oldshurst442

What the Regal needs to be...is what the original VW CC was....(VW just let the CC rot on the vine) A discount Mercedes Benz CLS. Or a discount BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe 4 door coupe. If possible, forget the regular CLS and 6 Series, and make the Regal a discount CLS AMG or M6 Gran Coupe... Let the Verano, Cascada and Encore handle the low end premium stuff. Make the Regal into a real sport sedan. No need for RWD. Make it into an AWD real premium luxury car. OK...a discount Audi S7.

Well I think Alfa has a great chance in Europe actually, perhaps China as well. Anything expensive and well-made should do well in China. Marketing. Here you need some nice marketing folks to get the product out there. The Alfa engines are designed by the same people who make Ferrari engines... That is worth a lot of intangible cred. Deployed effectively, and with plenty of SUV juice, it can work. But it requires very high excellence of execution. If Sergio went real cray cray, imagine SRT having access to atleast some of the same engines or similar engine tech as Alfa's hand me downs from Ferrari. That would be amazing, not that SRT is lacking in V8s or crazyness to begin with. That is exactly my reasoning....also...Fiat in Europe is econo and mainstream...but Alfa was/is econo and mainstream too, no need for both, but because Alfa used to do luxury and race cars and Alfa was actually the FIRST to be sport sedan, Alfa could EASILY copy BMW's business model....because Alfa IS Italy's BMW, with a richer racing heritage and much much sexier cars.

I said...save Lancia instead of...FIAT. In all honesty....Lancia, Fiat AND Alfa all have at least one foot in their perspective graves. And THAT has got me worried about Chryco's over all health too. Maybe not Jeep and ahem...RAM, but Chrysler and Dodge.

Normally, I should feel the same you do about Alfa, that their time has come and gone and its time for Alfa to join the rest of the dead automobiles in the sky. But...I am still seduced by the notion that Alfa is still a sexy brand, making cars that have sexy lines to continue to seduce us all, especially in 2015 when most car manufactures produce very bland and very ugly cars. Alas, this notion of mine is definitely a dreamer's dream, I cant help but be an optimist with and for Alfa. I do agree that Sergio should STOP raping Chryco... With me....if one FCA brand should kick the bucket, 'tis Fiat... Alfa should be like BMW.... Econo and lux in Europe Lux in North America. and lower trimmed Euro Alfas be sold in North America as entry level lux... There is no need for Fiat as econobox and mainstream as Alfa could fill those shoes better than Fiat could... I would try to save Lancia instead and pair them up with Dodge and have Abarth and SRT work together as both Dodge and Lancia could be the affordable performance brand...while Alfa is...like BMW...luxury.

At CCAP and Surreal... I edited my post you both quoted me on... Please re-read it because I dont want you guys to think I took anything you guys said was offensive to me. And yup Surreal....the old guard keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again...THAT is why I HATE it when EL K mentions it for Tesla!

No....it was NOT mentioned to him... He has a memory like a sponge. He is very attentive... Maybe it is NOT in the manual...maybe he read it...and he did not come across anything on that situation... I did not question him on that, because quite frankly, Tesla prides itself on its customer service and encourages you to use their free 1-800 number to ask their technicians ANYTHING!!! ANYTIME!!!! Plus....Tesla has a on-line forum on their website where Tesla owners compare and contrast their experiences... All this to tell you that Tesla wants to be known as a human company where everybody is encouraged to communicate with each other...on a PERSONAL BASIS...IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MENTIONED WHEN HE TOOK DELIVERY OF THE CAR...especially when the explanations of how Tesla's regen braking works.... Again, Im not the one to blame this on Tesla and make it seem like my partner is faultless, he is a big boy and he knows what he could have done to prevent this situation regardless of the regen braking snafu... If you read what Drew said about Cadillac and how GM has software for a similar braking situation, Tesla whose Model S is ALL ABOUT software should have thought of this angle...ESPECIALLY when its a COMMON problem... In this case...El Kabong may have hit the nail on the head....rookies building cars....and you dont know how much I hate that line when El K uses it on Tesla... No offense taken Surreal....Its just that it aint as cut and dry as you think it is with owner's manuals.... Like you and I said...the Model S is NOT unlike any other car...and the Tesla buying experience is NOT like regualr car dealerships...especially when Tesla prides itself as a more personal buying experience... And yes CCAP....we are a different breed... I was SHOCKED when he bought a Model S...I thought he was going for a Volt... No offense taken...it is reality... It is second nature for us to overcome these kinds of situations because we read about them in car enthusiast areas....people like my partner only learn about it when they come across it, like a VIRGIN.....we know how to react because we are INFORMED BEFORE it happens to us!!!

