually a better car than the LS460 currently. It boasts options over BOTH the Impala and LaX, most notably the TT VSport and MRC. The RX??? GOD don't get me started on that one. An SRX is in so many ways a better vehicle. Cadillac could have absolutely go more respect for it had it too got the VSport designation as an option and had at least 380HP option. Even FWD haters would have had to SHUT DA EFF UP, as it is already a great handler. THe Audi examples could be argued as well. There has been little growth of the company outside of the intro of A3 and a boost in sales from the Q7 and Q5. Ironically the SRX is up almost the same as the Q5, and the Escalade is, for obvious reasons, tracking above the Q7. Cadillac needs a lower price on the ATS. They will move more ATSs if it lowered. They should: 1) Drop the price to $29,995 for the base model but still not strip the hell out of it 2) Actually add a few bits.. in particular the LED lighting on all models standard. 3) Redo engine line-up ATS: 2.0L Diesel 180HP/280lbs 2.0L 300HP/340lbs. TT3.6L 380HP/400lbs TT3.6L 470HP/500lbs

^^^ This. But Cadillac has to figure out how to get people to see that the ATS is that "least expensive" vehicle. Again I have to ask what the gauge is for CTS sales? EClass 6,481 (has sedan, coupe, wagon, convertible, diesel, hybrid, and AMG) 5 Series 4468 + 6 Series 468 = 4,936 XTS 2,972 + CTS 2,592 = 5,564 GS 2,537 A6 1927 Q70 174 The only thing I see that GM screwed up was having the XTS avail as well and not understanding that the XTS, priced almost EXACTLY the same as the CTS. No one will call the XTS a true "large car" thus it is a tweener and taking some of the CTS sales. Furthermore when will Cadillac/GM wise the eff up and realize that the Germans sell in big numbers for the simple reason that they cater to all desires of the segment? Just like my ATS argument a few weeks back... if I want a coupe, wagon, convertible, diesel, hybrid, or Hi-PO model.. I have to go to Benz or BMW. Sales reflect that too. Look at the other competitors sales numbers compared to BMW and BEnz and U will see that variants help push numbers up.

The CTS pricing is actually not bad for the car, just bad for the name OUT THE GATE. If Cadillac solidifies the stance that the CTS is now the MID-CAR by popularizing the ATS in it's position of "entry" then CTS sales will do fine. A Coupe is necessary to push sales up as the last CTS did have the coupe that did account for a documented 30% of total sales. HAving that extra 30% would have put CTS sales up about 800 units to 3400. Interesting tidbit is that the higher priced CTS is still #3 behind the 5series and EClass, but ahead of the A6, GS, XF, Q70, and RLX

Cadillac only has one crossover. The SRX. The Escalade is an SUV .....as are the suburban, Tahoe, and Yukon. If they had 3 or 4, their sales would be a lot more. Look at all the lux marques.....the percent of crossover sales vs sedans..... And that is a FACT. Cadillac should be putting together an all out assault for 2016 MY ready to debut in Summer '15 of at least two new CUVs and a new SRX all simultaneously put out. New ATX (small), New SRX (med.) new CTX (large). Sales would go up JUST LIKE THAT. It is precisely what is driving the market. The Audi Q5 actually OUTSOLD the A4 last month. The two top sellers at Acura are the MDX and the RDX. BMW is adding more and more CUVs. I would assume the reason they don't have smaller CUVs at Cadillac already is Buick..pressure from them is pretty keeping them from adding more.. Nope. Buick is a non-issue and is autonomous from Cadillac. Uwe has made that clear. 'Sides.. Buick is a complimentary brand to CHEVY as is GMC. Cadillac's line-up is independent. Some one brought up Chrysler. What I'm tripping off is the complete GA-GA BS the media is throwing at Chrysler/Fiat.. when the reason why they are up is completely to do with the Ram getting huge incentives and the intro of a new Cargo van and a cheaper alternative to the Grand Cherokee. Charger and 200 are up.. but not by much.. and both more to do with huge incentives to move older models for the new ones.

Cadillac only has one crossover. The SRX. The Escalade is an SUV .....as are the suburban, Tahoe, and Yukon. If they had 3 or 4, their sales would be a lot more. Look at all the lux marques.....the percent of crossover sales vs sedans..... And that is a FACT. Cadillac should be putting together an all out assault for 2016 MY ready to debut in Summer '15 of at least two new CUVs and a new SRX all simultaneously put out. New ATX (small), New SRX (med.) new CTX (large). Sales would go up JUST LIKE THAT. It is precisely what is driving the market. The Audi Q5 actually OUTSOLD the A4 last month. The two top sellers at Acura are the MDX and the RDX. BMW is adding more and more CUVs.

I agreed in some degree with the merging.. but the Accord outsold the Chevy three for a reason that has nothing to do with the cars themselves but the choices that one has when walking into a Chevy dealership. Chevy just has way more choices to pick from versus Honda which literally had a one trick pony last month. Without the added volume from the Accord, sales for the Honda and Acura divisions would havebeen down combined 7 percent in August

The E63 does that via AWD and the current CTS-V was doing 3.9 0-60 as far back as 2009. I have plenty of faith that with GM's tech of Launch Control and MRC they will match or beat the AWD E63 when the new one arrives. I won't even bring up that the E63 AMG weighs well over 4500lbs . The Alpha based CTS-V will most likely come in around 4000-4100. I think U have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much faith in your adopted German people. Eff Germany. and Eff them Good

That would be fine. The Sonic really is the car that should be a Hatch only or a smidge smaller Take the Spark and make it Electric only as a hatch, EV version of the Volt. The name says it all. The Cruze gets a lil smaller in length but interior volume remains. The Malibu get a slight larger interior, in line with the last gen, while the Impala gets SS and AWD until the redo in '19 when it goes to RWD on a decontented Omega platform which, by then, will be 3 years old. Kill SS and Caprice when Zeta dies.

personally I think the Malibu is a far better looking car than the Fusion. As for the sales... the Fusion should sell better than the Malibu. It has a hybrid, a plug-in, and and AWD as an option. Stepping stones? Chevy has 1) the Spark, then 2) the Sonic, then 3) the Cruze, then 4) the Malibu, then 5) the Impala, then 6) the SS and in a way the Caprice. And of course there is 7) the Volt. Its no way someone could tell me that the Spark isn't stealing sales from the Sonic Hatch.. or the Sonic Sedan isn't stealing sales from the Cruze. Fact is the Sonic is essentially a compact.. and the Cruze is essentially a Mid-Size. Then we can get into the up sizers. Chevy needs to either condense.. or understand the reality of sales numbers per model are irrelevant

Another thing that occurred to me after I made the Accord comment, is the product mix over at Chevy. Chevy has 3 vehicles competing in similar segments based on size differentials that are nominal (Malibu, Impala, SS) I'm sorry.. but as much as people wanted the SS to return it's sales suggest ONCE AGAIN, that companies should tell Enthusiasts to go EFF themselves in terms of building "cars that people want." That being said.. I think that Chevy should do away with the RWD based application of the SS sooner than later. Give the Impala AWD option and move those letters over from the dead SS (a splendid drivers car) on to the back and side of the Impala while applying the TT3.6L with about 370HP to not muster up the divisions: AWD Impala SS 3.6LTT 370HP AWD Park Ave Super 3.6LTT 390HP AWD XTS-VSport 3.6LTT 410HP If the Buick is a non-issue.. then the Impala gets the 390HP. This would give the Chevy brand a red-hot sedan that handles nicely and has the power to boot, not to mention the more aggressive looks of the Impala That handles one of the problems.. but then it begs the question of why the Malibu needs to continue to exist with the Cruze seemingly growing? My thought would be to slim the Cruze down so it doesn't come so close to the interior dimensions of the Malibu, which should have really been more of a derivative of the Lacrosse than of the Regal/Insignia

