Tis a sad day gentlemen...
 

My mom went out car shopping today.....and picked up a Cadillac CTS. Current year model I think, something $41K.

None of the MB's are happy.

They're all grumbling pretty loud.

Especially the 420SEL, wouldn't surprise me if I saw some eyebrows on it giving her the evil eye!

Oh great Karl, have mercy!



/lol

I saw a Caddy "wagon" today, not to shabby looking.

Man, she could ah had a V8 !

My most sincere condolences.;)

Well I guess she just has to learn the hard way. How long will it be before she trades it in for a Mercedes?

Ya took the words outta my mouth.

My dad has had up to three of the things at a time. He gravitates toward the 80's Brougham models. He rode in my 240D when I had it, and has driven my 300D, but they failed to impress. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I think age may have something to do with it, since he had some pretty cool cars when he was younger, like the '53 MGTF he bought new, and a Triumph Spitfire.

Maybe she isn't planning on keeping it that long, but I hope the current crop of Caddy engines is more durable than the infamous Northstar.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I haven't been interested in a Caddy built since about 1970. I've got a place in my heart for big, wallowing cruisers.

My opinion has changed considerably with the latest generation and for much different reasons.

...and to think when it was new it was meant to be the dog's bollocks - the way every manufacturer was going to do it...

How about the Brougham? Seems like a big, wallowing cruiser to me :).

There a lady in the city next to us who drives a beautiful blue-on-blue Brougham. I see it from time to time. I want it.

I think that is her plan--or at least what she told me last night.

She is waiting for the S class diesels to come to the states and is going to buy one that is few years off lease or something.

I plan to park all of the MB's in a circle around the Caddy, and take some photos. Like an angry stare down. Maybe put some angry eyebrows on!

Hard to find a resaon to buy an "American" car now. If there *IS* even such a thing.
 

In 47 years of buying and driving cars, I have had a LOT of GM vehicles and certainly been inclined to like them, but now I would NEVER get one, not even a pickup truck or SUV.

The last one I truly hoped to love was the '79 Cadillac Coupe de Ville which fullfilled a dream to actually be driving my own Cadillac before I was 40.

It was an awful experience to own, nothing but trouble, even though I'd had decent service from my '58 Pontiac Super Chief, 64 Chevy Chevelle, '72 Buick Skylark, and '77 Olds Delta Royale - though that last one had hints of trouble already.

When Roger Smith decided to take GM to front wheel drive cars around 1981, I knew that was the end of the line for me.

Moved to Ford, and owned 4 or 5 of the big rwd sedans, principally the Crown Victoria, and the Mercury Grand Marquis, and was extremely satisfied with them in all respects.

But now, they hold no allure for me, as I don't have a need for a pickup truck, or an SUV.

Going back and forth over the mountains between Nevada and California every week or two is fine now, but in the winter I am going to need an AWD for the snow.

My fiancée is wanting to pick up a Jaguar AWD - the 6 cylinder supercharged XF is her desire, as she has had two before, and liked them all, (certainly nobody does interior wood, chrome and leather more nicely than Bentley, Rolls Royce and Jaguar!) but my preference would be the refreshed 2015 Subaru Outback - I have owned three, a '95, '08 and an '11 so far, all 3 were bulletproof and got through snow quite easily.

I have ALWAYS been patriotic and wanted to buy American cars only, but what *IS* an American car now? A Buick Regal with a Mexican engine? A Subaru Outback built in Indiana? A BMW built in South Carolina? A Ford Fusion built in Mexico?

The lines are SO blurred nowadays....

I have read the ONLY truly 100% American built cars are the Ford F150 truck, the Mustang and the Corvette - and none of those I need or desire.

Too bad really. But I guess things change as time marches on.

==============


edit: I've just spent a few weeks and a couple of thousand miles in a 2014 Chevy Impala, and actually it was a pretty good car, drove it to Las Vegas and San Francisco and all over, around here. It was decent, comfortable and pretty economical, and was told it was a "Consumer Reports Best Buy" and probably it is, for normal use on American roads and interstates, especially for people that see cars only as "appliances" and don't care about them.

But I'd be VERY leery of trusting one for the long term, and I still despise front wheel drive - a couple of times I forgot, (when I went into a turn "too hot" in the Impala), and boy - was that ever a mistake.

Reminded me QUICKLY that buying the BMW 5er last year was a much better choice, even if it cost me over double what the Impala would have.

'93-95 vintage Fleetwood Brougham?
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/1990-1999-cadillac-10.jpg
Share the platform with the Roadmasters and Caprice Classics of the same vintage.

I could deal with one of those. The square 80's-early 90's ones don't do anything for me, though. Not that I couldn't appreciate a mint, low-mile example.