oldshurst442

Late 1980s and 1990s beer commercials always inspired me. But then again, I was of that certain age when partying and skirt chasin' was in my almost daily itinerary. However, every beer bottle I ever opened up, I never seemed to be transported immediately to a BBQ pool party with bikini clad girls partying around me. Methinks I got hosed...

In the age of streaming AND internet usage as a whole. Social media with platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Which lends itself to personalized ads through controversial privacy shenanigans.

Cadillac did not have to make an Escalade V with gi-normous horsepower upgrades. Even with the horsepower wars STILL going on. As an enthusiast, I think they should myself. As a business owner, Ill say: Hold on a minute! Easy profit YOU say... Ill say maybe? Maybe not. The small R&D money needed to engineer room to package the supercharged V8 in the Escalade engine bay. The small R&D money needed to create new body panels to differentiate it from the other lesser models. The small R&D money needed to safety crash it and approve it. All that creativity and energy and money spent may not have been enough and worthwhile to recuperate even with a higher price tag for a market that simple may NOT be there... The Escalade always sold well. Especially towards its competition. There was NO NEED to invent a new niche for it. Simply put, monies and energies were needed elsewhere...especially when the market deems 400 some odd horsepower ENOUGH for the Escalade... Like the independant suspension thing. It took long enough, right???!!! Well, there was no need to fix that aspect. But finally, for the next gen Escalade in 2021, Cadillac saw that the time is now for independent suspension. Maybe a hi-po V version is what Cadillac people are seeing for 2022? Maybe not... Like I said before, the Escalade engineers and marketers KNOW what the Escalade is and what its not. And if they deem that the time is right for a V version, then the market will see a V version... You could shyte on GM all you want for whatever reason you want...and you will probably have a good argument on your side, for your side. BUT...there are 2 models at GM that GM gets right each and every time. And nobody should question what they are doing with them. Those 2 models are the Corvette and the Escalade. Both the Corvette and Escalade engineering and marketing teams are really really dialed into their products.

^^^ I stand corrected!

I, once again, never thought downsizing of engine size was a problem during the 1980s. Gas prices were still high. But I see that complaint often enough. I thought more of a problem was going all in with FWD. Not that was a problem, but maybe GM could have eased up on that for Cadilllac. I thought that some of those models resembling too much like the other lesser GM brands with the badge engineered Cimarron being front and center was another big issue. Example: the 1986 Eldo resembling too much like an Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais and the 1988 Seville looking like a Delta 88 . I would have thought that was more the issue rather than the engines that powered them. It was the 1980s and most engines of that time were small in displacement with low HP numbers after all. But I could see as to how that was a problem with your examples. There was nothing wrong with the 1990s STS. It was a solid car. Solid quality. Solid luxury. I did put the blame on the gasket problems of the Northstar and that was just another huge step backwards for Cadillac as the 1990s progressed. The Catera had its own issues that did not help Cadillac either.

Yes we are. And now you have intrigued me. Although I do know Cadillac's downward spiral started in the 1970s, I didnt realize interior quality was an issue then. I thought it was a product issue as not the right product for the changing times rather than a quality interior problem. Unless of course the heavy velour, was deemed a problem then. I honestly dont think it was. Tacky? SURE! But I thought that was the definition of luxury then. Mercedes' interiors were cheap then. And if they had leather, it was thin leather. It was an interior that always seemed to be lacking in substance. I dont think it was a problem then. I think that was a problem. Yes. The CTS made inwards as sports sedans was the flavour de jour regarding econobox luxury. At that time though, the 1st gen CTS was also another case of too little too late, but more realistically, not enough. The interior of the 1st gen CTS was horrid. The BMW 3 Series was at that point in time, at its height of greatness on all levels. Had the 1st gen CTS' interior been more of a Cadillac's rather than a mid level Chevy, and Cadillac continued on that trend, then we wouldnt be having this conversation today about missed opportunities and market share and Cadillac image problems. I guess I answered this part opposite of your point of view. I think it was a problem and continues to be in the grand scheme of things. But I guess the bigger problem at Cadillac during the last 2 decades would be a lack of the right product to sell to the right people for the sign of the times. They got the idea of the sports sedan right with the Catera, except it was the wrong execution with the wrong car. The 1st and 2nd gen CTS was the right product but aimed at the wrong niche. It was marketed properly though. But the interiors were not worthy of a Cadillac. The German luxury triplet brands just capitalized on the shame and hatred that Americans had for the American automobile with marketing... The Ultimate Driving Machine Engineered Like No Other Both tag lines aimed squarely at the emotions of Americans towards their own automobile industry. There was no longer a party in the back of a Cadillac.

