Topic: Day-by-Day Review: 2013 Cadillac XTS; Day 1

[Vanstar]

It is amazing that GM would still price like this. I guess they will hope to get top buck on the first few sales before the incentives start.

This thing will go almost exclusively to livery services and funeral homes. There will also be some in the beehive hairdo set in Arizona and Florida. I am looking forward to seeing the vinyl roofs on these things!

[Fobroader]

It is amazing that GM would still price like this. I guess they will hope to get top buck on the first few sales before the incentives start.

This thing will go almost exclusively to livery services and funeral homes. There will also be some in the beehive hairdo set in Arizona and Florida. I am looking forward to seeing the vinyl roofs on these things!

Dont forget whitewalls and a few with continental kits 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

They'll "landau" anything down there.

[Fobroader]

They'll "landau" anything down there.

 

[Rupert]

   Like most folk, I am only an onlooker here; so what I get to see is only the outside and this seems very nice to me. I have my own requirements as usual in a large car though...and I suppose this is a large car at this point. Hard to tell these days. Don't like digital anything in a car. This is not a race car so a column shift or little 'Dodge Knob' is more appropriate here I think. Ditch the Berlin wall and keep the tunnel if any to a minimum..the human race will be long gone before an extra arm joint will be grown to use it's locker. Just a central large analog speedo with...why not easily readable font...is there something against making this thing easy to read? Don't need to know the RPM at all. FWD with equal length drive shafts is all that is required. Yeah..a 'quality' divided bench seat with fold down centre seat back/arm rest. Were not talking sports car here...it's a space ship...'Give me space lot's of space with the sunny skies above'...Don't Fence Me In. Oh tactile touch knobs. Lead the charge back to sanity. Got to like Cadilac. Wish I was on the inside.

[mixmanmash]

How many cars do you know are FWD with equal length driveshafts?  Very few that I can think of were ever made that way?

Your descriptions of what you would like are pretty similar to a late 80s/early 90s Buick LeSabre.  I recommend you find a clean one.

To be honest, I think you are in the minority.  It's too bad for you that GM/Ford/Chrysler stopped keeping a design for ages, because I think you would like to live in the aforementioned time frame based on your likes/dislikes on various threads...

[Rupert]

 Should serve onions to go with the tripe. Maybe the Caddy has equal length drive shafts I don't know if not, at this price point...why not. Perhaps auto trans makes this impossible...again I don't know...not having laid it out to scale. Anyway it helps to curb torque steer. It is not an improvement to include a huge box divider down the middle of the car. Some might wonder about the advantages of that....and find that there are none at all.

[Fobroader]

Bucket seats are way more comfortable than a bench, theres a very good reason that manufacturers got rid of benches....no one needed or wanted them.

[Northernridge]

I don't think 9.5/l is bad gas mileage at all for a car this big...can't be much worse than similar sized/powered cars.

[tpl]

How many cars do you know are FWD with equal length driveshafts?  Very few that I can think of were ever made that way?

Your descriptions of what you would like are pretty similar to a late 80s/early 90s Buick LeSabre.  I recommend you find a clean one.

To be honest, I think you are in the minority.  It's too bad for you that GM/Ford/Chrysler stopped keeping a design for ages, because I think you would like to live in the aforementioned time frame based on your likes/dislikes on various threads...

SAAB 99 and 900   of 1976-83 or so. Maybe later.    At least one Fiat.

[Fobroader]

I think my Audi 5000 had equal length driveshafts....also had the engine going in the right direction.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Usually transverse engines have unequal length half shafts, and longitudinal engines have equal length.

The old 455 Toronados and 500 Eldorados  had equal length half shafts and no torque steer amazingly enough.

Sent from my Galaxy S 3 using Tapatalk 2

[Ontariodriver]

This design isn't getting a bit old and smelly. Every car seems to be a look like CTS. It's been around since 2004. Can't GM come up with something else.

[mixmanmash]

Just proves my point tha equal length driveshafts on a FWD vehicle are rare.  If I am not mistaken, certain generations of the Nissan Maxima had equal length driveshafts.  Agreed, it does help to curb torque steer.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Just proves my point tha equal length driveshafts on a FWD vehicle are rare.  If I am not mistaken, certain generations of the Nissan Maxima had equal length driveshafts.  Agreed, it does help to curb torque steer.

Yup, Audi has favoured longitudinal engines. Chrysler did it with the LH cars, then you get into some oddballs like Lancia, some SAABs and older Citroens.

Pretty much every modern FWD car uses a transverse arrangement.

[Rupert]

Well 'Cab Forward' or not...transverse makes for more inside space. That's a good thing surely. Why do transverse and then wreck this advantage with a useless wall.

Yeah I had a cab forward 'T' drive...seems to me it was windshield forward with the cab in the usual position.
The transverse Fiat Abarth and 500T have equal length drive shafts but those vehicles are manual trans.

I think a Taurus SHO had equal length also.

Perhaps the same effect could be obtained by making the drive shafts a slightly different diameter so that the torsional deflection would be the same for both lengths...If that is what causes the torque steer. I can't say that I have ever experienced it.

[whaddaiknow]

I don't think 9.5/l is bad gas mileage at all for a car this big...can't be much worse than similar sized/powered cars.

Agreed, I find it pretty darn good for a car its size. Especially in light of the 15+ the SRX did in Tom's test with the same engine.

[wing]

It's not horrible, but the Avalon did do 7.9 with a little less power.  This is FWD though, the SRX is larger and AWD.

I gave it 4 stars, so not bad.

[Fobroader]

Well 'Cab Forward' or not...transverse makes for more inside space. That's a good thing surely. Why do transverse and then wreck this advantage with a useless wall.

Yeah I had a cab forward 'T' drive...seems to me it was windshield forward with the cab in the usual position.
The transverse Fiat Abarth and 500T have equal length drive shafts but those vehicles are manual trans.

I think a Taurus SHO had equal length also.

Perhaps the same effect could be obtained by making the drive shafts a slightly different diameter so that the torsional deflection would be the same for both lengths...If that is what causes the torque steer. I can't say that I have ever experienced it.

My Audi had the engine pointing the right way and it still had plenty of cabin space....plus the engine was a hell of a lot easier to work on as 1/2 of it wasnt smushed up against the firewall.

[SaskSpecV]

I gave it 4 stars, so not bad.

Damn it James, what's with the vehicular grade inflation here?
When did "not bad" equal 4 stars?  Is "pretty bad" still going to get 3 stars? 
Or are you like the school boards these days, no vehicle can get a failing grade anymore, regardless of performance!