balthazar

I believe some of it visually is that little fender vent- makes the front clip seem even lower than it is. Rear fascia really IS high on this car- it's '70s Challenger/Cuda high, but higher still. Bottom edge of rear bumper is almost at the top of the rear rim. Unprecedented.... but it still works. CTS sedan looks great & has attitude, but I've got to give Cadillac kudos here, they didn't merely make a 2-dr out of a 4-dr; this is bold and doesn't apologize for it. That by itself is fantastic.

>>"If you've ever read On a Clear Day..., then you know the same pretty much happened to John Z. He was too daring, too innovative, and that grated on his superiors' nerves until they go on his case so badly that he quit. They say they've changed since those days, but more and more it shows that the Old GM still rules."<< The difference between then & today is huge- JDL had clout, authority and a budget. He circumvented rules and had hardware which to do it with. And his 'grating' pushed PMD to the #3 sales spot throughout the entire 1960s. That could never happen today because there are no propritory powertrains, no divisional engineering departments, no divisional budgets, no general managers with any authority. In other words, no individual brand pride. There's simply nothing to work with. If "GM" cannot accomplish this because they're 'spread too thin', perhaps delegation would be productive, but I know there's still not enough money for this.

I smell a pulled 455... I have a spare 455/THM400 available (coming next month) for this car- out of a '72 Electra.

Put Your Death Mask On - Wednesday 13

'09 CTS-V : fastest recorded production sedan on factory-spec street tires @ Nurburgring.

I cannot get past '72 with the A-Specials / G-Bodies.

Right- then it's moronic to say, 'Cadillac is taking a risk by calling out the Germans' when Cadillac did no such thing, no?

interior of CTS-V interior of 5-series touring

>>"Cadillac is taking a risky by calling out the Germans, "<< Did Cadillac 'call out the Germans', or was it AutoBlog ?

smk4565 ->>"I hope it isn't the 2.0 turbo either, that engine will be 4 years old by then..."<< WTH do you want; a brand new engine every 2 years ?!?!? a 4-yr old engine is 'old', too 'old' to be competitive?? Oh that's right- I've read numerous posts from you pointing out how the hoary nissan VQ V6 is 14 years old now. >>"...the interior has to be better than the CTS..."<< CTS is upmarket from this junior Cadillac, there's no logical reason to give it a better interior. Besides that, the CTS interior is already beyond both the 3- and 5-series interiors- again I scratch my head wondering what you want here- spun gold floor mats? Running water? How about anything other than a car with a Cadillac Crest on the grille.

So no 402/454 Chevelles after '75? HA-HA: plenty of 400 LeMans' thru '77. Neener-neener! I have very very little love for the '70s cars- the ghastly hanging bumpers, the faux this-n-that, the anemic engines, the pillow-tufted interiors - blech. What a screaming letdown from the '60s. I've owned only 3 '70s cars: a '72 Riv (parts car, but I loved it) & a '73 Charger Rallye (which is more an extension of the '60s), a passable stripper/commuter '78. I can take a 'lower-line' '77-79 B-Body, but the 'full-boat' '70s cars make me ill. Never owned an '80s car- never will.

>> A V-16 is only 2 cylinders longer than an I-6. When you look at it that way; an I-6 is "dumb" when it could be half as long as a V-6, right? >>"Even Hyundai has a new V8, and they have a 5.0 liter version of the Tau V8 with 420 hp coming soon. (Cadillac can't keep up with Hyundai?)" Cadillac gets 469 HP from 4.4 L, hyundai is far behind Cadillac in a numbers race here. Yes, I realize thats SC'd and No, I don't care if hyundai can't afford to offer one, too. Power is power- Cadillac offers 50 more HP from half a liter less displacement. Done. >>"The LS motors will never make it in the luxury market (they are from pickups and Camaros of 10 years ago)" LS Gen IV is only 4 years old, not 10. And the 'coming soon' tau V-8 is from hyundai of the accent fame. >>...or 100 hp per liter ability" First off, the only way to tell any car's displacement is to read the badge. How else do you know- not by looking underhood certainly. Not by driving it. Who cares ?? But let me educate you: "At the 2006 SEMA show, GM Performance Parts introduced the LSX engine, an all-new cast-iron racing block based on the LS7 engine. It was designed with help from drag racing legend Warren Johnson. It offers displacements ranging from 364 cubic inches to 511 cubic inches (4.25" Bore x 4.5" Stroke) and is capable of withstanding 2500 bhp. This block incorporates two extra rows of head-bolt holes per bank for increased clamping capacity. The six bolt steel main caps are the same ones used on the LS7 engine. The LSX will be available starting the second quarter of 2007, set to be available in authorized dealerships and retailers on March 31, 2007." Ooops, there it is! 511 CI (8.3L) / 2500 HP = 301 HP / L Yes, I know this is a General Motors-developed race motor, but you said the LS did not have the ability to support 100hp/L and No, I don't care if it's not offered in a street car yet. Even this press release didn't bother with outmoded fan-boy HP/L stats.