Yeah. I see what I said. I see what you did there also. Let me rephrase what I said. Its too damned bad that the 1st gen CTS, the RWD STS and the 2nd gen CTS did not have quality and refinement deemed worthy of the Cadillac nameplate that was made famous back in the golden era of Cadillac. The CT5 V and CT4 V possess this forgotten trait, and its about time Cadillac got its shyt together. Its just that with ICE sports sedans, it maybe too little too late. The XT6's interior should have had the same treatment as those new sports sedans though. The 2021 Escalade's interior looks like the trend continues like the new sports sedans... PS: This aint about BMW. I dont care for BMW. I care for Cadillac. Cadillac in the year 1997, 2001, 2005...1986...should have NEVER sunk that low with its image and interior quality and luxury to begin with...

Ill agree with you there... A BIGGER problem for Cadillac is NOT punching above their weight class. But Cadillac BEING the weight class. Its the "the Cadillac of" meme that has to return to Cadillac products in quality and in luxury that needs to return to Cadillac. Like you said...the XT6 is not that kind of Cadillac. It aint bad. Its just OK, par for the course for the market standard in its class. But THAT is NOT what Cadillac stands for. I sat in the new CT5 V at the Montreal auto show... Now THAT is what a Cadillac should look like on the inside and the outside (minus that C Pillar blunder). But for a sports sedan...an ICE one at that...its too little too late! Its too damned bad this level of car was NOT the 1st gen or even the 2nd gen CTS or 1st gen RWD STS... The CT5 V interior was sublime. Notice I said CT5 V. I dont know about the lower trim CT5 as Cadillac only had the CT4 V and CT5 V present. The CT4 Vs interior was also great. Too damned bad that the XT6 could not be that good either... But Cadillac shouldnt be playing in that small car sandbox either. People for the last part of the last decade and into a new decade want BIG Cadillacs again. I could feel that vibe in crappy Quebec. Im shocked the Cadillac folk over at New York (former new Cadillac HQ?) and Detroit dont feel it...

Holden... I miss Pontiac, Oldsmobile. I will miss Holden just as much as I do Plymouth. Which is not much. Before I get hate from MOPAR folk...my reality of Plymouth is crappier versions of really, really...REALLY crappy badge engineered Chrysler FWD cars of the 1980s and 1990s. The ONLY Plymouth that I really cared for during that time would be the Prowler. And that car even became a Chrysler for a year or two... Holden...I got to be greatful because of the new GTO(which Canada never got), the Pontiac G8, the Camaro (which I actually hate), and the Chevy SS (which Canada also never got) so basically...like Plymouth, its only 1 model that really touched me in MY time. There are classic Plymouths that I love, but those are so far removed from my reality, those Plymouths just as well be cars from a different market all together....like Holden for instance. But yeah...folk Down Under must feel great pain today. I do have feels for them.

What are the costs related to reprocessing nuclear waste? Is it worth it? How dangerous is it? Nuclear power plants, no matter how we want to downplay the dangers, nuclear power plants are risky AF. Recycling and reprocessing the waste, is it just as risky? I know storing the waste is risky AF... I also know by reprocessing nuclear waste, the recuperated uranium, thorium could be re-used...but...like I said, no matter how we want to downplay the dangers, nuclear power plants are risky AF... There is no simple solution. It seems no matter what kind of energy source we want to use to power our lives with, it screws with the environment and our welfare either way. Therefore, instead of trying to make one side of any argument look ridiculous, we should try to fix the damned problem. But that is impossible to do as in any case for or against any solution, many ass40les in all cases have hidden monetary agendas...including that Forbes article on top.

