Drew Dowdell

Happy Birthin day!

Because so many people include AUDI when cross-shopping such luxury sedan "driver's cars" as the BMW 3er, 5er or 7er or the M-B C-Class, E-Class or S-Class. I give up. Enjoy your XTS kool aid. My XTS kool aid is that I think it won't sell AND neither will the ATS nor CTS? What I'm saying is that even a Lacrosse can be at least 98% as athletic as a base A6. I'm thinking a Cadillac with Magnaride can do better. You don't seem to get that I don't think Cadillac should bother with the Europeans at all. It is a waste of money. Cadillac should concentrate on emerging markets where they don't think they invented the automobile and have never been surpassed since. No, I don't get that at all from your previous posts, since you've been doggedly responding to me throughout 5 pages of this thread although MY argument has always been that the time isn't right and it's a bad idea. So if we're in agreement, and I'm somehow missing something, why 5 pages of back-and-forth and trying to legitimize the XTS' existence by bringing up Citroen and AUDI comparisons? Citroen isn't for sale on these shores, so I cannot imagine what other point you'd be trying to make with your posts. You don't think me saying Cadillac could fuel it with bratwurst and the Germans still won't buy it wasn't clear enough? The drive wheels of the XTS ... or CTS... or ATS... matter little in how well those vehicles will do in the EU. The biggest hindrance to sales is the country of origin of the badge. That is born out by the fact that the FWD Citroen and A6 still sell over there for a lot more money than the RWD CTS.

Don't discount the new A6 just because it comes standard with FWD. It has an aluminum intensive body, longitudinally mounted engine, and 55/45% weight distribution -- a very different animal from Epsilon II. And if the XTS were theoretically to come with a small diesel, it'd share the unit from the 9-5, which just isn't as good as the "world-class" (sorry) A6's. It's less powerful, slower, emits more, and consumes more. Well that's more a function of the diesel engine than the rest of the car. That diesel in the Audi would produce the same results. I discount the base Audi A6 because I've driven it for a week around Germany. It was not something to write home about.... as you see, I didn't right a review. The 3-series is a substantially better car driving wise. Yet the A6 sells.

Because so many people include AUDI when cross-shopping such luxury sedan "driver's cars" as the BMW 3er, 5er or 7er or the M-B C-Class, E-Class or S-Class. I give up. Enjoy your XTS kool aid. My XTS kool aid is that I think it won't sell AND neither will the ATS nor CTS? What I'm saying is that even a Lacrosse can be at least 98% as athletic as a base A6. I'm thinking a Cadillac with Magnaride can do better. You don't seem to get that I don't think Cadillac should bother with the Europeans at all. It is a waste of money. Cadillac should concentrate on emerging markets where they don't think they invented the automobile and have never been surpassed since.

I wouldn't call it on par with the coupe, but it's better than other convertibles. See for yourself... I don't have the tonneau cover hiding the folding top in any of the pictures. It actually looks very clean.

So an XTS with an efficient and clean diesel sold in EU would be right up your alley then? Audi is already selling a ton of FWD sedans in the EU now. The XTS diesel with oh, I dunno X-Wheel Drive available would fit right in to what Europeans expect.

I think that it's a stunning vehicle for the price... and a few price brackets above it as well.

Final assembly will always be limited in it's geo-diversity, but component production doesn't need to be. And there is a difference between a strike and a natural disaster. GM could build a whole shipload of Regals in China if the UAW strikes, but they couldn't get them to market because the Teamsters would likely refuse to carry them. (I believe a similar scenario has happened before)

You realize what you're advocating is a decontenting of the Cadillac vehicles?

Yes, rearward visibility is worse than the coupe. GM would do well to offer lane change warning/blind spot warning in this version of the car. I actually had difficulty pulling out into traffic at one intersection today because it's at an odd angle. I experienced no such problems with the CTS-V Coupe. Trunk space is minimal either way..... but it's microscopic with the top down. Noise... well it's no Buick Lacrosse inside. It's mostly muted, but there were two occasions where a train came by and I thought one of the rear windows was down.

I can imagine it being able to lock if the power is removed while it is engaged, but not having a parking brake that will engage without a power source would seem to me to run afoul of some state laws. And how would it be disengaged if power is not present? A parking brake should be a purely mechanical device, functional whether the engine is running or not. Making it electronic seems pointless..are other automakers doing such nonsense also? What's wrong w/ a foot- or hand- operated parking/emergency brake? Those have worked well for decades... AFAIK, Ford started the trend with the Lincoln LS in 2001, but recently, GM has put it into more widespread use.