Well guys...I dont know what to tell you. Im not the one that bought the car. I wasnt the one to deal with the technicians and the sales staff, nor do I have the owner's manual. (shout out to Surreal) Im not the one to have driven the car in the snow storm we had...a very nice 39.2 cm of snow....15.4 inches...anyway... Point being is that my partner is not a car enthusiast and I am. I know of the potential hazards of moisture on the brake calipers and to at least pump the brakes before hand to get friction going on to dry the brakes as soon as possible... I think this was the situation CCAP Plus there was a snow storm right....so there must have been snow and ice collected on the calipers and the discs...so by the time the computer reacted to stop regen braking and switch to conventional braking and by the time the friction gotthe snow and ice off, 4 seconds or so elapsed....and 4 seconds in ANY situation is a long time when you need to stop now...dont forget....although in the snow storm we had, the conditions were not that slippery, you are still braking in snow... I believe there are 3 levels of regen braking. Normal, Low and Off to which the user chooses what settings he prefers. But yeah...they should make a software program where the car detects this and switches automatically.... Regardless if its in the manual....who reads those anyway? I do...most dont...like CCAP said...we live in Canada...Tesla is supposed to be UNLIKE regualr dealerships in where the sales staff KNOWS the product...they should have VERBALLY mentioned it!!! But yes Surreal, it is a car unlike no other, some blame...MOST blame goes on him for maybe not reading the manual properly, and becoming MORE familiar with the car he bought. I was NEVER the one to blame a manufacturer or a product for incompetence...but...in this case...when the technician ACKNOWLEDGES similar problems across snowy areas, a reminder of what may happen is a welcoming advice. Its not as if he bought the car in the summer, he took delivery of it in December....winter time... This does NOT take away from me loving the car....its just strengthening my position in thinking that NO COMPANY truly gives a rat's ass about the customer....it will ALWAYS be the bottom line BEFORE the customer. Long gone are the days where the reverse was true... And thanx for your concerns. Yeah...we are both laughing at the situation now....Im disappointed in this little mis-communication, he even less...but he did have a scare.

My partner had a near death experience with his Tesla yesterday. Tesla Model S' are programmed to use engine breaking to reduce speed. This helps gain a few extra miles through regenerative braking that use that energy while slowing down and stopping to recharge the battery to gain a few miles... Well, in snow and ice...you need to reduce speed...fast...so...while the Model S does a fine job getting the speed down and actually stop the car and use little to no conventional brakes to come to a halt in dry weather...in snow...the conventional brakes dont kick in fast enough because of all that snow collected on the calipers because regenerative braking does not allow to melt or get the snow off, so, the conventional brakes dont come on immediately. He told me it took a good 4 seconds before they came on... 4 seconds is a helluva long time. He ditched the car in a snow bank at one corner so he could avoid smashing into the guy in front of him. No damage done....but a few heart attacks were had. He called up Tesla and asked them...WTF???!!! The technician told him that he could turn off regenerative braking for the winter so the car could use the regular brakes. The technician also told him that most people opt for that option in snowy areas. As much as I like Tesla....this to me is a huge mistake and very disappointing to not tell him what happens in the winter with regenerative braking! Maybe the technicians and sales staff that sold him the car....maybe they should have warned him about that...BEFORE he had a chance to kill himself!

@ Drew. It is true. Johan was not the one to do alphanumerics at Cadillac. Neither at Infiniti. I like what Jo0han did at Audi. At Infiniti his hands were tied. He could not do anything without the top top dogs at Nissan-Infinti-Renault having a final say...and they denied him most of what he wanted to do. At cadillac, he has carte blanche....it will be awhile before we see what influence he has had though. I think one move he made that has ALREADY impacted the mentality at Cadillac for the POSITIVE was to head out in NYC. PS I made a tine boo-boo. I meant to write 454...not 455. 454 was Chevy. I tend to do that often.

@Casa who responded to my post, but also in compliment to Suave`s post about copying others to which Casa also responded to...because all same idea... I know Casa...about why the alphanumerics... Before you explained it, I also did. Not that you mentioning it angered me or bothered me...I just what to point it out that I truly understand it. So we both could focus on to which why you like alphanumerics and I dont...so we both dont repeat ourselves... Good... Cconcerning Suave`s post aboput Johan saying that Cadillac should LEAD not follow...I agree with Suave in that Cadillac and EVERYBODY else that went down the road alphanumerics really is just following an OLD standard...a EUROPEAN standard... The alphanumeric naming scheme on a European car was logical in that it told you what modle it is...Model T...but also told you the displacement of the engine. Chevy A-Body inline 6 equals A-250 Chevy A-Body 455 equals A-455...we could add the SS if we wanted to as in A-455SS Chevy B-Body 327 equals B-327 Chevy B-Body 427 equal B-427 SS and so forth... However...in America...we stopped doing that...Ford no longer produced a Model T. Ford started doing Fairlanes Chevy did Bel Airs and Impalas and Chevelle Malibus and then Chevelles AND Malibus Olds did Cutlass...and then they did 442s...OK...there are exceptions to the rule... BUT... I do agree with NOT bringing in OLD names like a Fleetwood....Brougham...Seville...Deville...Coupe DeVille...THAT should stay in the past...perhaps even Eldorado... But a name like Ciel for a flagship land yacht convertible seems like a marriage made in heaven rather than CT7 or CT8... El Miraj could EASILY take the place of Eldorado.... Cadillac is NOT...was NEVER...a car maker filled with LOGIC and EFFICIENCY....it was ALWAYS about EXCESS and EMOTIONS V16s...Eldorados...CHROME...stainless steel roofs...bling bling SUVs...mile high fins....stacked headlights...both modern like in a 1st gen and 2nd gen CTS and in late 1960s Devilles... CT4 and then CT6 and a model above that for CT7 and CT8 is waaaaaaay too logical for the brand... Cadillac NEEDS attitude... Cadillac NEEDS emotion... Numbers dont bring emotion....numbers are science...logic... El Miraj...Ciel...sell dreams... Cadillac ALAWYS sold you a dream... Dare Greatly in NYC sells you a dream...that ELR Americans are the Best commercial...sold you THAT attitude!

That was a great night! I was working that night. A friend of mine was actually at that concert. He left when all that crap happened to join me where I worked and we went to a strip joint after my shift ended.