Well...the other reality and truth to all of this is that Cadillac screwed itself with not being the best of the best. 1. 8-6-4 V8 2. Cimarron badge engineering BS 3. Northstar V8 gasket fiasco In that period of time, those 3 events caused the lack of faith in the brand. Then Cadillac did not favours to itself by going down that same rabbit hole with the Opel Omega badge engineered Catera. Although people did not know what an Opel Omega was, that car was not a Cadillac. At best, it was a Pontiac or even a Chevrolet. Then half baked products like the 1st gen CTS, XLR. Then no balls to actually produce awe inspiring concepts they wooed the world with. The one they actually did, was half baked... XLR Every since the 1st gen CTS...Cadillac has taken the right steps for people to forget about those 3 cataclysmic events from the 1980s and 1990s. They just fail to build upon that momentum. They fail to recognize the oomph they got from Cien, Ciel, ElMiraj. In 2020, maybe those products are not right for Cadillac as times have changed again. But, they need to recognize that in 2020 going forward, people want a Cadillac what Cadillac always represented as an emotion and as a physical object itself. Cadillac product planners and marketing people need to acknowledge that formula and tell the engineers what that is so the engineers could build it and marketing people could sell it. Its as simple as that. What is that formula? Its 115 years of excellence. Its the Dewar Trophy. Its the V16. Its the Coupe DeVille and Eldorado. Its the Escalade. Its the countless images of stretched limousines. Its "the Cadillac of " memes 100 years BEFORE memes were ever a thing. They know they got it. They just dont use it...

Is that Forbes article for real? I did not read it fully aas I stopped because I saw some pretty ridiculous stuff in it. Greta and Sanders may or may not be nuts, fake alarmists or just plain naive. Or they could even be correct...I aint debating that part of that article. I am dumbfounded though on the downplaying of nuclear... I saw that it defends hydro-electric power and questions those who oppose it, but I aint here to debate that either...again...its the nuclear part that caught my eye...) 1. WW3 is said to have be avoided by the slimmest of margins back in '62. If not WW3, then a nuclear war between the US and the USSR for sure... The cold war ended sometime in the 1980s or even the 1990s, but nuclear war is always at high alert as the US is NOT the sole owner of nuclear warheads. It be cool had it only been between the US and the USSR. But as we all know, from the 1970s all through to 2020...and beyond, more and more nations have discovered the power of splitting atoms to use as a weapon against fellow humanity... And that threat today does not end with rogue nations as we in the West like to call them like maybe North Korea or Iran...but by a gang of freedom fighters fighting for whatever cause they want to fight for against anybody or nation or innocent people they deem necessary for revenge... But war has NOTHING to do with renewable energy sources... BUT IT DOES EVENTUALLY...and hence why people maybe afraid of nuclear powerplants... Those two quotes CASUALLY IGNORE the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. It COMPLETELY FORGETS past Nuclear reactor meltdowns, (3 Mile Island and Chernobyl) but those 3 events CLEARLY spook us humans. And those were human and natural disaster ERRORS... In a time of war...nuclear power plants could be used against a people in a region by PURPOSEFULLY destroying these power plants and nuclear waste and radiation would leak destroying EVERYTHING around that powerplant for many many years...THAT would be the SAME as a nuclear war, but the result would NOT be by nuclear war heads being dropped, but by a nuclear power plant being destroyed... ALSO... NUCLEAR WASTE... The article does NOT mention NUCLEAR WASTE. It talks about the environment and goes into hydro-electric stuff by defending it where as some greenies oppose the flooding etc...but again...in the same breath...the article does NOT mention what are we to do with all that NUCLEAR WASTE... If real estate is a focal point in defending and attacking various tree huggers trying to defend nuclear power plants... Maybe defending nuclear power plants may NOT be the way to go.... I get what the article is trying to do....trying to make Greta and Sanders look like hypocrites...but the article attacking all those greenies like Greta and Sanders is hypocritical itself... It aint doing the author any favours. The author looks just as hypocritical and foolish... Just My Humble Opinion Though... which may or may NOT be that humble...

