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Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
6098 messages, Last post on Aug 14, 2009 at 4:43 PM
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Hmmm. If style over substance floats your boat, then yes, Cadillac has plenty of pimpadelic g-crunk for you. 
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Replying to: louiswei (Dec 28, 2007 6:41 am) let me be crystal clear: Most cars from the 80s look like crap to me and I admire none of them. A 20 year old Cadillac is just as pathetic as a 20 year old MB. I do not find vehicles from the 70s and 80s to be desirable or stylish and that includes German cars. Please name 3 German cars that are more than 20 years old that are worthy of admiration by today's standards. Their interiors were plain and had poor ergonomics, their prices were sky high, their exteriors were dull, their engines were unimpressive by today's standards, their reliability was suspect and in many cases they lacked luxury features found in Cadillacs of similar vintage. By the 90s Cadillac was making vehicles with nice interiors and state of the art technology. The '98 STS and ETC had 300hp engines (more than the 540 or E430), nice wood trim, a fantastic Bose 4.0 sound system with 425watts and a 12" sub in the back, computer controlled suspension, auto wipers, adaptive seats, stabilitrak, etc. Cadillac began to come around as far back as the '92 STS which was MT car of the year. With the next generation they added refinement and interior quality. After that the next step was to go RWD to better compete with the Germans and Lexus.
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Replying to: mrsyj (Dec 28, 2007 6:57 am) I believe we are talking about Cadillac here so I propose let's stick with the topic. I really don't want to be part of another Caddy vs. the World discussion. But if you insist I can definitely come up with a list on top of my head.
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Replying to: mrsyj (Dec 28, 2007 6:57 am) I'd say the MB W126 (80s S-class), MB W124 (E-class) and R107 (70s-80s SL) are still worthy of praise. The 126 was the first truly modern large luxury car - a milestone vehicle of the period, the 124 was the first modern midsize luxury sedan that at least tried for a little performance (and was also sturdy and competent enough to spawn wagon, coupe, and cabrio variants), and the SL has been a moving target Caddy has been eyeing - and missing - for over 20 years. There are endless examples of these cars on the road today, so many years after the last ones rolled off the line. Poor ergonomics? I don't think GM designers even knew the term 'ergonomics' until about 1992  I've never bought the 'plain interior' argument either...some of us don't want button-tufted pillows to sit on as we drive. Many people could look inside an S-class built in 1980 and think it was 15 years newer. That's more significant.
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Replying to: louiswei (Dec 28, 2007 7:07 am) You suggest that Cadillacs of the past were crap but then say you dont want to get into specific comparions vs older imports. In my eyes the list doesnt matter. Cars of that era were inferior to today's vehicles in every single way and nothing being done by luxury imports was light years ahead of Cadillac. Cadillac made a different type of car than the Germans back then. it was a car that was designed for American tastes and at that time it made sense becaue Cadillac was the top selling brand until Lincoln passed them in 1998 or 1999. Cadillac's werent "bad" cars they were just cars made for luxury cruising, not attacking curves on the Autobahn. Over time the press and the public began to feel that Euro luxury was the only true definition of luxury and large, soft riding American luxury cars began to lose popularity as people wanted smaller, better handling vehicles with more emphasis on driving dynamics than luxury isolation. Bottom line, I'm not pining for ANY car from the 80s regardless of who made it.
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I love those veiled insults in which people act like they are too upscale to drive an Escalade. I hate to break this to you but rappers probably make up 2% of Escalde owners. The rest are high income suburbanites of various races and backgrounds. And I suspect quite a few of these "high income suburbanites" drive their Escalades into the garages of their 6,000 s.f. brick front, vinyl sided box McMansions in tract housing subdivisions. And wouldn't know good architecture if Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater fell on them. It's not a matter of how much money one has, it's how much taste they exhibit in spending it. I'd rather have our 1996 Isuzu Trooper 5-speed manual transmission back than be given an Escalade. If the Escalade was a house, it would be an ostentatious McMansion. Just not my style. I accept that some people have different tastes than me. Some have no taste at all. But don't tell me that because I don't get giddy over a crome and bling crazed locomotive shaped escalade on 24" inch wheels with the driving dynamics of an oil tanker that somehow I must not "get it". There isn't a single one of those behemouths in my neighborhood. Nor is vinyl siding an acceptable architectural material. |
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what substance does the Escalade lack? 403hp? check. 6 speed auto? check. Great sound system and nav? check. Style? check. HID lights, automatic high beams, variable suspension, heated/cooled seats. check again. Is there anything in there you can't get on a Tahoe or a Yukon? Stuff you can't get on any Escalade: IRS, foldaway seats, diesel engines, hybrid transmission, etc. Things that actually improve the driving experience.
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Replying to: fintail (Dec 28, 2007 7:18 am) same applies to German cars. Lexus taught them otherwise. I'm pretty sure GM has known how to label buttons and switches in an intelligible manner for quite some time. German cars were also amongst the last to incorporate useful features like cup holders and steering wheel controls because they insisted buyers didnt need such gimmicks. "I've never bought the 'plain interior' argument either...some of us don't want button-tufted pillows to sit on as we drive. Many people could look inside an S-class built in 1980 and think it was 15 years newer. That's more significant. " German interiors in the 80s were dull, angular and dark. By today's standards they are sad looking. I would never think any MB from 1980 looked "futuristic" or modern. When I look at older Euro cars I often wonder why people thought they were worth a premium at the time. They dont look any better than the other dull designs offered by lower end manufacturers. The 70s and 80s were a low point for automotive design. "the SL has been a moving target Caddy has been eyeing - and missing - for over 20 years" caddy tried to compete twice last time I checked. Atlante was barely a GM car and didnt do well. The XLR is a credible challenger. Its cheaper, more distintive looking, fast and has state of the art technology. Seeing as though the XLR-V costs about the same as a compable SL550 I would say the XLR can hold it's own. BTW, when have Lexus, Audi or BMW been able to hit the SL target? Oh yeah, they havent even come as close as Cadillac. The SC430 has been a joke for some time and was beat by the XLR every time they were compared.
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