Cmicasa the Great

This occurred on Oct 30. I have been away from here since about August, only popping in from time to time, but I figured I would bring some news. Had to get my almost 16 year old teenager a ride and didn't want to give up my Impala.. nor have her rolling around in a compact. She gets her height from me.. and is already 5'9. I told her the budget was $22K with no sports cars (she wanted a damn Camaro... a 16 year old.. with a Camaro) I said "no..." so she looked at used everything else. I'm really proud of her because she looked at a Fusion, Malibu, Escape, an '07 SRX (yes the Boxy one) a used CTS, a 300.. and finally said to me "Daddy.. I kno it has to be American.. and I grew up with GM.. so how about an Equinox? Only one thing.. its gotta be white or silver and the Emblem has to match the paint or the wheels" Did some calling around to a few cats I kno and one of my old buds.. who still sells Chevys told me he just got in a 'Nox.. AWD, in white.. and it was Certified. Asking price was $22,800 with 23K on the ODO. I went down to check it out and drove away for $20K OTD cash. She doesn't actually get her license for a few months more, so I will be driving it most likely for that time to learn its ways.. not to mention keep some miles off the Impala which is now at 41K Equipment Group 2LT (8-Way Power Driver Seat Adjuster, Automatic Climate Control, Front Halogen Fog Lamps, Leather Heated Driver & Front Passenger Seats, Inside Self-Dimming Rear-View Mirror, Pioneer Premium 8-Speaker System, and Remote Vehicle Starter System),Navigation System, Power Programmable Rear Liftgate, Power Tilt-Sliding Sunroof w/Express-Open, and Universal Home Remote. GM CERTIFIED.... I texted her in school to let her kno it was here and she can't wait to get down here to see it this weekend. Kept texting me "I Love U Daddy.. I Love U Daddy... I Love U Daddy...." I love that kid It definitely gets up. Not as fast as other car based LFX runs, but quick for an AWD equipped crossover. Love the sliding rear seat. Seems like a great idea in all of GMs SUV/CUVs across the board

MSRP starting at $87,465 Destination Freight Charge $995 OPTIONS CRYSTAL WHITE TRICOAT $995 Very Light Cashmere with Maple Sugar Accents, Semi-Aniline Full Leather Seats with Chevron perforated inserts with high-gloss Cafe Noir Eucalyptus wood trim/high-gloss Cafe au Lait Eucalyptus wood trim $0 20" 5-split spoke aluminum with Manoogian Silver premium painted finish and 5 chrome inserts $0 Engine, 3.0L Twin Turbo $0 Transmission, 8-speed automatic $0 Seats, 20-way front bucket for driver and front passenger $0 Illuminated trunk sill plates Remove $325 Ground Effects Package Remove $2,190 Flush-mounted rear spoiler Remove $495 OPTIONS TOTAL $4,005 TOTAL MSRP $96,470 PRICE $96,470* http://www.cadillac.com/sedans/ct6-sedan.html

Yeah CP.. because the women buying this will be out on the streets doing burn-outs and running down Corvettes. The vehicle is EXACTLY what it needs to be. Gorgeous interior and richly laid out for the right clientele. Loving the powertrain capabilities.. and so as to make the likes of U happy.. there is a VSport supposedly planned. 3.0L TT maybe???

