Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close

balthazar

In Hibernation
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    40,855

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    583

 Content Type 

Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    I would've liked to see taller rear tails, but the ones it's currently sporting are clean. I see lots of higher end stuff regularly- I've seen 3 or 4 Maseratis in the last 2 weeks (1 may have been a repeat). I've seen a number of CT6's but this was the first 'long look' at speed. S-classes are all over and they're always black it seems. Since the last redesign was so minor, it's like the same design has been running around for 12 years. It's so safe and bland, but MB designs for China, so.
  2. balthazar
    was tagging along with a brand new CT6 on US Route 1 today, dark red. Gotta, say; Cadillac nailed this car extremely well. As it moved fore & aft of me, giving me dozens of angles to watch it (slow traffic) at times 4 or 5 cars back, it just has a boatload of presence. I think those who've banged it for being 'conservative' missed the point that it looks exceptionally, terrifically good. Has the 1 thing BMW does well; stance, and adds one thing BMW is mediocre at; sleekness.
  3. balthazar
    ^ looks like a backyard cut-n-weld project from the 'back woods'. Would never sell.
  4. balthazar
    My God does that look like a real hacked together POcheapS. Nissan rebadge, FTL! I guarantee it'll come to the U.S.- Daimler CANNOT HELP themselves if they see a dollar lying on the ground. BTW: 165 HP- my wife's '09 Malibu has a 167 HP 4-cyl & a 6-spd. Could goose the tuning a bit, give it 200? It's just so freaking sad, so much for 'The Best or Nothing'. Nothing would have been better.
  5. balthazar
    'GeneralMotorized', perhaps?
  6. balthazar
    Bitchin', probably circa 1960 AMC sketch (glossing over the oversized disembodied head shown) ~
  7. balthazar
    Was simply using riviera74's term in responding to him. 'Homogenized' is correct here. It wasn't ignorance- the engine origins were not specified. GM swapped in other Division engines with no public announcement. While a bit of this did start with the A-bodies in the '60s (Buick 215 optional in the Tempest, for example) there didn't seem to be any fallout there. But by the '70s, I believe it became widespread. I also believe it was a bit different- in '70, for example, when you wanted a I-6 Firebird, there was only 1 offering, the 250 (built by Chevrolet). In the '70s, if you wanted a small block V8 Ventura, sometimes you got a Pontiac 350 (355), sometimes it was a Buick 350, etc. The cost thing comes into context when you realize that the first 70 years of GM, these were independent brands under a parent corporation. You might be amazed at the tiny fraction of parts exchangability at GM in 1960- I would estimate Division-to-Division it was 5%. It's under today's auto industry practices where more is the same & less if different (not to mention the cost factor of the Fed) that it doesn't make fiscal sense. GM was printing money into the 1970s doing it the way they did.
  8. balthazar
    Do not forget the lawsuits in the '70s over homologated GM engines. IIRC, GM lost/paid on that charge, and that set the stage for homolgated cars, because GM 'went with' massive cross-sharing. Most enthusiasts 'draw the line' at corporate engines / 1982 as the 'beginning of the long slide' @ GM.
  9. balthazar
    IMO, the 'bare swatches' below the headlights are the horizontal bumpers to either side of the full-height grille. And those elements, plus the smaller headlights, give the car visual width, whereas their absense/ larger lights would make it appear narrower. Cadillacs should be wide. The ONLY thing I see I'm indifferent on is those 2 small angled-outward lines to either side of the bottom air intake- I would like to see what they'd look like following the angles of the grille sides. Otherwise, the CTS is the freshest lux mid-size (without getting mad weird like over at toyota-lexus or hardcore dated like the 5-series.
  10. balthazar
    Personally, I don't think there is a better / meaner front end in this class.
  11. balthazar
    Strong Dodge overtones in the front fascia... tho on the Charger it doesn't look like some trim pieces are missing.
  12. balthazar
    Not targeting you, Friskito, but your sentiment caught my eye. Specifically WRT Cadillac- how some folk dismiss a Cadillac model because it's NOT sold in (many) other countries... which has always spurred me to think 'But you folks live in the U.S.!'. Your sentiment says the flip- this car 'doesn't matter' because it won't be sold HERE. Dichotomy.
  13. balthazar
    Bah- all these dozens of 'super coupes' all have the same silhouette- it's a cookie cutter segment. It's also a dead segment.
  14. balthazar
    '70, '68, '67, '66 ~
  15. balthazar
    You make these ridiculous, repetitive statements like 1. they have any bearing on the real world, and 2. you have an atomic particle-sized intention of ever buying a Cadillac. It's lunacy.
  16. balthazar
    Uhhh... because they don't currently WANT to drop those sedans? Why doesn't audi drop the A8 with 300 sales/mnth? Cadillac IS in the crossover business.
  17. balthazar
    You don't really favor that sort of unilateral conformity, do you? Personally, I loathe it. I have no interest in Jaguars but I'll tip my cap to any resistance to homogenization.
  18. balthazar
    Why would a mid-size luxury sedan lose to the same brand compact sedan? Cadillac may be 7th in sales but aren't they #2 in the mid-size CUV segment? It's all the same old tired numbers game- Cadillac will not be in every segment, that's not their mission statement.
  19. balthazar
    A8 doesn't ATP $30K more than the CT6, tho. It's about half that, so by your theory, the CT6 should be only double the A8 sales, instead of 3.5 times. It's just imminently questionable how much 'halo' effect a flagship gives the rest of the line when "no one" buys them. I think that's where the cheaper A7 came in... tho "no one" is buying it either. This is why all the luxury brands are moving so hard downmarket- that's where the money is going. The uber/ car share/ youth disinterest/ 'cars are just taxis' is working hand-in-hand with the "seat me higher off the road" mentality to undermine the big overpriced lux market- people aren't as enamored with them as in decades past.
  20. balthazar
    Oh yeah- everything basically is down. S-class has posted like a 24% sales drop M-t-M. CT6 is nearly past it in volume, that's the only car climbing I've checked. But while the S-class is down to 1100/mnth, the A8 is at 300. If things follow this trajectory, the A8 may flirt with 100/mnth Now; Audi may not care about U.S. model sales- they have a bunch of vehicles in the low 100s/mnth... but you would think selling 2 car per STATE per month would be the cause of some frantic boardroom meetings.
  21. balthazar
    Fascinating in reading a few of the Audi reviews, zero mention troubling sales. U.S. A8 sales are terrible- they were terrible a year ago, also- so it isn't "A8 fans waiting for the refresh". 300 units/mnth is a dead car rolling. U.S. advertising/ certification/ repair training must cost more than the profit on the model.
  22. balthazar
    I don't think that's an issue in the last 30 years- remember the era bumper-lift trucks were in use- towing '72 Impalas & the like; cars with overhang. dfelt- I think you are talking about wheel-lift trucks- lot of rollbacks also have wheel lifts. Rollbacks are best - less chance of damage when the whole car is up off the road & on a level secure surface. In looking at '66 Toronados with my buddy- even some of the steel-bumper cars were damaged down low on the bumeprs by bumper-lift trucks- depends on the contour & the operator. Back to rollback = the best.
  23. balthazar
  24. balthazar
    Dear God- why. Stand-ups belong with vinyl tops & wire wheels- in the 1970-80s.
  25. balthazar
    Agreed- and for the very reason I stated above; you can't lift plastic-bumpered cars that way, and we've been saddled with plastic-ended cars for 30 years now. My buddy owns a 'square body' Chevy bumper lift truck, tho it hasn't been on the road in at least 10 years.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

I've whitelisted
Continue without support

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search