Category Archives: Opinions

Discussion of matters in the automotive industry and in car culture. Our opinions on what is going on, manufacturer’s products, etc

CARS 101, Opinions

Why Is Paddle Shift Killing the Manual Transmission, and is it a good thing?

May 22, 2015 ndubs77 12 Comments

I am someone who has publicly lamented the decline of the manual transmission. But I’m also someone who has enjoyed the merits of modern paddle shift gearboxes in many different cars.

I find myself very much split on this issue. So lets take a look at the various reasons why shifter paddles are replacing a gear lever and a third pedal in some of our favorite cars, and consider if it really is a good thing or not.

Note: To clear this up right away, by “paddle shift” I mean cars with automated manual gearboxes, either dual-clutch or single-clutch. I am in no way talking about anything like a Toyota Camry with the “sport package”, which has paddle shifters as a marketing gimmick.

1. More versatile on the road. (Having your cake and eating it too)

If you had something like a Lamborghini Diablo back in the mid 1990s chances are you had a lot of fun out on the open road. However, when you got into town and hit traffic, the heavy clutch made driving the car more of a $250,000 chore than an enjoyable way to spend a weekend afternoon. Considering the average speed of traffic on most roads is around 25-30mph, you’d be spending far more time putting along slowly than stretching the car’s legs. It’s a wonder why most owners hardly ever drove their exotic cars.

Today, Lamborghini only offers their cars with a paddle shift transmission. The sales numbers spoke for themselves. Once paddle shift was offered back around 2004, demand for manual Lambos simply fell off.

Paddle shift basically solved all the issues described above with the Diablo. Now, in an Aventador, you can rip your way into town and then just put the car in automatic mode when you hit traffic. You have a car that is a ferocious supercar when you want one, but is also just as easy to drive as a Toyota Camry when you don’t. You are no longer writing a six-figure check to put yourself through misery. And I agree, that is a major plus, especially in cars that had very difficult manual gearboxes like most supercars did.

Continue reading Why Is Paddle Shift Killing the Manual Transmission, and is it a good thing? →

Opinions

The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Looks Proper

May 20, 2015 ndubs77 2 Comments

Chevy just released the new Camaro hot on the heels of the new Ford Mustang, and it’s fixin’ to whoop it up somethin’ fierce!

I like to think of the modern muscle car as a sort of “blue-collar grand tourer”, and the current/previous Camaro was a great example of what such a modern muscle car should be like. That is to say it has to have speed, style, and comfort, and while it may be a heavy car, it should handle it’s weight well in corners. The Camaro already did all of that splendidly, so GM really just needed to build upon an already good car.

Looking at the new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro and its finer details, it definitely seems like GM has taken the route of improving on a good thing rather than reinventing the wheel.

Continue reading The 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Looks Proper →

Obscure Autos, Opinions

Hypercar History (1950s-1980s)

May 13, 2015 ndubs77 3 Comments

What is a hypercar? A hypercar is a supercar among supercars.

What is a supercar? A supercar is a faster, more extreme sports car.

What is a sports car? A sports car is a driving-focused machine in purpose with transportation being a secondary concern.

That is a very simplified rundown of the status that hypercars have in the world of automobiles. Supercars are what most people dream about, hypercars are what supercar owners dream about. They are the automobile fully turned up to eleven!

But where did it all begin, and how has this ultimate class of cars developed over time? Let’s go back to the 1950s.

Continue reading Hypercar History (1950s-1980s) →

Obscure Autos, SHOWCASE

The Cadillac Mirage–it’s a real Mirage, until you see it.

May 12, 2015 Albert S. Davis 2 Comments

Back in the mid 1970s, Cadillac was at the top of the throne in terms of American luxury, just before their kingdom crumbled to bits of rust, diesel engines, and Cimarrons. But before that, they were pretty much King Louis XIV. If you wanted a luxurious automobile with enough glitz to rival Las Vegas, Miami, and Hollywood combined, you spoke to your Cadillac guy. Here, Big Muscle host Mike Musto shows us something called the Cadillac Mirage, a converted Coupe DeVille with a pickup bed, and so much American schmaltz that I can’t help but wonder just who would buy something so insanely American. Wait a minute–I’m looking at myself. I’ll let the honorable Mr. Musto take it from here. Enjoy the video.

-Albert S. Davis

Opinions

Motor Trend gets their hands on the ATS-V–and does naughty things.

April 28, 2015 Albert S. Davis 1 Comment

The bad Cadillac of old is officially dead–no more garbage luxury cars that aren’t luxurious nor prestigious. But we need not shed a tear. The new Cadillac produces cars that Americans want–stuff that handles properly, looks fantastic, and is priced fitting of a luxury automobile. Carlos Lago has the keys to a white ATS-V Coupe, which will be coming soon to a showroom near you. After reading some early first drives of the new member to the Cadillac V family, I think we’re going to welcome this family member with open arms. So go ahead, you’ve got twelve minutes to watch this video. You’ll be glad you did. Just listen to that twin-turbo V6–it has a lot of nice things to say about life.