C&D clarified where this was going. The CT6 seems to be the springboard. The start of which all other products will be based off in the car line. CTS and ATS refreshes happen in just 2 MYs so I think Cadillac will do fine, but will have to tweak and be patient in the mean time. C&D Meaning that the CTS and ATS are dead in name only.. but like the 5series which shares a platform with the BMW 7 Series and is essentially a downsized 7 Series, the CTS will most likely be getting Omega as its bones, and be the same as the 5series in terms of sharing a larger platform. Basically the CT5 or 4 will be a "SWB CT6" still with the same body length as the current CTS, just larger inside via a wider and more space efficient platform called Omega. Keep in mind that allows OMEGA to be shared on the upper end as well (think CT7, 8, 9).. following this philosophy of modulation.. like the RR Ghost and Wraith sharing the 7 Series. PROFIT!!! OK.. I'm not completely suggesting that the CT8 or 9 are definitely Ghost and Wraith competitors.. but in terms of LOGIC, probable pricing, and hierarchy.. where else would they compete? I'm seeing Cadillac throwing convention by the wayside and having sedans: CT4 (CTS) going up against 5Series CT6 going up against SWB 7Series (Globally) or 740i (here) CT7 (Elmiraj)(Coupe/Vert) 8Series (if ever allowed into fruition) CT8 (Ciel) going up against LWB 7Series CT9 (Wreath) (Coupe) going up against Wraith CT10 (Crest) going up against Ghost I thru those names in because it really seems proper that CAdillac lose the "CT" on that level. Those names would be fine internationally as well in translation. They could go back to SERIES 70 and 75 for heritage sake. I of course wish that they SERIES moniker had been used thru-out the line-up instead of CT

Actually the numbers are up. The ATS if I recall was up 44% in sales. The truth is the profit per car is also up much too. Cadillac is not longer a volume brand and will not need to relay on larger volumes to survive. They can survive on small volumes but GM will expect increases to the volume to make sure they take advantage of the mega profits per unit in this segment. Ford will do the same but they are 10 years behind. This is what Saved Lincoln as they were set for death with many inside Ford and enough support rallied to save them. Sales are up? Somebody should tell the source. And i have to put a stop to this 10 year lagging remark people keep perpetuating. Lincoln sedans are behind, but nowhere near that much. Kind of a subjective opinion here, but with new Conti next year, I would say they made up a lot of ground. All new platform Lincolns are 3 years out, which will have them caught up. Lincoln SUV is about one year out, which will either put them on par with Caddy at worst, or above them at best. Somewhere in between. I will call it at about 2 years. Lincoln CUV's have the upper hand and do not trail Cadillac. Cadillac overall sales are down because they are Car Heavy in a CUV heavy segment. The only car that bucks that statement is really the 3series. For instance in Aug.. the i3 -22.7%, the 5Series -10.2%, 6Series -44.9%, 7Series -83.0%, even the 4series -31.3% were all DOWN. No worries.. because BMW has CUVs that were mostly up. The only thing that really saved their CAR numbers was the uptick in sales from the i8 +2233.3% because it went from selling 8 last year to a blazing 210 and the X1, which I'm bewildered as to how the hell it is called a car and not a CUV on their charts exclusively. Sooooo the CTS and ATS sell. They just aren't selling in "established for 25 years segment numbers" as yet. The CTS tho, doesn't sell as many as before because of reasons I've outlined dozens of times before; Want a CTS-V Coupe? Go buy one then. A 2016 CTS-V Coupe. Well why not? No Coupes??? Does that effect your buying decision? Would it effect anyone else's? Maybe they would forego buying a CTS at all and go buy a competitor. Maybe that explains some sales loss... I dunno.

LOL.. after the fiasco.. overall.. I seriously doubt it

Why do we have to wait for craftsmanship and quality? The ATS and CTS promised to be as well built as the Germans and Cadillac said they would out perform the Germans. That didn't happen, the sales reflect it. I don't think the Cadillacs are overpriced, as I have said many times they are still priced below the Germans (and Lexus) but they aren't getting the sales. So something must be wrong. Personally, I think they could price the CTS-V at $49,995 and the E-class will outsell it 3-1. Horsepower per dollar isn't why Cadillac loses the battle, there are many reasons beyond that. On the CTS I think the engine comparisons are not as bad as with the ATS. The step up from the turbo 4 on all the German small cars and the Jaguar XE is a supercharged or Turbo Six, all those cars put out 320+ lb-ft of low end torque. That is where the 3.6 V6 is out gunned. The CTS has the V-sport which is good power for the money, but I think also rwd only. At some point Cadillac has to break the brand image problem. That needs done on powertrain, interior, build quality, warranty, dealer service, styling, number of model lines, halo cars, marketing, etc. It is multi-front battle they have to fight. A good example is Car and Driver just tested the Lincoln MKX, which was $63,000, and regardless of how good the product might be, why would anyone buy that over a Mercedes or BMW? Cadillac has the same problem, if you have $65,000 to spend, why not buy the German car, rather than a Cadillac and have to justify to people why you did it. Pure and Simple, Why send your hard earned money and jobs over to a country that if it had won WWII your grandfather would probably be dead and you would not exist. No apology to those that love German or Asian auto's, but I believe in the USA, Believe we need to keep the profits here and make sure my neighbor has a job too. Only through investing in our own production of products, keeping the profits here and demanding higher quality will we ensure the financial success of the US. Keep sending your money over seas and before you know it you could have no job due to the work being overseas at a lower price. The US needs to be competitive on quality, price, and originality to stand out. Stand Tall and Support your Country first where possible before sending your hard earned money over seas. Yup Yup!!! Back in the 90s I was convinced by a sell-out sorry excuse for an American that Toyota was the greatest thing since scrambled eggs. I was young, dumb and fed up with a 1983 Z28 that I bought 3rd hand off a guy who knu a guy who knu a lady named Sheila. Left GM for Toyota and bought a Tercel.. then a Camry. The Tercel blew it's rods all over 83 South in Baltimore while the Camry suffered the ill-fated, class action suit resulting SLUDGE problem. I sued, they bought back, but only after the suit and I bought a 1996 Chevy Lumina and never looked back. I love America and that doesn't include me supporting the Japanese, Korean, Indian, or German economy. At least not in terms of cars. Every GM vehicle I have had in the last 20 years has worked flawlessly.. and while I won't lie and say I haven't had an issue here and there.. the issues that I had were quickly taken care of by the warranty at minimal time to me. The worst issue I've had in those years was on my 2005 STS where as the battery kept being run down by an ongoing OnStar module. Cadillac fixed after 2 trips to the dealership in 2005 and I was happy with that car until a 2009 CTS-V Sedan stole my heart away. That car was perfect with exception to the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s that wore down like pencil erasers in about 10K miles. Changed them to Continentals and was good to go until another CTS-V, this time a Coupe, came along in 2012. Every Vette I've had over, C3, C4, C5, C6 and now C7 has been damn near bullet-proof. My GMT SUVS?? Flawless. 2000 Yukon, 2007 Tahoe, and now the 2015 Yukon SLT no issues except in the Tahoe a rotor issue leading me to change them out at 45K and a GM fix of the A/C after warranty. My Dailey Drivers have been a '1996 Lumina that I drove from '96 to 2006 and garnered 270K miles, to a 2006 Pontiac G6 with over 150K, traded in on a 2011 Camaro RS, for obvious reasons, to the 2014 Impala LTZ I drive now because I needed more room and could no longer justify to my myself why I needed 3 Coupes. Foreign cars? Never again. Not to mention I find it hypocritical and ridiculous to cry about the economy, GNP, and unemployment while buying products from foreign countries. Especially when Auto manufacturing is quite possibly the largest form of manufacturing left in this ungrateful country.. This country, as much as I love and fought for it's ideology is the epitome of self hate. ONLY in this country would we cry about being unemployed, then use our unemployment check to make payments on a car.. that was built in Japan, S. Korea, or Germany.. almost directly giving a citizen in that country a job.. while at the same time keeping ourselves unemployed. How does that make sense? It's comical really. Understand this and how ironic it is. People like "Joe Foreign Car Driver" hates Domestic cars, promotes Toyota, Nissan, Benz, BMW, and Hyundai... apparently is American.. and is crying because Americans of his generation don't have jobs, because the companies that he hates laid off workers, shut down plants, downsized... because people like him believe fiction over fact, and pumped $$BILLIONS$$ into Asia/Europe's economy and not their own.. HEY DIMWIT.. U DON'T HAVE A JOB BECAUSE U GAVE YOUR JOB TO MY COUSIN "Tanaka Takeshi" !!! That's right... my cousin (yes I have family in Japan still) literally got out of school 2 years ago.. and got a job a week later making the $400,000 yen per month (about $4500 per month) in the manufacturing business for Honda. He's 25. Yup... the cars he makes and sends over here for American consumption could have been a GM or Ford car U built for American consumption...

