balthazar

Not defending O'Neil ... but any chance he was out of his mind with grief and/or 'medicated'? Who legitimately expects someone to have a drink on them at a funeral ?? Not the wonderings of someone in their right mind (....but then again; he's 'Hollywood'; are any of them??).

I've noted the 'Lutzring' in ariel shots- have you drive much of the rest of Milford ?? How about that monster-long loop on the west border ? Anyone believe GM could make mad bags of money having open houses there, where they invite car clubs to come in & drive like wild (after signing inch-thick liability releases, of course) ?? I would love to even tool around in a golf cart there, soaking up the aura.... -- -- -- -- -- On second thought- isn't letting Chris into Milford like letting the Hamburgeler into the Mickey D's kitchen ?

XP715 - >>"I know I can't take it with me when I die..."<< You can if you're build your own coffin !

One of my clients leaves their house unlocked & open, which in this era is naturally surprising... but they really have nothing to steal if you assessed it (not that I'm in any way a potential thief). I can't do it, I like things too much. And frankly- I would be... I guess it would be bored if I were to live like that.

I remember looking at & sitting in a fancy '60 Olds 98 convertible in my favorite junkyard. White car, 2 (or 3??) tone leather seats. Ashtray was full of cigarette butts ringed with red lipstick, and there were a handful of lil' sealed glass vials w/ colored liquid inside on the backseat floor; cracked one open- perfume. Right then I could see a taller, trim, classy, upscale woman, Ray-Bans, perhaps a scarf around her upswept hair, crusing that stylish monster along the less-trafficed roads, top ALWAYS down, looking fabulous. The woman- who knows? may be gone. The car was crushed in '98 along with the entire 25 acres worth of it's bretheren.

>>"What I am saying is that Cadillac needs BOTH..."<< OK- gotcha. And like I said- I do agree with the 'RTS' idea But I have without a doubt read that sentiment from you and others here, more than once.

Check the same pub's review of the G37: seems to me the CTS review was angled - 'will this be enough to succeed', then grabbing a few opinions on the street... yet the G37 was presented on it's own merits with nearly no references to the competition. Presentations were quite different...

Americans want more tin foil. Americans love cowboy hats. Americans don't like squeaky pickles. Wee- this whitewashing is fun, Huck !!

I can conceed the argument for Europe, but of course, the CTS barely has it's pinkie toe in there... so there's no scenario there currently to discuss. But the repeated dead-horse-beating on the CTS's size in the U.S. has no merit, IMO (no disrespect to BigPoncho). "CTS isn't competitive because it's larger than the 3-series." Bull&#036;h&#33;. The numbers DO NOT bear this out. 3-series is the absolute smallest in the segment @ 178". Where is the supposed line drawn as 'uncompetitive' ?? If there was any legitimate correlation to size = sales, one would think the average size would be best, not either extreme. If there was any legitimate argument along those lines, we'd see a sliding decline in volume the larger each car got. Lexus is the #1 seller in the U.S., the IS is nearly identical to the 3 (180"), but the 3 outsells the IS 6:1. No one buys them. Too big ?? How about 185" ?? Audi A4 measures that, no one bemoans & hand-wrings over it's sales numbers, yet the 3 outsells it just about 3:1. Uncompetitive because of size ?? :wacko: M-B c-class is a whopping 4" bigger and that costs it circa 32,000 sales per year ??? :wacko: Thru June '08 YTD: BMW 3-S - - 178" - - 59908 units Lexus IS - - 180" - - 11554 units M-B C-cl - - 182" - - 43603 units Audi A4 - - 185" - - 23291 units Infin G37 - - 187" - - 24904 units Lexus GS - - 190" - - 9059 units Cad CTS - - 191" - - 31990 units Lexus ES - - 191" - - 33156 units BMW 5-S - - 191" - - 23096 units No correlation from size alone. Easy to say the CTS would sell better if smaller... just as easy to say the 3-series would sell better if it was larger; closer to the mean size of the segment. There's a LOT more to being successful in the segment than size alone- it's overall product & price WAY before size. So please, let's drop the whole fantasy that size is holding the CTS back. In '01 Cadillac had NOTHING in this segment, now it's a major player, absolutely competitive, and can anyone deny it's taken marketshare from the 3-series ?? And I'd far rather see Cadillac maintain its aspiration & exclusivity in the U.S. rather than fleet the CTS out to 50% volume like BMW does with the 3 in Germany just to pump up it's numbers.

