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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Why is that 3.6 even in the CT6? Unless the CT6 is replacing the XTS in a sense and they need and entry level model around $50k for the fleets and old people. While they are making "all new" engines, where is the V8? Look across the automotive landscape and no one is selling a sedan with a naturally aspirated V6 for over $50k with the exception of the E-class which is losing the 3.5 liter V6 after this year. The GS350, Q70 and RLX are all $48k.
  2. smk4565
    Why on earth would you benchmark the loudest engine in the entry-moderate level luxury segment for your high end luxury car? And an engine that came out in 2008 and hasn't changed since. Shouldn't they benchmark a Lexus LS460 or something for refinement?
  3. smk4565
    The 3.6 peak power is again at 6800 rpm, the current V6 makes peak torque at 4800 rpm, the new one is at 5300. So you really have to rev the crap out of that engine to get the power from it, which was always something I didn't like about the Gen 2 CTS or the Infiniti G37. Unless you are above 4,000 RPM those cars have no power. The twin turbo makes good power, that is a proper engine for Cadillac. What is curious is they compare it to the A7 and 740i, so is that the target competition for the CT6? If so, Cadillac does realize those cars offer a V8 right?
  4. smk4565
    The engines are a 3.6 liter V6 with 335 hp @ 6800 rpm and 284 lb-ft @ 5300 rpm. The ranger topper is the new 3.0 liter twin turbo V6 with 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque which Cadillac states is more powerful than an A7 or 740i. Cadillac seems to forget those cars offer V8s and a V12 for the 7-series. So the CT6 really doesn't bring any more power than a CTS or CTS v-sport does, I wonder if they price this car in the $55-65k range and just kill the XTS off. Then you have ATS at $35k, CTS at $45k, CT6 at $60k.
  5. smk4565
    I always liked the wheels on that car. The 01 STS had some 7 spoke wheels I believe with slightly beveled edges, those looked good also.
  6. smk4565
    It is a clean look, but it is a little boring too, simple design is good, but perhaps they could have had more colors or something. Overall the inside and out looks similar to the current car. I like the current car, but it is a little dated too, so you wonder if we are going back to the old days of Jaguar where cars go like 20 years without much change.
  7. smk4565
    Lexus interiors have gone really ugly, they do have build quality, but the designs are a disaster. That Infiniti Q70 has been on market for a while and is showing its age, although that interior wasn't good when it was new either. Acura is hopeless, that is just a Honda interior with extra wood and leather. But notice that Infiniti and Acura don't compete with the big Germans, and Lexus sells the LS460 V8 for less than a 6 cylinder A8 or 7-series.
  8. smk4565
    The current Malibu is pretty much a fleet car anyway. But I don't get how GM thinks they can successfully sell an "all new" Malibu while the old Malibu is flooding rental lots and dragging image down.
  9. smk4565
    The thing is who is going to buy it? Current Cadillac buyers have been groomed to spend $45-55k on a sedan for the past 20 years, so is the person that bought a CTS 5 years ago going to trade it in on the CTS? The group that has bought the DTS or XTS could care less about RWD, handling, weight savings, etc, and they aren't going to spend $80k on a car, if they wanted an expensive car they would have bought one in the past. I think Cadillac is going to have a hard time moving buyers up the ladder, at least for the next 5-10 years. The other pathway to sales is to conquest the Germans and the Lexus LS460. So if you don't fit into one of the existing segments, it could be hard to steal buyers that currently have a 7-series or A8. The CT6 is interesting because Cadillac is going into new territory, I am curious to see the final product and even more curious to see how they price it.
  10. smk4565
    Which would make it about 203-204 inches long. So are they going to price it in between and A8 and 7-series? Because then they are competing with the German flagships, if they price it at $60k and make it that big they are competing with the Hyundaii Equus.
  11. smk4565
    I don't think a lot of buyers really care that much about the warranty, it isn't a deal breaker on the car, otherwise the Camry wouldn't outsell the Sonata by 2 or 3 to 1. Cutting the warranty looks bad short term, makes people think GM doesn't believe in their product, but after a few months people will forget about, and most buyers probably only expect 4 yr/50k mile warranties anyway.
