smk4565

2.5 liter four is what the Camry and Altima have standard. Those are $22k cars, a Cadillac should have a lot better than that. Cadillac isn't another GM brand on the level of Chevy and Buick, it should be well above them and above Acura, Volvo, and Lincoln. The bar has to be set high. Secondly, BMW can sell 3-series on reputation alone. Cadillac does not have that luxury (no pun intended) with the ATS. They have to convince buyers who by default go to the BMW dealer to give the ATS a look. The ATS needs strong attributes, not cheap engine, cheap price if they want it to stand up to the Germans.

Diesel for power and economy. If it was a diesel 4 then more economy. But a diesel v6 could be very nice for both.

Why not put eAssist on the V6? Porsche has start-stop and cylinder deactivation on their V8, other Euro luxury brands are doing similar, the S-class has a hybrid, the 3-series and 5-series will both have hybrid sixes. An Eco model doesn't have to be super slow. This is a Cadillac sports sedan, not a Chevy economy car. I would support a diesel, because that would provide the fuel economy and solid acceleration that a Cadillac should have, and they need it for Europe and probably China, or else the ATS is a North American car, not a global car. And their top 3 competitors are global cars with diesels.

Fair enough. What would you say, then, if that engine came standard with eAssist? (no one's really discussed it, but it is a possibility) Still no, make eAssist optional on the 2.0T and V6. Sports sedan: performance first, fuel economy second.

The BMW 128, though, still has a 230hp 6 cyl in the US...don't know if it will get the 4 cyl for 2013, but the ATS will compete with the 1 series also (sort of, since a 4dr 1 series isn't offered). But why does Cadillac even care about that car, it hardly sells. The new 1-series M is said to be a really fun sports car, but it is more of a true sports car like a 370Z (but more expensive). It is a niche product, not mainstream and the ATS should only be concerned with the 3-series, C-class, and A4. That is where the sales volume is. Cadillac also needs younger buyers in a bad way. 74% of CTS buyers are over age 65, and that is supposed to be the younger person's Cadillac. Time to scare off the old people with sheer performance.

As always the haters are jealous. I think it is a nice evolution of the current car, and it incorporates the SLK, SLS, and CLS styling cues into it. They need to make it more affordable if they want more sales volume. But the Lexus SC and Cadillac XLR are dead, the SL is pretty much stands alone in the roadster class. I'd take a Jaguar XK over the Mercedes any day of the week though. The Jaguar could have an engine from a canal boat and it wouldn't matter, on looks alone it wins.

The 328i until the 2012 model was a 230 hp six cylinder, the new turbo 4 has 240 hp (and 260 lb-ft @ 1250 rpm). And it is the cheapest BMW sedan that is why you see it the most. So if for 2013, the benchmark car has a 2.0 liter turbo with 260 lb-ft, why would Cadillac match up with an engine that belongs in a base model Malibu/Sonta/Camry. This is the sort of thinking that keeps Cadillac chasing the Germans, everything they build has a compromise in it.

I thought it had 260 lb-ft of torque?

If they don't care at all about performance then they aren't looking at, or shouldn't be buying, a Cadillac sports sedan. Why not then put a 2.0T in a Corvette because I am sure there are people that don't care about speed and like how the Corvette looks would buy it. Plus 270 hp in a 3300 lb car is good enough so maybe GM should do that too.

Bentley builds dinosaur cars because that is what most of their owners want. They don't want change, they a Bentley the way it has always been. That is why the Mulsanne and Brooklans type cars will go on for years. And then they have the Continental to try to bring in people under age 70 or that had never driven a Bentley before.

But why even bother? The A4, 328i, and C250 all have turbo 4's standard. The ATS should make the thro 4 standard. Who wants a Cadillac with a base model Malibu engine? Even if it has 210 hp who cares, it won't have the 252 lb-ft an A4 has. The 2.5 will be for the entry level model I assume so they can keep the starting price at 29,995. Again, it is a Cadillac, cheap isn't supposed to be what they are selling. 328i starts at $34,600, the C250 starts at $34,800. I'd say $34,700 would be a nice starting point for the 2.0T and dump the 2.5.