I agree with this. I see no reason why Cadillac is even using the NA 3.6L when they have the 3.0L TT capable of so much more. I would also argue that their 2.0LTT is also capable of being tuned to the same 335HP, but would most likely have more torque. I think they are playing up to the old desires of some buyers not wanting to have anything to do with Forced induction. Right now we have : LTG 272HP/295lbs LGX (335 hp and 284 lb-ft ) (WHY???) LGW (400HP) LF3 (420HP) LF4 (465HP) LT4 (640HP) Voltech/2.0L Hybrid (335 hp and 432 lb-ft) There has to be someone who looks at this and says "hey.. we have a lot of overlap, why don't we eliminate 2 of them?) I would certainly think the LGX stay in the other brands while making Cadillac completely and only Forced induction. As of now the LF3 has sat in Cadillacs only, and I truly believe that the development of the LF4 was to keep Cadillac from needing to go to the LT1 for its 460+HP needs. The LF4 can easily be tuned to over 500HP as the LF3 is easily tuned to over 500HP. Perhaps a revisit to the "Shortstar" V6 and upcoming TTV8 being called NorthStar or UltraStar would be in order. It doesn't make sense to not take the 2.0L up a notch to the 335HP range or detuning the 3.0L down to 350HP

Why Thank U

GM is a corporation coming out of the worst fiasco ever in its 107 year history just 6 years ago. Their goal is profitability, and never ever having to go thru that turmoil again. Tesla is an upstart company funded personally by a Billionaire from the tech industry that hasn't made one profit since its inception. It sells a vehicle that, in reality, has its core creation set waaaaaaaaaay back when GM was just a thought in Billy Durant's head. True innovation lies in intermingling of great engineering within the confines of every day life, while at the same time turning a profit. We can put up patents from the last 20 years and each year I think U will see GM flying high. To put up inventions and innovations of GM, a 107 year old company would truly boggle the mind. Electric Start, Air bag, Automatic, Catalytic Converter, Onstar, the Volt (EV1) not to mention the innovation of the Corporation in modern times by A. Sloan to name a very minute few. The EV1 is a great example. The Tesla S employing a 60-85 kWh lithium-ion achieves a 208 to 270 mi range. The EV1's 26.7-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery pack 100 to 140 miles. Think about that. What if.. 20 years ago.. the EV1 had of had the same AVAILABLE NOW battery tech that the Model S does? 20 Years is a long time. Innovations in the modern world have proven that it moves exponentially thru time, building on top of what has already been built innovative. In 1996 a Intel Pentium 133 MHz PC with a 400 MB hard drive would have set your soul on fire. Today I won't even get into what we have just walking around in our cell phones.Technology continuously evolved by building on top of what had already been done. Had the Electric Car not been killed in 1996.. I truly believe we would be capable of 1000 mile EVS. GM would have lead that charge The EV1 could go from 0 to 60 mph in nine seconds, while Car and Driver tested the 2011 Nissan Leaf SL to do it in 10 seconds. Ironically the NiMh battery powered EV1 had a longer range than the current Nissan leaf. Bottom line is that GM balances its innovations more to the market than the science fair types that must have their projects front and center. While Tesla is essentially nothing but a toy car concept brought to life-size proportions, 20 years after GM did it and killed it due to the market not being a viable one due to gas prices at the time being less than $1 Elon saw this and said to his people... "Here is my vision.. now implement it.. "I promise U.. its 95% the same thing as the Tesla Model S

Bosch supplied VW with the software in 2007 for testing only. They warned them it was illegal to install in vehicles sold to the public and it was for testing purposes only http://finance.yahoo.com/news/timeline-events-vw-pollution-cheating-scandal-155214988.html;_ylt=AwrC1zFIfglWjSMAtZKTmYlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByamYyaDNyBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--

What I bolded there, if GM lives up to it.. and learned anything from the last two years... they should be fine, offering a NICE, safe, and compliant alternative to the people who would of bought a VW specifically because they, for all intent, cornered the market. Chevy marketing would be FOOLS to not get out in front of this and under EVERY advertisement state in BOLD letters, with the Spokesperson/actor repeating as if he's reading off the brochure: "THIS VEHICLE, The CHEVY CRUZE DIESEL, IS CERTIFIED BY THE EPA, and AN INDEPENDENT TRIBUNAL WHO IS NOT IN ANY WAY ON OUR PAYROLL, A PRIEST, A RABBI, the Dalai Lama, AND MORGAN FREEMAN, AS BEING COMPLIANT WITH THE ENTIRE WORLD'S ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TESTS " Hell.. at this point.. GM should be pushing every division to have a diesel including Buick, Cadillac, and GMC in the Terrain, Canyon and Acadia. The market is now open for a transparent and available diesel maker who makes it clear, without gloating that they are compliant BTW. The "Whisper Diesel" should be plastered across every GM Diesel as if it were an Ecoboost or Hemi label I just laughed out loud, you bastich. It's good to see you back in the saddle. I'm always lingering.. but U kno where I am if U need me. MiatsoCi is on a short leash, but GMIer's love to reach out close enough for this wolf to still sink his teeth deep in their hands.

Did VW fail to improve the fuel economy of every diesel vehicle they sell? NO... they did a great job improving the Fuel Economy and riding the wave of being HELD HIGH for their engineering might in doing so. Where things went wrong was when they stole a page from their Original Backer's playbook.. deciding that the best way to conserve fuel was by mass, quiet killings... on the down-low.. of possibly 23,500 fuel consumers. Again... Americans swoop in to reveal and save the day, 70 years, 5 Months, and 15 days after American soldiers found the original camps. That cartoon literally agrees with me.. as the Nazis said the EXACT same thing. "We were only obeying orders."

Looks like those BIllions U kept yammering on about Audi investing might be put on a weeee bit of hold. U kno what Smk.. go to your room.. and don't come out till your told. That German engineering U always hold so high, is as I have predicted for a life time it seems.. as being nothing but "Smoke and Mirrors.. NOX" Literally how a person feels after following a VW Diesel for too long >>>

First Go back and read the part where the $31,995 is before destination of $865 pushing the price to $32,860. No Back-Up Camera, 17 inch wheels, a 5 Inch Nav unit that looks like some one plastered a 3 year old's Leap Frog on the dash.. Come on. I then love the part if U click on the Asterisk That isn't exactly how pricing works.. You can't just say it starts at a different price..when you add matching options to it. I understand there are varying options on their starting prices but that just gives the customer more options. Yes, most will probably put the options on like the new Buick(which is probabl why it is priced the way it is) but that doesn't mean that the EOS doesn't start at $32,860(with destination) compared to $33,990. Dude the only thing U are correct on is that the POS VW comes in under the Buick in BASE form only.. on their website.. which every other place I check, including True Car comes up with these numbers: MSRP: From $36,145 MPG: 22 city / 30 highway Horsepower: 200 HP Engine: 2.0L 4-cylinder Configurations Komfort Edition $36,145 Final Edition $39,545 Executive Edition $42,745

First Go back and read the part where the $31,995 is before destination of $865 pushing the price to $32,860. No Back-Up Camera, 17 inch wheels, a 5 Inch Nav unit that looks like some one plastered a 3 year old's Leap Frog on the dash.. Come on. I then love the part if U click on the Asterisk

What I bolded there, if GM lives up to it.. and learned anything from the last two years... they should be fine, offering a NICE, safe, and compliant alternative to the people who would of bought a VW specifically because they, for all intent, cornered the market. Chevy marketing would be FOOLS to not get out in front of this and under EVERY advertisement state in BOLD letters, with the Spokesperson/actor repeating as if he's reading off the brochure: "THIS VEHICLE, The CHEVY CRUZE DIESEL, IS CERTIFIED BY THE EPA, and AN INDEPENDENT TRIBUNAL WHO IS NOT IN ANY WAY ON OUR PAYROLL, A PRIEST, A RABBI, the Dalai Lama, AND MORGAN FREEMAN, AS BEING COMPLIANT WITH THE ENTIRE WORLD'S ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TESTS " Hell.. at this point.. GM should be pushing every division to have a diesel including Buick, Cadillac, and GMC in the Terrain, Canyon and Acadia. The market is now open for a transparent and available diesel maker who makes it clear, without gloating that they are compliant BTW. The "Whisper Diesel" should be plastered across every GM Diesel as if it were an Ecoboost or Hemi label

Actually its not priced higher than the defunct Eos. In fact, and I don't think anyone bothered to check, the PONTIAC G6 Convertible waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2007-2009 was coming in at GT 2dr Convertible $29,150/$32,300 )

Hands down the best car in its segment. I'd take it over anything Benz has to offer under the Sclass.

And U can bet that they are under promising by at least 1- 2/10ths. Meaning V8=3.8 to 3.9 seconds; V6= 5.0 to 4.9; 4cylin=5.3 to 5.2 seconds in magazine tests. This 4cylinder is faster than the last few V6 by a nice bit. GM is so scrutinized they would be fools to do anything else but. Have U seen the Volt range numbers coming in. Yup.. above what Chevy stated. I have a strong feeling that this car is a true look into what the the already magnificent, spectacular, almost perfect ATS-V would have.. could have.. been with the LT1 under the hood.

I kind of think GM should have abandoned the Malibu nameplate for this new midsizer. From 1997-2007, the Malibu was bad. It was ugly and it was cheap. The 2008 redesign breathed life back into the model and started winning people over (including myself), but the subsequent 2013 generation was a failure. You can't follow a comeback with an immediate failure. The damage is an unnecessary hurdle. Not true. The name isn't damaged one bit in the eyes of people who bought it... or people who didn't. The people who didn't buy just bought something else that may have fit their needs. The only people who see it as damaged are those who read magazine reviews and suddenly believed that they were in desperate need to carry around a few fat kids in the back. The numbers from what I read elsewhere were 160 hp at 5,600 rpm and 184 lbs-ft of torque at 2,000 – 4,000 rpm in a car with 300lbs gone. I think it will be fine

YUP.. Sales up 3% for the year overall and 7% Retail. Sounds like a dead brand to me.

This is Stacy's mom She said this time.. she wants to be "soft tapped" instead of HARD F#$%ed!!

My point was that there is a higher percentage of potential CUV buyers, thus if one's desire for buying a Cadillac is going to manifest upon going car shopping.. the highest growth market would certainly attract the most (40%) sales within the brand. The 10 Year rebuild hit a few hiccups. One was huge in fact. The other thing is the 2 RWD vehicles will be sharing a platform with a Chevy. The multi-CUV issue at Cadillac is evident in its sales drop. I admit that Cadillac is negligent in this. What more do U want. Cadillac realizes their issue.. they just have failed thus far to address this glaring deficiency. That is their true failure. The bolstering of the car line-up with class leading vehicles is not. It is a necessity no matter the automotive environment. Otherwise they are Range Rover, or GMC. As I pointed out in another thread last month.. the easy thing to do would be to rebrand platforms ala Toyota/Lexus (Prado/GX) using existing Global CUVs for the time being. The GMT31XX (Colorado/Trailblazer) for one.. Lambda ( Acadia) for another. Let's be CLEAR.. I would prefer to wait for dedicated platforms and new vehicles thereafter, but your constant beating on this drum never ever brings a solution from the Gods, so I pose the only immediate one. ATPs up. Seems like a celebratory thing in the luxury segment. It leads to better things like the brand cachet that U guys have been crying about since I joined in 2007. If Cadillac can get an ATP of $50K overall for the CTS, it bodes well for the CT6. If Cadillac can get get $52K ATP overall for the brand and the SRX is selling 40% of the volume... that would suggest a positive too.

Could it be.. in some weird and crazy act of fate that the fact that it is their sole CUV for sale have anything to do with it?