Price on Impala is perfect. It actually is cheaper than the Taurus and Avalon 2015 Impala LS Base Price: $27,060 2015 Ford Taurus SE: $27,615 2015 Toyota Avalon XLE: $32,560 2015 Kia Cadenza: $35,100 The problem with the Impala is that Chevy doesn't market it... some how Honda moved 51K Accords which acts as both the Mid and large car for that company

I think all the stop sales and such have finally caught up to GM. They need to get this back on track asap... Cadillac is being clobbered and the SRX even took a huge hit. It too was part of a stop sale campaign

I agree a great deal with the last statement U made. Problem is that Cadillac still has some of the traditional buyers that are simply not wanting a all out sports sedan. They want a BIG CADILLAC in a smaller body. The ATS gives them this, but with handling that seems to make the car corner like it was railed to the road. That being said: The diesel 151-horsepower and 264 lb.-ft. of torque 2.0L from the Cruze could be employed and tuned up to beat the 328d's 180-horsepower and 280 lb.-ft of torque base engine should be a light version of the 2.0L Turbo with about 200hp/220. The issue with the 2.5L is not an issue of unrefined. Sorry to the haters.. the engine is actually quite smooth. The issue with it is that it was not designed with luxury/sport in mind. It is a Chevy/Buick necessity, but CAdillac needs the TORQUE numbers to be higher than the HP. mid engine should be the 2.0L Turbo with 300hp/340lbs. I personally think the Turbo is the most fun to drive if it is a manual, the 3.6L if it is a Auto. The 3.6L is the real issue as it is long in the tooth despite the 2012 upgrade (LFX). 321HP is nice but not great anymore, although again.. the real issue is the torque being stuck at the 274 number. I have heard the new V6 is gonna kill those concerns, but for now I would say to Cadillac a 380HP/400lbs 3.6LTT would be awesome.. and like a LUXURY maker should provide by way of choices to anyone with the cash.. offer both, the V6TT obviously a very profitable upgrade. The VSeries would be the LT1 all the way, unless the TTV6 is gonna be a Cadillac exclusive (maybe a one time loaner to Buick for their GNX) 470HP/500lbs would be a perfect Vseries. D3 tuning is already tuning the VSport to 475HP and over 500lbs of torque, so we know there is room. In summary: ATS: 2.0L Diesel 180HP/280lbs 2.0L 300HP/340lbs. TT3.6L 380HP/400lbs TT3.6L 470HP/500lbs

I think I see what U did there

^^^^ Hence me saying that the looks comment was subjective.. and to each his own. The Styling was "different," but it also was one of those things that convinced a lotta people to buy the car. Either way the review was stellar.. and the reviewer is singing the same praises as many others are about this coupe. One aspect I have long found to overblown by the press reviewing the ATS was the rear seat. Whether it be sedan or coupe.. the car is small and if one wants a larger rear seat.. move up to the two sedan selection Cadillac has already in the Mid-Size CTS or the Full-Size LTS. The reviewer points out that the rear seat is a non-issue for all intents. I agree.

Only thing I didn't get was his hate for the Gen 2 CTS Coupe's styling. It is what sold me on my V. Looks are, as always, in the eye of the beholder.. so I can't dog him out for the commentary. I do agree with a great deal of his points in relation to the internals of all Cadillacs, the driving capabilities of the 2.0L Turbo and the revision of CUE. Glowing review.. and I can't wait to get my ass in the seat of an ATS Coupe for testing. Cadillac.. please for the love of GOD.. when U release the ATS-V, please bring out the sedan and coupe at the same damn time

