Thursday, August 30, 2012

Next-Generation Cadillac Escalade to Retain Bold Style

With the introduction of the ATS compact performance sedan, hailed as Cadillac's lightest product to date, and the ELR plug-in hybrid coupe, some might be concerned that the brand is losing its reputation for big, bold products. Not to worry, Cadillac marketing chief Don Butler assured Automotive News. Butler told the magazine the Escalade isn't going anywhere, and the next-generation model, expected to debut at about the same time as the next-generation Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, will be as big and bold as ever.

At one point, there was speculation that the Escalade could eventually transition onto GM's Lambda platform, which underpins the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia. Although a Lambda-based Caddy crossover could still be coming, it won't replace the Escalade.

Butler said Cadillac is taking a big-tent approach with its future product line, with something for everyone. "If someone wants to make a technological statement and associate with a company that's environmentally responsible, then the ELR will be perfect for them. But if someone wants a no-compromises, biggest, most comfortable, baddest-looking vehicle on the road, then we'll have that for them as well."

Source: Automotive News

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

New Luxury Book Chronicles Cadillac’s 110 Years

DETROIT – Cadillac, which celebrates its 110th birthday this month, will be the subject of a new limited edition Assouline luxury book. When it debuts later this fall, Cadillac will be the renowned publisher’s first project dedicated to a single automotive brand.

Cadillac tells the history of America’s first luxury auto maker with 150 pages of images depicting the brand’s many landmark cars and the people who drove them, making Cadillac among the world’s most-revered luxury brands.  

“Cadillac is indelibly woven into culture, in America and around the world,” said Don Butler, Cadillac vice president of marketing. “Today, with Cadillac once again moving forward as a design and technology leader, we’re proud that our brand has inspired the artists at Assouline.”        

Only 500 hand-numbered Cadillac luxury books will be produced, each housed in a black slipcase with metallic Cadillac plaque and retailing for $395. A more conventional hardcover version with dust jacket will also be available and retail for $75. The book will be released in time for the holiday shopping season.

Known for their editions on architecture, fashion, design and travel, Assouline has published more than 1,000 luxury books since its founding in 1994. They have branded boutiques around the world including Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Seoul, and Lima.

Cadillac’s history dates to 1902, when it was founded by engineer and entrepreneur Henry Leland. As Henry Ford’s first attempt to establish an automobile company faltered, Ford’s investors asked for Leland’s appraisal of the assets of the failed Henry Ford Company. Leland instead convinced the investors to let him make a new company with cars powered by the single-cylinder engine he invented.   

Historians debate the actual “birthdate” of Cadillac. Leland’s original meeting with the Henry Ford Company’s investors occurred on Aug. 22, 1902, often cited as the “start” of Cadillac. The actual date of the founding of the Cadillac Automobile Company, in records filed in Detroit, is August 27, exactly 110 years ago today.

Using tools and equipment from his other firm, Leland and Faulconer, Leland’s first Cadillac was built on Oct. 22, 1902. The new company began production and sales in earnest in March of 1903.

Courtesy of media.gm.com

Cadillac

Monday, August 27, 2012

Monday Maintenance Tip: Coolant Flush

Coolant Flush – How Often is it Needed?

Real coolant flush entails removing all the fluid that is in the cooling system and replacing it with fresh one. The best method of removing all the fluid is hooking the car to the machine that will remove it while at the same time, it puts in fresh fluid. The coolant flush machine puts in the right amount of fluid.

 

The machines circulate the fluid in the vehicle cooling system for a number of times. This removes any kind of debris that could have accumulated for a long time. This is the only way that one can consider to have received the service that has been done in the right way.

 

Refills and Drainage

 

Coolant flush is usually confusing to many people as many think that it involves just draining and then refilling cooling system. There are others who assume that it is done by hooking it up to the flush machine and back flushing the system.

 

The difference between refill or drain and engine coolant flush is big. Draining and refilling is straight forward and has no difficulties while a flush needs one to have a coolant flush kit, draining and refilling just includes the drainage of a radiator and the reservoir.

 

It is then refilled with the some new fluid.  Before draining and refilling it is important to make arrangements on how the fluid should be drained as the old fluid cannot be poured down a drain or on the street.

 

Coolant Flushes and Solvents

 

Clearing contamination in the engine coolant system might be necessary  but  using a flush solvent  or any element  that  is used to clean  the cooling  system  will do more damage than  good. Getting the cooling system flushed using the flushing machine might be the right way but it is important to first ask is coolant flush necessary?