I'm arguing that Geo-Diverse Production is the only way to mitigate against natural disaster and has nothing to do with globalism. I'm not even sure what you're arguing with me about. They are two different concepts that are completely independent of each other. If anything, I'm defending globalism in this case by not allowing it to be blamed for production outages when it is in fact the lack of geo-diverse that is at fault.

I assume it still has a normal parking brake pedal, then. All the electric is doing is automating a manual device. I ask, as I'm wondering how a completely electric parking brake would work... the fail-safe, essentially... you don't want the car rolling down a hill if the battery is disconnected. Nope. No pedal.

If the Volt transmission was manufactured in New Orleans in 2005, there would be a problem as well. What's your point? My point is that the system is highly distributed so a disaster in one locale only slightly affects global supply, not a catastrophic loss. Which is actually proving to be false. Mazda just halted new vehicle orders from dealers. Lines all over the world are shutting down. Last I checked there are plenty of other manufacturers you can choose from. Which has NOTHING to do with globalism and everything to do with geo-diverse production. As you apparently missed in my post, it is entirely possible to be geographically diverse WITHOUT globalism.

The Shadow wouldn't pass inspection here in PA

03/25/2011 - TORRANCE, Calif. Honda will voluntarily recall 2,800 model-year 2011 Odyssey vehicles in the U.S. to replace the side window glass in one or both of the front doors. Honda is taking this step because there is a potential for one or both windows to become detached from the window regulator, causing the window to become inoperative and preventing it from being rolled up or down. In the worst case, the window may bind and shatter onto the occupants. No crashes or injuries have been reported related to this defect. Honda is announcing this recall to encourage all owners of affected vehicles to take their vehicles to an authorized dealer as soon as they receive notification of this recall from Honda. Notification to customers will begin in mid-April 2011. When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers. To this end, in addition to contacting customers by mail, in mid-April, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles require repair by going on-line to www.recalls.honda.com or by calling (800) 999-1009, and selecting option 4.

Word on the street is the CTS Coupe has made it for at least another generation. I believe the big uptick in CTS sales recently is coming mostly from the addition of the coupe.

If the Volt transmission was manufactured in New Orleans in 2005, there would be a problem as well. What's your point? My point is that the system is highly distributed so a disaster in one locale only slightly affects global supply, not a catastrophic loss. Which is actually proving to be false. Mazda just halted new vehicle orders from dealers. Lines all over the world are shutting down. There are two issues at hand: Globalism - which does not specifically address disaster recovery though it can if set up right. and Geo-Diverse Production - which is set up specifically to mitigate the effects of something like the Japan earthquakes. You can have globalism without geo-diversity, as is being proven with the Colorado and Volt You have have geo-diversity without globalism - an example would be GM plants of yore where multiple plants produced multiple versions of the same car. They are two very different issues.

Two Buick drivers with an inflated sense of their vehicles' abilities. First, a Buick Regal LS with all of the Regal scripts removed (but the LS badge remains), and "Police Interceptor" badges from the Crown Vic glued in place Second, a Buick Roadmaster Estatewagon with a power bulge hood not unlike this: However, it was clearly a '92 and therefore not even LT-1 powered from the factory. There were no other outwards indicators of performance modifications, it even had the original wire spokes. It could have something under the hood... but I doubt it. The new hood was painted properly and done well though.

What CSpec is about to tell you is that globalization invites geographic diversity to production, and while that CAN be true in his 7th grade economics textbook, in the real world it is less so. Even a part that shares a vast commonality among models like... say.. an electronically controlled gas pedal is still only manufactured in a few places. In that particular example, I believe there was production in North America and production in Japan, but when NA production was found to be faulty, Japanese production had trouble making up the difference which is why so many models went into "Sales Hold". Something so model specific and specialized as the Volt transmission has little chance of being produced with geo-diversity.

This Just In: 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Well the monster CTS-V Coupe went back to Cadillac. This week we are testing a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible. It's going to be in the high 30s this week in Pittsburgh, so bring your sweater...and gloves... and earmuffs. Interactive Review 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible

Interactive Review: 2011 Chevrolet Camaro LT Convertible RS It's still a bit cold to take our top off, but joining us this week is a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible LT RS. Being a V6, it's a step down in power from last week's Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, but not many 4-seat cars below the CTS's price range can match it's power output anyway. Two of my first impressions are these: 1. You can feel the weight gain over the standard coupe. 2. This car needs a reverse parking camera more than the CTS Coupe does mostly due to the undersized mirrors that are a styling necessity on this car. Media Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible