smk4565

Usually larger engines use more gas than smaller ones. I am assuming the reason GM is doing a 4.9 liter DI engine with cylinder cutoff is to replace the 5.3 liter with a more efficient engine with no loss to power. This is a good move. Pickups have high volume due to few competitors and the commercial market. GM has 2 vehicles on the top 10 sellers list, Silverado and a 58% fleet sale Impala. The top 3 selling SUVs are the CR-V, Escape, Rav4, GM doesn't have a good small SUV or a minivan anymore. Two huge markets they don't compete in because they keep making big trucks. This GMC pickup thing is 5 inches longer than a Yukon, this isn't a downsized product. If the Canyon/Colorado were as good as the Japanese pickups they could do a hybrid or diesel version of them that would help CAFE greatly and get people that don't need a half ton to downsize. As for the Lambdas being the most efficient 7/8 seaters out there, they aren't. They are rated at 18 mpg (19 for front drive) which isn't bad, but the Honda Odyssey is rated at 20 mpg. The Mercedes ML320, R320, and GL320 diesels all average 21 mpg, 1 more than the Tahoe hybrid.

Ugly. It looks really bad from every angle. Do people really want an El Camino/Ridgeline/Subaru Baja combination? I suppose we'll find out soon enough. On the plus side, 326 hp from a 4.9 liter pushrod is a solid improvement over the 315 hp 5.3 liter. GM needs to be able to downsize engines and increase efficiency without sacrificing power to stay competitive. Is that 326 hp running E85 though? If so with 87 octane gas it may not be as powerful. GM is addicted to trucks though. How can they kill plans for V8 Cadillacs or a rear drive Impala and say CAFE is the reason, while they have 3 brands of GMT900s, the H2, and soon 4 brands with the full size Lambda SUVs, and now bring out a Zeta pickup/suv combo. GM has 3 good cars (Malibu, Corvette, CTS) and a ton of bad ones. They should fix their car lineup and not worry about a Hummer H4 or 3rd GMC pickup.

Yes, but they don't sell 6 cylinder S-classes in the USA anymore. They due in Europe due to $8 a gallon gas and government/limo use for cars that stay in the city and never go fast. The S400 hybrid is a V6 plus electric, expected to deliver 40 mpg. If the DT7 (they should use CTS, DTS, etc, CT5 or CT6 sounds dumb) can beat a Civic or Aveo in gas mileage, I'd be fine with a V6, otherwise bring 400 horses from a DOHC V8. Cadillac's global sales are about 1/4th of Mercedes or BMW. If they were a bigger player in foreign markets it would make more sense for them to have a diesel V6 in their flagship. But Cadillac seems reluctant to do a diesel or hybrid sedan in the USA, and they don't sell much outside the US. The design cars for the American market, the American market S-class is 382-612 hp and $88-180,00, that is what they need to build.

If the DT7 has a V6, that disqualifies it right away from competing with the big boys. The LS460 and S550 are 382 hp V8s as the low end engine, the 7-series is all new for 2009 and will have 407 hp as the base engine. The S-class is the standard, if Cadillac wants to challenge someone, they might as well go after the best. Cadillac will never get ahead of the Germans by beating them on price, people that shell out $95,000 for an S-class clearly don't care about 90% the car for 75% the price, they want the best and most prestigious car.

DTS buyers are dying, and the DTS and STS have horrid resale values that drive down the resale of other Cadillacs. I just saw a 2008 STS V8 with nav system and all options for $36,900 on Autotrader.com. That is over $20,000 in depreciation within the current model year. Cadillac must give up on the land barges if they ever want to be anything but a better version of Lincoln. If the DT7 has a base price of $88,000 it is an S-class competitor, otherwise it's a Town Car competitor. Zeta's not good enough to compete with the S-class, GM knows that; the DT7 will be a 200+ inch long floaty car with plush seats and a 300 hp V6 costing $45,000-55,000. And they'll cling to 30,000 sales a year to a 70 and up crowd and limousine market.

Why would GM cancel a DOHC V8 for Cadillac when Audi, BMW and Mercedes all have DOHC V8s and V10s or V12/W12 as well. GM likes to follow the Ford-Lincoln, Honda-Acura model. It's easier and cheaper to just make entry level luxury cars with the corporate V6 on the corporate platform.

Ooo good, 2 Cadillacs based off a Pontiac/Chevy platform. Every Cadillac (minus the XLR) should have a diesel option, BTS, CTS, Zeta car, Escalade, etc. If they don't do it, they'll just be chasing the Germans in that also. I know Lutz will claim it costs $4000 more to do a diesel, but the Mercedes GL class diesel meets or beats the Tahoe Hybrid in mileage (both are very close in size and weight) and the Tahoe hybrid is a $9100 extra cost, $4,000 is a bargain compared to that.