How so. There is still 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and even higher.. Even if they use just the even numbers for sedans... U still have 5 sedans... Which is 2 more they currently do... If they need more.. They could whore out the odd (opposite) numbers like BMW with the Grand Coupes Cool...I see that what you are suggesting to me is that numbers on a number line are infinite. CT1000, CT2000 Maybe Cadillac could copy the Terminator way... T-100 T1000 and so forth... Casa, I understand the thought process of alphanumerics... But going up and down the number line is still boxing yourself up. Numbers are definitely infinite, and Cadillac really does not need an infinite amount of models either. I get that. But stupidity in alphanumerics is also infinite. And Cadillac cannot afford infinite amounts of stupidity. Im NOT sold on alphanumerics. The Germans had a decent logic to it, but even them they screwed it up... a 318 Bimmer had a 1.8 liter engine... a 325 Bimmer had a 2.5 liter engine... Yeah, I know...even efficient German CEOs complicated their life when they started over thinking things... "Like OMG!!!....we once had a 325 BMW 2.5 liter Inline 6...now we have a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder...we cant possibly call that a 323...becasue its too close to the 325 we did a decade ago and people will get confused that this is not an inline 6 but a 4 cylinder so we will just use random numbers higher up on the number line that has nothing to do with engine displacement....it dont matter that this how how we did it for the last 100 years....all of Europe actually...we will re-invent the wheel instead in confusing the peeps less..." The brand is more of value than the model name is what these alphanumerics are suppose to do... That would be on paper.... In real life...well, Like Drew said...Cadillac pays big bucks to Johan and Ellinghaus. I actually like what they are doing, even with the naming scheme....I still dont like alphanumerics though!

With Axl, Slash, Duff, etc? Hell hath frozen over... Id like to think of it this way: that their Civil War has ended and are now returning Back to the Jungle. They learned that the grass is not greener on the other side...but in Paradise City, a city they should have never left in the first place, the grass is as green as it gets. But they are a lot older now...I wonder if the girls are still pretty. In the end, all what they really needed was a little Patience. I wonder if Bob Guccione, Jr. had something to do with this...maybe it was Mr Brownstone... I know one thing...both Axel and Slash were waaaaaaay outta line. With Axel's bitch slap rappin' and Slash's cocaine tongue, they got nuthin done! They should have lived...but they decided to let die...Its a shame....because they hit the world stage like a Locomotive...but I doubt them being alone all this time in the cold November Rain will have them back Knock Knock Knockin' on Heaven's door..hey hey hey yeah! That Rocket Queen is Yesterday's Garden of Eden. I never did Cry the night they broke up, because I never did like them as a group. I was never a Sweet Child o' Theirs. Strange though, I have bought several of their tapes and CONTINUE to listen to their songs over and over and over again. I like their music. Just not them as a group. Appetite for Destruction Lies Use Your Illusions I&II Yes...even the Spaghetti Incident...

Yeah, well. I dont do trucks. Nor SUVs all that much, and the criteria calls for both...meh. The ONLY SUV I WANT is a Wrangler....lifted. Or a WW2/Korean war vet original. US Army issue. So...a Winnebago called out to me in this dream garage thread.

Truck: Winnebago Grand Tour Ellipse. Sedan: Tesla Model S P90 Coupe: Dodge Challenger Hellcat SUV: Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Lifted Toy: Corvette Z06 Or a Mustang P-51D replica

A CT0? True about what you said about Cadillac does not have to limit itself to only 2 cars below the CT6...CT4 and CT2, so a CT0 could very well be a viable option...but CT0 as a name? If CT0 ever becomes a name for a Cadillac, I think Cadillac pretty much limited themselves to exactly that many sales of a CT0.....which is ZERO... I get the reasons why of the alphanumeric names...I know the reasons...and more importantly, I understand why marketing "geniuses" are pushing for alphanumeric names... Problem is...with a naming scheme like CT6/CT8...CT4...CT3...CT2...CT1 and finally CT0...for a small bite sized sedan....is pretty much dead on arrival...and no room for product growth...Im mean...CT4...CT2....and smaller than that is a CT0....ZERO....ZERO... That is problem #2... Problem #1: Marketing "geniuses" saw how the German car companies have succeeded with the alphanumeric names...COOL! Now tey want to emulate that... a. Problem is that they forgot that those alphanumeric names really did not succeed when AMERICAN LUXURY was at its HIGH!!! b. The German culture is a culture that is based on "efficiency"...so it works for the German car. American culture is a culture that is based on emotions...attitudes and emotions... Casa..a poster that is very well informed and very pro American Cars mainly GM has said something in the past that has stuck with me..it resonted with me...since Im Greek...he said that being an American is an attitude...and he is right...like I said...Im Greek...the original "attitude" culture. After the war....WW2...there is a reason why the Standard of the World...a superlative with an attitude in itself...left behind the alphanumerics...or at the very least....downsized from them...and went for names....names with attitude I might add...ELDORADO... There is a reason why ESCALADE...in 2015...the name and the product itself...is so successful... A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E I just felt I had to rant about that... CT0 made me puke in my mouth...at the thought that Cadillac boxed themselves in with that dumb alphanumeric crap...