Ok, calm down, stop breakin $h! in your parent's basement, it's going to be ok. I'm not comparing the two cars, I'm simply curious as to what this first generation's legacy will be. I went into the day expecting to love the 3.6 and like the 2.0T simply because it exists. Much to my surprise, when the day was over I found myself wanting more highway pulls in the 2.0T, more chances to heel toe in the twisties, more, more more! The turbocharged 4 cylinder puts out 275hp/296 lb-ft of torque that is seemingly available at all times. I dropped the thing into 5th on an uphill left hand sweeper, put my foot in it and even at 2000rpm's I felt a substantial shove before reaching peak between 3000-4600rpm. That constant "go baby go" feeling may have something to do with the ATS Coupe being the lightest in it's segment, weighing in at just 3,418 lbs compared to the 4 series' 3,470. Maybe it's the lack of b.s. engine noise that makes the Caddy lighter, who knows. The 2.0 was also equipped with Cadillac's award winning MRC suspension which comes standard as part of the Premium Collection. The ZF rack-mounted electric steering is light but not too light in Touring mode and weights up nicely when in Sport mode. I know this because after finishing one of my favorite canyon roads I happened to look down at the dashboard and notice that there was no little green S there. What this meant was that I'd just flogged the car through some of the tightest curves in Southern California in Touring mode. As surprised as I was, my passenger and Cadillac representative was even more so. I'd gotten so caught up in talking to him that I'd forgotten to put the car in Sport mode before heading up the canyon. I swear this is true, it's not fluff or a marketing gimmick. Though I was thoroughly impressed I was a little bummed because this meant I didn't drive the car to it's full potential and there was no time to go for another lap. You can be damn sure that when I get one for a full review, I'll be going back to that same road and pushing it to the limit(LIMITTTTTT!) and walking along the razors edge. http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/2015-cadillac-ats-coupe-3-6-awd-2-0t-manual-1625987514

I'd say that GM should certainly make it available.. but to answer the question.. what then is the point of the CTS? I understand an L version of your largest vehicle... but your smallest?

Quick question about posting.. I posted this earlier.. is it more appropriate to just send a link to ADMIN when there is a new story so that there are no duplicates?

^^^ I'm pretty sure it is but the best test would be V8 in class versus v8 vs v8 outta class. The Camaro with the same set up would not yield the same result, and would probably be in the 27MPG range. Speaking of which.. That car is gonna surprise the hell out of many when 2016s start showing their numbers. Alpha based, lite, with the LT1 and LT4 set-up is gonna be spectacular. Wouldn't be surprised if the LFX replacement also debuts pretty soon with over 350HP

I'm thinking to get an equivalent Z06 in with all the amenities I got in my Z51 3LT I would be looking at about $90,000. Still a raging bargain... and should assure us that a ZR1 is coming in the next 2 years for the upper range. WOW. I LOVE GM!!!

The 2015 Corvette Z06 packs 650 horsepower and 650 foot-pounds of torque and is Chevy’s most powerful Corvette in its 62-year history. Earlier this year, officials said limited quantities of the sports car would be available late this year. “The 2015 Corvette Z06’s performance and technical capabilities place it in the elite fraternity of supercars,” Harlan Charles, Corvette product and marketing manager, said in a statement. “Very few cars in the world deliver 650 horsepower.” GM debuted the 2015 Corvette Z06 this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The 2013 Corvette Z06 started at $77,590 and generated 505 horsepower and 470 foot-pounds of torque. The 2015 Z06 will be available in 1LZ, 2LZ and 3LZ trim models and also special packages such as a $2,995 carbon fiber ground effects package and a Z07 Performance Package for an extra $7,995. “The Z07 performance package enhances overall performance to make the Corvette Z06 one of the most track-capable cars you can buy off the dealership floor and still drive it to work every day,” Charles said in a statement. The new Z06 also features a new LT4 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 engine and a GM-developed eight-speed automatic transmission. A seven-speed manual also is available. From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140822/AUTO0103/308220063#ixzz3B7jOPG4R

Well the Manual certainly does.. that is when I decide to drive it like I have some sense...