smk4565

Cadillac without a DOHC V8 is dead, even Hyundai has one, and they have a second version with 425 hp coming next year. If GM needs torque and fuel economy for the pickups, diesel is the way to go. Why mess around with pushrod derivatives of an old engine design, making 4.7 liter engines with 300 lb-ft when a 3.0 liter diesel can make 425 lb-ft. The Jaguar XF diesel puts out 442 lb-ft, that is better than GM's 6.2 liter V8. And the 6.2 V8 can't get 35 mpg on the highway.

Or a pushrod 8 for that matter. The cylinder count doesn't matter, more cams and valves is better than less cams and valves. Plus we already know the next generation V8 is a 5.5 liter with 430-440 hp for the Corvette, thus probably 400ish for the trucks if it is geared more for torque. So most of these engine options probably won't exist, the CTS-V, Z06 and ZR1 will probably just have a supercharged 5.5 liter. The XTS is front drive, so a V8 is pointless there (that is like an 06 Impala SS). Then you have to wonder if the next generation CTS and Camaro being on Alpha, if they will stick with V6 and turbo V6 engines. GM is moving away from V8s on larger car platforms, will they put one on a small car platform?

The Equus being a Hyundai, and not a different brand may actually benefit Hyundai. If they really promote the Equus it will give a very positive boost to the Hyundai brand image. The key is for Equus to make the Hyundai badge more appealing, rather than the Hyundai badge making a $60,000 sedan less appealing. Compare an Avalon, Accord, or Taurus to an Equus, and all of a sudden, Toyota, Honda, and Ford seem like the low end brands, and Hyundai seems more desirable and high end. My prediction is in 5-10 years, Hyundai is considered the best mainstream brand. While Toyota, Chevy and Ford give their best cars to a luxury brand (thus always hold something back), Hyundai won't be doing that. Hyundai will be to Ford, Honda, and Chevy, what Mercedes is to Lincoln, Cadillac, and Acura right now.

Hyundai is strong. Equus, Sonata turbo and hybrid coming very soon, and a new Elantra not far behind. They will keep that momentum going.

My thought is that in 2020, Hyundai will be one of the automotive powerhouses.

I agree, Hyundai will surpass Nissan and Chrysler-Dodge soon. What is impressive about Hyundai, is they are up 35% and had a strong June last year. Last year many automakers had 30 year lows in sales, so for them to be up 20-30% off a 30 year low just shows that the market has recovered. When you look at Hyundai's market share 5 years ago to where they are today, they are growing fast.

A 750iL Hybrid makes 455 hp, 515 lb-ft and gets 17/26 mpg. So maybe GM needs to do something like that. And that car is fat load, that engine could probably get another 1-2 mpg in a lighter car.

Seems like it would have to rev too much to get power out of it. To me, the 3.6 already lacks power until it gets to around 4,000 RPM. A high revver would work for a sports car or track car, like an S2000 or M3, but in a CTS or especially any of the SUVs, I think the engine needs more low end usable power. I think turbo charging is the way to go. A 3.6 twin turbo with 350 lb-ft at 1800 rpm sounds better than a 3.6 tuned to rev to 7200 rpm.

So Cadillac has outsold 3 vehicles that cost $15,000 more than the SRX. The Honda CR-V and Toyota Rav-4 outsold the SRX, who cares, different price points, different clientele.

I side with siegen on this one. Cadillac is getting a bit too close to Acura. Buick is not a luxury brand, the LaCrosse is their top car and it starts around $27k, that sounds like an Avalon or Maxima, not a luxury car. And I know the Enclave goes up to $45,000 but so does a Nissan Armada or Ford Flex. The last SRX was a dud, so comparing the new SRX while it is fresh on the market to the old model that was withering on the vine for 5 years isn't all that meaningful. Cadillac had to abandon M-class level pricing and drop below the RX350 and on par with the RDX and MKX to get sales. Macy's can move more volume than Nordstrom or Niemen Marcus, but who's making the profit and who has the image.