 

This depends on the reasons that have prompted the car owner to consider it but at times it might not be necessary and the cost can be saved. However there could be reasons why someone feels that it is necessary to have a it done and not just because there is coolant flush coupon that would cater for part of the cost.

 

If the PH of the cooling fluid is not the right one, there is a need to for flushing. It is also important to do a flush if it is noted that the coolant has been discolored. When carrying out such service the BMW and Toyota coolant flush cost might be different depending on where it is done but it is necessary to use a flush machine.

 

The advantage of using the flush machine is that there is an assurance that almost all the old coolant will be flushed out. Draining and refilling just removes only 50 to 60 percent of old fluid.

 

Frequency of Coolant Flushes

 

When it comes to maintenance of the cooling system that involves coolant flush how often should it be done? This is something that does not need to carry out frequently. There are mechanics who advise their clients to do it every year but it is not necessary and will only increase servicing cost for nothing.

 

Most of the cars that were built after the early year of 1990s have coolant that can last for at least five years or even longer. For all this period, no maintenance is required. Although this is a good service when there is a necessity to have it done, coolant flushing can be imposed on the customers who do not understand about the time when it should be done by mechanics who want to make extra cash.

 

The best thing to do after being informed by mechanic that there is a need for coolant flushing is to find out the exact reason why it should be done. Check your car manual; it is about 50,000 miles interval before it is needed for such thorough cleaning service.

 

Coolant Test Strips

 

It is possible to establish if there is a need for coolant flush even without the help of a mechanic. This is done by using by using testing strips that can be bought from most of the stores that sell auto spares. These strips make it possible to determine whether the coolant has the right PH.

 

By using the test strips one can establish the level of freeze protection and if there is a need for more additives. If it is necessary for such service the coolant flush kit instructions should be followed. Ensure that everything is needed and ready before starting the exercise.

 

Courtesy of CoolantFlush.net

Thank you for the excellent feedback!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Happy 110th Birthday, Cadillac!

Before the Nürburgring craze, before the elongated luxury road boats of the 60′s and 70′s, and before the tail fins, Cadillac was a game-changing marquee that built its reputation on precision and innovation. And it all started 110 years ago today, in 1902.

Founder Henry Leland (who also went on to found Lincoln, and also the inventor of electric barber clippers) named the brand after his ancestor and found of the city of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. What a name.

In its early years, Cadillac became the first volume manufacturer of a fully enclosed cabin in 1910, and by 1912 was first to incorporate interchangeable parts, along with introducing an electrical starting system, which phased out the hazardous crank-start configuration. This was just the beginning.

Today, the brand presses forward with new industry firsts such as the Safety Alert drivers seat, and LED door handles found in both the new ATS and XTS, along with some of the most sophisticated suspension hardware on the market. So, blow out your 110 candles, Cadillac! We look forward to seeing what’s next.

Courtesy of GM Authority

Cadillac

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

New Cadillac CTS, Escalade Coming Next Year, Plus Plug-In ELR

 

Lincoln may have abandoned its ambitions to be a full-line ultra-premium brand, focusing more on mid-market volume, but Cadillac is not capitulating to competitors in its effort to have a full lineup of high-performance and high-efficiency models. At the Pebble Beach weekend festivities, Motor Trend’s Editor-in-Chief Ed Loh had a chance to chat up Cadillac brass about what it has cooking for the near term.

While most of the talk centered around its recently-launched products — the new Cadillac ATS compact sport sedan and XTS fullsize sedan — Cadillac officials confirmed what has already been largely reported, that the next-generation models of the CTS sedan and Escalade SUV would be shown next year, with the ELR plug-in (pictured at top) right behind it.

We expect the next-generation Cadillac CTS to grow slightly larger than the current model, changing its current status from a tweener straddling the territory between the BMW 3 and 5 series in price and size, to more squarely counter the new F10 BMW 5 Series. Like the new 5-Series as well as its little brother ATS, a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder is expected to supplant the  3.0-liter base V-6 of the current CTS. Some version of the 3.6-liter V-6 is expected to carry over. Unknown, but most assuredly coming, is a high-potency CTS V-series model.

The new Escalade will come around the same time as the new Tahoe and Yukon models, and like its less lavish siblings, is expected to have a version of GM’s fifth-generation small block V-8 with direct-injection. One critique the current GMT-900 Escalade has received is that it’s too similar to the Tahoe and Yukon in regard to its trim and appearance. The new Escalade may differentiate itself further from the Tahoe and Yukon, but mechanically, is expected to share most of its hardware with those models.

