smk4565

I think it is good that they don't have a huge wing or plastic moldings all over it, the old supercharged SS looked kind of tacky. The problem is the Cobalt looks like a boring rental car, so the SS still looks boring. If the car looks good to begin with, then a simple wheel, grill and spoiler kit with a little change in molding can make the car look really good. Like and AMG Mercedes. Looks sporty and better than the base version, without looking tacky or cheap.

I have an Auora (2001), and I agree the transmission is smooth, but it could definitely use another gear or 2, the car would be so much more responsive. The 4-speed limits the engine. I am buying rear drive next time also, front drive limits a car a lot also.

The Vette is noisy, but so are most other sports cars. So it doesn't hurt the Vette that much. Put that noisy engine in a Cadillac, compared to the quiet, smooth Lexus, BMW, and Benz models and the Cadillac doesn't match up as well. It is the same reason the Malibu is all DOHC now, they can't compete with the Camry with a pushrod and 4-speed auto. Pushrod V8s aren't as bad as pushrod V6s because the V8 is naturally smoother, and in a sports car or pick up truck you can get away with it still. And for a pickup, it is alsmost better because of low end power, and refinement not mattering as much, but they have no place in luxury cars, and I know Bentley has one, but they are Bentley.

Corvette is a different kind of car. I was talking about people trading in 5-series for STS or CTS, it isn't going to happen with a lot of frequency. That is why BMW sales go up every year 5-10% and Cadillac sales have been stagnant or falling lately. Cadillac is still at a similar sales level as they were in the early 90s, when Lexus, Mercedes and BMW were hardly making a big impact, now those brands all sell far more than Cadillac. Cadillac's average buyer is still over 60, along with Lincoln, Buick and Jaguar. They need new products, fast. And while GM is studying a 7 speed transmission, Mercedes is is in their third year actually making one.

My car has a DOHC V8, it is better than any pushrod, much quieter and smoother. The CTS is an entry level car, it is $32,000, that is less than a C-class or 3-series base model. $42,000 is where luxury tax starts. Cadillac's dimensions are just all wrong. $50,000 is middle luxury, an E-class is $51,000 base. An S-class is $89,000 base, although many other upper end sedans start in the $75-80k range. Cadillac's most expensive sedan bases at $43,000. There is nothing wrong with the CTS's interior when compared to other entry level cars like the TL, G35, etc. And their V8 model will be a pushrod, Mercedes and BMW drivers are not going to trade their car in on. Cadillac is hoping that a Charger or Mustang driver that got a pay raise will come buy their loud, rough, pushrod, 1970s muscle car engine and think it is a fitting for a luxury car. I admit I hate pushrods, I owned one, I'd never buy one again. Luckily for me there are 10 other luxury brands that offer all DOHC, so not like I'll have a hard time finding a car.

This is why the CTS shouldn't be compared to a 5-series, the price gaps are big. I looked at a CTS awd a few days ago at the dealer, it was $48,400 on the sticker, I assume that is every option. And oddly enough, there was no V8, 2008 model there, wonder why. The 550i can run up near $70,000, the portly and dated STS is the car to compare to the 5-series. The CTS is a good entry level car, it has some flaws, but most cars in that price class do. For less than $48,000 one could get a Chrysler 300 SRT-8, that can crush the CTS V6 in performance, does that mean it is a better car? It is the same when comparing a CTS-V to the 550i. The 550i beats it in interior and features, the CTS-V offers more performance. It will be interesting to see how good the 555i is and what happens when the M5 gets a twin turbo V10. Meanwhile Cadillac will be stuck with a pushrod as their top engine, nice., Pontiac and Dodge/Chrysler do it, Cadillac should want to be in that elite class. Cadillac has better design than the Germans, I don't see why they can't use better materials (there is a lot of plastic inside and out on the CTS) and build a legit competitor in various classes, rather than 1 midsize, low price luxury car and a pair of one foot in the grave, also rans.

I don't think the CTS is close at all to the 5-series. I just sat in an 08 CTS over the weekend at an event one of the dealers did. I sat in a $48,000 model and it had 2 way power lumbar and an 8 way power seat. My 01 Aurora has 8 way and 4 way lumbar, how can the CTS not at least have that. The 5-series offers a 20 way seat, and you can pull out the lower portion of the headrest and wrap it around your neck like an airplane pillow. Their seats are unmatched, not by Lexus or anyone else. The 5-series has a tool kit, first aid kit, rechargeable flashlight in glove compartment. The 5-series has a V8 (and a V10), CTS does not. 5-er 13 speaker 7.1 surround, CTS 10 speaker 5.1. The 535xi is 5.4 seconds 0-60 (550i is 5.2) the CTS is in the 6.5 second range with awd. And the 5-series is in it's 5th model year, with a very mild refresh this year with a new engine choice. The CTS matches up great against a MKZ, TL, G35 might be a little sportier, but is not as luxurious, it is better than a fair amount of cars, but it is not in the league of a 5-series or E-class.