-Albert S. Davis

Car Shows, Opinions

The BMW i8 is Proof of Progress, and I Love It!

Gallery April 22, 2015 ndubs77 1 Comment

I saw my first BMW i8 out in the wild the other day, but only for just long enough to be awestruck, and then it was gone. While I didn’t manage to get a photo of that silver one on the road, I do have the photos from the i8’s first viewing at Amelia Island last year.

I must admit that I have love for everything that the BMW i8 represents, and I don’t think BMW could have executed this plug-in hybrid sports car any better. I remember in Monterey this year, we saw one parked in front of a restaurant, right next to a green McLaren P1. Which car drew the crowd?… The i8.

In fact, the most memorable part of that night was when I spent 10 minutes trying to convince a group of people that the i8 wasn’t a concept car, but was, in fact, on sale. They kept saying BMW would never make a car that looked so radical and actually expect to sell them. I had to pull out my phone and show them the i8 on BMW’s website, complete with its $136,000 base price. At that point, they finally believed me, and were wowed.

The BMW i8 is in the same price range as the higher-end Porsche 911 Carrera models, but BMW has given it the head-turning exotic appeal of a Pagani or a McLaren P1. The i8 looks like nothing else on the road. It even has show-y gullwing doors so you can make a grandiose entrance, or so you can’t get back into your car if people park on either side of you. Yes, that wonderful supercar idiocy is present and accounted for in the i8.

Performance wise, the i8 isn’t really a supercar by modern standards, but it’s plenty fast to have a lot of fun with. 0-60 takes 3.8 seconds, the 1/4 mile goes in 12.4 sec, and it tops out at 155mph. The kicker is the fuel economy. Where a Porsche 911 Carrera S can manage a respectable 29mpg, Motor Trend saw an Average of 45mpg in the BMW i8.

Put in 2004 terms, the i8 has the performance of a Ferrari 360 with the fuel economy of a Toyota Prius. This is progress people.

Enjoy the pics!

-Nick Walker

Opinions

The Cien Concept, and Why Cadillac Desperately Needs An Exotic Halo Car

Gallery April 20, 2015 ndubs77 2 Comments

This is the Cadillac Cien Concept from 2002. As a contemporary of the Ferrari Enzo and Porsche Carrera GT, it would have been one hell of a hypercar back then, and even still to this day. However, much to the continued chagrin of all car enthusiasts, the Cien was only a tease from GM. Worse is the fact that the Cien is a fully-functional concept, not just a rolling design study with no engine. And what an engine it has – a 7.5L Northstar V12 with (supposedly) as much as 950bhp on tap. That is the sort of power we see from the Modern LaFerrari and McLaren P1, but back in 2002. The Cien would’ve changed supercars, four years before Bugatti did, but Cadillac was just too lame to make it happen.

Now, here in 2015, Cadillac has an increasingly great lineup of cars, but their brand image still suffers from the “old conservative man” syndrome, which, frankly, has never been “cool.” Cadillac’s new CEO, Johan de Nysschen, has stated his goal to reinvent the Cadillac brand, and he’s even moved the corporate headquarters to New York City.

The V-Series models have done a lot to give Cadillac some serious “cred” with the enthusiast crowd, but that doesn’t apply to more general buyers. The new CT6 is a fantastic car for the more general luxury car buyer, and as the real successor to the current CTS sedan, longer term. All that said, something more drastic is definitely needed, because public perceptions can only be changed quickly with a sledgehammer.

There has been a lot of talk lately about there being a mid-engine Corvette in the works, but I think that would be a huge mistake for GM, and a big missed opportunity. That mid-engine supercar needs to be a Cadillac!

Continue reading The Cien Concept, and Why Cadillac Desperately Needs An Exotic Halo Car →

Car Shows, Opinions

The Lincoln Continental: Grandpa Irving’s Lincoln, No Longer.

April 9, 2015 Albert S. Davis 2 Comments

Lincoln hasn’t been making dramatic, sexy, or even remotely attention-grabbing cars for some years now. In fact, all of their products since the LS was taken out behind the barn have been rebadged Fords. 9 years of nothing but rebadged Fords and mediocrity. Finally, though, there is hope from the land of Town Cars, Mark Series, and Zephyrs. The new Continental concept is a genuine breath of fresh air from Lincoln–it’s not a reskinned Ford with a toupee. Continue reading The Lincoln Continental: Grandpa Irving’s Lincoln, No Longer. →

Opinions

What To Make of Elio Motors?

April 8, 2015 ndubs77 30 Comments

A few weeks ago, my friend, Alex, sent me this photo of a crazy-looking car I had never seen before. He told me it was called an “Elio”, so I searched around on Google to find out more about it.

