balthazar

I am very disappointed that the ES's styling tradition was abandoned and the headlights won't be stretched to the A-pillar and the taillights to the rear wheelwell! I am getting a strong infiniti vibe from the front end... the area around the headlights says infintii FX to me.

Hypothetical~ You take your best friend to look at your girlfriend's uncle's car- it's for sale. You don't know the uncle very well, but your buddy likes this brand and this particular car. After some talk & tirekicking, the Uncle tells him the price is $500. Friend accepts and pays him by counting out ten $50s. As the uncle shakes his & your hand, he discreetly palms you one of the $50 bills. Do you pocket the $50 or give it to your friend?

Because a lexus IS a toyota and an infiniti IS a nissan; they were created largely from their respective parent's parts bins and 'separated' via marketing. Cadillac & saab have remained autonomous in product from each other for the entire history of the automobile industry. Cadillac is a storied marque with history- saab is a failing 2nd tier 'weird' car with long-running financial & sales problems. The Catera at least had the once-potent 'German engineered' tagline on it's side. 'Scandinavian-engineered' doesn't roll quite so readily off the tongue. In fact, the taste is horrendous.

Looks don't matter in this instance: 'saab-sourcing' ABSOLUTELY will be noticed by the media, and it's reporting would be a distinct detriment. No swedish-engineered Cadillacs- there's no advantage to it whatsoever.

300 and Magnum/ Charger sales are much much brisker than the industry average. Actual volume numbers are very good, too, esp considering where they are coming from ('Chrysler baggage' bullsh!t and all that). volvo is too 'outer fringe' to be a good indicator of much. But I agree that most consumers don't know or care: FWD / RWD.

Not at all! Everything was named in the '50s & '60s. 1964 Pontiac: Wonder Touch power steering/ brakes Tri-Comfort Circ-L-Aire air conditioning Electro-Cruise cruise control Cordova (vinyl) Top Super DeLuxe AM-FM Non-Glare inside rearview mirror Safe-T-Track differential Vebra-Phonic rear seat speaker Custom Sports wheel discs No-Mar fuel door guard Roto-HydraMatic 375 transmission Tri-Power carburetion and there's more. Go back 5 years and your Buick also would have a Vista-Vision windshield, a Dyna-Star grille, a TripleTurbine transmission and Delta-Wing fins! Now your car's trans is more like a 4T65E or something equally stirring. yay. For years Nash called their heaters 'Weather-Eye'- always liked that one.

Welcome to my world: 1940 Ford HD truck, no heat, no turn signals, no radio, just vacuum wipers, a horn and 1 tail/brakelight. Only 2 fuses in the fuse block! Heat wasn't standard in mid-priced domestics until the late '60s in general. In '40 nothing was standard. We take a tremendous amount for granted these days...

Really beautiful lines. Very clean yet not... aggressive; more like purposeful. Like a shark. Also reminds me a bit of Winfield's Reactor in our Peterson Bodywork book: unique surface development & envelopment. I never would've guessed Abarth- had nearly forgotten the make. Nice find!

Friday I was looking over one of those brand new Elise fastbacks i my buddies detail shop- very crappily built for whatever it goes for ($50K??). Uneven panels gaps, bad paint flaws, cheap metal screening everywhere, dealer-installed (?) 'star sheild' with even more flaws in it. Neat looking but junk. Also sounded like crap when running. Yesterday a bentley GT coupe was tooling along the highway, sneaking sidelong glances at my F-150. I was quite surprised how relatively small this car is- in pics it looks like a hulking 18' monster. Nice lines, but restrained nearly to borderline generic; could use a bit more spark to it. Still overall: attractive. Too bad the interior is so dissappointing.

I would like to read some opinions of those who were loyal import buyers who now buy American, for a change. That would truely be a refreshing change of agenda...

I agree with those that say 'don't bring it'. It's not where Cadillac needs to go, esp. according to all those that clamor 'too much overlap at GM!!!'! And the 'saab rebadge' comments are NOT going to do Cadillac any favors in the least. The ES is fine as a volume booster to lexus, who seems to need it to avoid being known primarily as a truck-based brand. But as moltar mentioned, it is not a 'serious' entry. Cadillac should continue being as focused as possible- the BLS is a distraction and a dilution of formula.

"Antiquated"?? F-ing please.

Congrats!! Tip: do not watch the actual birth (by all means be in the delivery room tho)- there's something inately disturbing at seeing a little human being squeeze out of your girl's (|). Names are tough, indeed. Old world names are a neat idea... especially if your desire is to toughen up your kid by having the snot beat out of him weekly. Seriously- teasing wears down the strongest of them- be thorough. I went thru a relatively tough elementary & high school tho; not that my name was the issue but fighting was common over the stupidest and petty of things. Don't make the name one of them.

'Heirarchy' point taken, except for the fact that implies hyundai is somehow a notch above Chevy... when hyundai is more like the Geo and Kia is... I don't know what... beyond the world's LCD in vehicles...

E-mail me the pic and I'll block it out for you. You might as well; consider me stumped on this one. Like I said- I've seen it before, recognized the lines immediately, but I cannot recall the make (or apparently, the era).

The ever- enjoyable dan neil: Calling a Panhard bar "pan-hard" as if a reference to cookware was particularly timely. "...derived from the 120-series Prado, known as the Lexus GX470 in the U.S. market." Oooo: how continental: referring to the international nameplate as a primary tho writing for a domestic city newspaper. Further: there are 2 singular references to the clear market inspiration for the fj: Hummer (that's toyota for you- always reacting...): a second-hand anonymous insult and a note of a 1/2-inch less ground clearance. Could his article be more scripted?

Damnit- same angle! Front shot please!

'Volga GAZ' sounds like an intestinal problem. Ahh the good old days when all the imports were a good decade behind the U.S. stylistically (among other areas of comparison).

Smells like a marketing 'mop-up' after the engineering & testing was done.

Here in NJ CTSs are quite common, and I see STSs frequently too. Crossfires: on occcasion. RLs: wouldn't notice them. Acura gets my vote as the 'slowest make' as I am too often stuck behind a plodding one on the road, but they never seem to be RLs. new Ranger: Have not noticed any yet. insight: seen about 5. axiom: seen about 4. x-type & mazda sportwagon: wouldn't notice. Monterey: a handful. raider: only one- out front of the frighteningly overstocked dealer. Relay: maybe 10. s80: who can tell any volvos aparts unless reading the nametag? I do see a bunch of s60s with their curiously small-yet-still-made-in-3-pieces decklids.

I know the NorthStar was recalibrated to run on regular gas years ago... What am I missing here??

Olds Motor Vehicle Company was founded in 1897. Olds Gasoline Engine Works was organized in 1890. In turn, I forgive you. Appreciate your high expectations. From memory- I am currently drawing a blank but I will mull this over during the day today, hopefully rendering direct research tonight unneccessary...

Yeah- that one's a beaut. Superior was at the top of the pro-car styling game in this era, IMO. I've got to get me a flower car one of these days, but I'm certainly not against getting a hearse, either.

consumer reports predicted reliability : much much much much worse than average.

I'm pretty sure I had a Matchbox of this one as a kid, and that may be where I've 'seen' it. Era has to be the mid '60s. Car has nice fluidity- the gentle nose-to-tail radius is real sweet. The 'skirted' rear wheels seems an unexpected element. Dig the mid-body sideview mirror.