  12. smk4565
    Let's say the CT6 is high 190s in length, it would be a little bigger than a CLS or 6-series Gran Coupe or about the size of the LS460. At that size it isn't competing with an S-class or 7-series and it is unlikely the would jump to S-class pricing level. So we could probably assume this is more of a $65-75,000 car. With that size and price the CLS, A7, and 6-series are competitors, but none of those are big volume cars to begin with, and when the CT6 goes on sale, a new E-class will be on sale at the same time, with a new CLS 1 year after. This is a lot of speculating, but I still have a hard time seeing what the CT6 matches up against, it is conventional sedan, not a 4-door coupe or fastback type car, and the size is in between medium and large. Seems like they are between segments. I believe the E-class will have more of a leap forward than the C-class did, which makes me wonder if the CT6 will be better than the E-class, let alone competing with the CLS, and for get the S-class, the CT6 won't contend with that.
  13. smk4565
    yes So what is to say the next 13 years will be any better? If they sucked at it for this long, why all of a sudden would they have the best marketing in the industry? Marketing alone isn't going to save Cadillac anyway, the product line is still too thin and I think there is room for improvement in the existing products. GM spent $2.15 billion in advertising in the USA in 2013, Ford is the only car company that spent more. The ads can't be that scarce because GM is spending the money. So it isn't like they are going to spend more, they need to be more effective with what they do spend. If this CT6 flops Cadillac is in trouble, because not only will it be a short term financial hit, the bean counters will step in and say no more high budget cars, work with turning Chevys into Cadillacs on a shoe string budget.
  14. smk4565
    The CTS started the Cadillac shift to rear drive and Art and Science 13 years ago. Has marketing been bad all 13 years? And who's fault is that if marketing sucks? That is GM's own fault. I also don't think the ATS and CTS are a marketing plan away from being hit sellers. Image hurts Cadillac for sure, but how do you repair that image? You need flagship sedans and halo sports cars. The CT6 I doubt is going to be a 7-series killer, let alone an S-class killer. If the real flagship is coming in 2020, the competition can do a lot between now and then also. Where is Cadillac's sport car? There seems to be some unwritten rule at GM that nothing can out perform the Corvette. Cadillac should have a Corvette killer, they are Cadillac, the best GM brand should have the best sports car. Until Cadillac builds some legendary stuff, they are going to be like Acura or Infiniti.
  15. smk4565
    Having the same options doesn't mean it is the same car. The ATS has more torque in the 2.0T than the Germans, but the C400 has an 80 lb-ft advantage over the ATS 3.6. ATS has CUE, the Germans all have something better. ATS isn't really striking a nerve with buyers, it seems to be stagnant already. Whether it be lack of body styles, lack of a hybrid, CUE, build quality, styling, etc, for some reason it doesn't sell.
  16. smk4565
    I'd imagine the CLA is cross shopped with A3, top end Jettas, Passat CC even though it is larger, it is similar shape and German, Volvo S40/S60.
  17. smk4565
    Cadillac lacks models, and this rebuilding program has been going on since 2003 and isn't working. It isn't hard to know you need either hybrid or diesel, and perhaps even both. Cadillac doesn't have either. Cadillac doesn't sell a convertible. So obviously if someone wants a luxury convertible they are going to get a German car, or a Jaguar F-type. I don't think Cadillac has what it takes to keep the products rolling out as fast as the other luxury brands do. When the CT6 comes, it will just be another big sedan and it sort of looks like other Cadillacs, so people might see it as a $70,000 CTS/XTS type car. It could get lost in the market with how weak of a job Cadillac does marketing new products.
