Drew Dowdell

Spotted this today just a block from my office. That's the owner there at the trunk. Ended up chatting with him for a while and we'll be doing a more formal write-up on it eventually.

I'm actually home till after thanksgiving! But so much work stress I'm getting tightness in the chest. It never ends....

I find the idea that anything in the throttle body is NOT powertrain to be really sketchy. It's like, "We'll warranty the battery, but not the battery terminals"

What value do the manufacturers get from the insurance payout?

Here they are!

yeah, after the less likely lawsuit against Honda over the mpg of the Civic Hybrid, you knew this was coming.

What do you have against diversity?

is there a question here?

Excluding those auto makers who have taken on building auto batteries for their Hybrids/EV only cars. Do you think this is just normal change out due to world economy issues that we are seeing or does the death of the A123 and other battery companies might not indicate that the EV in round two still might be a true niche vehicle and ahead of it's time? I don't think correlation is causation. The only thing A123's bankruptcy tells me is they failed as a company. It tells me nothing about the viability of the technology as a whole. The supplier who built the faulty Toyota gas pedals, CTS, filed for bankruptcy also... that doesn't mean that gas pedal technology is a failure.

Don't forget what top engine does the S class has.It is a twin turbo v12. So this supercharged v8 (if cadilac flagship will go against s class) must not be noisier (no supercharger whine in cabin) than the engine in the S class,Or at least is must not be heard in a cabin .Actually NVH should be on same level. Even on the ZL-1 there is nearly zero supercharger whine... so I'm not sure what tree you think you're barking up here... There is supercharger whine heard in cts-v. And that is a lsa engine. Nobody said it is loud. But you can hear it. Maybe I was enjoying it too much, but I hardly noticed it.

I think it is way too early to make any predictions either way.

The S-class is as quiet as the Volt at 70 mph and beats it at 50 mph. With either the diesel or the V8 it is 66 dba at 70 mph, and perhaps the next year's model beats that since Lexus and Rolls are lower. So they have the quiet the engine down a lot, then the S-class gets 25 mpg highway, the CTS-V gets 19 mpg, so they need to find another 6 mpg there. Not to mention the S-class is getting a 9-speed transmission next year so fuel economy will likely go up. And Cadillac does not have a V12 (or W12) like Audi, BMW and Mercedes have. It is hard to beat the S-class, Lexus has spend billions over 20 years and all they have is a car that even priced $30k cheaper sells half as many. The S600 does NOT get 25mpg highway, it gets 12/19 and has a 50hp on the CTS-V. The only gasoline S-class to get 25mpg highway is the V6 Hybrid which is not a proper comparison to the CTS-V engine. The Cadillac XTS V6 already does 28mpg highway with more power than the S400 Hybrid and without any of the Hybrid stuff. So as far as engines are concerned, Cadillac seems to be more than safe. I see you've taken your troll pills this morning.

The CTS-V engine could absolutely be used in a flagship. The "noise" is entirely from exhaust tuning.... The old F-body LT-1 powered Firebird was a lot louder than the LT-1 powered Fleetwood.

Don't forget what top engine does the S class has.It is a twin turbo v12. So this supercharged v8 (if cadilac flagship will go against s class) must not be noisier (no supercharger whine in cabin) than the engine in the S class,Or at least is must not be heard in a cabin .Actually NVH should be on same level. Even on the ZL-1 there is nearly zero supercharger whine... so I'm not sure what tree you think you're barking up here...

but why do they put that stuff on Lincolns and Cadillacs but (mostly) Not Benz and BMW?

Thanks, they almost had me traveling today, but I refused. I travel all the rest of the year for work, but my birthday, I get to stay home in sweatpants and a hoodie. I always take the day off from work too (well, sorta, I've already ended up working from home). Albert is taking me out to a museum and a fancy pants lunch today. Thanks all for the well wishes. Thanks, I really wish I was able to do more around here. I have all these ideas in my head but never the time to execute them.

For a start up car company, they are actually doing pretty well considering their main product just recently made it onto the market.

One of the first in-the-wild XTSes I saw was outside of chicago. Big chrome wheels, vogue tires, padded roof, "classique" grill, ice blue headlights, chrome rocker panels..... it was as hideous as it sounds.

This company - http://www.trifectaperformance.com/dynos.aspx They claim to also have put an additional 36hp and 54 lb-ft of torque at the wheels in a Cruze turbo.

Apparently there are some nice chips you can get to up the performance, have you looked at any of those?

but then I lose my adjustments? Question for the guys out there... would an old mechanical fuel pump cause hard starting? She cranks really well, newer plugs and wires, but takes forever and lots of pumping for the first fire.

But at the same time, what have they done? And it is hard to sell a pricey car on just interior without any performance. Unless they are doing a Rolls Phantom level interior and selling that for $60k, I just can't see this car selling. Cadillac is wasting money and resources that could go to a RWD flagship sedan or a true sports car, or a RWD mid size SUV. The ATS is being compared to as equal or above the 3-series in some reviews. So I guess we'll see what else Cadillac can do.

The Interior of the ELR is said to be beyond anything GM has ever done.

It looks like the car is no longer listed in the Garage here. I may have to delete it and have you add it to the garage again. I can get the pictures uploaded for you, I'll email you for them. I was curious if you were anywhere near me in case I would ever see your car at one of the Oldsmobile meets.

I'd love if you uploaded pictures of it. Where are you located?