A Horse With No Name

I would agree completely! I am so sad BMW has lot it to the extent they have...but yeah...your E46 is a much better car than the current stuff. Let's hope Cadillac can market what its got...

And BTW, Cadillac.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muePkLkuUs4&list=PL6DFA7703BA281A4F&index=16&feature=plpp_video

Sports cars depreciate FAR less than luxury cars. By your logic, a Honda S2000 is also an awesome car, as it has held a huge portion of its residual value. All luxury cars pretty much depreciate like crazy until they wind up being driven by wanna be punks in bad neighborhoods wanting to look like someone. But yeah, S class....may have something to worry about.

Stopped by a Chevrolet dealer right before I looked at that Dart this afternoon....they had a red one on the sales floor. Awesome! Um...I think you'll be really impressed. The whole package comes together quite nicely.

Yes they are...it's a popular swap. And given how dismal the rest of the Scion lineup is, I would do the same with one. IQ, TC, XD, XB....read the critical reviews on these cars. They are not well designed, well thought out cars. In some ways I wish they had gone with Toyota GT-86...and dropped the rest of the Scion lineup. It would do a lot of good at moving Toyota "forward" in the direction it needs to go. Given that the Cube, the Rouge, the Juke, and a few other oddities have come from the imagination of Nissan....wouldn't it be better if they had no imagination at all?

Inflatable seat belts is a nice feature for a car in that class.

So I didn't drive it but checked out a Dodge dart at the local dodge dealer...had a few minutes to kill and thought the car looked interesting. Liked: Paint quality was good, probably better than average for a new car. Exterior has really sharp styling. Car is sized nicely, should be easy to park and is a nice balance with need for interior room. Really well packaged. Love the fact that it's available in a manual Reports of 40 mpg plus from reviewers and owners make the car maybe worth a look at some point. Disliked- Interior is nice, but poorly assembled. Car had been at the dealership for a week or so and several interior trim pieces were already starting to come loose. Dashboard has soft touch plastics but still feels really cheap. Car I looked at was almost 25K, or GTI or Verano money...and it ain't nowhere near as nice as a GTI or Verano. I could see it in the teens can't really see it in the mid twenties.... Looking forward to test driving this so I can give it a full report.

But in a real world sense I think GM is really building better cars now, and I think the cadillac really shows it. Look at how cheap Subaru paint is....the FRS I test drove was built in a Subaru factory. Awful paint quality...just awful. You and I (Z06 and me) both have owned BMW products, so I am not picking on BMW when I say this....but I was next to a 6 series convertible (Nearly new) at the gas station. Lots of orange peel in the paint, mismatched gaps in panels, etc. Build quality approached what my 66 Mustang left the factory with maybe....not quite. But you get the point. for a car in its price range...not good. One of the guys I race with is big into BMW's and runs a body shop, HE will tell you how much better GM's paint quality is than BMW's Or look at how much nicer the Cadillac interior is than the 300 interior. The 300 interior is really nice, the Cadillac interior is just better. Again, guys I race with, son owns a late model GTO, father owns an SRT-8 300 Chrysler, the GTO has much nicer interior quality, and it's held up better over the years also. And that isn't even one of the newer, even better GM interiors. I really think the best thing GM can do right now is get these cars in circulation. The real people paying for them on sixty month notes will be won over. Guys like SMK will drive their 97 Aurora's and bitch that the Caddy can't self levitate....

They should have started with a Mercury Cougar rather than a VW Bug, I think....

It will be interesting to see what people actually think about these cars after they own them for a couple of years. I think word on the street (I.e. knowing someone who owns a Cadillac and likes it) will ultimately win Cadillac a lot of sales.

Amen, brother....!

Chrysler, actually...allthough Pontiac or buick would do fine also...as would Merc....

The automotive press is really starting to stand up and take notice of the fact that American car makers ARE doing so much better. I also think Olds also really hit the nail on the head regarding the remaining bias against American car makers.... The new caddy can only help us, guys!