Finally, the production version of the ELR plug-in hybrid coupe will make its debut. Expected to share much of its hardware and software with the Chevrolet Volt, the Cadillac ELR may have a longer electric range or a more powerful range-extender engine or both. Based on teaser shots shown at the presentation Loh attended, LED accent lighting, and premium interior materials were shown, with Cadillac representatives promising a ‘concept for the road, that still looks like a concept car.’

China continues to figure prominently in the future of the brand, with projections showing the country accounting for nearly half of all luxury goods and services purchased worldwide by 2020. To better serve the China domestic market, the XTS fullsize sedan will be manufactured locally.

Detroit Editor Todd Lassa says an ultra-premium Omega rear-wheel-drive platform to counter the Mercedes-Benz S-Class may be in the works, although officials did not specifically discuss this top-of-the-line model. But let’s not forget that it was at this venue last year that Cadillac stunned show-goers with its head-turning Ciel concept, which many believe could be a preview of a coming fullsize flagship.

 


Courtesy of Motor Trend

Cadillac

Thank you for your outstanding service, Kelly!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Rare, Historic Cadillacs on Display at Pebble Beach

DETROIT – A pair of one-of-a-kind Cadillac Fleetwood V-16s that were available but never ordered by customers during the Great Depression will be among the cars on display at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Carmel, Calif., this week.

Cadillac’s exhibit, open to the public Aug. 16-19 at Peter Hay Hill, features Cadillac’s newest cars, along with the two custom-built Fleetwood Convertibles from 1934 and 1937. Each has a historically significant pedigree.

A 1934 rumbleseat roadster model 5802 and a 1937 Phaeton model 5859 were part of Cadillac’s made-to-order Fleetwood collection, featured in the “build books” that customers used to select options for their cars. All other body styles were built for customers, but these two lavish models went unselected.

Decades later, noted automobile restorer and coachbuilder Fran Roxas built the Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 from scratch, relying only on the original blueprints of Cadillac designer John Hampshire. Both have won best-in-class awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The two one-of-a-kind models were rarely seen until being profiled in a recent Hemmings Classic Car article.

Each recently sold at auction. The Phaeton 5859 sold for $962,500 and the Roadster 5802 for $1,001,000. Both vehicles are powered by Cadillac’s legendary16-cylinder engine. Cadillac designers recently used the original drawings as inspiration for the Ciel Convertible concept car shown for the first time in the Cadillac exhibit at Peter Hay Hill in 2011. It will be on display again this week.

Held annually since 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a premier exhibition of pre- and post-war automobiles and motorcycles, as well as concept cars from manufacturers across the world. In order to be showcased, vehicles must be a well preserved or accurately restored model of the original and offer “historic value” in the form of engineering and design and craftsmanship among other factors from the vehicle’s time period.

“The Cadillac Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 are literally unlike any other vehicle ever built,” said Clay Dean, Cadillac design director. “The Cadillac design team is still inspired by these two vehicles as we dream and conceive of future Cadillac entries.”

Cadillac will also showcase a 1953 LeMans at this year’s event. The LeMans, a relatively small and athletic design, is one of the famed Motorama show cars of the 1950s.

Courtesy of media.gm.com

Cadillac

Great work, Kevin!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Monday Maintenance Tip: Drive in the City Like a Pro

Driving in the city is a very important skill that many need to have, especially if you happen to live there. Most city dwellers do take public transportation when available, but when you need to drive, we have the tips to help you become an expert. After this little crash course on city driving, you will learn to love the flow and bustle of city life and merge seamlessly with it, rather than going mad and pulling out your hair every time traffic gets heavy.

Smaller cars are the key to everyday travel through the city. Not only do you get the ease of parking in tiny spots, but you will also save a big of gas because of the stop and go traffic. Major cities are built to accommodate as many people in a small amount of space. Thus the city the streets and parking spaces are much narrower and smaller than others your use to.

Automatic transmissions are recommended for everyday travel to and within the city. The stress and fatigue will increase as you shift aimlessly with a manual transmission. Trust me on this one! During one of my trips to NYC, I shifted a manual transmission over 1000 times in an hour through heavy traffic. As many people swear by manual shifting, this is OK ( so do i) , it has its advantages, but it's just not well suited to city driving.