We FINALLY get wintery Quebec weather tomorrow. SNOW FREAKIN' STORM! Give me a HELL YEAH! 25-40 CM or in Yank speak...10-15 inches of pure Canadian snow! Living in the desert the last 8 winters, I kind of miss the big, dry snows I lived with on the Front Range in Colorado. 3 feet, close to 4 feet in 2-3 days in fall or spring, then 50-70 degree days and melting... I thought I was having a grand 'ol time when this El Nino stuff delayed the white stuff. Then I thought about it... when the 24th and 25th came and went....a green Christmas sucks big time. I hate the snow when it arrives, but I miss it when it aint present when its supposed to be present. I am sooooooo looking forward to this snow storm. And the province of Quebec issued an alert for the Montreal region. We rarely get a provincial warning...even when a snow storm is mentioned...so this one should be a biggie...and I cant wait for it to start! Desert? Las Vegas is where you call home now?

We FINALLY get wintery Quebec weather tomorrow. SNOW FREAKIN' STORM! Give me a HELL YEAH! 25-40 CM or in Yank speak...10-15 inches of pure Canadian snow!

That is funny Suave... Even if you are serious, and Im basically making fun of you right now by not taking you serious and laughing at you...so please forgive me. OH...I admire your English language skills. I could only dream of mastering the English language the way you have. Its eloquent. Hence your name...DUH... You made another post a day or two ago that I was in total awe of your English language skills.

Second floor, hardware, childrens wear, ladies lingerie Oh,Good morning Mr. Tyler Going down?

Like I said...they do things their own way. Many people, including Americans themselves, find it weird that American cars of the 1950s incorporated airplane jet themed styles, including mile high fins. I wouldnt have it any other way with 1950s cars. That would be my favorite look. Goes extremely well with Rock-N-Roll. But the French do the Art Deco thing quite well. So...they do that on their cars too. French cars arent necessarily my favorite. American cars are, but I do enjoy French style. Like I said, you got to respect a culture that has Gargoyles on top of buildings and calls it art.

In contrast though, in the 42 years that Im alive, and I spent ALL of them in Montreal on XMAS day, I NEVER saw a green XMAS, it has ALWAYS been a white one. I think this year, I have a pretty good chance in seeing a green XMAS...The weather man is calling for 12 degree Celsius...12 mother effin degrees...in Montreal...on the 25th of December???!!!! We ususally get snowstorms on this day...no joke!!! Sadly....Im NOT at all sad about it... Mr. Bing Crosby has got me covered either way... I aint posting the other song for fear of jinxing the 12 degrees Celsius...cause trust me...I aint dreaming of a white one this year!!!

I ALWAYS say that!!! Each and EVERY time the 1st day of winter rolls around, I see the silver lining in that frozen cloud and rejoice that finally, the days are getting longer again! AMEN!

Annie Lennox and Dean Martin's version always kicks off the Holiday season for me. Then its this song. And then the rest follow THAT is even cooler!!!

I taught my kids about Dean Martin... Many ways I showed them about Dean Martin...one way is Christmas. And they in turn taught me this song from Dean Martin. Their school music teacher...I just love this man's cool voice, especially when it comes to the Holidays.