Tag Archives: American Luxury Cars

Herman Cain, Kim Kardassian — Taking a Cadillac moment

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Two very disparate news items this week, one about Herman Cain as a Presidential candidate dealing with a story from his past, and one about Kim Kardassian and her recently announced premature footnote to her celebutante wedding.  Both these developing stories however strike me as situations which could have benefited (and may still benefit)  from taking a moment to reflect.

That’s what I like about driving a Cadillac, even with the performance V Series model I enjoy as a daily driver.  It gives me some quiet time on the way about my day.  I try not to have the sort of stresses that Mr Cain or Ms Kardassian seek out, but I still find that I need some isolation from the day to day noise and traffic.  Nothing does that better than surrounding yourself with sculpted wood and leather with the surety of precision machinery.

What is a Cadillac moment?  To me a Cadillac moment is that opportunity to listen to cool jazz or the latest pop tune while cruising along to my destination and enjoying the journey.  Taking a Cadillac moment means instead of responding to the latest stress unprepared or off the cuff, taking a moment to reflect on the context and impact of the issue and of your response, and gaining some perspective.

Things that seem an unfair attack on your campaign at first, can get better or worse in terms of perspective depending on your response.  Your response helps to define the issue.

When you meet and date and marry someone, especially if you choose to do so in a very elaborate, public, televised manner, there are probably multiple points which could benefit from a moment of reflection.  Is this someone I want to spend my life with?  Is this someone that I can go through thick and thin with?

Stress is not what happens to you, it is how you respond to what happens to you.   When you do have something(s) come up in your life, take a Cadillac moment and attempt to gain some perspective before you respond.    You will certainly in the long run be glad you did.

Living the Cadillac lifestyle includes keeping a lot of perspective.

Cadillac CTS an American Sports Sedan

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In the 90s when Cadillac was marketing the Cadillac Seville STS alongside the Cadillac Eldorado ETC, magazines at the time would often compare/contrast the two.  Besides the obvious fact that the STS had 4 doors and the ETC had 2 doors, they also were targeted at somewhat different audiences.

The ETC was viewed as a classically American personal luxury vehicle.  It had more American touches — more chrome, more color.

The STS was described as a more European luxury vehicle.  Less chrome, more mono-color design cues, more muted styling.

When you look at the Cadillac CTS of today, it uses a variety of chrome accents — on the door handles, the seat back, the trunk — to recall the classic Cadillacs of yesterday. Certainly it has unusual, look at me styling.  The first generation CTS styling was inspired by the Stealth Fighter (F-117 Nighthawk).  That aircraft had sharp creases and angled surfaces as a way to minimize radar cross-section.  The current, second generation CTS is an evolution of the original design, merging in elements of the Cadillac Sixteen look and styling.

I don’t think anyone would claim the Cadillac CTS is not ‘American’ enough.  I think it instantly suggests to most knowledgeable viewers visually that it is an American car.   Certainly in the V-Series you also get the classic American approach to muscle — there is no replacement for displacement.  With the LSA Supercharged 6.2L V8 making 556 hp it is hard to argue with the ‘too much is just enough’ approach to power plants.  In today’s market however, the base 3L V6 with 270 hp and the Performance/Premium CTS with 304 hp seem well heeled, until you consider the competition.  Many of the competitors in this market sport 330 hp – 385 hp powerplants with similar fuel economy to the CTS V6 Sedans.

Clearly it is time for Cadillac to task GM Powertrain to step up their game.  Even a 3.6L with the same tuning and efficiency of the current 3.0L V6 would make 324 hp.   So I don’t think it is a problem that the engines are not capable.  If Cadillac can’t get the power needed from the 3.6L then send in the Supercharged 3.6L, or offer the 6.2L LS3 V8 as an option.  The high feature 3.6L V6 likely costs MORE for Cadillac and GM than the LS3 V8 does to produce due to the higher feature set of the V6.   So my personal favorite best of both worlds would be to offer the LS3 V8 as a $2K SAVINGS off the current base CTS — a CTS V8 for less money lol.

American Luxury cars — Cadillacs — historically bring MORE power than needed.  The current CTS V6 powerplants are adequate.  Adequate is not enough in this class.  Luxury Performance cars need plentiful power, and Cadillacs should have class-leading horsepower.  Bring it, Cadillac!