So much in fact that the "first ever G6" was the last ever G6. There was simply no way to improve on it's perfections so it had to be the last one.

I'd say the answer is the Hyundai Genesis. Rear drive, V8, $33-42,000, full size interior. There is still the Chrysler 300, but that is a rather dated car with a uncompetitive interior. Other than that, the Americans are quickly giving up on rear drive and V8s. The in between brands are quickly dying, but when a Taurus is $27-40k, and a Lincoln or Cadillac can be had for $35k, there isn't much room in the middle. I don't believe Mercury will be missed that much, they don't have a big market presence, don't have a passionate customer base, and the same product is on sale at the Ford lot across the street, just with a horizontal grille. They stressed that Lincoln will have "fuel efficient powertrains" I interpret that as underpowered. A Prius has an extremely fuel efficient powertrain, that is about the last car in the world I'd want, aside from one of those electric G-Wiz things. "Fuel efficient" almost always means slow and underpowered. Strap the 5.0 V8 in an rear drive Lincoln sedan and they could be on to something. And why not Ecoboost the V8.

LaCrosse is supposed to be a premium car though, so the people buying it shouldn't have gas mileage as a top concern. I think GM over-worries about gas mileage on their cars, and just to get a good EPA highway number they put a weaker engine in or use really tall gear ratios, and the driving experience suffers. The Malibu gets better fuel economy than the Camry, yet no one cares, Camry still outsells it by a ton. If GM is betting on rising gas prices, where is the V6 Silverado and Tahoe? I dislike how GM has a belief that trucks need V8s, but cars are fine with garbage 180 hp 4-bangers. This is just like the late 90s/early 2000s, when trucks got all the attention, while cars got worthless 3.1 and 3.4 pushrod V6s.

And that engine is dying for a 5.5 liter turbo V8, and the 5.5L V8 in the S-class is going away for a new 4.7L turbo V8. The engines BMW and Mercedes are using in 2012-2013 when the ATS is on sale, won't be the same old stuff they are selling now. ATS needs engines that match where the Germans will be in 5 years, not engines that match where the Germans are today.

But at a low price can the ATS have an interior that exceeds that of the CTS? For Cadillac to be successful against the imports now and into the future, they need to appeal to sophisticated buyers. The "traditional" Cadillac buyers that drive the DTS are dead or dying. Just making the ATS-V another American hot rod isn't going to make it successful. Look at how the Corvette is struggling, and has mostly older buyers now. There aren't a lot of buyers out there that remember the 60s muscle car days. The CTS tried the "value pricing" strategy, and the E-class crushes it in sales, despite costing $15,000 more. I think Cadillac needs to up the content and build quality to get their image going up.

I am fine with a turbo 4 for the base engine for those that don't care about speed and buy 328i's C300s and A4s. But the mid-level needs over 300 hp. The new Benz V6 has 305 hp and will have been on sale a year or two before the ATS is on sale. The 335i had 300 hp in 2007, the ATS better have that in 2012. Even the Genesis coupe and Mustang have 305 hp. On the weight issue, building a low weight car requires lots of aluminum, or perhaps magnesium wheels, or carbon fiber bits, and all that costs money. So if the ATS aims to be the price leader, it will likely be made of cheap steel that they need to use a ton of to meet crash standards, thus making the car heavy.

Why not just twin turbo the 3.6 DI V6? That is GM's best V6. Forget the 2.8L. In the ATS's class, 270-330 hp is the norm right now, in 2-3 years it could bet 300-350 hp. They better bring a big gun to the fight, and not do what they did with the 2005 STS, a 320 hp V8 which barely got them on par with the class, then 2 years later everyone had 380 hp and the STS was old news.

