Robert Hall

The rear with the two-toning and lower cladding reminds me of the old Mazda pickup from the '80s.

I've seen a few Fiestas on the road, and a few in parking lots..not many yet. Haven't seen any '12 Focuses out and about..didn't realize it was on sale yet.

There are 6 or 8 Fiestas in a row at the local Ford store...I think half are magenta, half are that bright green...2/3s hatches.

Wow...first time in a long time an updated GM (or most any) car lost weight..

Saw a strange truck thingy today...had a Chevy Topkick front end (windshield, nose) on a Chevy Step Van style body, with the sliding doors, etc. Never seen one like that. Saw a very clean dark gold w/ beige vinyl top early '70s Firebird Esprit 350. Saw a badly painted two tone (dark red/silver) '68 Caddy Sedan de Ville w/ 'DUB' badges but normal wheels and tires. Strange. Saw a well worn '10 Camaro SS--black, with a lot of scratches, dings, and dents down the left side..

How's the acceleration? from a stop? 30-70? up hills? handling? How does it hang when drifting through reducing radius corners? Brakes? Cupholders? Seat adjustability? Steering feel? That's one car I'd love to drive...would even look past the huge butt and tiny windows...the smooth, twisting backroads of Eastern Ohio (in Tuscarawas, Holmes, Coshocton, and Carroll Counties in particular) would be a perfect playground for it..

They could ride the bus...

No inspections in AZ...I've seen cars driving around w/ no hood, no front fenders, no bumper, w/ lights somehow attached sort of the radiator support..there is a 1st gen Taurus and an early 90s T-Bird I see once in a while like that.. I saw a Saturn coupe the other morning with the passenger side rear quarter and door cracked out, the plastic flapping in big chunks...

Well, if it were offered to retail, it would give GM a compact CUV..something to compete w/ the Patriot, Escape, CR-V, Rav-4, Tucson, Sportage, etc..

Remember, this is a world car...outside the US, it will no doubt have a manual, as buyers in other markets know how to drive manuals. Would probably be cost prohibitive to have two different parking brake configurations.

I think I saw some numbers a while back that stated that although the body is definitely longer, the wheelbase is exactly the same. Take from that what you will. That would be wierd, because the LaCrosse has shorter wheelbase than the CTS...and the LaCrosse is supposed to be the LWB Epsy Dos..

Part of the problem is VW is a middle brand in Europe like Opel, they have Seat and Skoda for the low end..they don't have that positioning in the US. Then they have the arrangement w/ Suzuki that seems to be going nowhere...

Sausage principle..small, medium, large with the same styling themes..works very well for other luxury makes...wonder when the RWD large model will appear (since the XTS is an anomaly)?

Is Tiger Blood from a Warlock an antidote to radiation poisoning?

Cool..let us know how it does on gas.

Have you ever been in an S-class cab? I've been in E-class cabs..never seen an S-class cab.

Well, since anyone who complains about the FWD shortcomings is ridiculed here, I'll leave that out. Also its dreadful FWD proportions. I'll also not start about how it confusing that Cadillac's largest car is not a flagship and seems more like a overpriced, rebadged Buick. The single biggest disappointment to me is that its too narrow. The second biggest disappointment is that it everything we've seen about the XTS's design screams "would have been sweet in 2004". The XTS is just a FWD generic, based on Epsilon II? Not remotely flagship material...but it will give Cadillac something to compete w/ the ES and MKS. Now that is a flagship. Serious, RWD, not some truck or FWD generic... The only position of leadership I care about is sales. Who cares who has the most HP and the most of anything if the car doesn't sell. But look at how the MKS, DTS, S80, Acura RL sell. Those are the $40k + front drive sedans, all sales dogs. Lucerne near dead, Park Ave, Aurora, and Bonneville are dead, front drive Chrysler LH platform is dead. Big front drivers, especially luxury ones are fading. There are too many good rear drivers that can mop the floor with FWD cars in handling and ride at the XTS's price point. The way I look at it is FWD is fine for cheap, common point A-to-point B transportation for the masses...not for luxury cars, not for performance cars...anything remotely serious or expensive needs to be RWD or AWD.

Meh..that's just a tarted up Tahoe/Suburban..just a truck, nothing significant. And anything 'respected' by a bunch of subliterate felons isn't necessarily a flagship.

Interesting, but the upgrade I'd like to see for a TC is the new 5.0 V8 w/ a 6 speed automatic and modern cabin tech (SYNC, etc).

Volvo does, but I think for a higher mileage. Mercedes does it too. I looked into this a while back for my sister's Mercedes...200k or 250k I think...get a grill badge. Alas, with her odometer stuck at 176k I have no idea how close it is to 200k now.

I thought the red car was a Camry Wagon.. Could be..thought it was a Corolla All-Trac wagon

Yet not as powerful as the 429 hp V8 Hyundai will be selling this summer. Or as powerful as the 400+ hp V8s Infiniti, BMW and Benz have. Different niche..those are serious RWD models, the XTS will compete w/ the ES and MKS.

Could be..the Integra and the 3rd gen Accord both had pop-up headlights..the grille chrome trim marks it as an Accord, I think.. The red Corolla wagon on the far right is late '80s also.

There's a white Celica or Supra from '82-85 in the middle of the pic, next to an Accord that could be 25 years old.