I think Honda and Toyota are getting further behind...the new Forte (current model) really kicks the butt of the current Civic...thsi new design should IMHO just push Honda further behind. Toyota isn't really even in the small car race in terms of desirability, IMHO. corolla is really bland and TC is one of the worst "sport compacts" available...

The iq is seriously lame... Scion has shot themselves in the foot with every car they have brought out since the original xB, which still isn't that fantastic of a car. Trust me, my wife wanted one so we bought it...she now drives a Cooper S and my son droves the crap box to his job. The fiat has good handling, not as good as the Chevy, but the interior ergonomics suck big-time, I think. The fact is the whole Scion deal is as lame as the Saturn deal. Was there really any need to make Toyota's that need to be called a Scion? The Fiat issue is the styling sells it but will the quality be there for more than 4 years. They are cheap when you really look at one and for what you pay I find it not up to standards. This is a huge problem with a lot of modern cars...Subaru and Toyota for example. While I love the FRS-BRZ, they have horrible quality paint. Easily the worst fit and finish of anything I've test driven this year. And while the Abarth Fiat makes all of the right noises, it still really suffers from being built on such an ungodly cheap platform.

I think I've got a race that weekend, I'll keep you posted!

About the Aztec it seems like eveyone of them ever sold is still on the road. There was a row of about 12 or 15 of them in an Insurance impound lot I pass regularly....so...maybe not all of them. Actually compared with the abominations from BMW, The Aztec ain't that bad....

I'd love to come visit some time. For some reason, there is very little Oldsmobile activity here in Central Ohio. I can find fans of everything else from vintage Ferrari's to modern Camaro's...but very few Oldsmobile people. Good to know your group exists, sir!

RE-BRZ.... Sigh...I am glad you and Caddycruiser like them. I fear a gang from C and G, with pitchforks and burning torches, descending to my driveway should I buy one.... http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5770193-Nissan-working-on-a-mini-Z-to-fight-FR-S-BRZ Linky is to a VW Vortex thread where there is a pic of the Nissan abomination....damn is it ugly...! Looks like a Mitsu final gen Eclipse beaten with an ugly stick....ughhh.....

WHY WHY WHY, THat is a freakin shame! There is a shop here in columbuis that continually has 10-15 older GM cars outside, they build tons of Donked vehicles. Saw a Olds cutty, 1969, with W-31 decals on the front fenders...IIRC W31 was a rare package...it had been donked....and it looked like they started with a high dollar nut and bolt restored car... Second W31 I've seen donked. I agree...but love the BRZ. That may well be my next ride, if I don't go for a Verano or a focus ST.

They did a really nice job re-skinning the civic....and I agree with you, they are an attractive car! I love those! Glad your involved with a car club, I belong to several...lots of fun! Is your local Pittsburgh group very active?

Your just as much of an automotive pervert as I am... I would love to have that thing in my garage also. It's cool (and unusual) to find a place like C and G when we can share automotive perversity... I saw a really cool early 50s caddy limo on the road the other day...looked like a decently preserved survivor. Oh...and a 59 Pontiac convertible, white with a white top, heading Eastboubnd on I-70 when I was driving to Dayton to race with the Corvette Club yesterday....thought of you. Also...a Hudson Hornet and a 49-50 Merc convertible, both heading West when I was heading East back to Columbus.

Not sure, but around here GM takes excellent care of their High Performance customers. When we were looking for our last car, we also checked outthe Camaro. Special salesperson and special department at my local chevy dealer just for Camaro-Corvette Sales....dedicated sales staff...specially trained mechanics. One of the guys in My mee-otter group that races a Mazda Speed Miata is a specially trained Corvette mechanic. Around here, this is something GM is doing very, very well...!

Granted it's shot from a BMW, but it's the most recent Columbus SCCA event...fun also! ...and oh yeah...I used to have an early Bronco like the orange one in the movie...wish I still had that... ...and that Sand rail looks wicked fun also...!