The 3-series is 178 inches long, the C-class is 182 inches long. A Corvette is only 3 inches shorter than a 3-series, how small is the ATS going to be? I'm all for cutting weight, weight hurts performance in every way. But the Lambdas are heavy, Zeta cars are heavy, the CTS is heavy, the Equinox/Terrain are heavy, etc. Pretty much every GM product of the last 3 years has been near the top of its class in weight, so I would be surprised if the ATS is no different, and comes in heavier than a 3-series.

Well considering Cadillac's flagship sedan is about to get a 3.6L V6 with 300 hp, it doesn't seem like a much lower end Chevrolet sedan should have a V8. Chevrolet should be the brand to the the CAFE sacrifice, not Cadillac.

ATS needs the 3.6 L, the 3.0 is weak, has no torque and isn't even all that fuel efficient. Put that in Chevys or Buicks if they must, but this is Cadillac. Cadillac is supposed to have the best of the best.

It is hard to make alphabet soup names cool or desirable though. The 3,5,7-series works because that progression is in there. Acura names are a disaster, Lincoln at least has MK in everything but none of those names mean anything, and people can confuse them. Even XLR, it doesn't really mean anything, if they do a car like that again they should call it Eldorado. The SLS AMG I think is a poorly named car, Mercedes should have just called it the Gullwing, since that is what people are going to refer to it as.

I think the curb weight estimates are a bit low, as the C-class and 3-series are near 3600 pounds. Given those line-up choices I picked C. Although I'd like to see 4 engines total, one of which a diesel. Turbo 4, V6, turbo V6 for the others.

I think Fleetwood and Eldorado still have some weight and can be made cool. Deville and Seville I'd leave in the closet, but LaSalle they could use. I think Chrysler should be using Imperial and Atlantic, those are strong names, unlike Sebring and 300. Maybach is building the Zeppelin as their last hurrah. Acura traded the Legend for the RL, Legend sounds like it means something, RL means nothing, except for "really lame." On engines, Mercedes just showed off their new multi-spark V6 and V8s today, and rumor of a 476 hp twin turbo V6 from AMG is out there. If I were Cadillac, I wouldn't want a turbo 4 when Mercedes, BMW and Infiniti have 300+ hp V6s, or a 400 hp pushrod when the other guy as 476 hp and AMG badges. GM tried to sell a 400 hp, basic no frills car for $35,000 in the GTO, and it wasn't that good of a seller. Dodge has the Challenger, and Chrysler the 300 SRT, both with a 420 hp pushrod for $45k, and those are junk cars. The ATS needs to aim higher than that.

Maybe when Cadillac goes into their 2nd or 3rd renaissance (which ever they want to call the ATS-generation) they should go back to names for cars. The alphanumeric names are getting to be overkill, no where is worse than Lincoln and Acura, MKZDX, etc. Eventually real names will come back, Cadillac should start a trend, rather than follow. Rolls-Royce has it right, they build the Ghost and Phantom, that is far cooler than MKS or XTS.

My issues with the CTS interior are the gray plastic that adorns the center console and map pockets in the doors. The backs of the front seat at plastic, the gauges are split into 3 parts with plastic rings, and the gauge cluster rises above the dash (same as the malibu and altima) which creates more cut lines than if it was just integrated into the dash. Also the gear shifter is only half wood as an option, the base gear shifter seems to be vinyl or plastic, when it should be wrapped with the same leather used for the seats. Furthermore, when you sit in a CTS, it just doesn't feel expensive or special, sure there is leather and wood and some stitching and that is nice and all, but it still feels like they cut corners or the beancounters got in there before it hit the showroom. Even if we assume content the same, or not important to the buyer, the M5 still has the ability to rev to 8400 rpm which creates a Ferrari-like, race car sound. The CTS could make 1,000 horsepower, it won't sound like a Formula 1 car, that emotional payoff the M5 provides is what makes it the king of the class. It is similar to how Aston Martin can charge $250,000 for a DBS when it isn't any faster than a GT-R or Z06, in fact the DBS is probably slower than both, and I don't think anyone would trade a DBS for a Nissan or Chevy.