How does one calculate love? I never thought one could quantify love. A dog will kill any threats to protect its master. THAT is a fact. Another fact: A cat will kill prey and present it to its master (care giver) as a token of appreciation. I know that has psycho applications...that aside, that says a lot about how much love a cat has for its master/care giver. I think the difference is this: A cat, although domesticated, I dont think a cat could fully be tamed. I dont think its in a cat's DNA to have a master. But a cat is quite happy to have a care giver. And if a human takes good care of his/her cat, then that love and respect is reciprocated. There is a reason why the saying goes: A dog is man's (as in mankind's in today's PC world) best friend. A dog needs a master, and a master needs a dog. Its a symbiotic relationship. And that defines the differences between cats and dogs and humans. Im a dog person myself. If I were to have a pet, a dog it would be. The bigger dogs. The bigger, guard dog type. German Sheppards, Dobermans, Huskies, Labradors (not that LAbs are pure guard dogs...) But you get the picture... With that being said. I love cats too. I love the way cats are felines and they behave EXACTLY like a lion or tiger or cougar... They hunt they same way. They are stealthy the same way. They are agile and fast in the same way. Yet, they see a human as a friend (or foe), but not as possible food source. You got to respect that. A hungry, rabid dog, will ALWAYS go back to its ancestor'a DNA...wolf, coyote... and quite possibly see a human as a food source. That would be another difference...

I present to you the BMW 1 Series Hatch, 2 Series Grand Coupé (4 doors) and 2 Series Coupe. Based on a certain MINI...dont know which one. Dont really care either. All these years...all those shytty American car magazines....all these asshat American car buyers swearing off GM, Ford forever because of downsizing and FWD architecture and them switching to the German brands.. All that commotion, bitching about wrong wheel drive and torque steer... ALL THOSE BMW CUVs...ALL THOSE BMW 3 SERIES and 5 SERIES WITH AWD SOLD SINCE THE 2000s... ( AWD...adding weight for nothing!!!) THE ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE ? I NOW HAVE THE LAST LAUGH!!! AND A BIG MIDDLE FINGER TO ALL THOSE BMW DOUCHE BAGS AND AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE JOURNALISTS IN THE 1980s AND 1990s THAT SHYTTED ON FWD PONTIACS AND CADILLACS ALL THESE YEARS!!!

And all those SUVs sell by the handful... BUT... Those SUVs are not sold because of their performance...they are sold BECAUSE of the badge and SUVs are the flavour of the month decade plus. And BECAUSE these are Porsche, Lamborghini and future Ferrari SUVs...then what are these brands gonna sell their SUVs as? Off roading? Porsche decided to do both. The Cayenne is a great off roader. Its an OK performance vehicle.... Its great for a big heavy thing, but as a performance machine...just good. Lamborghini had an off roading SUV in the late 1980s early 1990s. Didnt do too well in the market place. So...Lamborghini does the Urus in the image of Lamborghini...but that too...is just an OK performance vehicle. Its great as a clumsy heavy machine...but as a true blue performance thing? Meh by today's standards... Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls Royce... They all want a piece of the pie because THAT is where the money is. And quite honestly...if these 4 last brands did SUVs 10 years ago, they'd all fail in the market place. Their conservative clientele would NOT accept SUVs from them respectively. Let's put it this way. A snobby, stuck up, Ferrari douce is not really begging Ferrari to sell him a high performance SUV...that guy is happy to keep on buying F8 Tributos, Super Fasts and 250 Lusso SWB classics. Ferrari is gonna try to get that high priced Hollywood hooker that caters to Charlie Sheen and Harvey Weinstein when he isnt raping...and trust me...that clientele doesnt give two shytes about how fast it will be. But Ferrari WILL make it fast and make it handle...it will have the prancing horse on the front...but it will NOT be as fast or as agile as its cars though...why? PHYSICS... PS: 603 HP on an AMG GLS? That is NOT the primary selling point on an AMG GLS... Like you said... Aston Martin, LAMBORGHINI AND FERRARI will reside in that niche. Then there is TESLA. Navigator, Escalade is on the other side of that SUV coin. That is the thing... (EQS you say?) Cadillac KNOWS what the Escalade is and knows what the Escalade is NOT!!! The way YOU describe it...and thankfully for Mercedes you are not in charge at M-B, the GLS would be one confused SUV? What is it? A Ferrari fighter? An Escalade competitor? A G Wagon playmate? Its gonna carve out a niche for itself to be faster than an Escalade but slower than a Urus and somewhere in between a full blown off roader like a Wrangler but not too much as to not step on the G wagon toes? The you make the GLS sound...its one convoluted mess... And that way...it will NEVER out sell the Escalade as the Escalade KNOWS what it is...and does what it does SUPERBLY!!!

