regfootball

https://www.motor1.com/news/519625/2022-opel-astra-specs-photos/

MONOlogue?

Met mom and her DTS as she drove part way to our place for the weekend.  Her first long trip with the 11 DTS she got last summer.  I drove it.  Firmer ride than the 2002 or 3 which was it, she finally sold recently.

Took an opportunity to get some pics of hers and my TourX together.  She says hers is fast because it has 8 cylinders.  I keep telling her, "mine is faster" because it is, despite less than half the displacement...mine has tUrBo🤣

the evening sunlight was hitting the cars just right. 

2022 turd!

I mean, tundra

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36768837/2022-toyota-tundra-official-photo-released/?utm_campaign=likeshopme&utm_medium=instagram&utm_source=dash hudson&utm_content=www.instagram.com/p/CQR-oRVlDLY/

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

The Rageous was my first ‘falling out of love’ experience with Pontiac.

The styling was bad.  I do think if the Camaro, or a new model similar to it, went back to a hatchback design with a spacious cargo hold like the rageous, and all wheel drive option were out there. It would be a neat unique market offering. Or, maybe a non cadillac version of the escala?

maybe after all this time, 

for those wanting a performance oriented car with utility, maybe the PONTIAC RAGEOUS was what we really should be looking at, almost 25 years later???

all the liabilities of the Camaro as a daily driver / practicality, 4 doors, and for winter places if AWD would be taken care of here.

Imagine the trip to Lowe's with the hatchback and folding seat....maybe even able to haul drywall

https://www.motor1.com/news/95302/pontiac-rageous/

worthwhile endeavor.  this is how technology improvements R&D can be paid for.  Rather than making car prices out of reach.  Fuel diversity is not a bad thing.  One type of propulsion mandated, bad thing.  We'll need gas and electric and other sources for all our propulsion and transportation needs.

yuk.  pregnant italian scooter.

there's already electric bikes

“The next model introduction in the revival of Opel following decades of stagnation under the management of General Motors will be a new Astra compact hatchback, a previous generation of which was briefly sold in the United States as a Saturn.”

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1132510_arrival-of-new-astra-marks-next-step-in-opel-s-transformation

astras get 2 iPads on the dash, Tesla’s only get one

Anyone else see this yet?

FIRST EVER!!!!!

COROLLA CROSS!!!!

(Edit)---write up (still) coming---

built in USA?

DRIVEN: 2017 Cadillac CT6 Luxury 2.0E Plug in hybrid RWD (Used vehicle review)

HIGHS:

Always love driving the CT6, it's a nice size for me, nice ride height, car rides and handles lighter than it is.  My other CT6 that I have reviewed you will see I really think its a great package.

Quiet interior, once again.  So quiet, that I couldn't discern electric operation vs gas, most of the time.  Both modes very quiet.

Comfortable seats as I have noted before.  Some minor bolstering but wider and well padded cushion.  Not many cars have this anymore!

I have always liked how well layout the gauge cluster is on the CT6, it seems like it crowds the driver, but it is right in your face in a good way.

----repeat comments from before apply-----

How does such a big car with such a long wheelbase feel like a mid size car?  It doesn't feel heavy and ponderous in any way (it's a light car, actually).  And it's fairly nimble, turns tightly.  Outward visibility, you see a short hood, and looking out the rear view mirror, the car seems shorter than it is as well.

Ride was just the sweet spot balance of cushy and firm for most driving. The steering had nice heft, but not too much.  Steering quickness about right for most of the time also.  I'd have no problem with a quicker rack in a sport model, but otherwise this was great.

-----------------------------------------------

Electric powertrain had some delay and lagging at times but honestly for the duration of the drive it was little and didn't bother me.  Maybe on a longer trip it would, although for highway driving in theory its not transitioning between gas and electric like it does in town.  I think once you own the car, and learn its driving style, you will know how to work the throttle and drive it so the transitioning is less of an impact.  There are a lot of ICE only drivetrains that have transmissions that react similarly slowly but more often.  Apart from that, great torque and power.  It really is a nice powertrain!  Most of the drive was in electric mode but it was a nice; felt like it had turbo thrust without the turbo lag at times.  Speed in electric mode built quickly when the drivetrain was not laggy.

Would be a great road car, just like the other CT6's.

LOWS:

Since the battery takes up half the trunk, it makes the trunk fairly useless, and pretty much a deal breaker if this is your main car.

The other deal breaker is RWD only; but if you consider California (this car's origin) was the primary market for this, I can a little bit understand not having it set up for AWD.  But for me in the north, I would need AWD.

GM interiors can look nice in places and cheap in others.  Even though most of the CT6 interiors are good overall, at times the dash trim looks not like a luxury brand.

Can we project the reliability and the battery life?  And for 2017 the plug in range may have been good......... but for today its not great.