  18. smk4565
    Black Viper hit most of the points. ATS may have a good chassis, but it is saddled with a 6-speed when the others have 7 or 8 and have had them for years. The 3.6 V6 in the ATS has 273 lb-ft, the C400 has 354 lb-ft, big difference. The ATS doesn't have world beater engines, it has engines GM was using in 2011 Buicks. Give the ATS all new engines and transmission to go with that chassis and maybe they will be half way there. Still have to fix CUE, and the boring front end styling. Then at least they'd have a capable product, whether or not the marketing department can sell it would be the question.
  19. smk4565
    Hopefully the CT6 has more than 43 inches of rear legroom since that is what the S-class has and apperently rear leg room matters a lot. Some car rags might knock the ATS rear seat as to why it doesn't sell, I just think it isn't as good a car as the German 3. The Lexus IS is a design disaster, yet it sells fairly well somehow, so that is a mystery to me. If I were Cadillac, I'd be concerned that we couldn't outsell the IS which has engines from 2007 under the hood.
  20. smk4565
    The CLA is a small car, only an inch shorter than an ATS but 3 inch shorter wheelbase. Rear drive cars have better packaging and can stretch the wheelbase out so they can give more interior room. The CLA has a tiny back seat, but probably most CLA buyers aren't using it anyway. CLA sales aren't hurting, the car seems to be performing the way Mercedes wanted it to. The CLA gets 38 mpg highway though, better than any Cadillac, so if you were shopping gas mileage, not back seat, the CLA looks good. Personally, I'd never buy a CLA, it is front drive. Luckily Mercedes makes the C-class with a whopping 111.8 inch wheelbase, which is longer than the 3-series, the ATS, even the XTS. So there are no legroom issues on the C-class which has the best interior in the segment, the most powerful V6 in the segment and the only car in the segment with 500 hp.
  21. smk4565
    So do you like the dopey Mercedes column mounted shifter with push button park? I still like the old school shifter, which I have, but the stock does open up a lot of space in the center console.
  22. smk4565
    The GL competes with the Escalade, the G-wagon is priced a class above, which is basically a 1 vehicle segment. Regardless, I still support heritage names, or even a mix could work. The made up "Escalade" they could use "Elmirage" or some new names mixed with names from the past like Eldorado and Fleetwood. They could even use Aurora, Cadillac had a concept car called Aurora, before that was reworked and sent to Oldsmobile. Rolls and Bentley pull names from the past all the time, Phantom, Ghost, Mulsanne, etc. What doesn't make sense is mixing 2 naming schemes.
  23. smk4565
    BMW and Mercedes don't build garbage product though, and haven't done so for years on end. One should not confuse low price, such as a $31k CLA with being unreliable, poor handling, poor build quality garbage. Even the Cadillacs of the 80s that cost good money were crap, it wasn't just the low end Chevy that was crap. BMW and MB still make good product, their cars are superior to the competition, thus they are still outselling the competition. The E-class is the oldest car in is segment and the 5-series is the 2nd oldest, yet they still outsell the others. For BMW or Mercedes to fall, someone else has to build and market a better product, no one has show the ability to do that. The Metris I don't think will be the downfall at all, they already are producing it and selling it in other markets, so selling it in the US just leads to more profit. They have to keep the profits rolling to fund the R&D budget and all the money needed to fund the Formula 1 team as was mentioned earlier. I could see using the Freightliner brand name for the Metris and Sprinter, but I would assume that was considered and it was determined that selling light duty vans though the existing Mercedes dealer network was better to do.
  24. smk4565
    But Denysschen says alpha numerics are better than names and the new XT3, XT4, XT5 naming system is best for business. I disagree with him and think names are better for Cadillac because that is what they were for 50 years. But you can't have it both ways and say word names are bad, then use a word name on your #1 product.
  25. smk4565
    Yet BMW and Mercedes sales continue to rise, while Cadillac, Lincoln, Porsche, Maserati and Jaguar all declined last month. The Sprinter has been on sale as a Mercedes in the USA for 7 years, and the brand image hasn't been hurt, sales haven't gone down, there is no cause for panic in the streets of Stuttgart. If the sales, marketing and product were flawed, then Mercedes wouldn't keep growing while many of their competitors struggle.
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