Nobody really cares about high speed FULLSIZED SUVs... However, TOP DOG trim levels that are the toppest of the biggest SUV do matter. Mercedes likes AMG to be big their top dog trim level. They slap that badge on anything...so even if some models are TRUE performance vehicles true to the AMG badge and true to performance...not all AMGs ARE true performance cars...and therefore not even worthy of the AMG badge... And in all honesty...BIG DEAL about performance oriented huge, heavy, high center of gravity SUVs!!! In this example...a GLS AMG is what counts... NO! Not the speed performance of the GLS, but the highest trim level of the GLS which happens to be AMG... The thing is. Cadillac may not have the Blackwing V8 anymore, but Cadillac is thinking about using the Blackwing NAME as a TOP trim level Cadillac and the Escalade would surely get a Blackwing trim to compete with an AMG, Maybach, Culinan and Bentayga... Whether THAT model gets THE Blackwing V8, or a supercharged version of the next LT2 V8 or is an EV of some sort remains to be seen... The outgoing Escalade? I HATE THESE DISCUSSIONS...but phoquing *SIGH* The OUTGOING Escalade is 5-6 model years old. I think its STILL the sales leader... and superior in what way? I really dont care....BUT the 2021 Escalade REALLY addresses the shortcomings of the OUTGOING model!!! BOF SUV? That would be YOUR way of dissing? GTFO with that!!! Why? Because this SUV below Is a BOF SUV... Its a skateboard platform...which essentially is BOF... Dont cut your nose to spite your face...

It is a joked that failed... I aint even GONNA try to explain it. Just flush it down the loo... Yes. I DO enjoy a good sound system. I, too, have got a Denon receiver. With JBL speakers. My system is a 20 year old system. 5.1 surround. Im looking to upgrade to a 7.1. Possibly to a Yamaha receiver. (Or Denon or Onkyo) with better speakers. My JBLs are not the top of the line ones... But not now. My system is decent enough. I do need a bigger TV though...OLED or QLED as well... PS....nice purchase. DENONS are awesome!

By kicking yourself in the ass for buying them in the first place?

1st part: Dont you mean...wrinkles? ? 2nd part: I got solution (in Russian accent) or this one (is same Russian accent) (In normal Canadian English accent) Sorry, but I too, find today's phones too big, eh?

You are all over the place... The Escalade is not losing market share. Sales dipped because new generation is going to be introduced. Sales of end of gen product cycle usually dips towards...the end of the product...cycle. Then you state that the Camaro is going to die, but that has nothing to do with the SBC that resides in it. You do realize that the Escalade is still king in sales in its market...and has been since 20 years now...all with the SBC that resides under the hood... GM gas sold millions upon millions with the SBC in its cars... The SBC is one of the most successful of all engines ever built. In sales. In reliability. In winning races. Its a PUSHROD V8. It has been supercharged by the factory. Its been supercharged by hot rodders. Im not sure if it has been turbocharged by the factory, but it has definitely been turbocharged by hot rodders. It has been bored and stroked endlessly. So when you say, GM can live or die with it...you say it as a bad thing. But why do you say that? Im perplexed...