I remember hearing as diesel became more popular, and production rose, that the cost of it could drop below gas. A year or 2 ago diesel was priced about the same. The 335d averages 7 mpg higher than the 335i, that is 33% increase in mileage vs maybe 10% increase in the cost of diesel fuel. Ethanol is less available and while it costs less, the E85 Impala gets about 15 mpg vs 21 for gas, so the savings go away. Obviously diesel is not the solution to everything, a diesel engine does cost more (but they run for 500,000 miles). I think for trucks it is a no brainer option, good thing to offer in Cadillacs. A 4 cylinder turbo diesel could be used in a Malibu or other small-midsize car or small SUV. Offering flex fuel and hybrid is good too, those are often cheaper to do so for Cobalt/Malibu/Saturns that is a good thing to offer. GM has so many products they need a mix of all to hit CAFE guidelines but more importantly win consumers back from the imports.

This is an obvious move, I only wonder why it takes them 18 months to put the diesel engine in, they should have that for sale this year. The diesel V6 should be offered in the SRX and CTS for 09 model year as well. Diesel is the solution to a lot of CAFE problems, I'd love to see the diesel V8 in Cadillac sedans (assuming they ever build one that isn't in the entry level class). I think GM is making a mistake by focusing more on ethanol rather than diesel. Bob Lutz seems to think diesel won't catch on in the USA, but when BMW and Mercedes do it, others will copy. In Pittsburgh ethanol is sold at 2 gas stations, vs hundreds or thousands possibly that sell diesel. Plus ethanol doesn't save the consumer any money, diesel will. A hybrid diesel (S400 hybrid gets 40 mpg highway) would be great for GM to offer, but the cost of that would probably only work on a Cadillac.

GM for sure has a weight problem with a lot of their vehicles. It's funny that an H3 pickup, G8 GXP and Hummer H4 are all a go, but a rear drive Impala that would beat any of them by 5 mpg is killed due to CAFE. The GTO had 400 hp and no one bought it, I am not yet convinced the G8 will be any kind of success. It it too similar to the Aussie version just like the GTO was.

The news was GM cancelled plans for a DOHC V8 to replace the Northstar. So either they keep the 16 year old Northstar around, which is both heavy, thirsty and not that powerful or they give up on V8s, aside from a Corvette engine in a V-series. I'm all for DI V6s and turbo V6s and turbo-diesel V6s, but they need a V8 too. Cadillac's worldwide sales are better than Saab, Hummer and probably Buick. I am not sure of Chinese sales volume of Buick vs Cadillac. If GM paid more attention to Cadillac they could grow to 500,000 units worldwide. M-B can meet CAFE standards because the Smart Four2 gets 33/41 mpg (2006 epa) and that will balance out all their V12 and AMG V8s. Plus they have diesel and a hybrid S-class coming, and no pickup trucks getting 16 mpg to counter act. BMW has Mini Cooper and diesel engines.

If Cadillac had a larger worldwide sales, a better XLR, a flagship, a midrange model, etc they could probably sell $70,000 V8 cars. Lexus sold 329,000 vehicles in the US alone last year, BMW nearly 300,000, if Cadillac could get up near that volume and 1 out of 4 had a V8 they'd use 70,000. I think canceling the Northstar replacement is a easy way out of building a true middle luxury car and an S-class fighter, and they will just focus on lower end luxury like Lincoln and Acura. The DI V6 may be close to the Northstar in power but the Northstar is old. The Lexus and M-B V8s are 380-390 hp and torque, vs 304 hp and 273 lb-ft Cadillac's V6. That is a big gap. An even bigger gap is the new BMW V8 with 408 hp and 446 lb-ft. A V6 can't compete in that class, and using something from the Silverado no matter how much tweaking is done won't work in the $55,000+ classes of cars.

Since this is V6, I would guess it would be around 18 mpg, but the H2 is 13 mpg and H3 is only about 16 mpg yet they won't cancel them because of CAFE. And I am upset that Cadillac won't get a V8 when Lexus and the Germans have them. Cadillac gets screwed over because GM has to fund Hummer, Saab and Buick that are all dying.

But Hummer only sold 55,000 units as a brand last year. Cadillac could sell 70,000 V8s, especially if they can get overseas sales going. And a V8 engine is cheaper to design than a whole car/truck. GM is whining about a 35 mpg standard hoping it will get reversed or using it as an excuse to charge more for cars or not build V8s. Cadillac will lose sales. When high gas mileage and "green" are the in things, investing in Hummer makes no sense.

