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How are the plastics not as good as the German? I have never been in one but if it is like our last SRX most of the interior is covered with handsewn leather/vinyl. Very little "plastic" but what there was was hard to tell it was hard unless you touched it.
The next sts/dts will be bigger than the CTS so it will be more of a 7 size. Probably priced where the STS and DTS is today with more upside. Not sure what you mean by smaller and larger ends. price? Perhaps they have a extended wheelbase version which is very possible.
100 a year is more realistic, unless you build 1000 in a single batch, then store them in a warehouse and finish them to order over the next few years. Cadillac needs to build a credible S-class before they think about aiming at Maybach.
Cadillac needs to build a credible 5-series before they start thinking about the S-class then Maybach/RR.
Apparently the new CTS is still a 3.5-series kind of car. Not quiet a 3-series but not yet a 5-series. Maybe Caddy should rename the CTS as 436DI.
:P
I seriously doubt it is handsewn.
It is automated by some machine.
The leather is hand-sewn, just like that found in the STS-V and XLR-V. The SRX will benefit from Cadillac's new "cut and sew" technique that employs craftsmen to cut, stitch, stretch, and install many of the interior's leather panels. This enables such upscale details as French stitching, and GM hopes it will also eliminate the large gaps and poor fitment they've come to be known for.
Jim Taylor, Cadillac's General Manager hopes the old-world charm of hand craftsmanship will help lure more customers to the SRX, saying, "The SRX is the latest and most complete example of our new approach to interiors, blending advanced technology with the hand craftsmanship that was once, and is again becoming, a Cadillac trademark."
Nowhere has the Detroit-based carmakers' loss of market share been more dramatic than in the luxury segment.
General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler sold fewer than half of all light vehicles in the U.S. for the first time in July. But foreign brands captured 78.3 percent of the luxury market. Their share rose further to 79.4 percent in August, according to Autodata, a market research group.
What is more, the luxury segment is growing faster than most others and is expected to be relatively resilient in the face of the softening economy.
"We haven't seen anything [of a downturn] in the U.S. so far, and don't expect anything in our business for the remainder of the year," Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of DaimlerChrysler Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand and the market leader, reported a 5.2 percent gain in sales in the first eight months of the year, compared with January-August 2006. BMW's sales were up 8.7 percent, and Audi's 10.8 percent.
Audi, Volkswagen's premium brand, last week said it had set a target of more than doubling U.S. sales by 2015. It plans to retool its dealer network and develop a small sports-utility vehicle.
GM, Ford and Chrysler gave the foreigners an opening in the 1990s by focusing on SUVs and pick-up trucks. GM's Cadillac brand was outsold by Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the first eight months of this year.
Ford neglected Lincoln, its domestic luxury brand, instead acquiring four European-based carmakers: Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and Aston Martin. Lincoln sales have also fallen behind Honda's Acura.
Cadillac gained a new lease of life in 2002 with a flurry of new models, notably the CTS saloon and the big Escalade SUV. But it has recently run out of steam, with sales down more than 10 percent so far this year.
Demand for Cadillac's SRX crossover has been flat while rival Acura MDX is up by 13 percent. The Lexus RX outsells the SRX four-to-one.
Cadillac is banking on a fresh boost from a new CTS. A hybrid Escalade will follow next year. Lincoln has also recently launched a flurry of new models.
But Tom Libby, director of vehicle analysis at consultancy JD Power, says Cadillac and Lincoln are not perceived as having the same quality as a Lexus."
One problem in Mr. Libby's view is that the two domestic brands do not have image-enhancing, top-of-the-line models to compete with BMW's 7-Series and Mercedes' S-Class.
A Cadillac spokesman said it plans to fill that gap, but declined to elaborate. But the foreigners are not sitting still. Mr. Libby points to Mercedes' and BMW's success in extending their range of vehicles to derivatives such as sports models and SUVs.
At last week's Frankfurt auto show, BMW premiered the X6, a "sports activity coupé" that combines elements of an SUV and a sports car and is due to go on sale next year.
