G. David Felt

Tesla night not be in the auto business long term if his battery plant takes off in building battery packs for other auto companies as here he is ahead of many companies. So it will be interesting to see what happens with Tesla. Having a 400 mile range battery pack is far ahead of everyone else. So if he can produce this in quantity at a proper price point, then he will end up making money and he can stick to his 100K dollar auto's while everyone else builds variety of lower priced auto's that he supplies the battery packs for. I doubt GM would want to buy battery packs from him since they have invested so much in the volt system but who knows, you get to a point where eventually you buy up your small competitor and I am sure Tesla would sell at a profit.

Be interesting to see what the Impasse is. Does this mean that Mitsubishi will need to find a new partner or merge to survive against the larger giant auto companies?

Lovely old car, I love that these cars have the ultimate vent. Crouch cooler. Perfect for us guys on road trips. Clearly been driven very little, nice and clean for what it is. Someone will love it to death.

Very cool, I love projects. This one reminds me of the Van conversion in Corvette summer. Look forward to some pictures also.

But would that recover R&D costs? Plus federal crash testing costs?

I agree that GMC is the better looking of the two. Shame GM cannot see that people want these packages in base cabs also.

Interesting, wonder if they can build and sell them profitably since the TT is a limited market appliance.

Interesting but I guess with the majority of the market going double or crew cabs they are taking the safe approach to building a more custom looking ride.

Correct Drew, the Silver Square GM badge was gone for the 2009 model year. I still have them on my 2008 Trailblazer SS but I could not find anything on 2009 models on any line.

Very cool to see the pricing and towing. Clearly for most families you can use the Traverse and yet for those that have heavy trailers the Tahoe is the better choice. Thank you

Where do they top out at? Is it close to the starting point of the Tahoe? Even thought they have close to the same interior space, to me they are very different animals.

I will say that I hear more and more positive from people in regards to specific auto's such as the Buick Encore that coworkers have bought and just rave about how great Buick is and is nothing like older people say Buick is. Never hear them mention GM only Buick. Same with Chevy and Cadillac. I have seen a few new Cadillac show up at work in what used to be my Escalade and a ton of BMW / MB Appliances. We now have a couple V editions, an XTS and an ATS

Awesome, I still like the GMC better for style, but I love the all black model. Great to see GM doing these types of versions.

Excellent point, I see what you mean. Interesting system for PT.

Awesome Write up Bill. I love the reviews, learned some interesting things about the three different SUV's. With that said, I still do not like the look or layout of the 4Runner but then that is why they have various SUV's for people to choose from. Agree with you that the Predator Mouth, AKA Spindle Grill does not work on the GX. Did not know that the GX was a Land Cruiser sibling. Tahoe I did not know could come with Magnaride suspension. Over all nice SUV, but like the Yukon better and especially the Escalade. I am with you, Chevy having a $70K SUV I think is a bit high. Not sure but guess we will see in the sales numbers for 2015 if the price scares people off or not. One question I have is do you think the higher SUV prices is to reduce the soccer moms from buying them and so only use need customers end up purchasing the Full Size Body on Frame SUV's?

I think it is worthy, I am enjoying the banter and discussion about PT. I see your point and others. So if I am reading you right, you are saying each county have a local bus system to get around. then have a system that goes cross county from transit station to transit station then pick up a local bus to finish getting to work or home? FYI, Bill and Melinda gates foundation announced quietly that they will work with local social services to provide monthly passes to poor and street people so they can get around. I like how they are stepping up to make a difference with their money.

Sharp! Never even thought about it but your right shame on me. Was thinking about how people will talk or write and it is just a mess.

