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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    The LS7 came out 8 or 9 years ago, it is an old engine at this point. GM did of course keep the 3800 around for 30 years, but I don't think the LS7 will live on in any 2016 or beyond models. Even thinking that Cadillac can be saved with a Chevrolet engine from 2007 is exactly why Cadillac is where it is.
  2. smk4565
    And it comes in exciting beige!
  3. smk4565
    A 7 liter V8 in the ATS-V would be bonkers. I am all for V8s, and it would match the power of the C63 S V8. But would it fit, how loud or unrefined might it be, and what will it weigh? I like it when a car company doesn't just play it safe and actually builds the concept car or does something like a Charger Hellcat that is just nuts. It would be cool if they put the 7 liter in the ATS-V, but I still think GM retires that engine.
  4. smk4565
    Above $60k is too much. What made the first Genesis good was you could get a V8 for $42,000 and I think even the current Genesis is high $40s for a V8. So if you'd like a V8 luxury sedan for under $50k it offers a good deal. 10 years ago there were Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Jaguars with V8s for $45-50K, those cars are gone the Lexus GS430 is gone, it is sort of sad that the V8 is pretty much dead in cars under $65k.
  5. smk4565
    Do U sell for Benz? Just wondering. Either way.. I would say that Cadillac as of late have been showing a few exclusive engines coming.. the TT V8 is on its way, and I highly doubt that they will use it anything except Cadillac I don't work for Benz in anyway. I do think the TT V8 will be Cadillac only which is good. But the Germans already have lots of TT V8s, Cadillac needs one now, not in 2020.
  6. smk4565
    Cadillac should build cars like the El Mirage and Ciel (although called Eldorado) but they don't "DARE" to because the bean counters will veto a low volume, high budget product like this. And they can't utilize the GM parts portfolio and put a 3.6 liter V6 in a $100,000 car, so that means developing new powertrains that can't be used in other GM vehicles. Acura, Lexus and Infiniti are in the same boat, they don't stray to far up market or too radical (other than the LF-A), they mostly stick to V6 powered sedans. Cars like this are what Mercedes does. Fear not lovers of full size convertibles, the S-class convertible is coming soon.
  7. smk4565
    Porsche makes a 900 hp car though. So they went well past 700. But on the 911 and Boxster, keeping weight down is more important than adding power, I would agree with Porsche on that one.
  8. smk4565
    No one wants a performance Sonic or Cruze. Old people that don't want a Corolla buy the Cruze and the Sonic is just cheap transportation. Once you add $5k to a Cruze or Sonic to make it a performance model, you are basically at base Camaro money, so there is your $25k sports car.
  9. smk4565
    Good pictures of the dealerships. The ones with the Cadillac section in the corner do look bad, and the stand alone looks better. Although Cadillac also has over 900 dealerships so they are easily accessible. So the image may hurt a little when it is sold in the corner of the Chevy store, but they have more exposure too.
  10. smk4565
    What will hurt the Escalade is some of the ballers and rappers will move toward the Bentley and Rolls Royce SUVs because they'll want the most expensive, flashiest, most powerful, etc SUV to one up the other baller or rapper. I think a lot of the Escalade's image was from a lot of celebrities driving it, once the celebrity crowd moves on, the image may get hurt a bit. Although I still think it will be a strong seller unless gas goes really high.
  11. smk4565
    Obviously you don't want a car dealership that is building about to fall over or with carpet from the 70s in it. But most any new car dealership regardless of brand is pretty new or well maintained in the Pittsburgh area. I don't think dealerships are the reason Cadillac struggles with sales or why another brand does well with sales. I think it is about product and marketing.