Wagoner announced yesterday that the sole reason they ditched plans for a Northstar replacement was CAFE standards. But I don't see GM getting rid of Hummer that uses much more gas. Hummer sales were down 18 or 19% last year, they can keep cheapening the brand by offering low end models, but then the prestige wears off and people will not want them.

So a 19 mpg DOHC V8 for Cadillac is dead because of CAFE, but 13 mpg Hummers are full speed ahead. I love how GM puts everything into pick up trucks and SUVs and has the CTS and Malibu as their only 2 really decent sedan offerings.

If big sedans were high in demand, auto makers would update them every 5 years, not every 10-16 years like the Ford Panther platform. Buying a smaller car isn't down grading, there are a lot of small to midsize cars that are nice and much more expensive than a $23,000 Impala or $26,000 Crown Vic before rebate. Big coupes are in even less demand, I suspect the Challenger will flop because of this and high gas prices.

The CL550 is 199 inches long, aside from a Bentley/Rolls car it is the biggest coupe, but with a $105,000 base price they aren't selling many. The largest BMW coupe is smaller than the CTS, likewise with Audi or Lexus or Infiniti. Big 2 door cars are a thing of the past. The days of Rivieras, Mark VIIIs, Monte Carlos are over. The 2000-2005 Monte Carlo was longer than a BMW 750i. It isn't just in 2 door cars, people aren't buying big sedans like the Crown Vic anymore either, people gravitate toward midsize. The CTS coupe is 4 inches shorter than the sedan, that is a a good thing. Looks like a hatchback, that is a bad thing.

I said people don't want big coupes (like the Monte Carlo) that are STS size. Those coupes are smaller, a 6-series is 190 inches long, the CLK is 183 inches long, much smaller than any Cadillac. The CTS coupe is 187.4 inches long.

A 2 door STS would be like a Monte Carlo, people don't want huge coupes. I was wondering how long the CTC is and what the wheelbase is. I am hoping it is shorter than the 4 door version, it looks like it is. I hope the doors aren't super long like the Monte Carlo.

I read all the previous posts. I like the sedan a lot better, because the coupe from the side (much like a Prius) looks like a wedge of cheese. The back is too hatchback looking for me, I don't like the yellow on the interior or brakes, but I assume the production version will ditch that for conventional colors. About the CAFE thing, BMW and Mercedes don't have Hummers or pick-up trucks that get 14-16 mpg, and their volume comes from small to midsize cars that they can diesel power. GM's volume is in trucks, which hurts their CAFE position (although not as much as Chrysler). Plus Mercedes started selling Smart cars here this year, and BMW has Mini, those balance out the V10 and V12 cars they have. And if they don't meet CAFe standards, they will just pay the fine.

My main point is people can't compare a CTS to a 5-series or a CTS-V to an M5 because of feature content. I agree that if the CTS added all the stuff on my original list it would cost $60,000, which is what a 5-series costs. Then they would be more comparable. I just think Cadillac needs a car that is in the $48-65,000 range that is like the A6, 5-series, E-class and Jaguar XF. Whether that is the CTS when it gets the MCE or a totally new car, doesn't matter to me. They also need a small car that can compete performance wise with the 335i, which I know is coming, but it can't come soon enough. The CTS is still a car I'd test drive, I like the exterior look, but hate the plastic grille, the interior layout I am not a big fan of and my knee hits the console. The old CTS I thought hat a perfect driver seating position and I loved the console angled to the driver and every control was exactly where it should have been. Problem was the materials were low rent. The Jaguar XF is my current favorite car. I also just read the new Jaguar 5.0 liter V8 makes 470 hp naturally aspirated, so with the supercharger output would be as high as 600 hp, though the production car will likely be tuned down.

I 100% agree. BMW's styling isn't the best, but the materials are first rate. And that picture is the 2005 M5 interior, they have given it a slight upgrade for 2008. The C-class interior has way too much gray plastic, it one of the weakest interiors in the entry-lux class.

Nope. Even the best pushrod won't be as refined as the best DOHC engine. The Northstar is an average DOHC engine at this point and is still more refined than any GM pushrod. Even the Malibu had to go DOHC only because the pushrod couldn't match Honda and Toyota in refinement.

I thought you meant Mercedes Bluetec which averages about 27 mpg. Is Cadillac's diesel 50 state emission compliant? If so, they should put it on sale during the 2008 calendar year.