Agreed...........but I will make one concession here. I've often pointed out that Buicks are not just driven by Grandpa and Grandma; occasionally I see younger people buying and driving them, even traditional Buicks. That is definitely NOT the case with the DTS. While it is not unheard of for younger people to own and drive them (one of my town-house condo neighbors, in his mid-twenties, has a black-on-black one), the DTS is about as close to a true Geezer car as I've seen. Almost everyone I've seen or known who has owned a DTS has either been a senior citizen or upper-middle-aged who is relatively high-ranking in Government or buisness. Once in a while, you will see a real estate agent driving one. Cadillac, for a few years, offered a DeVille/DTS Concours (Touring) version, which had slightly more responsive suspension/tires and did away with the stand-up hood ornament, but even that was mostly driven by seniors, and wasn't popular to start with.

(Yes, some DeVilles and DTSs were popular with big-city pimps and dope dealers, but I consider them a completely different category than normal factory Cadillacs. Those pimped-out specials had outrageous paint schemes and interiors, with things like thick sheep-skin rugs, leopard-skin spots on the dash/upholstery, purple-tinted windows, Landau trim, spin-on wheels, etc.....They are basically a circus on wheels.)



So, guys, if you want to say that the DTS is a Grandpa/Grandma car, you won't get any arguements from me like you do with Buicks. For the most part, that is true.

 

I think you could safely lump Buick cars in with the DTS.

Maybe not so much the Enclave,

 

Not as much...at least in my experience. I sometimes (not terribly often) see younger people in Buicks. It is rare, though, with the DTS. The Mercury Grand Marquis is another car that is generally rare to see young people driving.

That's my concern with the new XTS flagship (the thread topic). If it's done on a modified LaCrosse platform, it may (?) attract some newer, younger customers, like the new LaCrosse itself, but may not prove very attractive to traditional DTS/DeVille customers....and they are the ones with the money, who have been keeping Cadillac in buisness for decades. That's probably why Cadillac seems to be showing some concern for ride comfort on it; something that was generally neglected with the CTS, SRX, and newer STS models.

 

Around here the only younger people driving Buicks, are those driving rental cars and they don't look very happy about it. That's my observation in this area.

 

I'll bet you don't see many rental Cadillacs.

 

Actually I do see many rental Cadillacs coming in and out of San Jose international airport, of course they are almost always V6 CTS models, still a nice car.

 

Note: Cadillac sales are taking a disproportionate dive lately which is troubling to those in charge, even considering the recessionary environment.

 

OK...I'll stand partially corrected. I didn't think many Caddies were rented out. You don't see many of them rented in this area.......perhaps because so many people already own them.

An interesting topic. Perhaps that would make a good subject for a new thread....though, of course, part of the topic in this thread is what could (?) potentially happen to sales, and why, with Cadillac's new XTS flagship.

 

600+ hp in a FWD or front-biased AWD setup is just a disaster waiting to happen. And the Lacrosse is a transverse-mounted engine design. I can't IMAGINE trying to stuff a 6.2L supercharged V8 into its engine bay sideways. Yeah it's wider, but it's not THAT wide, and it brings us back to finding a transaxle that can handle that much power....I doubt such a beast exists.

Edit: I guess there are transaxles that can take 650hp. Unfortunately, the 5 speed auto I found costs $17,000 wholesale....

 

65 foot turning radius, anyone?

 

The V6 engine is tranverse mounted not the engine bay. Wasn't the Northstar V8 transverse mounted and in a rear drive application in the STS? The 6.2 supercharged LS9 is a small block motor and should fit fine under the hood of a Lacrosse based Caddy.. This powerplant fits well under the hood of the CTS-V. AWD will be a plus with a 638 hp beast. Traction wil not be an issue.

 

LOL

10 char

 

Explain?...........

 

Yes like most of the affluent urban areas, CTS cars are sold in decent numbers here too, something that can't be said for the rest of the Caddie lineup.

With Cadillac sales tanking lately (even the CTS sales are nose diving), some new/improved products are badly needed to insure viability of Cadillac.

 

Incorrect. The frame is designed for a transverse mount, and would have to be completely redesigned for a longitudinal mount. I'm not aware of any production car that offers both transverse and longitudinally mounted engines in the same model year. It's just not that simple.

Nope. It was transverse mounted and FWD through 2004, when the platform for the STS changed from the old Seville to the Sigma platform, which is RWD. The Northstar LH2 was then substantially redesigned to enable it to work in a longitudinal RWD layout. The whole point of the Northstar project in the beginning was to design a small V8 that could work in a transverse FWD setup.

The fact that space between the cylinder bores is smaller than it could be doesn't change the fact that it's a BIG engine. It's no comparison whatsoever with the little tiny 4.6L and 4.8L Northstars (which, remember, were designed from the ground up with the express purpose of being small).

Longitudinally mounted. That's an important distinction that you keep missing.

AWD will definitely be a plus, but you can be damn sure with a transaxle and FWD bias, torque steer is going to be completely unmanageable (again if it's even possible to set up in the first place).