balthazar

Blackwing CT6-V 4.2L TT does nothing for you? 600+ HP 6.2L SC CT5-V too slow?

On a job I was on a bunch of years ago, PSE&G showed up to install a new telephone pole at the road. They set up, bored the hole, unloaded the pole. Then they started standing around. I asked, 'Time to set the pole?' 'Oh no,' the guy answered. 'That's another team; union rules. They should be here late afternoon.' Mind you; they had the boom/grapple that lifted the pole off the trailer, well able to turn the pole 90 degrees and stick it in the bore. Why the F would you need independent, separate union bargaining to drill a hole than you would to backfill a hole? Corruption.

>>"GM... should have NEVER built Saturn, all those ideas of Auto's should have been done under the Chevrolet label."<< AGREED >>"Oldsmobile and Buick should have been merged back in the 70's to be one label."<< No way- this is the era when the Cutlass alone was outselling the Chevelle. Brand recognition & loyalty were at screaming highs - a merger there would've been catastrophic. >>"GMC and Pontiac should also have been merged as a mid level competition to Chevrolet."<< They were administratively paired... just not in brand name. Again; this was a period which was seeing GMC steadily rising in sales (thru today), and Pontiac returning to #3 in sales in the U.S.. Plus, we'd no longer have GMC if they had merged. >>"Hummer was correct in the packaging, but a mistake in that it should be like it is now, a package label under GMC."<< AGREED >>"Holden was an awesome engineering company that built some amazing auto's. GM FAILED to bring their version of the El Camino to the US along with other lines to help reduce costs. GM management failed to properly reinvest in markets around the world and failed to make Europe profitable when they could instead using it to off load costs and failures done in the US on Europe. Truly some piss poor mgmt. over the last 40 years at GM."<< I have never developed enough interest to look into Holden, but even tangentially I've never heard the company's products being called 'amazing/awesome' before. As much as some might wish to twist every facet of GM over the last 40 years to fit an assessment of 'idiotic', it's not supportable by the history.

^ but NOTHING is special anymore. ☹️

Because individuals will have to survive as individuals, not as 1 Borg in the Collective. You have a much larger stake in how jobs progress and you can have more pride in your work because you made it happen. When a union feeds you work- there will always be work. When a union argues against job shortcomings, your personal accountability is diminished. I’m not saying ‘no unions’- some industries still benefit from it. But this elevation of unions like they’re this saintly defender of the downtrodden & oppressed is certainly fairy-tale-esque. NJ teacher union president makes more money than the president of the United States! $565,000 last I read. I would love to read an opinion on how that’s not outright corruption. The idea that all entities are evil torturers is not grounded in reality. Sure, before federal laws and practices, 100 years ago; there were real, and perhaps common problems. But its not 1901 anymore, and unions have become small governments; primarily concerned with revenue streams, not people.

IM long-time studying O, Cadillac was sitting pretty thru the whole 1970s. Yes, there was a deviation from real wood to plood, but this was par for the luxury course then (MB SL's used 'wood' contact paper -shudder!!-). Cadillac's products were spot-on, advertising was frequent & consistent; hitting on all cylinders. But there came a few misfires; the (very rare) '78-up diesel 350, then the V8-6-4 of '81. Those, juxtaposed against a lifetime of rock-solid engines prior-to, were a real put-off. Then the '82 Cimarron, coupled with the next post-'81 engine; the too-small '82 HT4100. These closely-spaced scenarios put serious dents in Cadillac. The next salvo was the too-small downsizing of the '85 big cars, and the '86 Seville. You knew these specifics were too small once you saw them reverse by the late '80s; 4.1L went to 4.6L then 4.9L, and the big cars grew in length, as did the next gen Seville.

^ Go up & ring the bell, and ask! - - - - - MERC!

It's a sliding scale, IMO. Frankly, Cadillac interiors have had 'issues' at various times in various models going back into the '70s (if we're still comparing to the marque's peak decades). ALL luxury brands have. Was it a 'problem' in the '70s when Cadillac was setting the USDM luxury brand sales records? Was it a 'problem' when the 1st gen CTS made huge inroads into a segment the brand never was in before, stealing marketshare from long-running models there? I guess, looking at the big picture, I'd have to say it wasn't. Doesn't mean I like the 'refinement issues' or the interior treatments overall. I'm picky on these things, despite, overall, being a fan of Cadillac. It's not that I'm focusing on BMW, but we cannot comment on Cadillac's execution in a bubble. Mercedes used to throw those giant black rubber steering wheels from the truck parts bin in everything for decades- even when nothing else in the interior was black. Teeth-gnashingly horrific, but most folk give them a pass on it for some reason. And I'm picky on these things, despite not being a fan of mercedes.

Let's rephrase this as a question. Is the 2020 BMW 3-series M-whatsit the same level as the 2002 BMW 3-series base car? I mean; what is the frequency of a luxury sport sedan not evolving & improving for 18 years? You do see what you said above....

Toyoter is pretty busy replacing complete frames and engines to spend much time on engineering. If they had to design/ build the prius now, it’d take longer than the 10 years it took tesla to hit the #1 fastest growing vehicle segment.

I currently have satellite TV. Obviously, different brands advertise via different media/schedules; I don’t know that limited viewing gives an accurate snapshot.

I've seen a decent number of Cadillac ads on TV in the last few months, but perhaps I simply tune out the Germans triplet ads.

I'm thinking the computer overlords would never allow the pods to impact another- so I could blaze thru cross-street intersections without lifting my right foot.

I never cared a blip about Holden, but it's always sad to see an industrial concern cease operations.

^ 4 new "tires" = $22,000. Just guessing. Obviously not rubber, so the wear & ride would be a wild unknown. Did you see the quick shot of the traffic signal-less intersection where vehicles (assumedly talking to each other or master-controlled) just narrowly miss each other? Wonder how my B-59 would go thru there; would all other traffic stop suddenly at the renegade retro-missile? That sort of sci-fi movie reality is 150 years off, minimum.

RE real estate : if there's any wide-spread move to nationalize energy (not saying there is, but some do advocate for it)... wind & solar panel farms take up considerable real estate already. Bumping things to a national supply level would add 100s of millions of acres to the Gov't's already 100s of millions of acres. Naturally, this will involve a considerable degree of buying private lands, esp WRT the wind generation. Every acre the federal Gov't buys is 1 more acre taken OFF the tax rolls. Since the Prime Directive of Big Gov't is revenue streaming, where does the tax burden of the now non-taxable acreage go? To the private land owners. Currently, the Fed owns 640 millions acres. Total gov't land ownership (fed & state) is 40% of the U.S.. Maybe Gov't already owns enough land to not have to buy more (tho Gov't always is). Another point to consider...

Interesting read counter-pointing the common narrative. Worth noting is the real estate required for 'renewable' energy; something I hadn't thought of. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2020/02/17/if-they-are-so-alarmed-by-climate-change-why-are-they-so-opposed-to-solving-it/#38ea83766b75

"Super luxury plastics" ? ? ?

The 'plan' is the same it's always been; to build well-performing, excellent driving luxury appointed vehicles. Simple.

^ But the difference there is; mercedes/BMW is supposedly 'well-defined', and 'no one knows what Cadillac stands for'. Of course the reality is, Cadillac has had at least 1 FWD entrant for over 50 years now, so which brand is breaking tradition moreso??

^ yeah; the premise of ‘measuring animal “love” ‘ certainly isn’t science-based.

^ Great big corral of meh.