Lexus has expanded the luxury image to its dealerships. One $75 million outlet that opened in Newport Beach, California, last year includes marble floors, a grand piano, a games room and a café.
Inside, nary a floor mat is carried over from the previous model. Thoroughly modern, high-tech and luxurious, the interior surpasses what most will expect from a car of this ilk.
Infotainment and heating/air conditioning controls are less intuitive on this model, but with several redundant buttons and a dial that centralizes several functions, operation becomes second nature quickly enough.
The ’08 CTS isn’t merely an improvement on the previous generation. The redesign marks a giant leap that takes the car out from among the also-rans in a crowded segment and puts it right alongside those at the head of the class.
Be interesting to see the procedure they are using to keep costs down. That kind of work is very expensive.
It is far more likely that machines are used, but someone make be guiding them. My SRX has leather covered seats. I am not sure that there is leather anywhere else though. The dash is covered with a softish material, with a finish that does not look leatherish. The armrests could be covered with leather - not sure. However, there are stiches visible even on hard plasic parts...
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/MediaNav/articleId=117281/firstNav=Gallery/- photoId=32522
In the above picture, the light colored stuff on the console is hard plastic, which has stiching...
I will comment on my SRX door panels. The material used under the windows is the same stuff on the dash, and has a softish feel to it. Under this is a piece of wood trim (real I think), and then there is a soft trim material which could be vinyl or leather, with stiches in it. Then there is the armrest. Below the armrest on the front doors is a storage bin (a nice touch), but this is hard plasic. With the doors closed, the lower part of the door is not all that visible, so the hard plastic is not a big deal.
In the good old days, eBay Motors has a lot of good picture, GM luxury door panels were covered with soft vinyl from the armrest down, with the lowest part covered with carpet. I think the addition of storage bins in todays cars is better than a soft vinyl armrest to extended downward, but the hard plastic could have a bit of carpet covering it.
Reminds me of one of those advertising 'stories' in recent mags, or a Sunday paper 'review'.
Every article from the media I read says the CTS interior is top notch. So it must be that they are all reading the same GM pitch and writing down what they are told to write. Darn that C&D and the rest of them, bought out by GM.
The only one I heard of that says anything somewhat bad (except for a poorly located cupholder) is the Automobile mag which I have not read.
The car has been out for awhile and there are all kinds of media stories out there. Can anybody find a link that supports a deficient interior in the CTS?
Do you have any info on this? I really doubt it and cannot find where they are doing it.
They are probably made just like the seats. Most of the seat sources (Lear, JCI, etc.) have a plant in Mexico or some other low paid nation with a bunch of people using sewing machines to stich the seats together. In there own right they are craftsman. The same sources make the interior IP and doors so they are probably also sewing the parts.
http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/model/gallery.jsp?model=cts&year=2008&id=3&p- rimary=4
Per the website they call it stiched accents so probably some of the interior is vinyl. And today the vinyls used are hard to tell from leather and in some cases even have a better hand. i.e. silk infused leather
Automobile did not say the interior was bad, only a bit overdone, but still much better than the old. Motor Trend indicates that the DI engine has a noise, vibration, hashness problem, that GM has indicated there is no solution for, short of an entirely new engine design.
You are the one who thought that the CTS was now ready to take over the BMW 5-series, Mercedes E-class market.
Motor Trend->Japanese=Good
Motor Trend->GM=Bad
:sick:
-Rocky
I never said that. :confuse: I have never been in the new CTS much less drive one so I cannot make that kind of determination. I asked that since the CTS is about 5 size could it stand in the same league as the 5 at a much lower price and would the media do comparisons that way. It looks like it may have a couple issues that make it perfect in that range, but then again it is $20k cheaper or so.
You raise a question that I have been meaning to ask here:
Has anyone heard if the CTS’s “platform” was engineered to accept a V8?
Edit:
A ‘regular’ CTS – it appears a given that there will be a CTS-v – with a V8.
I happened to drive a BMW 335 sedan a few weeks ago – and had planned to drive a 2008 CTS immediately after. The acceleration ( TQ ) of the 335 convinced me that driving a CTS right then would be ( um ) unfair to the CTS.