GM seems to be the one that compares the CTS to the 5-series, I think the CTS should be compared to the 3-series and deal with the fact that is in no way can match the 335i in performance. Cadillac has no 5-series competitor or Lexus LS460 or Mercedes S-class competitor. What Cadillac has is 3 sedans that cost about $45,000, and nothing people are eager to drop $60-100k on. What they need is a small car, and a car people will drop $60-100k on. The 3-series was popular 12-15 years ago, I don't know why they are still waiting to make a small luxury car. GM has some weird belief that size and price must go up together, and Cadillacs must be big since they are luxury cars.

It's good to see toyota fall, but they still have Scion and Toyota in the top 5, and 5 spots ahead of any domestic. It isn't like they fell behind Ford and Dodge, it isn't really a big deal. And Consumer Reports recommendations aren't based on how a car drives, I never listen to them anyway.

Since it was the first 8 speed automatic in a car, it makes Lexus look like the technology leader. The LS460 gets 16/24 mpg which edges the 15/24 from the STS with 60 fewer hp, it beats the BMW 750i also, so the transmission must help in some fashion. It is likely that the 8 speed offers almost no advantage over a 7 speed, and only marginal over a 6 speed, but it is perception. People see 8 speed or 400 hp and they want that more than 6 speed and 320 hp. The 5-series is getting an 8-speed, so if the CTS is a 5-series competitor, they will need an 8 speed also, otherwise there are in the Acura, Lincoln, Volvo luxury tier, which are all going more towards a premium brand, not a luxury brand. I am just saying GM has to keep up with the market, whether it makes total sense or not. They neglected mid size sedans for years, now the Malibu is 100,000s of sales behind the Accord and Camry. They neglected minivans and didn't match what Honda was doing, now they are down to 1 bad minivan in it's final model year.

Bowtie Dude is right, GM is really late to the party and they don't even realize it. They don't realize they don't have a choice with what they make anymore, they have to build what others are doing. Lexus, BMW, Mercedes have 7-8 speed so Cadillac must do it. Accord and Camry are all DOHC so the Malibu has to be. They are chasing the trends and standards set by others. I don't remember the last time Honda, Toyota, or BMW saw some thing GM did and said, wow we have to copy that. Aside from making a pickup truck maybe. Of course Toyota went with 381 hp and 6 speed automatic vs the Silverado's 315 hp and 4-speed, at least the Silverado is really good in so many other areas to make up for it.

Hopefully they get them on the market semi fast. But they do need to get rid of all the 4 speeds first, even the cobalt and Aveo should get at least a 5 speed auto. The GMT900s need a six speed. Cadillac is going to need 7 or 8 if they want to keep up with the market. The next 5-series and 7-series will be 8-speed automatic. I hope they act fast, Cadillac is a follower right now, and Lexus and BMW are dictating what goes in the market, and setting the standards. Even with an 8 speed automatic on a Cadillac (in 2010 or so), they will just be equaling what Lexus did on the 2007 LS. It would be nice for once for Lexus or BMW to be chasing Cadillac, but I am thinking that is becoming more and more unlikely.

The car I was thinking of was the Subaru SVX, the 2 door sports car with the plastic line through the windows. It was an odd looking car, I forgot the name of it.

Bad idea, it will get confused with the V-series, and drag the V-series cars down. Maybe they should not use RX, since RX is a Lexus, there is already the SRX, it will just get lost in the shuffle and people won't know what it is. VRX sounds like an 80s Japanese sports car anyways, wasn't that a Subaru already?

I really like the exterior styling of this car, but interior and gas mileage won't compare well to the Accord, and the Accord has more power. They better not forget about the Altima either, that has become a sales winner. I just hope they don't do "this is our country, this is our car" ads with John Mellencamp. I read they are going to limit rental fleet sales to 20% (down from 40% currently) on the new malibu. The Camry and Accord are closer to 7%, so I think the Malibu will still seem like a rental car when 1 out of 5 is a bare bones silver one on the Enterprise lot.

Decent, but not great mileage. I am still most impressed with the Escape hybrid that gets 34 mpg city. Motor Trend just had a hybrid comparison with the Altima, Camry and Aura, they finished in that order. The Aura had a 10.5 second 0-60 time which is really lousy, this thing may be slow too. The Altima was 7.1 seconds 0-60 and 33/34 mpg I think, both were impressive numbers, GM needs numbers like that.

February 09 seems like a long time away, I wish it were summer 08. The positive will be that Transformers 2 comes out in the summer of 2009, so they can tie in the Camaro with that. Chevy needs some excitement, their car line up (aside from the Vette) hasn't had any in a while. The 3.5 V6 is bad now, it will seem really bad in 2010. I think the 3.6 is even a little unrefined and could be improved, especially when it comes to fuel mileage. The Impala's base engine needs to be Accord V6 level. A 6.2 liter V8 seems like a huge jump up, there is no middle ground, like the 5.3 liter. I wonder how much gas that engine will use also. The Chrysler 300 SRT sucks gas and that is a 6.1 liter and I don't see many on the road. I am all for offering the big engine, but they need something smaller I think too.