No authority here, but I too felt we had reached an informal consensus that 'we can handle it'. Thusly; I am opposed to 'rule #2'. Sure, there are other political sites... but maybe many of us would like to debate among people we 'know' here, plus an automotive element would be sure to creep in & out, keeping it tangentially topical. It's an election year- I call for a vote !

Fastback look from the profile or 3/4-view looks quite hot, but the rear bumper comes off as pretty squared off to my eye. I need to see a RP car. Doesn't give me the impression of a hatch; none I know of have that much rake & 'at-speed' attitude. Kudos for bringing back a Cadillac hallmark: thru the bumper exhaust, and not copying BMW by placing it maddeningly off center by 2 inches. Overall it will make a big mark in the lux coupe segment, IMO.

Exactly what is done to a G6 in order to sell it commercially, that you deem it "rebadging" ????????? Man, are you hung up on misunderstanding that term.

Tossin' another one into the mix: >>Bloodstains on the highway, On the road I am a god. I've got the pedal to the metal I'm a mean machine in a... hot rod.<<

>>"...OHC is a necessity for premium cars in the market, perception or not..."<< But that's just it; the "necessity" is only a perception.

"Ah-ha, hoo-hoo!" --the Phfor.

>>"...the past is gone."<< The future doesn't inspire much hope, either.

87 is in the $3.3x range by me right now and still dropping daily. Even CA is averaging below $4/gal now. Anything can happen- but the fundamentals still do not support $115/barrel prices- if things globally stay relatively stable- there is potentially more downtick than uptick in the near future. I'm not expecting $2.00, but I am expecting to see $2.99.

LeoC2- good points and very true : >>"Cars today are much more expensive than in the past."<< Not that this is exactly in the same vein, but it always struck me that the Eldorado's base price actually declined over the 1960s, it was $7401 in '60 and $6711 in '69. Unfathomable in today's world- 10 years and the price actually drops (without pimping it out to china, either)!

>>"30-40 years ago a car was usually worn out at 100k miles..."<< Nonsense.

IIRC the bedside storage compartments: nice innovation that won't be buried under a load of stone (or pallets of pansies, as would be more the case with you-know-what-'truck'-I'm-referring-to) when you really need to get into them. I won't be in the market in the foreseeable future, but this sounds like another strong stride forward in truck development. Meanwhile, across the pond; toyota & nissan scratch their butts and wonder why they still don't compete here. Dual glove boxes is great, floor cooler is fine, interior looks very nice. I don't like the rear seat setup- folding back & up like that does not leave a decent load platform- my Silvie's rear seat (split) folds forward, making a plateau big enough to sleep in (I did it once). You can load the crap out of it that way. Would also prefer the shifter out of the way on the column- just takes up space on the too-wide console.

>>"I'm afraid the reality is that pushrod engines are by and large, like carburators, BOF construction, etc artifacts of the past... "<< Some may prefer to look at it like this: >>I'm afraid the reality is that pushrod engines are by and large, like decent thickness sheetmetal, longevity, repairability, etc, artifacts of the past...<< In other words- these things worked well but are no longer 'fashionable'.

>>>According to an analysis of the fiscal 2009 House Democratic majority’s federal budget by Brian Riedl of The Heritage Foundation, every American household would pay on average $3,100 more in federal taxes. That amounts to $1.265 trillion more over five years and $3.911 trillion over 10 years. Worse (if that’s possible) the Democratic budget proposal increases discretionary spending by 8 percent and does not eliminate even one wasteful program. It also ignores the coming explosion in the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.<<< And Biden is a straight-line tax-increase endorser. All the plentiful other issues aside, most Americans simply cannot afford to vote D. >>>...government auditors spent the last five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them — costing taxpayers $123 billion per year — fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.<<< Great- so let's INCREASE that with trillions more in taxes to the government ????? Is that the "change" BO's been droning on ambiguously about?? No thanks. Does anyone think he's going to actually help improve things for the common man? NOW I smell the BS...