But a V8 with 350 \ 350 ( HP \ TQ ) or more would put the CTS in a different ( acceleration ) class – and might allow legitimate acceleration comparison with a 335 or 535. . .
Anyone heard?
Speculation?
Thanks,
- Ray
Finding no answer with a couple of Google searches . . .
What was this sucker, like 50 grand new?
And for the collectors (No pics)
link title
Without a stickshift available for this model, they might as well tack on a Landau roof and curb feelers.
The current CTS-v iteration ( only ) comes with a manual trans.
So – there certainly seems to be a possibility that we will see another. . .
- Ray
Happy for those who prefer a manual to have that choice . . .
2009 CTS-V slated for late Sept '08 arrival; no Tremac trans
Well, with a curb weight closer to 3600 than 4000, and a ( um, somewhat underrated ) 300 \ 300 ( vs 304 \ 272 ) the BMW 335 acceleration has proven what I’d call significantly quicker in independent, published tests.
The C+D test of a manual trans. 2008 CTS shows times nearly a second longer than the 335 to 60, and over a second less quick ( at almost 10 MPH slower terminal velocity ) in the Quarter Mile.
IMHO, a difference of a half second or less might mean that they were comparable. Clearly no number ( or set of numbers ) completely describes any car – and acceleration is only one quantifiable aspect of ‘performance’ but the acceleration results strongly suggest to me that the 335 would feel much quicker, in typical street driving. Stepping out of a 2007 Corvette ( my Daily Driver ) and into the 335, I was very pleasantly surprised at the ‘thrust’ available from the TT I6. Even with another 175+ ( guess ) pounds of ‘ballast’ added by the BMW sales dweeb during my test drive.
Again, does not mean that the 335 & CTS are not comparable, overall – just in my opinion, the acceleration aspect is not very close. I can see other areas where they are more nearly comparable.
- Ray
Sources:
http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/13548/tested-2007-bmw-335i-coupe-automatic- - - -performance-payoffs-page3.html
0 – 60 = 4.9
Quarter = 13.4 @ 106
( That’s with the six speed automatic = slightly quicker results than their test with the six speed manual trans. )
http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/13537/full-test-2008-cadillac-cts.html
0 – 60 = 5.8
Quarter = 14.6 @ 97
That Eldo is probably only about 4x market value.
The CTS has excellent performance with either engine. BMW has been forced into turbocharging to keep up with the competition, as they can't fit a longer inline six without moving the firewall back into the passenger compartment and moving the rear passengers into the trunk.
-Rocky
What BMW has done by turbocharging the 335's six it to bump the entry level sports sedan performance benchmark to a new level. GM's turbocharged engines have a very flat torque curve which means that performance does not depend on the engine being kept in a particular speed range. BMW's 335 has 300+ lb-ft of torque and will out perform any engine with less torque.
The DI 3.6 in the CTS will compete well with the rest of the competition, but is overpowered by BMW's turbo engine. Even the 4.6 northstar does not have enough torque to out perform the 335. I think Cadillac (and the rest of the entry level sports sedans) will have to turbo charge some version of the DOHC V6 line (a bigger version of the turbo 2.8) to be on the same performance level as BMW.
GM's opn the right track then it comes to beefing up power with its love of superchargers. Now a supercharged 3.6DI with 400HP... I'd rather have that than a CTS-V for driving around town(600 is just too much, really)
My money's on the Eldo being a convertible. They made convertibles from '82-'85 (Riv's as well)
My supercharged 3800 in the 1995 Riviera was very powerful from a standing start. On snowy/icy/slippery streets it was hard to get started without spinning the tires, which meant that the traction control was always active until some speed was built up. On dry pavement it was OK. I am not fond of supercharging. A turbo charger should be slower to build up torque on slippery pavement though.
I don't think 600 hp. is to much.
-Rocky
Same platform as the current STS so yes.
-Rocky
My bet is the CTS V's get the readily available small block V8 next year and the normal CTS as an engine option will get the Ultra V8 and then it will be used on the future STS/DTS replacement as standard.
-Rocky