Robert Hall

Happy Birthday, guys!

I'd go w/ the Cherokee or Bronco..partial to them (though the one I had was the little Bronco II). I learned to drive in a '79 Dodge Power Wagon w/ the 318/automatic...it was a turd.

I thought the Volt was rated at 40 or so for pure electric.

Have 3 other terriers...a Silky, a Westie, and a Yorkie..

Cool..

Enjoying some blues in 1200 watts of surround sound this afternoon, along w/ Jamesons to comfort my mourning.... listening to Joe Bonamassa's fantasic 'Sloe Gin' and 'Driving Towards the Daylight' albums... http://youtu.be/46UFXQVSnKs

We had to euthanize our 14 yr old Australian Terrier, Nauti (aka Bitey Beast) this morning after a long battle w/ cancer. I really bonded w/ this feisty little dog and will miss her deeply. Poured a stiff glass of Jameson to have a toast to her.

So basically (to steal a line from The Dark Knight), the XTS isn't the flagship they deserved, but the flagship they needed right now. Yeah...at some point, though, GM can't keep using bankruptcy as an excuse..they have to strive for world-class excellence for Cadillac or else be content to compete w/ Lincoln.

True, maybe above in terms of the brand heirachy...i.e. ATS->CTS->XTS. The way the STS and DTS were above the CTS. I agree, though, with the narrowness, short wheelbase, and inferior platform, it's definitely more parallel and in it's own track, like the ES is separate from the IS->GS->LS heirarchy.

The thing that gets me is that the XTS has a wheelbase almost 2 inches shorter than the CTS and is barely 0.4 inches wider. That is so wrong...a shortcoming of using the weak FWD Epsilon II platform, I guess..being above the CTS, it should have a considerably longer wheelbase and be several inches wider..the old DTS was better in that respect.

Greens seem to be off the plate for the Camaro currently..would love to see some again.

Again, that is just ignorance on the part of consumers. The blind acceptance of transverse engine FWD mediocrity is part of the dumbing down of society.

I like that Blue Ray. There is/was a new Camaro color I've only seen once--kind of a teal (more blue than green) that I really liked...saw one in that color in a well-lit parking lot at night last winter...Edit: I think the color I'm thinking of is 2010 Aqua Blue Metallic.

I saw Veranos for the 1st time yesterday..drove by the Buick/Cadillac/GMC store and there were two on the lot (white, silver) and one pulling out on the street (black)..looked pretty good at a quick glance...

That's just ignorance.

Not quite..the XTS wheelbase is 0.6 longer than the ES, 1.4 inches shorter than the E class. Wrong. The G8 and 7 series weren't comparable because BMW and Pontiac weren't comparable. BMW and Cadillac are comparable brands, just as Lexus and Cadillac are comparable brands (both premium brands). But the XTS doesn't compare to anything at BMW or Mercedes because of the mainstream FWD platform. The Lincoln MKS, ES, maybe Volvo S80 and Acura RL are the competitors in it's niche. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing them in person. Just got a postcard from the local Caddy store introducing the XTS (shown in black on black).

No...but the ES and XTS are more similar than different. The ES is the only Lexus the XTS is comparable to, since the GS and LS are RWD.

Same formula, though...FWD V6 on a platform shared w/ mainstream models..both have about the same wheelbase, the XTS has longer overhangs.

Happy Birthday, guys..(and Happy Birthday to me..

That is odd they would mention the E-class...the XTS' main competition is the ES and MKS, I would think.

Been over 100 near-continously here for 6-8 weeks... first 100 was over 2 months ago (4/21)..but AZ is in it's own little strange climate. I'm looking forward to October when the highs are back in the 90s.

Saw a sharp dark red G8 GT today.. The Focus SVT reminded me of a buddy in Denver..about 10 years ago, he had an older Grand Cherokee, a '99 Mustang GT convertible, and a bright red Focus SVT. After getting married and having kids, his wife domesticated him and he now has a Prius and Sienna..

Well, some dirty bits like mufflers probably carry over between generations..and remember, these are photos of prototypes..

Cool...

With traction and stability control my SS is like a tank and damn near boring to drive. Seldom is there a momnet of panic even if you try. I have gotten it to 4 wheel drive over the computer but it take a lot of trying. I do miss my Sonoma 2WD. For years I was a drifter before it was popular. Often I looked like Kinser coming off turn 4 at Eldora. I has a Cobalt with no aids and got my son in it. We hit a parking lot and I did a couple spins with the e brake. It is sad he never really knew a car could do that as he was too young to remember the Sonoma. We live in a world where kids will fail to learn car control buy doing donuts in a parking lot like many of us did. I do agree most drivers today have no snow driving skills and sadly kids do not think to take a car, truck or suv to a parking lot and see just what it will do. I do agree with you on the quality of tires and that does make a huge difference in being able to get around in snow. Sadly, to many idiots with no driving skills live in Seattle and with having been hit twice by Idiots, I now use AWD to make sure during Fall, Winter and early spring I can get around without anyone hitting me. It was the same way in Colorado..too many drivers that had no clue how to drive on snow, slush, etc... I like to think that spending my formative driving years (6 winters) slogging around NE Ohio in the winter w/ RWD and 4 snow tires helped me build mad phat winter driving skillz..