So Formula 1 cars, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche got it wrong, but Dodge and Chevrolet get it right? Yup! Whose to say Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche gets it right and Dodge and Chevy get it wrong? In reality...you ask a stupid question...you'll get a stupid answer. In reality, supercharging has its advantages and its disadvantages and turbocharging has its advantages and disadvantages. For Chevy and Dodge...and Ford (5.4 liter V8 in the Lightning and GT and the new 5.2 liter in the GT500) use a supercharger because they need those V8s to be supercharged. The cars and trucks in question need to be supercharged because of all kinds of reasons. Engineering, packaging, image and marketing... For Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche use turbos because they need those engines to be turbocharged. The cars and trucks in question need to be turbocharged because of all kinds of reasons. Engineering, packaging, image and marketing... Image and marketing is a HUGE deal. Porsche for instance. TURBO is what they do... How much so? They NEED their top dog trim ELECTRIC VEHICLE to be a TURBO trim... So....you may think is turbo better...you'd be WRONG!!!

Must be because of the supremacy in turbocharging their engines rather than supercharging them...

Montreal is pretty clean Even Down Town. And we have a homeless problem the last decade. But no urine stench for the most part. We do have alley ways in the older parts of that part of the city, so I imagine there would be a problem... That dont bother me (for my environment). There are some billionaire sports team owners that give back to the community. The Montreal pro sports teams do plenty of charity work and funding for our community. Schools, hospitals... I do sympathize with your POV though. As also how Balthy's view regarding city life as he states it in the quote below.... I hate those types myself...and Ive got plenty of my Greek friends that are unfortunately...like that. I try to stay away from them nowadays. Balthy's, Robert's and your love for peace and quiet...I can appreciate that. I love nature myself. Like I really really love nature. But for recharging my batteries when I need to check out and go on vacation. (Im really not scared of isolation as I put it...well...I was when I was a kid...that much was true. The howling wind and rustling of the olive branches on the shutters and the annoying buzzing of them pesky mosquitoes kept me up at night numerous times) But like Robert, the sounds of the waves on the beach is really soothing to me. Birds sometimes get on my nerves though. Not the crickets.... I also needed TV/songs for me to concentrate on doing homework. I could relate to your kids. My daughter is the same way. My son a tad less. I feel at home with city noise. I want rural peacefulness on vacation.

I didnt mean it that way. LOL yes. Of course trees wont kill you. Unless of course you are drunken truck driver in the middle of a desert... (true story. Tree of Ténéré) LOL I meant it as I do not like quiet. I need noise. But...when its super quiet and you could hear the wind howling and the trees rustling...its total isolation. And when you are not used to that because you are a city slicker and people...lots of people...is a way of life...with jack hammers and car horns and engine and tire noises and police/fire truck sirens always going off...its scary because you are all...alone... Of course a human has the potential to be more harmful than anything in nature does, but its also comforting to know that you are not alone... I dont like being alone. For too long anyway.

I have always been a city slicker. I dont think Ill ever change. Im a suburbanite now, because family. I dont think Ill ever go back living in the city, but the suburbs is as far as I want to go away from a city. Where I live now, Im only 20 minutes(no traffic) away from Down Town. And THAT is what I prefer. But even the suburban town I live in, it aint small. Its got people hustlin' and bustlin' and everything you get Down Town, you get here. Well, the professional sports teams of Montreal are Down Town...but only 20 minutes away. OK...40 minutes with traffic. I dont like the rural life. Too quiet. Its scary. I mean... My mom's village in Greece is kinda like a rural environment. In the 1970s, there werent any street lamps either. So...at night, hearing the wind, the night as dark as dark could be, not seeing your hand a foot in front of your face, its scary AF. Today, its not like that obviously, but its still quiet...too quiet. Its still scary AF. I like to hear noise. Maybe not as much city noise anymore, but suburban noise is good enough for me. However, dead quiet on vacation in Greece on an island listening to crickets and birds and bats or the waves on a secluded beach is heavenly. But I only want that 3-4 weeks out of the year...