Once people realize the benefits, it will catch on. The system has to have critical density for people to want to use it. The Port Authority in Pittsburgh is an example of a death by a thousand cuts. Every 6 months they cut routes and cut runs citing declining ridership and lack of funds from the state, but the problem of declining ridership just keeps accelerating. My bus route in to work was standing room only years ago. Today, on the rare occasion I take the bus in, it is not unusual for half the seats to be open. The problem? They've cut the frequency multiple times over the years. During rush hour, it used to be every 15 minutes, then it increased to every 20 minutes, then it increased to every 30 minutes, today it is every 40 minutes. If you miss your bus at the time you intended to take it, you're sunk, walk back to your car and drive in. If you're trying to take a bus outside of rush hour, better not miss it because it could be an hour or more wait. Furthermore, because of the Corbett administration choking off funds in an attempt to break the union, they don't even have enough operational buses to run every scheduled route on most days. There have been reports of up to 20% of the scheduled runs during the day system wide not happen due to lack of running equipment. That level of unreliability scares people away from using the system. Here I am, someone who wants to use public transit yet no longer able to due to lack of system density and reliability. I have been stranded waiting for buses out of the city more than once due to my bus simply not showing up. The problem is that certain political mindsets think that everything everywhere should always always always turn a profit on the books. Something like public transit doesn't operate in that way. The profit to the taxpayers comes in the form of savings elsewhere and off the books. It comes from not sitting in traffic jams and killing your MPG, it comes from lower road maintenance costs, it comes in lower environmental costs, lower accident rates, etc etc. If you build it, they will come. While I have no problem using PT, I agree that business should be profitable but the PT at least should be break even. The system in Seattle is a perfect example of stupidity. They only charge $1.25 for 1 zone, $2.50 for 2 zones and if you cross counties then it is $4.50 and yet non of this is break even. Worse is the Socialist idiots that feel the PT system should be free for street people and people who can prove they make less than $50K a year. This costs city of Seattle 38 million last year alone. They finally are killing off the free ride program as the tax dollars do not support it. Worse yet is that the free program was scaring riders due to assaults by street people and other crazy people. PT needs to be break even and safe for it to work. Nothing wrong with having $5 one way fares so that for the average person, you are looking at $50 a week, $200 a month. If you choose to use it and not have a car you will get ahead due to gas savings, insurance cost, car payments, etc. But right now biggest problem is PT not being run as a break even system. Then you also have the Unions with their seniority based jobs that does not mean you get the best worker and then you have pay issues. Some bus drivers have been sited earning 100K or more a year due to no limit on over time. I would think better to hire more drivers than control it and pay OT. Political mess that does not promise that if you build it they will use it. One Solution is the Fed's paid the bulk for HOV Lanes. If they want to get people out of their auto's then convert the HOV lanes into Lite Rail now fast quick and have the stations over the freeway systems so people walk out to the lite rail get on and zoom off.

Why should I be taxed for using my brain on how to get around Idiot City planning of not building the major roads big enough and I know the side streets so I take a short cut to get home or to where I need to go faster. Transit is not efficient and bike riding is not either. Slow and way to long and not something useful during fall, winter or spring. Heck why not charge the bike riders and motorcycle/ scooter riders a fair tax for dedicated roads or covered protected lanes for their use. Why should I a driver who has earned the privilege to drive a car have to pay for bike riders and scooters? Bicycles produce vastly less wear and tear to the surface of the roads. You can get away without doing much to bike lanes for many years. Also, how are pedestrians being taxed for walking? Pedestrian sidewalks are being paid by the building owners who construct and are required to supply sidewalks around their buildings butting up against the street. The business wants people to come in they supply sidewalks. Yes Bikes produce less wear, but they are also random and all over causing many problems and are less efficient in getting from point A to B fast. Yes this is more of an American culture thing. Having gone to college in Japan I have first hand experience on how especially in the Asian rim they incorporate public transportation in small areas. Yet the US was never small and as such, getting around in cold, freezing or raining areas especially when you work 40 miles in each direction from home to work makes Bike riding a non-starter. Not going to waste my hours riding a bike to and from work. Rather work out in the gym with the wife or go skiing than to waste hours riding a bike.

I would love all Cadillac stores to follow that naming convention. Cadillac of Shoreline rather than Dougs Northwest Cadillac of Shoreline Cadillac of Bellevue rather than Chevrolet Cadillac of Bellevue Cadillac of Renton rather than Brotherton Cadillac Buick GMC Cadillac of Fife rather than Look Larson Cadillac Buick Chevrolet GMC Audi BMW VW Mercedes Benz Porsche "Family owned mega auto place in Fife, they have all the brands there, the local commercials are crazy as one big commercial for every brand of car out there. We'll I like the Idea of simplifing it to follow what I see here with other brands having the car brand name and the city it is in.

You guys crack me up. Guess west coast versus east coast thinking. I find them all interesting, not my kind of tea but I like the underneath mechanics. Just needs a proper nose job.

I agree that a small store will not work, All the luxury dealers around here have huge stores. Lexus just opened up a 3 story Dealership with auto's on the top two floors and service on the bottom floor. Very luxury and nice compared to Cadillac. MB, Audi, BMW, Porche, Bently and the rest of the high end auto's all have big luxury dealerships in Bellevue here also. Cadillac was moved out of the Chevy Dealer but still owned by that dealer into their defunct Hummer building. So you have Cadillac next door to Chevy in a Hummer Building. Just all kinds of wrong!

One I do agree that there are too many dealers. I think Cadillac needs to be stand alone, not part of a huge mega all in one store that sells Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. With that said, I do not see a reduction without GM buying out and closing down dealers. Perfect example of this is up north there is a Mega Chevy, Buick, GMC and Cadillac Dealer. One Big building and for the most part they sell 3 product lines really well and have space on the shared floorroom so you have an Escalade next to a suburban or the New ATS next to a LaCross, etc. This sucks, the building is very dated and they have not invested in updating the dealership in probably 20 years. These kinds of dealership need to either invest and separate as stand alone floors or loose a product line. Since this particular dealer does so well with Chevy, Buick and GMC. I say pull the Cadillac line. My stand alone Cadillac dealer I go to is great with service but I wish they would update the 60 year old building. I know some people especially the baby boomers remember when this was a Pontiac, Buick & Cadillac dealership with their large glass showroom floor but now, it is just dated. Yes history is cool, but I am ready for a 21st Century Dealership that is modern.