Drew Dowdell

Can you buy a Captiva retail now?

agreed. it's ok to have opinions, just be able to back them up.

I wonder if part of it is improved feel of manual transmissions in smaller cars. I used to hate driving Civic or Acura 4-cylinders with manual transmissions, but the Cruze and Sonic 6-speeds are about the nicest to drive manuals I've ever been behind.

I think it is fine to editorialize, just have the facts to back up your opinions.

Finding a dealer to service my car is getting hard these days. I always let my Cadillac dealer service my CTS. Oil changes weren't very expensive and they even would pick the car up from my office for me. The oil life monitor was on a 10k schedule it seemed, so $65 once every 12 months for a full synth oil change wasn't unreasonable.

Well....at least it's a manual?

There are more in the class than that.

The 318 hatch is a decent little runabout as long as you're not expecting to win any races. Better than driving a Civic...

The mid range trim BMW and Mercs seem to be the most common. Then again, a lot of 3-series are sold with vinyl seats.

All dealers are like that in pricing. I never had any out of warranty work done there, so I don't know if their service prices are high or not. I went to that place because I was treated like crap at the fancy new Cadillac store in Monroeville at the time. To be fair, you also have an oddball car to work on.

SMK, you've driven the 2.5 liter ATS? Can you share your impressions of it? The numbers are class competitive with the other base engines out there, so I'm curious what the issue is.

If Fiat is smart, they'll bring the diesel 500 over. That said, why a mini-Opel if Chevrolet is here in the EU to sell to the low end with the Spark?

All of these were spotted on the streets of Cologne just today (Saturday) First up, an Opel Kapitan being used as a wedding car. Then we spotted this Citroen SM in the city center. Those of you who haven't seen him before, can see my Albert waiting patiently in the background of one of the pictures for his car-freak partner to finish taking pics. And then this 1938 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe later on in city center: Also spotted but not photographed was an Audi R8, Nissan Skyline (RHD)

+1 but I will add that there are lots of Cadillac dealerships still out there that need to be bulldozed and rebuilt to today's standards rather than being stuck in 1978 like so many are. The dealer SMK and I both have dealt with has superb service, but highly dated dealership.

Base price, I think you are entirely correct.

Because Cadillac doesn't fleet whore itself. Because Cadillac has no dealer network in Europe. Cadillac dealers here are holes in the wall when they do exist.

And yet, the CTS still has a plasticy interior, and Cadillac can't manage to get any sales in Europe. And Cadillac is still drifing around 5th place in sales in their home market. If Mercedes is so flawed, it should be easy for Cadillac pass them by and make a $100k car that sells 75,000 units globally per year, and get 500k sales out of the CTS and ATS. The C-class interior is just as plasticy. Cadillac will only get 500k in sales from the CTS if they turn into Mercedes McFleetwhore and flood the taxicab market in Europe with them. C-class and E-class taxis here are as common as Crown Vics in the states. If that is what you want of Cadillac, you are insane.

The problem with the Lexus hybrid only models is that they weren't proper Lexuses in looks or materials. Even the MKZ Hybrid has a much richer feeling interior to it and is just as "hybrid" as the CT. If Cadillac puts an XTS level interior in there, it will be fine.

First gen Mustang convertible running around Cologne today.

I looked at one of these (or it's successor) a while back. I liked it but I felt it was way too heavy... like they used the Accord platform to build it on. I need something fairly lightweight so I can throw it in and out the back of the CR-V quick and easy.

He's leaving already?

There are four kinds of Mercedes here in Europe. 1. Taxis 2. Sprinter work vans and variants 3. Former taxis now privately owned and beat to hell 4. The few and far between non-E-Class, non-C-Class cars that are privately owned. The vast majority of Benzes, probably over 90%, both here in Cologne and in Paris fall into the first 3 categories. and as I thought about it more, there is no way to discern those Benzes in group 4 that are company cars bought for employees and Benzes that were sold retail to someone who really wanted a Benz... other than the fact that company cars rarely come in a color other than black, silver, or beige. Very few Benzes here are ANY color other than black, silver, or beige.

There are four kinds of Mercedes here in Europe. 1. Taxis 2. Sprinter work vans and variants 3. Former taxis now privately owned and beat to hell 4. The few and far between non-E-Class, non-C-Class cars that are privately owned. The vast majority of Benzes, probably over 90%, both here in Cologne and in Paris fall into the first 3 categories.

Being on the "10 best" list of import humping magazines like Honda & Driver or BMW Trend tells me nothing of how good the car really is. Honda & Driver had their 3-Series test car have catastrophic brake system failure to the point of nearly wrecking and gave it first place while complaining about the thickness of the steering wheel on the CTS.

that sounds more like a good time than a disaster....