Made by a brand new company, Elio Motors, this 3-wheeler may well revolutionize the auto industry in the coming years. It may look fast, and far-out, but really it is economical and wonderfully simple. I had a chance to get up close with the Elio prototype at the New York International Auto Show this past weekend, and since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the Elio.

The Elio’s Proposition By The Numbers:

3 Wheels, 2 Seats, 3 cylinders, 60hp, 1,200lbs, and 84 MPG, all for a price of… $6,800.

So What Should We All Make of the Elio?

Continue reading What To Make of Elio Motors? →

Opinions

Calling It Early: The Cadillac CT6 is Really the CTS Replacement

April 7, 2015 ndubs77 9 Comments

This isn’t any sort of official “scoop”, more of an educated hunch. But I think I can see a lot of where Cadillac is going to be headed in the next few years from the details of the CT6 alone. This hunch came about when I heard that Cadillac had announced it would be killing off the XTS, CTS, and ATS in the next few years.

You see, everyone seems to think that the CT6 is going to be a BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class competitor, but Now I can see how it won’t be. In fact it is effectively the replacement for both the current CTS and XTS, and it represents an entirely new approach for the Cadillac brand. One which they will be expanding upon in the coming years. Here is how I have come to this idea.

The CT6 has the same engine options as the CTS and BMW 5 Series, not a BMW 7 Series
Nobody is going to pay $70k for the 4-banger CT6, so it will need to overlap the CTS’s pricing.
It may have many similar dimensions to a 7 Series, but it weighs the same as a 5 series
Cadillac keeps claiming their S-Class and 7 Series competitor is still to come. So the CT6 has to be lower.

What we can pull from this is not only that the CT6 is really the CTS successor, but also Cadillac’s new approach to making cars…. and that is “Bigger and Better.”

Look at the Cadillac CT6 compared to the BMW 5 Series. It weighs the same, it will have similar prices, and, with similar engines, will have similar performance. But the CT6 also offers cabin space and many luxury features generally reserved the class above. With the CT6, Cadillac is offering a BMW 5 Series rival, but with the luxury of a BMW 7 Series. It is literally bigger and better than a 5er.

I think Cadillac will apply this approach to all of their new models, offering luxury and space that is above the norm for each segment. It completely explains their obsession with making their cars light weight, so they can offer more tangible size than the competition, without sacrificing performance or fuel economy.

The ATS and CTS have both received complaints for being too small for their class, in terms of cabin space. Plainly, being cramped has never been the Cadillac way. That is probably why they are saying there will be no direct successors to the CTS and ATS, because those models are “Smaller and Better”, not “Bigger and Better.”

We can likely expect the effective ATS replacement to be called the CT4, and likely be around the size of a BMW 5 Series with the weight of a 3 Series. The CT6 is basically replacing the CTS, as explained above. Finally, the Big Daddy Caddy will likely dubbed the CT8. It should offer Rolls Royce and Bentley levels of luxury for the price of a BMW 7 Series or Mercedes S-Class.

Why hasn’t Cadillac just called the CT6 the CTS’s replacement? Because they just brought out the new CTS two years ago, and they’d still like to be able to sell them. It’s common knowledge that you don’t badmouth your own product. That’s what us bloggers are for, to call things as they are.

If I’m right, and this new “Bigger and Better” approach is for real, then Cadillac is back!

-Nick Walker

Opinions

The Cadillac CT6 just told you to Go Home and Get ya F***ing Shinebox!

April 7, 2015 Albert S. Davis 5 Comments

If Cadillac has any chance of surviving as a luxury brand on this Earth, they needed a flagship. The XTS is a rental queen that’s only here so they have something to sell to livery fleets that’s FWD. The CTS is nice, but too small to be a true flagship. Luckily for us, GM had an ace in its hand–the new Omega platform. Cadillac’s been teasing us since 2011 for a flagship model to launch, and now, that day has come. Welcome, and welcome all, to the new Cadillac CT6. Continue reading The Cadillac CT6 just told you to Go Home and Get ya F***ing Shinebox! →

Opinions

Why Couldn’t Lincoln Just Make a Lincoln?

April 1, 2015 ndubs77 4 Comments

The Lincoln brand desperately needs a savior, but I’m really not seeing the 2016 Lincoln Continental Concept as the car to do it.

Establishing a solid brand identity for Lincoln is really the only thing that matters here, in my opinion. And, frankly, if the new Continental isn’t going to do that, then it is total a waste of effort and money for Ford. My problem with it is that most of it’s good aspects are done the wrong way to establish a real unique brand identity. There is too much copying going on, and you can’t anywhere new as a follower. There are a few good things, though, so let’s begin with that before jumping into the ocean of criticism I have to voice.

Continue reading Why Couldn’t Lincoln Just Make a Lincoln? →