  12. smk4565
    I agree with Balthazar about the dealership experience being over rated. People don't buy a car based on what the show room looks like. Personally I'd rather order a car online and skip the whole dealership process if that were doable. Where the dealership experience matters would be in the service department. Because you could take your car to a lot of places for service, so if the dealer wants to get repeat service business, they obviously need to have the facilities, customer service, loaner cars, etc to make people come back. From the consumer's end, I worry more about product that I use on a daily basis rather than the design of the store that it came from. Agreed also on Cadillac ATS and CTS ads. You hardly ever see either of them, so maybe their advertising budget is too small, or maybe it is too much wasted on "Dare" ads with a blurry CT6 that isn't even on sale yet. Either way the marketing is a problem, has been for years.
  13. smk4565
    Jaguar could get some female buyers with a small crossover. But what I don't really get is Land Rover is the SUV wing, and Jaguar is sports cars and sedans. A Jaguar SUV is sort of competition for Land Rover. Unless they make the Jaguar crossover much more car like and smaller than the mostly trucky Land Rovers. Jaguar is so starved for sales though, they'll probably try anything. On the BMW topic, they are getting an X7 full size SUV, with a rumored optional V12 engine. That will be their Escalade competitor and the V12 model would compete with the Bentley Bentayga and Mercedes-Maybach GL.
  14. smk4565
    Cadillac is under cutting: E-class: $52,650 Jag XF: $50,175 5-series: $49,950 GS350: $48,600 Audi A6: $46,200 CTS: $45,345 C-class: $38,400 Lexus IS: $36,350 Audi A4: $35,500 ATS: $33,215 3-series: $32,950
  15. smk4565
    ATS-V might get a V8 once Cadillac gets their own V8. Now that there is an upgraded 3.6 V6, I guess they could turbo that, but I see Cadillac going with the 3.0 TT V6 in the future, and phasing out that current 3.6 twin turbo engine when this new V8 arrives. Seems a bit redundant to offer a 3.0 and a 3.6 on the same model and if displacement tax is a concern, the 3.0 will win out. Then you set up an all turbo lineup for Cadillac with 4-6-8 cylinder options. I think the LS7 is dead.
  16. smk4565
    The Camaro isn't really in competition with the 4-series, someone before posted about the Camaro being an M4 killer. I am not a BMW fan boy, but I wouldn't under estimate the M3/M4. But again they aren't really in competition, one is a luxury car, one is not. On the LS7 issue, I bet they just drop it. Would make more sense to offer a supercharged LT1 in a top end Camaro because the engine is already used in the Corvette and CTS-V. They could turn down the boost to make it a little less powerful than the Corvette if they are worried about overlap.
  17. smk4565
    True, hardly anyone buys a Jag, but they'll sell like 1,000 a month, they will have to steal that off someone. People bought the X-type and it was terrible. I don't think it is a big threat either, but it might take 200 cars a month away from Cadillac, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes.
  18. smk4565
    U really are delusional. Your argument of sales is ridiculous.. as the Camry outsells several cars in its segment 3:1. The fact that with its numbers.. it generates $1 Billion in profit.. proves my original, and Balthazar's supporting assertion about it being overpriced. That is.. essentially how U make profit. Only a fool would pay full price for an S-Class... when U can get one for about $30K off a year later. I can find U a '13 S550 with 23K miles for under $60K. That's a fact But the Camry doesn't outsell the Accord, Altima and Fusion combined, and cost 20% more than those 3. If buyers thought the S-class was over priced or a rip off then it wouldn't sell. S-class has over 40 years on top of the mountain, no one has knocked it off yet. They have sold about 3 million S-classes since 1972 when they actually started using the S-class name. There must have been a lot of fools walking into Mercedes dealerships since then. I am sure the bean counters at GM would have loved if the ELR sold 1,000 units a month at their $75,000 price tag so they turned a profit. Rather than having almost no sales and having to kill the product off as another one and done.
  19. smk4565
    Damn it.. The Stingray does it in 3.5-3.7 secs. The Camaro SS is gonna be lighter than the ATS-V.. thus that's where I got my number Chevrolet's website states 3.8 seconds, I assume that is with the 8-speed auto. Car and Driver (who I think gets the quickest 0-60 times) got 3.9 seconds on a Corvette Z51 package manual transmission.