I agree, they haven't been a performance brand in a long time, I don't know why they keep saying they are. I am not sure why it is the goal even, they don't have the products (or money) to achieve it. I read the Solstice sales were dropping, while the Sky had been rising. I also looked up used Skys in my area and they sell for the same as new, sometimes even more still. The Solstice however is selling for a few thousand less than new, I think having a Pontiac symbol on the front hurts it because Pontiac is a "damaged brand" and Saturn is not. The Grand Prix was 78% rental fleet sales in 2006 or 2007, the G6 I think is around 30%, just like the Malibu and Cobalt are. The G5 and Vibe are probably lower, but they sell for such low cost, and with incentives. None of those cars are image or profit boosters. If GM is serious about Cadillac, Pontiac, and Buick they need to cut fleet sales to 8%. GM's corprate average is still 23-24% despite them saying they are going to reduce fleet sales. Or if they need a fleet and economy brand, make 3-4 Pontiacs that are cheap and mainly fleet cars. G8 can be the Taxi/police car, G5, Vibe and G6 go to rental lots. Especially the Vibe, they should fleet the heck out of it, and hope it drags the Matrix down too. Then they can cut the rental car sales on other brands all together.

Looks like it got hit with the ugly stick. Gotta love Toyota's massive 128 hp engine. Yet another reason why Pontiac is a rental car brand, not a performance brand. Even if the G8 does well, and Solstice does well (although sales and resale value are dropping, while the Sky rises), the volume cars are the G5, G6 and Vibe, they are selling more fleet junk than good cars, and that will hurt the image of the good cars, it is already happening with the Solstice.

Front engine, rear drive has worked for 50 years, I say stick with it. All wheel drive will add weight, and the Corvette's main advantage over it's competition is it's low weight. The ZR1 will has more than enough power, if they can make that work with rear drive then they are good. I think rear drive only will give them the best handling. Really the Vette doesn't need over 500 hp, it is plenty fast in Z06 form. Doing the ZR1 as a low production bragging rights thing is good for image, but I don't think they need to focus on the 500-700 hp range for the Vette and then adding all wheel to control it. Porsche still uses the 3.6 liter engine and doesn't need tons of power to make a fast car. The C7 should focus on increased gas mileage, handling, braking and interior.

Holdens just seem to look dated or bland for some reason, the GTO interior suffered form that. They look kind of European, but European of 10 years ago. I think the 300C or Accord have a better interior, MKZ as well. All of those have flaws too, but I think they are better than the G8's.

Obviously the engine has to be developed with the car, I meant that the future midlevel and high end sedan, along with the XLR should be engineered to fit a small V12. The 3-series has been on the Car and Driver 10 best list about 16 times, CTS, zero. What magazines say isn't everything, but mags like Consumer Reports (who I don't like) Road and Track, etc, they never say the CTS is better than the Germans. Enough people read that and form the same opinion and keep buying BMWs. The 3-series sells over 120,000 a year in the US, 500,000 units worldwide. What they are doing is working. I have driven the last gen CTS (and the front drive caddies), it handled pretty well, but I thought acceleration could have been better and the interior I thought was bad. My step-dad has a BMW 540i, driving wise it crushes the CTS in acceleration, braking, steering and handling. I don't like the BMW interior though, too utilitarian, that is the downside to German cars. I may get a CTS as my next car, but I'd only get it if the 2 year old used ones sell at a huge discount.

My point was about what 2001-2004 BMW 3-series or Lexus RX sell for. $20k for a 2003 version of either is pretty common, that's 50% value held and almost 5 years old. Cadillacs often hit that 50% mark within 3 years. My other point is even when a Lexus has 90-100k miles on it, that doesn't scare buyers away like it does with an American car. People have a belief that that L on the front means it will run for 300k miles. Cadillac needs to create that.

I hope they get this right. The BLS/BTS needs to be smaller and better than the CTS, priced about the same, 33k base. I fear the CTS will shift to $36-49k, BLS will be $29,900-36,000 and the zeta car will be $48-60k and 200+ inches long and basically be the DTS converted to rear drive.

Luxury brands rely on perception. The Deville and Ezcalade pickup hurt Cadillac. They've needed to change their perception for years, and it has changed a little, but they still have a dressed up Tahoe (oddly enough it has a good image) and the geezer DTS that dates back to 90s and the bland STS. Mercedes has a $150,000 sedan, BMW has dozens of 10 Best and Car of the Year awards, those brands have image and status and appeal. Cadillac still relies on parts sharing with Chevy and undercutting the competition on price. It also doesn't help that American cars in general have a poor reputation. No one has forgot the 70s, 80s, and 90s of bad cars form American brands. This scares buyers away still. Cadillac needs to go above and beyond to fix the perception gap. It will cost GM billions to get them to where they need to be, I want to see them do it, but I don't think they'll invest the time and money, because they need to give Saab, Hummer or some other brand product, so a new Cadillac gets bumped back 2 years.