As parking spaces become harder to find, having that small car can get you in those tight spots. If you have the money, you can also invest in technology like back up cameras. These cameras will allow you to see how close you are to the car behind you through a pin hole camera on your trunk. Parking sensors work just as well, as you don't even need a visual, but only listen to a few beeps to know how close you are to the car behind you. Some luxury cars will have sensors in the front as well as the back.

Always drive inside your lane. Signal ten seconds before you lane change. Be cautious in hard driving conditions like snow and rain. Be careful of those huge pot holes ahead. So look give yourself some space between the car in front of your so that you have a better visual of the road ahead.

Avoid driving in the far right lane unless your turning. Metros, trucks, buses and other turning vehicles all enter the right lane. So to avoid any unnecessary backup time, drive in the middle lane if you are traveling straight for a while.

Now that you have a few tips. Try them out and you'll be on your way to being a pro at city driving.

City

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Big, bad Cadillac XTS raises bar for luxury sedans

The XTS is hot. And we don’t mean stolen.

Edmunds.com reports that the gorgeous, ferocious-looking all-new Cadillac XTS was one of two fastest-selling rides in June. As judged by a week driving it around New York City, Long Island and spots in between, you'd think this thing was an Olympic athlete by the number of folks taking its photo when I parked it or stopped at red lights.

And why shouldn’t they? It’s as beautiful a sedan as Caddy’s made in the last 20 years, with a predatory, authoritative hood, mighty-mighty flanks and a luxe flavor worthy of the badge. With the Lincoln Town car having given up the ghost and Cadillac’s own DTS and STS discontinued, the time was ripe for introducing a new sedan that bests all previous contenders, and this is it.

Available in all-wheel or front-wheel drive, the XTS features a 6-speed automatic transmission with steering wheel shift controls mated to a 3.6 litre, V-6.  That’s not very much engine for this car, especially given its weight of 4,000 pounds and change, and I felt the lack of power when trying to pass or to maneuver around tight situations. Lincoln’s new MKS sedan, which I tested right after the XTS, has way more get-up-and-go. (My MKS review will appear next week.)  XTS mileage, too, is a just-ok 20 MPG city, less on the highway.

But the XTS’s manners otherwise are everything you want and need in your sedan - nothing grabby, nothing abrupt, wheels go where you point them, brakes stop you when you step on the pedal, ride cushy, smooth and all Caddy, and it was pure pleasure to tool around in.

Now, about that CUE system - Cadillac’s center console unit consisting of Nav system, sound system, climate control and a few more doo-dads.

There’s been a lot of stink in print, and rightly so, about the system’s difficulty of use.  While the CUE and I didn’t instantly bond, and it’s slow as molasses when you’re trying to program the nav system, I did get used to it and found a logic in its workings, although I never did stop bashing the volume control up or down whenever I wanted to adjust something on it.  You’ll just have to train yourself to hit the bullseye with your index finger.

XTS prices start at $44,075, and my tester had a base price of $55,810, $57,725 loaded.  That’s not cheap, but nothing that looks this good needs to be.

Courtesy of New York Daily News

Cadillac

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Cultural Exploration Part of ‘ATS vs. the World’ Series

DETROIT – Professional race car driver Derek Hill and American actor Ross Thomas star in Cadillac’s new ATS vs. the World series of more than 40 television ads and online videos introducing the all-new ATS compact luxury sport sedan.

While the first television ad aired during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 27, Hill and Thomas did more on their journeys than just take on treacherous roads.

Shot documentary-style, the video series features Hill pushing the ATS to its limits through some of the world’s most extreme roads in Chile, China, Monaco, and Morocco. Ross plays host and sidekick in the series and explores the local cultures of the exotic locales where filming took place.

“As a professional driver, I think that Cadillac got it right with the ATS,” says Hill. “Whether it was the Magnetic Ride Control adjusting the suspension in the bumpy Guoliang Tunnel or the performance of the Brembo brakes as we took on 100 hairpin corners in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, the vehicle really responded when I pushed it to its limits.”

Hill is the son of legendary race driver Phil Hill, who is the last American to win the Formula World Championship. He’s known for logging wins in the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours races and for taking home the championship title at the 1997 Barber Pro Series, winning four races along the way.

Thomas, who graduated from the University of Southern California, has appeared in numerous television and movie roles. His love for anthropology has taken him around the globe from Peru to Laos studying the cultures of indigenous tribes in remote places. This experience helped Thomas highlight the stories behind the cultures he encountered while filming the ATS vs. the World video series.

