Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

smk4565

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    13,730

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    11

 Content Type 

Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    Cadillac often copies the imports. They blueprinted the SRX after the Lexus RX350, the AtS after the 3-series, the CTS is closer in size to a Jaguar XF, but still in that Euro mid size segment. Cadillac copies what made the others successful thus they tend to be a product cycle behind. If they release a CLA/GLA competitor in 2019, they are again 5 years behind. On the CT8 if they want to compete with the Phantom that is $450,000+ territory, no way could Cadillac pull that off. And to compete with the Ghost of Flying Spur Cadillac would need a V12. Mercedes can put the S600, S65 and S600 Maybach/Pullman in that arena, but I don't see any other brand competing with Rolls or Bentley.
  2. smk4565
    Cadillac needs to be Cadillac and build American luxury cars, and innovate new technology. They can't copy what the Germans do and always be 3-5 years behind. No one mentioned about the 2nd generation ELR, what a waste of time that is. De Nysschen did say it might not be a coupe, maybe this time it will be a crossover sized like a Buick Encore, but priced like an Escalade.
  3. smk4565
    Because Cadillac's goal is to always follow the Germans?
  4. smk4565
    The P85D is crazy fast. I do think it is really impressive that they can make an electric car that is almost GT-R or Corvette Z06 like acceleration.
  5. smk4565
    So a CT8 now to compete with the S-class? What exactly is the CT6 going to be priced like or compete with? The CT6 is going to be as big as an LS460, 7-series or XJ. Unless Cadillac has some bizarre idea to make CT6 sized like a 7-series but priced like a 5-series. Cadillac seems to have no real strategy or plan, it seems like the let's throw it against the wall and see what sticks mentality is being used. Perhaps they have ambitions for the CT8 to be a competitor for the S600 Maybach or Bentley Flying Spur, but good luck with that. A Sub ATS front drive sedan is a bad idea, the ATS is already cheap. And if they add $5,000 to the ATS price to make room for a $30k Cadillac, then ATS sales will fall apart. If they go below the ATS, it needs to be a hot hatch I think, something that could sell in Europe or South America and be more of a global car that they happen to offer here also.
  6. smk4565
    I side with Drew on the political stuff. On the car buyer age issue, I am surprised Lincoln and Buick are that low, but the crossovers are probably helping keep the number near 60. I bet if you polled sedan buyer age Lincoln and Buick would be near 70 with only the Lexus ES giving them a run for their money. These are 2013 numbers too, so no GLA and only about a half a year of CLA sales. Less than 10% of Mercedes sales last year were CLA, so it isn't like that is why they are at 54. That had pretty much been their average for a long time, Mercedes builds luxury cars which have appeal to 50-somethings. Audi and BMW I think are both in the 40s for average buyer age seeing as they build "sport sedans."
  7. smk4565
    The CTS is 5 inches longer than a Lexus GS. The 5-series has gotten too big also, it is wide, long, heavy and bulky and sales are down.. The E-class in 30 years has added 4 inches of overall length, it has stayed a mid-size car. If they are going to make the CTS big, why not just keep the STS around? Because people didn't want to pay $50k for an STS, Cadillac figured they could get people to pay $50k for a CTS, the car below the STS? Odd thinking. They could have just chopped 5 inches in length off the CTS to make it the 3-series competitor it should have been 10 years ago and redone the STS to give it another shot against the Germans, Jaguar and Lexus. Instead they spend all the marketing dollars to introduce the "ATS" which will be a one and done model replaced by a CT2 or whatever it is, then the process repeats of more marketing dollars.
  8. smk4565
    XTS doesn't really have any history to dump. But they did dump 50 years of Eldorado. I think they should have names. They had names in their glory days, XT4, CT3 sounds like names for Kawasaki bikes. At least if you use Eldorado, Seville and Fleetwood most people would know it is a Cadillac.
  9. smk4565
    The CTS is as big as the 2005-2010 STS. If it is supposed to be a driver's car why is it huge. Maybe when it gets called CT4 it will be perceived as smaller.
  10. smk4565
    On the mainstream cars I think the engine upgrade is always worth it. Who wants the weak base engine? The only time it is not worth the upgrade are cars like the Z28 as Drew said and M and AMG models would fall into that class. If you aren't doing track days you don't need it. But to use the Camaro as an example you would still upgrade to the SS, just maybe not all the way. On something like a Bentley where the base engine is already 550-600 HP, there is no reason to upgrade there. But the only sub $75000 car I think the base engine may be better than the upgrade is the E250 bluetec because it gets 42 mpg and the V6 is old news in that car.
  11. smk4565
    Not over time, and the S-class is their fastest growing model right now and they raised the price of the C-class to $%0k. Mercedes sells more cars over $40k than it does under. Audi can't say that, they sell like 400 A8 and 1400 A6 per month.
  12. smk4565
    I think this is a product that Chevy needs, but it is priced about $5k over the Kia Soul base. And the Soul +! or whatever it is has a 164 hp 2 liter, and may add a turbo or awd soon. I think the Soul looks better too. Chevy may be a bit optimistic on pricing, put some options on a Trax and you are probably at $25k.
  13. smk4565
    I think they have issued over 70 recalls this year, that is absurd.
  14. smk4565
