Drew Dowdell

SWEET! and I can totally get behind the "buy an Oldsmobile" sentiment.

Symptom of the angle of my driveway

As I said... back to Cadillac failing in Europe.

very nice write up

No, GM is a fool for producing it as a Cadillac XTS and not a Buick Electra. K. Cadillac will just sell CTSes and SRXes for the next 3 years while it spends time granting your wish.... seeing as the STS and DTS go out of production like.... now.

Fine DF, how about from me seeing as I have a 2011 Camaro in my driveway (that I'm not all that thrilled with overall) and I've been in every car listed in this thread so far. The Camaro does beat the Challanger in material quality for now. As Potluck said, that will probably change once the Challenger gets refreshed if the Charger and 300 are any indication. The Camaro isn't a very high hurdle for Dodge to beat, but they aren't there... yet.

What about a Jbody owner interested in the door handles not falling off after 5 years? Americans have proven time and again they'll drive.... they'll even wait in line... for small cars that aren't afterthoughts by the manufacturer. 3-series, Corolla (up until recently, but people are still buying them anyway), PT Cruiser, New Beatle, the old Jetta, the Focus when it first came out, the Mazda 3.... the list goes on.

There are two sides the the global warming argument: Those from scientists and those from scientists funded by Exxon. That said, back to Cadillac going for strike three in Europe.

The wagon is coming.

Simply too much fun.

The Kizashi has a chance especially in the northeast. The ability to flip AWD on and off as needed is compelling. Only Subaru offers AWD in this size car for that price. If Suzuki offers that "AWD on demand" feature across their lineup, that could really be their "thing" that sets them apart. I pretty much agree on Mitsubishi. They really don't have much of a chance now. They'll survive on crossovers a couple more years, give another try at a mid-sized sport sedan, fail, and throw in the towel.

Which is why every car purchase needs to suit the individual buyer. See the XTS thread.... I'd love an XTS, but apparently I'm a fool for being interested in buying one because I'd never get it around the Nürburgring faster than an M5.

I would say a lot more people today are keeping their cars longer. A lot of people only drive 10,000 to 12,000 miles a year. On the CR-V, Albert typically does around 11,000 a year. He's put 25,000 miles on it in the 3.5 years we've been together.

+1

If I were to buy it, I'd keep it as stock as possible (just my thing) but it is sweet looking. No, we're not going to replace the CR-V. It's 6 months from being paid off, so we're just going to keep it until the wheels fall off now and maybe next year buy something else for Albert to drive daily.

Pontiac has never really been my thing, but it's right around this year where they really lose me and I forget about them until about 1992.

I think he is contrasting that with something like, the Camaro which gets you the same dash and interior bits regardless if you bought the $24k LS or the $39k SS Convertible.

Unlikely since so few people have actually met one. I really liked the Kazashi when I checked it out on the NY Auto show floor, but I've yet to drive one. I should send a note to Suzuki to see if I can get a press car.

1.5 trillion to "Liberate Afghanistan Iraq Libya who's next?"

This is a thread where I'll be happy to be wrong, however, I still think Cadillac isn't going to make headway into Europe any time soon..... and I don't think the XTS will have anything to do with it. Neither the CTS nor ATS will sell either.

Think so? How well does Dodge, Chrysler or Chevrolet do there? The Opel Antara wasn't a huge smash it in the EU, but compared to the Chevrolet Captiva, it might as well be a Toyota Camry. The only thing Dodge managed to sell was Caravans. Fiat has the right idea to rebadge Chryslers as Lancias. Edit: As I mentioned before, Ford is the exception to that rule because they've had a strong R&D and production presence in the EU for many decades. Their Fords are (rightfully so IMO) considered European cars because they have been design by and for Europeans. Opel, despite GM ownership since WWII, has that same deference directed towards it.

headroom actually feels slightly better in the convertible

that too.

Folding operation is superb, I'm going to try and get a video of it. Material quality on both sides of the seems sturdy.

1. More in the straight line. I haven't clocked 0-60, but I wouldn't be surprised if other outlets refer to it as "leisurely" 2. The build quality, fit and finish is really tight on this one (as was the last), but at $36,000 no automatic climate control? no full color DIC? the speedometer is still hard to read, thank god for the HUD.