In windswept Patagonia, Chile, where the ATS’s advanced aerodynamics is put to the test. Thomas and Hill profile the Yaghan people, considered to live in the southern most part of the world.

“On the ATS vs. the World challenge, we had the rare opportunity to interview the last full-blooded, native speaking Yaghan woman, Christina Calderon,” said Thomas. “The fact that we had the chance to archive even a small amount of information from Ms. Calderon that will live on through this project was very special for me.”

In Morocco, Hill steers through 100 turns over three miles up and down the Atlas Mountains at speeds up to 55 mph. Thomas and Hill then travel through the southeastern Saharan desert on camelback to experience how the local Berber tribe has traveled the land over the years.

In Monaco, the ATS takes on the pinnacle of racing at the Monaco Grand Prix Circuit and its tight corners and elevation changes at speeds up to 130 mph. Thomas and Hill then take in Monaco’s nautical culture, while musing over Hill’s own history racing the Monaco Grand Prix.  

In China, Hill takes the ATS through the hand-carved Guoliang Tunnels, while Thomas highlights Hainan Province; the birthplace of kung fu.

Courtesy of media.gm.com

Cadillac

Monday, August 6, 2012

2012 CADILLAC ESCALADE HYBRID 0% APR for 60 months

2012 CADILLAC ESCALADE HYBRID
0% APR for 60 months for qualified buyers. Monthly payment is $16.67 for every $1000 you finance. Example down payment: 18%. Some customers will not qualify. Take delivery by 09-04-2012. Residency restrictions apply. See Dealer for details. 

Escalade

Thank you for your feedback!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Bridge Testing Verifies New Cadillac Safety Tech

DETROIT – New York’s famed Brooklyn Bridge provided a key testing ground for Cadillac’s new Driver Awareness and Driver Assist active safety technologies that include maintaining a safe following distance to other vehicles even in stop-and-go traffic. 

The Brooklyn Bridge’s intricate metal design and traffic volume allowed General Motors engineers to refine the radar sensors so they can tell the difference between stationary objects like guard rails and bridge structure from vehicle traffic.

Metal structures can “confuse” some types of radar into detecting a vehicle or obstacle is approaching, causing an unnecessary warning or action from the safety systems,” said Jim Nickolaou, lead engineer for Sensor Fusion.

Sensor Fusion is what engineers call the science of discerning the data collected from cameras and sensors in and around the car. It is part of Cadillac’s all-new 2013 XTS luxury sedan and ATS compact sport sedan.

“The camera, sensors and radar technology act as the ‘brain’ behind all the safety features, feeding data 25 times per second into the car’s computer network,” Nickolaou said. “We found that the best way to test the system’s accuracy was to gauge its performance in stressful driving conditions that could confuse it, like those conditions found on the Brooklyn Bridge.”  

Once the largest suspension bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River that divides Manhattan and Brooklyn. Its massive expanse of metal cables, barriers, and structures combined with New York City traffic to make it an ideal place to test Sensor Fusion.

Overall, nearly 2,000 scenarios were identified to test the sensors and radars, including variables such as weather, traffic volume, lighting, and radar reflections, all of which can impact radar systems or other sensors in the car. Data was collected to anticipate a range of real-world conditions, and Sensor Fusion software development was tuned to prepare the production technology for such rigors.

“We have to try and anticipate every scenario, especially those that really challenge the technology,” Nickolaou said. “We tune the systems to discern actual obstacles from other things in the vicinity that should not cause a warning or braking action.”

The Driver Assist Package also offers safety technologies such as Automatic Collision Preparation, Lane Departure Warning, and Front and Rear Automatic Braking. Common to these systems is the science of Sensor Fusion, which is also used in Cadillac’s unique Safety Alert Seat that delivers warnings to drivers via a pulse on either or both sides of the seat cushion.

The advanced features on Cadillac’s all-new 2013 cars are an early benefit from long-term research and development on semi-autonomous driving. Nicknamed “Super Cruise,” Cadillac’s semi-autonomous technology is capable of fully automatic steering, braking and lane-centering under certain driving conditions. This technology could be ready for production vehicles by mid-decade.

“We’re bringing the future forward for today’s drivers,” said Don Butler, vice president, Cadillac Marketing. “The Driver Awareness and Assist technologies are tailored for intuitive use in the rigors of daily commuting.”

Courtesy of media.gm.com

Cadillac