Breakfast, Cadillac CTS-V pickup on Saturday, and He’s off

I met Jim this morning for breakfast at The Egg & I.  We had a nice visit and a good repast.

We arrived at Boardwalk Porsche in good time and the car was ready to roll, tags on and keys in hand.  Jim pulled it out into the sun for photos.

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Next we took a quick confirmation test drive — all systems go.

There was a minor issue from the pre-purchase inspection at Crest Cadillac that one or more plastic push-pin rivets was missing from the underside air deflector.  I brought a few with me and pushed one back into the only place we found open.  I gave Jim some extras.

Jim and I paraded up the road to his hotel where he plans to pack-up, checkout, and put the navigation system on New Jersey and head East.

Hopefully we’ll get updates along the way as he progresses.  I asked him to remember to mention which state he is in if we need to send bail.

 

Pre-Purchase Inspection at Crest Cadillac

At 8:15 am I arrived at Boardwalk Porsche in Plano to test drive a 2011 Cadillac CTS-V on behalf of a remote CaddyInfo Reader who is in the market for one of these. I grabbed some shots on my camera, and on my phone (easier to email immediately) and then we did a test drive.

After the drive, Chris Williamson of Boardwalk agreed to come with the CTS-V over to Crest Cadillac in Plano for a pre-purchase inspection. I called ahead to let them know we were on the way, and off we went.

Darin Partin of Crest met us in the Service Drive, and got the V lined up for the check-up while we waited. The check was done quickly, and the Technician went over his findings with me in person. Plan for 1 hour of labor charges for a pre-buy inspection.

Overall this was an easy, quick experience and I appreciate the full support that Crest provides. This was a painless way to relieve some buying risk, and I would not hesitate to recommend that any Cadillac buyer bring their prospective Cadillac purchase to Crest for a pre-purchase inspection.

Crest Cadillac is a sponsor of CaddyInfo.com

Donald Trump, Cadillac fan

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Donald Trump, Cadillac fan via Twitter:

I always enjoy seeing the secret co-star of Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice — the chauffeur driven Cadillac STS.  It  pulls up each week of the show to take the week’s loser(s) away in style.

I wonder if next season we will see the Cadillac XTS in this role?

Donald Trump, Cadillac Fan - Cadillac XTS

Will we see this great rear seating each week on next Celebrity Apprentice?

More to the point, it would be great to have a new Cadillac model as a marketing project for The Celebrity Apprentice teams.  Cadillac has a terrific legacy and history but plenty of marketing challenges in reaching buyers.  Getting this sort of outside input can often drive internal innovation and thinking.

A full line analysis and marketing plan would be very ambitious, but could be fruitful as well.  I have the occasional impression that with the range of Cadillac models it is difficult to market everything at once.  We see TV or press for the Cadillac CTS, but not the Escalade line lately.  We never saw much XLR press while that model was being made, which may help explain why it is not made any more.  Finding a way to keep the entire Cadillac line in focus — from CTS, now XTS, SRX, and all three Escalade variants — would help Cadillac tremendously.

Then Donald Trump, Cadillac Fan, will have even more good news to comment on.