[Shotimes] (OT) CTS-V in Detroit Free Press

[Donald Mallinson]

I thought we SHO folk were above the bias that you hear in 
the typical American enthusiast press (AutoWeek, Car & 
Driver, Road & Track etc.).

In those magazines, NOTHING made by an American company has 
a chance of anything other than damning with faint praise. 
But anything by Japan and Germany Inc. gets a free pass.

Take the Honda Element.  More grey CLADDING than the Pontiac 
Aztec, especially after the recent Pontiac restyle, but even 
in its original guise, the Aztec was only JUST as ugly as 
the new Element.  Still, the magazines call the Honda "cute" 
and still bash the Pontiac.  If there isn't a better example 
of bias, I don't know where it is.

Now the CTS and the new performance version comes with a 
great six-speed manual, RWD, 400 hp, performance tested 
suspension with parts that almost NOBODY else puts on at the 
factory!  Yes, strut tower braces are well known and proven, 
and it was a PR flack that incorrectly built up the item as 
something new on the new CTS, but still, why not praise 
Cadillac for putting on something that we go out and search 
for, and make up from scratch for our own cars! Be fair here.

Also, have any of you actually driven the CTS?  I have, the 
base automatic version.  It wasn't under powered, it had as 
much power and performance as a typical more expensive 6 cyl 
BMW, but the BMW gets a pass on putting out 45k cars with 
only 225 hp, when Caddy gets hammered for putting out a less 
expensive car with modern styling and virtually the same hp 
and performance... How biased is that?

The CTS is a superb handling car.  And something else, the 
DeVille is no longer a "barge" or "Land Yacht" as magazines 
like to say.  It rides firm, has 275-300 high-tech hp, and 
weighs no more and usually less than the competition from 
Japan and Germany, while offering more value for the dollar. 
  I have driven all of these cars and the Caddy offerings 
are right in there with them.  All that holds them back is bias.

So the engineers at Cadillac work to solve that with a new 
high po version of a car that truly WAS developed in Germany 
so it could come up to the standards set by BMW.  They 
acknowledged that BMW was the target, and they spent more 
than just a "trip to run the 'ring".  They spent months 
there working to get it right, just what you would expect 
from BMW or any other company that you might respect.  How 
can you put down an American company for going the extra 
miles to bring out a truly competitive car?

Put down the car just because it doesn't have four cams?  I 
thought the goal was performance, value, ability, 
reliability, etc.  IF it is just gadgets then, admit that is 
what you are after.  There is nothing wrong with the small 
block Chevy.  You don't need 10,000 rpm potential to go fast.

Come on folks, let's evaluate the car BEFORE we make 
judgments.  At some point all of us had to give the SHO a 
chance, even though Ford had NO history of making 
sophisticated fast mid-size sedans.  And they managed to 
make a good one, that we love and wish they would make 
again.  Don't assume, just because it says Cadillac on it, 
that it can't be any good.  It just MIGHT be as good as a 
BMW.  It might be a better value, if people give it a 
chance.  Everywhere except in the enthusiast press, people 
know that Cadillac has been making superb cars for a long 
time now, and EVERYONE made some junk in the 70's, so don't 
drag those cars into the fray.  EVerybody is getting better, 
and Cadillac is trying.  Why not give them a chance and see 
if maybe, just maybe they can succeed?

Don Mallinson