Drew Dowdell
Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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Yes... the handling was well regarded and on par with the Germans (because it was German). The 3.0 was indeed weak, but DOHC humpers like @smk4565 had to have DOHC. The main reason the 3800 wasn't used was that there was no 3800 production in Europe and these were built in Germany for US consumption. Before we ever got the Catera, Opel made a crazy for 1991 horsepower levels 372 HP / 411 lb-ft of torque 3.6 liter V6 Omega tuned by Lotus.
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But you couldn't get to the next stoplight in 4.2 seconds dontchaknow....
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I'm not even that big a fan of the Audi... but I'd go with the Audi by a country mile. My biggest hangup is the interior of the Dodge. I have in the past tried really hard to like the Magnum SRT, but I just Could. Not. Do. that interior. Put a 2015 Charger interior in a Magnum and I might have been convinced.
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Cadillac also sold the Catera in the US. Again, reliability issues owing to the US getting the worst engine option in the GM lineup at the time (See what happens when you insist on DOHC instead of what actually performs well @smk4565?), it was actually a very good vehicle. The Australians had the right idea and put the 3800 and 3800 S/C in them instead and they were fine. It had the same wheelbase as the 3-series, but had a larger trunk and front overhang allowing for a slightly larger interior. It did compete in the same price class as the 3-series. The Omega which the Catera is based on is still a well regarded cult car in Germany.
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Putting a big engine into a small package isn't all that big a deal... GM started the practice 50+ years ago depending on which vehicle you want to count. The vast majority of CLAs sold do 0-60 in 6.4~ seconds. A Saturn Ion Red-line could do better than that 13 years ago with a base price of $20k. The AMG CLA 45 base price is $50k. I can think of lots of better ways to spend $50k than a sub-compact sedan that goes to 60 in 4.2 seconds yet doesn't even come with Leather, AndroidAuto/CarPlay, NAV, XM Radio, Auto Dimming Mirror, or Heated Seats. (Minimum total MSRP to add all those options = $57,825 )
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I think only the Miata/Fiata and FR-S/86/BRZ really qualify for slowish tossability. They're not fast straight line cars, but I'll be damned if I didn't have more fun in the BRZ than I did in a ZL-1 on the same day. The ZL-1 just had so much power that I couldn't use on unfamiliar back mountain roads where the BRZ I could push to its acceleration limit toss into a corner and not worry. Chrysler really needs to invest in the suspension of the Hellcats
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1983 BMW 320i 1982 Cadillac Cimerron Cadillac wasn't even behind the curve here on Luxury. Even the Cimarron had a better interior than the 320. Handling was another matter, but in terms of being an actual luxury car, the Cimarron was there with the Germans.
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The 3-series succeeded here on the pretense that "Euro" = "Better"... a subset of the pretense that "Import" = "better". 80's 3-series are absolutely NOT luxury cars... not by today's standards and not by the standards of 1983. A 1983 3-series was a decent handling VW Jetta. Aside from their Jetta level interior, they would also return to their Eisenoxid roots at an alarming pace. But they were expensive and handled decent... so whatever the '80s equivalent of a rich hipster is bought them. They were significantly, not luxury, just pretense. If you want a modern example... the CLA should fit the bill.
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The Hellcat LX cars = white knuckle, hold on so you don't spin into a tree level of performance. The Chevy SS = Fast, balanced, and most of all fun because you feel far more in control. You're part of the car rather than a rider on a bucking horse. The CTS-V you mention is the same way... sure it's only 0.3 seconds faster than the previous one... but the handling is substantially better. The prior one, while not a brutish Hellcat in it's manner, was more of a handful than the current generation.
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GMC prints money for GM. Cadillac is more profitable than you give them credit for and is a larger chunk of GM's profits than their volume suggests. This is even more true lately with Cadillac distancing themselves from the loss leader $299 a month lease specials that Benz is chasing after and sticking to their guns as much as possible on incentives (there is a certain level of incentives expected in every segment... people expect a $3,000 rebate on a car even if the price is artificially $3k higher) GM builds the Cruze because they have to. They build the ATS because they make money doing it.
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Ford largely didn't import any products to Europe. They had a known brand there and largely operated as a separate entity well into even the 1990s and 2000s. Ford was also producing for Europe what we would charitably call "sh!tboxes" in the US. You'll note that they didn't bother producing Lincolns or an equivalent there either... and that was with their status as a well accepted "import". SMK, you simply have to understand that until very very recently, European automotive tastes were vastly different. That is still largely true today except that the size differential is closing slightly. In the US, cars the size of the Fiesta and Sonic Hatch are not very popular. In the EU, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a car of that size class. A standard size family car is a Focus. Cars the size of the Fusion/Mondeo are considered full size. Contrast that with the US where the XT5 is considered a smaller mid-size crossover and the glut of the market is larger than that. There simply wasn't a market for Cadillacs in Europe based on what Cadillac has been building for the past 90 years. There was no point to a factory on the continent for that small volume of cars while shipping and import taxes were too steep to make the process worthwhile. Again, a situation that is largely unchanged.
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You apparently have no concept of the difference of the economic power between the US and Europe or Japan after the war. There is a huge difference in exporting from war torn Europe or Japan to the US verse the US exporting top tier luxury vehicles to countries that have bread lines and closed markets. Japan's market is still largely closed.
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Again. Closed markets with a nationalistic populous. The volume of Benz sales that you cite was largely the W114/W115 models. They were "powered" by 2.4 liter 6 cylinder engines that made 146hp. The interiors were barely Pontiac level. W114 1967 Grand Prix 1967 Riviera
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To drive home this point... Packard, Imperial, Auburn, Duesenberg, Lincoln, and Chrysler didn't bother sending cars over either.
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Cadillac didn't go to Europe because there was always a strong sense of nationalism there. The Germans bought Benz. The French bought Citroen. The English bought Daimler, Jaguar, Bentley, and Rolls. The Italians bought Maserati and Lancia. Swedes bought Volvos and Saabs. Most of the continent was torn up by war and the economics of sending Cadillacs by boat over the Atlantic to people who were still rationing meat, petroleum, and sugar (Britain till 1955), rebuilding cities (France, Belgium, Denmark), or were occupied countries split in half (Germany), weren't good. By 1946 the Eastern Bloc countries were off limits. @smk4565 you seem to think that all of Europe was rolling around in Adenauers, Grossers, and Silver Clouds. That might be what the movies tell you... But that wasn't anything close to reality.
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Lexus has zero personality. Even when they slap that ugly mug on the front, it is still a soulless vehicle. Sure it's reliable in the long term, but that doesn't matter much to the first leasee who only has it for 36 months.
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I was speaking of within the same brand. The Touareg has always been a very premium 2-row, but now the Atlas is coming on the scene as a 3-row, but isn't as premium as the Touareg. So I'm assuming it will remain the top dog of VW brand crossovers as it is sharing directly with an Audi on MLB, and thus, above Atlas which uses MQB.
