Z-06

 

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Good to know your initial thoughts. Have happy and safe miles on the vehicle and welcome back to GM truck family.

If you give him credit for ATS, CTS, even CT-6, which have been developed or in development before his arrival at GM, then you should give him credit for the garbage of alpha numeric and move to NY. Then again you defended those moves saying it was before his time at GM.

First, the guy has displayed incompetence in two previous brands he led and what is different with his helm at GM? Nothing until he proves it otherwise. I can forgive him for his stint at Infiniti as he was dealing with a megalomaniac narcissist as his boss so his wings were pretty much clipped to be a pet African grey. Ewe Effinghaus, based on his interviews, gives perceptions of a loose canon 6-foot barometer with a vacuum on top. Not a good perception for a brand with two stooges running the show, let us add another one and the comedy series would be complete.

Second, and I am not being sarcastic, what real technology, other than TTV6 and initial unveiling of Alpha platform, does Cadillac currently have that needs to trickle down to lower brands? You can argue about the CT-6's revolutionary metallurgy, but we are yet to see it. Honestly, as the cars in general become content oriented, the luxury brands are going to be less exclusive for content other than for prestige and perception. A loaded Mazda 3 at $25K has same contents like that of a BMW 335 at $50k. That is one of the reasons why VWdi, GMW and Chevroletdes Benz are going low down to seek volume while gaining economy of scales. The only thing separating them from pedestrian brands is high performance, mega horsepower vehicles, sold in limited quantities. Cadillac has to accept the fact that it will possibly be a glorified Chevrolet and target to achieve the prestige and perception without chasing volume. It needs high performance vehicles. Unfortunately, other GM brands have history and heritage of producing high performance vehicles also. Will that mean the two stooges with $10B in hand will force GM to suppress the other brands to promote Cadillac?

Third, Cadillac was on its upward move before those two joined. These clowns, if they stay longer, will be taking all that credit without doing ANYTHING other than taking the HQ to NY, destroying the brand's heritage and adding alpha numeric garbage. I guess America's blind love for foreigners indeed doesn't stop. And hey, I am a f'er also! I'll take that amore with tin foil hat.

 

 

Perhaps it is meant to be a GM performance parts package to encourage the purchase of the SS vehicles that remain un-sold.

 

GM never has intended to sell the car in quantities, all the magazines have confirmed it. It wants to give the perception that "we tried" but customers ran away from it.

 

 

Therein lies the problem: GM has never marketed the SS at all.  Few people know about it, so the SS does not sell at all.  This is quite sad, especially given that gas is south of $2.50/gallon these days.  If GM would market the SS at least as hard as the new Colorado, they might actually sell some SS models.

 

There is an esteemed member here who claims that GM build it but people aren't buying it. May be the GM middle manager whose d(b)ong he was smoking got him high on that thought.

Well such was the case and GM was really trying the car with 6-speed would have been on NAIAS floor. But there were 2 Cruzes and Impalas but no SS. NONE! That doesn't give perception of giving people what they want, does it?

The car is reincarnation of E39 M5 and a step forward of the G8. It deserves a good send off and letting people know its talents. It is a rare gem in GM's vanilla.

Perhaps it is meant to be a GM performance parts package to encourage the purchase of the SS vehicles that remain un-sold.

GM never has intended to sell the car in quantities, all the magazines have confirmed it. It wants to give the perception that "we tried" but customers ran away from it.

I would rather see LT1 and Tremec TR-6070. Give the zeta the last hurrah it deserves.

This car is seriously on my short list of next vehicle purchase and those two would make it a no brainer.

I like the design, pretty refreshing. Chances of it getting in US, even if it's built, are remote.

Yes, definitely a hint of more curvy Cadillac wagon.

I knew he was considering Impala and Sierra also, that is why I couldn't narrow the three. But given he is pro-Buick and GMC and estrogen pulling some strings, I should have known.

What I liked about the previous Phaeton was the principal behind its build. Pieche wanted the best without compromise to shove in face of BMW and MB and even Audi. The car did grueling testing in extreme weathers at high speeds to check reliability. Too bad badge snobs beat it down.

I wouldn't mind owning one of the W12s sometime as you can find a good piece for $~15k. To me it was better than the S Class then, which was full of compromises.

 

S-Class is OVER RATED! Being in a few I have yet to see why they charge so much as it does not register with me but then I guess not being part of the billionaire class I cannot fathom the badge snob of it either.

S-class has been the best car in the world for the past 30 years.  I don't think the best in the world can be overrated.  Few cars have had that long a run at the top of their class, 3-series is probably the only other one.  The Phaeton can't even compete with the A8, there is no point in VW making it.  They should put those resources into the Jetta and Passat and get them more competitive.