Cool info, 66- thanks! I'll definately check into it. I would love to take the B-59 to an autocross once; it'd be fun to motor thru, twirling around with an unbroken line of dropped jaws out the windshield. :wink:

In general, are these courses dimensionally unfriendly to large cars? And is 'power oversteer' frowned upon ? :wink:

>>"Some people just don't want a car as big as the CTS, so that is lost business..."<< Statistically irrelevant. Some people just don't want a car as small as the 3-series either, so that is lost business for BMW also. Can't please everyone all the time. You seem to imply that the 8 or 10 people who absolutely find the CTS too large are automatically defaulting to the 3-series, when you have zero authenticated information that that is so.

Pontiac, as with every other Division, had their own Engineering department. Sure, often they worked with GM Research, but often they did not. Who's to say which feature involved what departments ?? The HydraMatic, for example, started out in Cadillac Engineering in '34 until '37-38 when it was handed off to Olds for in-car field testing. Then again- Cadillac Engineering drove most of GM's developments for the first 30+ years.

>>"If you look at BMW sales figures (for cars; not including SUVs), the 3-series is 60.2% of the sales volume, the 5-series 29.8% and the 7-series a mere 10%. ...But, that is all moot if you have nothing to sell into 60% of the market! ...when you cede 60% of the market, even if you are competitive in the remaining 40% you are still nowhere."<< As you stated it, the 3-series represents 60% of the non-SUV volume of BMWs sales volume. That's fine, but where does it state that everyone else has to follow BMW's exact car line sales volume breakdown (and how has that changed in light of a triplet of SUVs)? 3-series is 60% of all BMWs- what does this tell us about BMWs's competition (Cadillac here)? Nothing. But the 2nd & 3rd lines I quoted seem to reference segment marketshare- not the same unit of measure. The entire ideal that the CTS cannot compete with the 3-series is unscientific. Has it ever been documented via consumer polling?? It is far more logical to assume price plays a primairy factor rather than a 10" difference in overall length. I've still yet to see anyone on a car lot with a tape measure, and a 3- & a 5- both fit in any garage anywhere. What would be very interesting to see, and AFAIK has never been compiled.... is to look at the 3-series segment's marketshare breakdown before the CTS and what it is currently. I would also be very interesting to learn the fleet percentages of the CTS & 3-series (the latter which is heavily fleeted in Germany at the very least). All that aside- I like & endorse the proposed 'RTS'- I like the rendering, the specs, and agree with the need for a 'sub-CTS' primairily because I believe the CTS can grow a tiny bit more dimensionally and price-wise; it's that good.

>>"Ya, such it is in this era of stubby tails...the CTS only has 13.6 cf trunk volume. The G8 is decent, 17.5."<< If it weren't for the skyscraper decks, modern car's trunk capacities would be down by a third. BTW: B-59 trunk volume : 30.2 CF ... and that's with a severely-sloped decklid and a full-sized spare. -- -- -- -- -- Thanks for the compliments, all.

My sons are agog over XM Radio, but they don't care for that new car smell so much. Still, they only want to ride in the Malibu vs. the GP now. Only thing to date I can criticize is that the trunk opening is quite small with the extended greenhouse. Close to a foot less FRT-2-RR than a W-body's. Handled the week's groceries fine tho- volume is good (15.1). Price paid for styling, I guess.

No sales tax exemption- what did I miss ? I tried the TapShift once so far.... I guess if I get into a stoplight drag with a Camry, it might shave a tenth off, but basically it was a 'meh'.

Walt- As a sales experience- it went very well- no complaints. A first in my experiences: they handled the whole insurance switch-over too, which was nice. The employees I talked to were very nice, and no one approaches you if you're out on the lot browsing (appreciated). Dealership itself is quite nice- recently built for Malouf's Lincoln, but Linc is sandwiched into the Ford superstore now. I have not used Malouf Chevy's service dept- I have been using the Malek Chevy in Hopewell (my truck's original dealer) - great guy who runs it & stellar straight dealings there. I have used Malouf B-P-GMC's service on the wife's cars- no problem there- I feel they're straight-up there, too. Malek is not supposed to get his franchise renewed after '10- which sucks (there since '55), but I am not apprehensive about then taking my truck to Malouf if it needs service. We'll see.