The plug in hybrids were made in China.  I don't think anything seemed different vs a US made car, but some may not like the location of build.

SUMMARY:

Someday I believe I will own a CT6....question is what year, trim,....and powertrain?

After driving this, I could say the powertrain apart from some laggy behavior at times, is wholly good and fine for this car.  It was smooth like the 3.6 but with more gusto.  Quieter and more Cadillac like character than the 3.0t....that motor is a great motor but is more racy.  I would wait over time to find a good 2019+ CT6 with the 10 speed transmission (and of course with AWD).  But as for this hybrid, it is not out of place being in the CT6 engine family.  

And, it has the unicorn factor.  Rare....unique.

So I totally could enjoy and live with this version of CT6, it's great like the others.  Just the trunk and RWD only are deal breakers for me if its as my primary vehicle.

Now on to find a couple CT6 RWD only with the 2.0 motors, hard to believe there were more CT6 with 2.0 turbos than v8 engines.  I sure hope someday to find an 8 cylinder CT6 to drive...

one reason for the screen sort of being where it is, this is a platform companion to the XT4.  I recall reading something from Cadillac design where they had purposely lowered the screen relative to a lot of the new cars coming out (Ford Ipad on dash, that means you).  Under the premise of it wasn't up so high blocking your view, and also to be easier to reach when using the screen, since it is similarly located as in the XT4.  The screen here while very asymmetrical and a bit overdone, actually does put a bulk of that big screen within easy reach.  The buttons to the left of the screen are sort of hard to get to behind the steering wheel though.

I think Buick has a desirable ride here, but i think this may have been better as XT5 size rather than XT4 size in the market.  Or they should have both sizes.  The XT4 is still tight inside but not overly so.....snug, yes.

12 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Neat dash..I like how the screen is integrated and not standing up like a glued-on tablet in many vehicles.   The asymmetry is a nice, distinct touch, instead of the usual generic center stack.   Squint and you can see a slight resemblance to a similar driver-centric dash from Buicks 50 years ago.... 

Plywood prices the way they are these days, how can you afford to put those flat slabs of it on these car dashes...  LOL

"PLOOD"

15 minutes ago, balthazar said:

My dealer has a darker red/black ST on the floor- exterior looks pretty good.
I don't care for all the asymmetry on the dash tho.

Some asymmetry is ok but yes it’s ‘quite’ driver oriented in this. Better than the big vertical iPad tacked onto the dash like Ford is doing though, I figure. The interior quality is pretty nice I think for where it sits in the market. I like the interiors of both the new Envision and Encore GX.....I wish the Enclave would update the interior a bit. These new Buick interiors are still pretty consistent in design with my TourX. 

Getting my TourX oil changed. 
Here are some photos of a 2021 Envision ST on the show floor. 
 

6 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

I will go to Buca di Beppo and then swear that I won't return.  And then I get a coupon for 20% off in some coupon packet. 

That was the case today for lunch.  Their food is FAR being from good Italian food.  It's caked with this bad and heavy tomato sauce.  All the dishes going to adjacent tables looked the same.

I just vowed I won't be going back.  But then there's the expression, "never say never."  

we used to go to BUCA a lot but the last 3-4 years it seems their quality has gone down. so, either our running standard was low before, or they have lowered their bar of product quality.

Dealer i bought my TourX from has a new Corvette listed!

Cars are sparse right now, so i get the 'market' adjustment.  But when it says discount, shouldn't it actually be a discount and instead not be a 35,000 dollar markup?

the mpg drop in states like mine (no comment) have the specially formulated winter gas that is likely as least as much responsible for the mpg loss, as much as the cold weather itself is responsible.  And even then, its sort of engine size dependent.  My 1.5 Malibu would see up to a 25% hit with its tiny turbo, but normally was about 10-15%.  Otherwise, the v6 vehicles I've had have seen about that 10-12 and when its really cold, 15%.  On road trips in cold weather, not too much loss, especially once the car itself warms up from the heat by product of the ICE.

On 4/27/2021 at 10:53 PM, David said:

First off you have NO IDEA if the Ultium battery and power train system will have degradation in cold climates as there is no evidence of this and NO YOU CANNOT compare it to what the Leaf, BOLT, Tesla, etc. of anything compliance EV has done in the past.

For all we know in a cold climate the GM BEV built on the Ultium system will have Zero degradation while Mercedes Benz will end up with a 50% reduction in battery life once in a cold climate. After all MB has FAILED to deliver any other BEV to this market and so far very little is known about their battery pack in butt below zero cold Canada or Alaska where you could be 50 below zero.

Searching extensively across the internet, it is interesting that while you find interviews of MB future of batteries:

The future of electric-car batteries, according to Mercedes | DrivingElectric

MB actually avoids answering the question of battery degradation which makes one wonder how bad their current battery degradation is since their Compliance B-Class lost over 50% when it went into cold freezing climates compared to actual real world results for Tesla and Chevrolet BOLT.

