surreal1272
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Everything posted by surreal1272
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Every attempt? The Escalade and V-Series Caddies beg to differ on that. Crappy marketing has killed Cadillacs uber ambitions more than the actual product.
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“Grab’em by the pus...never mind” @ccap41-Had surgery a week ago for a torn rotator cuff and while they were doing the ACL, they discovered that I had a bone spur tearing one of my tendons. I’ve had the rotator issue for over twenty years and just managed but the tendon tears were clearly the last straw. In a sling for six weeks, hence why they won’t let me drive, and then some physical therapy for a months after. Sucks being at home this much but I’ve been getting my walking exercise in on the nice days.
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Shoulder surgery (and not being able to drive for at least six weeks) sucks.
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Technically you are correct. I should have led with "potentially marketing" the CT5 but I figured most here got the reference since it was just discussed a few weeks ago in another article. Didn't know semantics were going to be used against me lol.
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It certainly will not help and to act like trunk space doesn’t matter is just ignorant IMO. I also never said that is was the most important. That is my point. Good grief. -
From the C&G article a few weeks back (and why I asked). “Rumors have it that the CT5 will start in the mid-30s and Cadillac is insisting that, despite its size, the CT5 is aligned against the 3-series and C-Class. But in doing so, where does that leave the car?” Basically I’m asking if this rumor has been confirmed because it has not been answered all this time. The introduction of the CT4 seems to squash the rumor but I was just asking for a little official clarification here.
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So what will GM say about where the CT5 fits in? They claim it’s a 3 Series/C Class competitor while being larger than both when I think most people knew that there was a CT4 for the smaller size. Just weird for them to market it that way when this was clearly in the works and seems like the more natural competitor to the Germans. And I realize that some pics can play tricks on the eyes but why does the CT4 appear to be longer than the CT5? (Note the difference in length from the front wheels to the nose)
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You make a good point about trunk space over the years but the current CTS appears to have a much larger trunk than the car replacing it. That’s the type of detail that will keep moving folks away from sedans and into CUVs. Much like date night, what would another six inches in the back hurt?
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Why? Why does it matter to you? I just thought the details were important in the context of the entire conversation about quality, reliability, and lease terms that have been discussed here.
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You should probably include the requirements next time. For reference, I put Cadillac’s below. There are pros and cons to both but the bigger point I was trying to make is that Cadillac are cheaper to maintain once the warranty is gone.
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I agree. For a car that’s supposed to be E-Class size, it should not look like it has less trunk space than a Camaro. Cadillacs not the only one guilty of this but they should be the last one ever accused of having a small trunk.
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Again, you are missing the point. My pointing out the lease was only part of it. Btw, you said (above) that there shouldn’t be a line at 100K because of repair costs but you said this last week regarding the CLS. “Completely agree. I actually just looked at Autotrader for them to see what they cost and you're still spending the better part of 20k for a pretty high mileage German car.. Not a situation I would like to be in for that amount of cash“ That pretty much supports my assertion about German cars and high mileage responsibilities. And sorry if I’m bouncing back and forth here. Had shoulder surgery last week and these painkillers are a bitch.
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And that is where we will disagree and I’m going to leave it at that. I’ve just worked car sales in the past and am going by past experiences with customer expectations and the reality of owning German cars long term.
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Your second paragraph is exactly what I’m trying to say. Benz quality is overrated and sells on brand cachet and even that is not all that great given the higher than average lease numbers. Without those lease numbers, SMK wouldn’t even have a leg to stand on in regards to sales numbers. More and more people do not want to own Benz and there are good reasons for that, reasons that some folks here choose to ignore because it’s easier to point out the flaws of everyone else. You are missing the point completely ccap. And you “seeing them” means nothing. I see far more used Caddy’s and Lincoln’s here than the Germans. Who’s right? It doesn’t matter. Fact is that most folks don’t want to own Luxury German cars long term nor do they want them with 100K+ miles in them for reasons already stated. It what would ultimately keep me away from a 1st CLS even though it’s my favorite Benz of the last twenty years.
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Your second paragraph is exactly what I’m saying. Their quality is overrated as they sell on their brand cachet and don’t even do that very much given the higher than average lease numbers. No one wants to actually
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Not even comparable when you factor in the reasons for such things.
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Because it flies in the face of SMKs claim of quality and sales. Let me put it another way. Take away leases altogether. How would MBs numbers stack up vs Cadillac, for example, on just good old fashioned sales? Not very well if current lease numbers are any indicator. That’s mostly because everyone knows the maintenance hell that is Mercedes Benz. It’s not even debatable. For all of Caddy’s flaws, they are far cheaper to maintain than any German make and the Germans wouldn’t have the success they have had if it weren’t for those enticing leasing deals. Again, I’m not knocking the leasing aspect itself as I get why folks do it. However, it flies in the face of this supposed top notch quality of German cars.
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Let me just save SMK some trouble. In 2016, 53% of Benz cars moved were leases (one of the highest btw) while Cadillac only had 41%. Now there are several reasons why Benz lease numbers are that high (with several good reasons already pointed out) but one the biggest reasons is no one wants to deal with Benz maintenance after three years or 50K miles. That is not a good reflection of quality or engineering where I come from but Benz fans want us to believe that Cadillacs plastics are bad while Benz plastics are good, meanwhile ignoring the larger costs of owning the “best or nothing at all” car that no one wants after three years so they just end up leasing them. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15347641/the-most-commonly-leased-car-brands-in-america-and-the-most-commonly-purchased/
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I asked for a very good reason. Humor me with some actual stats. Not questioning those “benefits”. Just want some actual numbers from the Benz camp.
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And that’s fine but some like to think that there is nothing cheap or subpar quality about Mercedes Benz when it is just not true.
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You clearly did not watch the YouTube video posted above. If any GM car, much less a Cadillac, made noises like that just by pressing on various parts of the plastic, you would be non-stop in your criticism over said lack of quality. I’ve been in my fair share of German cars and I can attest to those squeak claims and plethora of plastic in all the wrong places. The design is made to look like its high quality and in some cases, does look better than most but it’s a front, a disguise for the squeaks that lie beneath it. Now answer me this, since we are on the subject of “one piece of the puzzle”. What percentage of Benz sales are actually leases? Cite the source. And that is my biggest gripe with the exterior of the CT5. Just lazy and unnecessary. Other than that though, it’s basic design is every bit as good as an E-Class (closest to its size) and certainly more modern and eye catching (think front three quarters here) than the rather boring and bulbous looking C-Class.
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So quality equals sales now? Must be why the Escalade and the XT5 do so well versus the German competition. Oh wait, that might not fit your argument. I’ll go ahead and move that bar for you lol.
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Nice deflection but your claim of not seeing what people are talking about in regards to MBs use of cheap plastics rings hollow and smells like classic fanboyism.
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Then you don’t look very hard. One quick search on “Mercedes Benz C Class cheap plastics” yields plenty of results.