    I thought it was the C-class and it was the 2013-14 model that isn't even on sale anymore. Ruess said they aren't going to copy anybody, but the A8, 7-series, and XJ all have 3.0 turbo or supercharged engines and the S500 hybrid has a 3.0 turbo V6. Two of those cars are aluminum body also, so Cadillac sort of is copying what has already been done. I just think they are talking the CT6 up a lot and in theory it will sound good but the reality will fall short. We shall see, maybe it will go 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, have better luxury than an Escalade and get 80 mpg. Maybe they will shock us all and make it a Tesla Model S competitor with 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds and 400 mile range. I just don't see how Cadillac will do anything that hasn't already been done by those that have been in the high end segment for 10, 20, 30 years already.
  15. smk4565
    Don't your legs ever get tired from all the time you spend moving the goal posts? 3 years ago you were whining that Cadillacs were too big and too heavy, but as soon as Cadillac comes out with a car that is the same size and lighter than the Germans, those traits don't seem to matter anymore. The 3.6 today is not the same 3.6 from 2004. ... just the same as the 2.0T in the Regal today is not the same as the 2.0T from 9 years ago. Just because the displacement number is the same, doesn't make it the same engine. They were too big and heavy and not sized against the competition which includes Lexus as well as the Germans and Jaguar. Cadillac has been fixing that, although the CTS is a bit big. They are on the right track with small, medium, large sedans plus the XTS while it lasts. They need to work on the crossovers next and get coupes and convertibles, but at least on sedans they are getting aligned with the others in terms of size and price. That being said, I think the de Nysschen and Ellinghaus don't really know how to return Cadillac to greatness. I think in their minds if they just copy the imports and come up with new branding they will be a success. But Audi's growth has been on cars below $40,000, Infiniti is in the tank this year with their new naming scheme.
  16. smk4565
    Can't they check this stuff before they put the cars on sale? These are mostly 2013-2015 products, these are brand new cars.
  17. smk4565
    The S500 plug in hybrid has 436 HP, 479 lb-ft and does 0-60 in 5.2 seconds. It can do 20 miles on electric and top speed on electric is 87 mph. It gets 84 mpg on the Euro cycle that will probably be like 70 here. What Cadillac is planning has pretty much already been done, but better late than never. And better than that awful 7-series hybrid BMW was trying to sell.
  18. smk4565
    The ATS gets outsold like 5 to 1 by the overweight 3-series. I know Cadillac is trying and I can appreciate the effort put into cutting weight, but it isn't translating to sales. The Jaguar XJ has always been a lightweight, they have done full aluminum bodies for over 10 years, and the Lexus and the Germans outsell it still. If they make the CT6 more luxurious and better equipped than an Escalade platinum with performance like a CTS V-sport they could be on to something. But this car better have a V8 too. The big boys have V12s, Cadillac at least needs 8. More than anything in this segment you need brand image, brand cache, whatever you want to call it. A car called CT6 is going to be as anonymous as the Infiniti Q60 or Q70. Cadillac should have dug into the history books and brought back Fleetwood and Eldorado so they could do some heritage marketing and at least have instant name recognition and build some emotional appeal.
  19. smk4565
    The 5-series for the year is up 1.3%, and these generations of 3 and 5 series have been on sale a couple years now. The 5 could have just had a bad month, it could be 3-series taking sales, but one month isn't a trend. I do think the 3 and 5-series are a bit too large and porky looking, they could both stand to lose about 2-3 inches in length and width and lose a couple hundred pounds. BMW loses focus sometimes, when they are on top of their game they are tough, but right now the 3-series and an electric car is all they got. Mercedes has to be smiling today as the E-class is near the end of its life cycle and the oldest vehicle in the segment just beat the 5-series 3 to 1.
  20. smk4565
    The K900 is a big hit.
  21. smk4565
    They should just shut down Lincoln already.
  22. smk4565
    Scion is in the toilet. The one sad thing about the FR-S struggling, is no one else will want to make a small sports coupe either. There is not Corolla, Cruze or Focus coupe, Hyundai may drop the Veloster. The Camaro and Mustang are there, but other than that is seems like car companies want to just push front wheel drive 4 cylinder sedans and front wheel drive 4 cylinder crossovers. Good to see the geriatric crowd is still supporting the Lexus ES, I guess they are spending that retirement money because they can't take it with them.
  23. smk4565
    Awful month for the 5-series, it is never below 2,000. Usually it is around 3500-4500. The E-class is aging so I don't think that was the reason, maybe a lot of people think the 5-series is getting too big an expensive and they decided on a 3-seres instead since 3-series sales boomed. 7-series and A8 are getting killed by the S-class.
  24. smk4565
    A3 and Q3 will sell for a long time because Audi thrives on the bottom end of the luxury market and they gobble up buyers under 45. If Audi can get all those A3 and Q3 buyers to trade up to A6s in 5 years they could have a great future. But I think more likely after people buy their unreliable Audi and look to trade up to something better, they will go to another brand. A6 and A8 sales have been bad for years.
  25. smk4565
    S500 plug in will do 0-60 in 5.2 seconds and that goes on sale in March. Waiting 2 years to get 0-60 in under 6 seconds isn't worth it. If the CT6 comes in under 4,000 lbs that will be very noteworthy and I'll give them props for that. But the 3.6 V6 goes back to like 2004, even with the twin turbo version it is an adequate base engine but it doesn't have a lot of wow factor for me in a high end segment. Like the BMW straight six turbo is fabulous for a 3-series, best engine in the segment, but on a 7-series it doesn't have the same panache.
×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search