 

considering all batteries underperform once temperatures drop, its not really possible that GM will develop something that eliminates that problem, much less make a notable dent in that problem.

that's going to be the unfortunate stigma electric cars will have for decades, notably to substantially less range in cold parts of the season.

IOW, zero degradation is a pipe dream.

6 hours ago, David said:

 Seems no matter how many times I post the link people seem to not read when I do post that the LYRIQ will be available in RWD and AWD.

All Press Releases here:

Cadillac Pressroom - United States - LYRIQ

The Original press release that covers the power train options:

LYRIQ Show Car Leads Cadillac Into Electric Future

QUOTE: 

LYRIQ, the Ultium battery system is a structural element of the architecture, integrated in ways that contribute to ride and handling, as well as safety. In fact, the lower center of gravity and near 50/50 weight distribution enabled by the placement of the battery pack results in a vehicle that’s sporty, responsive and allows for spirited driving.

Additionally, the LYRIQ is driven primarily by the rear wheels, with a performance all-wheel drive option available. The placement of the drive motor at the rear of the vehicle contributes an even greater feeling of balance and agility — attributes that affirm Cadillac’s longstanding commitment to satisfying performance. It also enables the system to channel more torque to the pavement without wheelspin for exhilarating acceleration and greater cornering capability. Vehicles equipped with performance all-wheel drive go a step further, with a second drive unit placed at the front of the vehicle, which allows for a significant amount of tuning flexibility, enhancing vehicle dynamics and performance for drivers.

the AWD won't be ready at launch is what the criticism is, that and yes, GM will make it 10 grand or more, more, for all wheel drive.

And even then you probably won't get a bunch of safety equipment or certain features like the HD surround view backup camera view included.  the GM way.

12 hours ago, smk4565 said:

Sure Escalade buyers have money.  A better way for me to have phased that would be to say people with a lot of money buy Mercedes, because Mercedes sells more six figure price tag vehicles than any other brand in the world. 

Cadillac's issue is they haven't been able to replicate the Escalade's success in any other segment.  They have put out a lot of mediocre product that tends to fall off the sales chart and disappear.  And yet they'll pump money into build E46 3-series clones that no one is buying, rather than putting the Escalade formula more places.

I am sure it is coming a a hefty price premium that they don't want to announce now because they want the perception that the Lyriq is competitively priced, which in base trim it pretty much is, although we don't know what features are standard vs how much options will cost or how high the price might go on this thing.

Northern climes buyers will expect AWD on the option sheet for this expensive of a crossover; i don't care if the vehicle itself weighs 5600 pounds and actually has good weight distribution...you don't tell buyers what they should get, you provide what the market says it wants, which is AWD for a crossover.  We went through this fight 10+ years ago talking about luxury sedans and heard all the 'learn to drive' excuses for rear wheel drive, in the end what the market wanted for the sedans also was all wheel drive, now all the lux sedans have all wheel drive options.  (except the high end performance Cadillacs).

2 hours ago, smk4565 said:

Escalade is the #1 selling Cadillac in 2021, of course it is all new.  XT6 sales up 18% while XT5 is down 2.8%, XT5 still outsells XT6 but that small-mid SUV segment has way more volume.  

The Enclave is outselling the Envision, the Traverse is outselling the Blazer and Acadia outselling Terrain.  So the 3-rows are going strong on those brands.

Although I would never buy an SUV, so I don't really care how many seats they have, I am just pointing out what sells and the need for brands to have like 4-5-6 different size SUVs now because consumers are so SUV crazy.

you found the sales data I recall reading recently about the XT6 and the XT5.  Sales guy when I test drove the XT6 said it was the biggest seller now for their store.  XT6 was way overpriced and they didn't put discounts on it till recently, which explains the 18% Q1 increase....likewise you see the slight down number of the XT5 year to year, this despite the XT5 being less expensive.  I would imagine by end of this year the XT6 will outsell the XT5.  

People do want three rows.  

That said, for a 'make a splash electric' this with just two rows is better.  This is a long 'low' (for an SUV) sedan imitator.  I think as a prestige vehicle out of the gate, a two row SUV that is LONG and LOW to evoq the feeling of an old Cadillac sedan makes sense.  Cadillac has historically been LONG and LOW.  

I like the look including the deft looking tail fin lights carved into the butt.  What bothers me is that despite 'looking' ok, a console between the front seats that is separated from the dash with a couple pull out drawers is so very reminiscent of the Pacifica we just turned in.  It always felt cheap.  Our new Pacifica has the console flowing into the dash, its far more functional, a real place to put the phone, extra cubbies, feels more luxurious. WTF was Cadillac designers thinking with the pull out drawers.  People are going to hate that.  

WHERE'S THE ALL WHEEL DRIVE