 

Says who and on what metrics?

Looks like tweaks that could have been done 2-3 years ago, with a new model arriving at dealers this year.

This is the re-visitation of typical complacency mentality of GM of the past. It is working, it is selling - let us churn some more oil from it by giving some more band aids. If Drew is correct, it will be an 8-9 year old design by the time it has a full redesign.

I am not a fan of these minor tweaks both physically and principally.

Congrats Bill!  You should called out sick today (or still do it Friday) to take delivery earlier

 

Can't wait to see pictures and get your opinion of the new truck.  I'll be doing some shopping myself come Monday (God willing!), but have the list down to three different vehicles after attending the 2015 Philly Auto Show last weekend with the wife.

Which are?

Or even than the second gen, which in 2009 first started around ~$58K before it bowed out at ~$63K.

Frankly I am not surprised, I was expecting it to be "starting under" $60K at $59,999 for both. This is a little north of that.

Lipstick

Hey Blu, isn't Valentine's day supposed to be for something in the trunk than truck?

Congratulations, I wish you happy miles and years (scratch that days) with your new vehicle.

Actually you have a more powerful version of the car - VXR8 GTS, with LSA motor in it making 576 bhp and 545 lb-ft of torque.

Half and half freshly brewed southern tea. Ocassional Chinese tea.

Coffee? May be once in a year - cold shake. I can work without needing caffeine stimulation.

The new Cadillac looks great from the front with that wide grid and that bonnet, the back looks great but is not very attrective, but from the side it is just awful, mainly because it looks like a regular sedan.That big engine borrowed from the new Corvette Z06 should provide enough power for this heavy car.

What heavy car? It is lighter than M5, E63, RS6, and XFR-S, which it competes with.

I have the screen that AAS mentions as well.

If I get involved an accident with a self-driving car, which was at fault, who should I sue?

Who should buy the insurance, the user or the maker?

What happens when the cars get hacked by nefarious personnel? Will there be a firewall and Norton anti-virus to prevent it? Again, whose liability is it?

Who is in charge and owner of the communication of the car?

Can robot cars be taught to make empathetic, moral decisions when an accident is imminent and unavoidable? Like for example, should I swerve into a ditch 25 feet below to save a deer, or should I run over a deer? If there is a pregnant passenger in my car, should the vehicle swerve to keep her safe, or should it just find the safest damage to itself?

Let me repeat, development of autonomous vehicles is the game started by software manufacturers, and traditional automakers are jumping in to save their market shares. Unfortunately, everything is governed by law, and if law is 20-30 years behind in this development, we will be screwed as a society. Rather than creating order, SD cars will cause chaos. SD cars do exist, they are public transportation, we need a stronger infrastructure for them to give people options for not driving.

There's another thread discussing this issue. Let us keep it at that.

And it would increase Audi's annual worldwide sales by another 235 units.

Operating at a profit for a public transportation system is a moot point unless the expenses are a ridiculous drain on the tax base. Sidewalks don't make a profit. Roads don't make a profit. Traffic signals don't make a profit, etc.

Yet, public transportation systems have a net benefit to the economy of dense cities. Without subway systems the roads would be so congested that there would be an economic drain caused by the inefficient flow of workers and consumers.

 

 

 

Why? If you're driving some s****y car like the vast majority of people do it's not like driving is bringing you some sort of joy. It's not a particularly pleasant activity for the most majority of time and I think if they (SD cars) were available and people wouldn't be affraid of the idea of letting the car drive itself they would soon become the majority.

Riding in a SD car would be no different to taking a taxi.

If you're driving an old beat up Corolla, you probably can't afford a self driving car anyway.

 

Most new cars don't exactly provide some sort of thrills to their drivers while they're doing their regular commute either. I'm also not sure they'd be that expensive either afther people start buying them in large numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

Riding in a SD car would be no different to taking a taxi.

 

 

Then why do you need a Self Driving car?

 

For the same reason I need a non self driving car.... to always have it my disposal and to be able to hop in it whenever I want to go to somehwere.

 

Well taxis, public transportation will be at your disposal at all the time, which will make you hop, skip and jump in them and go to do anything while multitasking as a passenger. Why is there a NEED for a SD car, if you need to be chauffeured around?

 

Driverless cars wouldn't even be on the radar if we had a decent public transportation system..  People who don't want to drive shouldn't be behind the wheel in the first place.

 

Riding in a SD car would be no different to taking a taxi.

 

Then why do you need a Self Driving car?