  20. smk4565
    Tell me how, don't just copulate. As I put earlier in the thread, the CTS has the lowest starting price out of the E-class, 5-series, GS, XF, A6, or Q70. They'd have to raise the price by $5,000 to make it class average price. They are the value leader, but weak on sales. When you win on price, but get outsold, the other cars must be winning at a lot of other things. Base V6, better interior, more exciting rear end styling could have helped make more impact. Remember the CTS is the freshest model in the segment too, the XF, E-class and 5-series are all getting new models in the next year or two. The current generation A6, GS and Q70 came out in 2011, so those will be due for new models in a couple years too.
  21. smk4565
    The ATS 3.6 isn't all that cheap, it is priced in line with competition V6s as Z06 said. I looked up a Road and Track comparo from 2013 and the ATS 3.6 Premium was $52,405, the most expensive car in the test. The Lexus IS350 was $47k, 335i was $49k and the Infiniti Q50 was $51,805. Car and Driver just did a coupe test last month, the ATS was $52k, the Lexus RC was $54k and Audi S4 $59k. They are all in the $50k range. What I'd like to see Cadillac do it put a 380 hp 3.0 liter TT V6 as an ATS V-sport and midlevel CTS engine that sort of would sit price wise were the current 3.6 V6 sits. The CTS could start with 3.6 V6, dump the 4-banger because they hybrid will be there for fuel economy seekers, ATS I'd be tempted to do a base V6 so it starts with the middle Camaro engine.
  22. smk4565
    The Corvette does 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, the Camaro SS will be about 400 lbs, more, I stick to my original 4.2 second prediction. Which is still very fast, but the Camaro is not going to be faster than a Corvette. But you never know, it could surprise and crack 4 seconds.
  23. smk4565
    In most months the S-class outsells its closest 3 competitors COMBINED and at a higher transaction price. It creates $1 billion a year in profit for Daimler, there are no problems in the cash making department with the S-class. There is a new A4 coming next year, along with the mild refresh the 3-series, and the Jag XE is coming. Competition is only increasing. The ATS doesn't sell now, and they have another 3-4 years in this life cycle. Dressing up the interior an extra level would help. I don't see a downside to taking much of the design and materials for the ELR interior and putting it into the ATS which is a similar sized car.
  24. smk4565
    I don't think it will be quite that fast. The ATS coupe weighs less than the Camaro, even with a 200 lb weight loss, the Camaro would still be in the 3550-3800 range, which is what the Mustang is. ATS with the 2.0T does 0-60 in 5.7 seconds, with the V6 it is 5.6. I think the Camaro will be close to those numbers in the mid 5's. The Ecoboost Mustang does 0-60 in 5.2 seconds with the auto and gets 32 mpg, I think that will top both the 4 or 6 cylinder Camaro in acceleration and fuel economy. The Mustang V8 does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, I do think the Camaro V8 can beat that and hit 4.3 seconds. An ATS-V does 0-60 in 4.2, I think the Camaro SS will be just a tick slower. Acceleration times will be close, so the question is going to be how the Camaro and Mustang compare in handling, ride, braking, interior features, etc. The Mustang finally has independent rear suspension, the Camaro has the alpha chassis and magneride. I wouldn't buy either of these cars, but I am curious to read the comparison tests and see the comparison shootout videos because I do think they are close in a lot of ways. Even the dimensions and shapes are similar, this might be the closest the 2 have been in 40 years.
  25. smk4565
    The S-class isn't overpriced, if it were then people would stop buying it. But it has been the global sales leader for about 40 years, people must think it is a good buy. Unlike the ELR that will spend about 4 years on market with no sales and be killed off. The ATS interior doesn't drive away sales, but I don't think it is bringing people in either. The ATS is a poor seller, it needs something that is a wow factor to bring in more buyers.
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