But why even bother? The A4, 328i, and C250 all have turbo 4's standard. The ATS should make the thro 4 standard. Who wants a Cadillac with a base model Malibu engine? Even if it has 210 hp who cares, it won't have the 252 lb-ft an A4 has.

100% agree and this is my favorite post of the year. The engine doesn't belong and l love the idea of upcharging for it.

BMW has 8-speed ZF, Mercedes though makes their own transmission and will have a 9-speed by they time the Dodge Dart does. But kudos to Dodge, it will be the Dart and the S-class ushering in the era of 9 forward gears. Although Hyundai has already begun working on a 10-speed transmission so the Book of Genesis may be rewritten to "in the beginning, there was a V8 and RWD and then God said "let their 10 forward gears" and there were 10 forward gears.

They don't, their brand is folding up and moving down market.

Looks like the current one. If they want to make a splash, make a 30 mpg version. But I expect the evolutionary changes and more of the same. Ford is the only one doing much innovation with pick-ups over the last few years and we'll see if Ford keeps to their promise of taking weight out of the F150.

While I do think Buick needs a small SUV to capture female buyers and those jettisoned by the departure of the Mercury Mariner, this is pretty boring to me. I suppose it will be more of a compact, like CR-V size compared to Equinox/Terrain size to avoid more GM overlap.

That will cannibalize XTS sales then. The product planners got it wrong as usual. Does GM really need an Impala/LaCrosse/XTS. Wasn't the reason of fewer brands to cut down the overlap and not compete with themselves. If the Impala is $28-35k as I always thought it should be, it would line up against the Avalon/Maxima/Taurus/etc. Then put a Buick in the $35-45k range to match up against Lincoln/Acura. Then give Cadillac a RWD car in the upper price range.

I don't like the idea of the 2.5 liter, that belongs in Chevy, not a Cadillac. If they want a 3rd engine, it should be a turbo diesel 4-cylinder because they need it in foreign markets anyway. I do like the 2.0T and V6 choices. Although I think the V6 needs more torque to set itself apart from the 2.0T and compete better with the 335i. Problem is Cadillac is stuck with a 6-speed transmission while Infiniti, Mercedes and BMW have 7 or 8. So will the fuel economy and acceleration numbers be able to match up what that class has to offer. This new 2.0T has less horsepower and torque than a Hyundai Sonata Turbo, so I hope the tail pipe emissions from the ATS can cure birth defects in baby seals.

Well the Aztec is correct. The Cimarron should be top 5 worst all time. But hard to compare to such legends as the Morris Marina and Reliant Robin. The Saturn Ion though bad, is not top 10 or even top 40 bad. The Ford death trap is worse than that.

The Cimarron returns!!! This will no doubt be a sad car, but Acura was never going to compete with the Germans, so at least they realized that and have aimed low. They are better off matching up against Buick, and to some extent Volvo, VW and Chrysler. Lincoln will probably be going this route soon too.

How has Bentley "always" been a "V8 brand?" Prior to the VW purchase, Bentley had used TWO V8 engines...a Rolls-Royce engine from 1959 and a BMW engine from the late 1990s. Prior to that, they had six-cylinder and inline eight-cylinder engines (up to 8 litres). Ok... for the last half-century they have been a V8 brand... Perhaps...but not necessarily by choice. Who chooses to use only ONE engine for nearly 40 years (and its still in production)? Buick 3800???

Has a lot of CLS in it, but it looks good.

Bentley always was a V8 brand, and 500 hp and 25 mpg is nice, not that Bentley owners care about fuel prices. Although the Continental/Flying Spur always seem sort of like "fake" Bentleys to me.

GM is about due for a new batch of 4-cylinders. That 2.4 liter has been around close to 10 years it seems, with just a few modest power bumps along the way.