Franklin?

'Platforms' are largely meaningless. They are 'invisible' & unidentifiable to 99% of the consumer pool, and it's entirely possible to make 2 entirely different ones perform exactly the same. It's like going house-shopping and the agent is going on & on about the house's foundation ... Besides that; manufacturers --pressed to 'use or lose' their new car budgets-- start from scratch at every new platform.... completely tossing out the majority of what they already developed & tested/proved from the previous platform... with almost no discernable differences (other than the obvious: dimensional). I don't know if I can support that kind of liberal European inefficiency. :rotflmao: I don't why you'd doubt the fact (other than the fact that you're a rabble-rouser) that this is my wife's car (>>"your *coughs - wife's - coughs, vehicle"<<), or are you actually sick? ... have I ever lied to you ? :wink: The Ford was a 3rd vehicle in a 2-driver household; I drive this :

>>"What did you trade it in for?"<< '09 Malibu. >>"I see the NJ plates have been removed, does NJ reissue the plates or do they follow the owner to the new vehicle? In Delaware it's the owners choice ..."<< Legally, it is permissable to transfer them, but I suspect a pact between dealers & the DMV, since new cars always get new plates (& the DMV gets higher fees).

Only other one so far:

Had a sad moment Friday where I said goodby to a trusted friend that never let me down no matter what I asked that friend to do. This is my '94 F-150 XL Special. Only vehicle I myself have bought new (out of 20). 300 CI I-6, 4-spd auto, 3.08s out back, 2WD. Almost no options, but did come w/ AM-FM & A/C- enough for me. Truck has rolled 146K since '94, tho by the 5/08 inspection sticker, apparently I haven't driven it much in the last 11 months. Body is really excellent except for 1 thing- over both rear wheelwells, it's starting to rot from the inside- the rest is arrow straight & rust-free. Not so the undercarriage- an inadvertant drive thru a flooded shore island had accelerated rust & corrosion underneath. Interior was near perfect too- 1 1" rip on the dash and the rubber mat wore thru where my 'gas heel' rested. KBB says it's worth $513 for trade, $1200 for retail. But CARS says round it off to $4500. It was a damned good truck, and I still love it (esp the proportions of a RC/LB), sentimental fool that I am... but cheapness trumps sentimentality for me. I 'sacrificed' so my wife could get into a nicer, new car.... sacrificed a truck I really no longer needed. I took a few things for resale: bedliner, tailgate, RR bumper, pass door panel & sideview, ashtray, grille. I debated taking the hood & FRT bumper, but ran out of time. So here's what limped down to the dealer- no wipers at all in the driving rain Friday : Farewell, old friend! -- -- -- -- -- Here at the dealer is what one might call 'Clunkerville'. Note that my truck (now) is the only one that really looks the part. The only thing here that remotely catches my eye (besides the near-twin to my F-150) is the Riv. Obviously (via C4C), it's an '84-85, but these cars truely shine, design-wise; beautiful lines. Besides some minor issues w/ the 'bumper rubbers' (between the body & bumpers), and an apparent mismatch in paint @ the rear quarter, this Rivie was cherry in & out. 87K on the clock: Mind you: great design, great well-cared-for shape, refreshing to see... but not particularly valuable. I can't quite cry over it. The Caddy was just as nice, or nicer. Never owned an '80s product- don't feel I'm missing anything from all that I've seen. I didn't look at the others, but besides the sentimental attachment to MY truck, they can all go (that's a nissan in the corner), IMO- no future collectibles here.

Here's my wife's '09 2LT Malibu : Red Jewel Tintcoat, Ebony interior. Only cost options are the Red Jewel & body-color side moldings. The 6-spd manual & TapShift are included. Also included are aluminum rims, leather/suede upholstery, dual heated seats, AM/ FM/ XM/ CD, a bunch of electronic doo-dads and the usual lazy-man's answered prayers. For those impaired folk who judge a car's 'nationality' based on where it was assembled- it was assembled in Kansas City KS. So far, it drives, rides & handles very smoothly & competantly... and impressively. I need to get a few more pics (ran out of time), esp the interior. VERY nice car, I must say. Also surprised to have bought new- I myself have no desire to, but for her, I like to have her in a car I (hopefully) don't have to worry about. Hell- I just got her a cell phone last year.