10th Jul 2017, 21:07
@ 10th Jul 2017, 16:19:
Nailed it! Great post.
It's funny that the association of sporty handling with superior quality often works against the buyer -- a M3 suspension setup, for example, is both overly capable and needlessly uncomfortable on most city streets.
I think with the US's failing infrastructure, the pendulum will swing back towards a greater preference for compliance. Fortunately, with the advent of electronically-adjustable suspension settings, consumers can have both the sporty image with coddling comfort.
10th Jul 2017, 22:12
If you ask me, the reason Cadillac is losing sales to the German competitors is because they DON'T manufacture the traditional American luxury car anymore. I remember not to long ago in the mid-90s - mid 2000s, almost everywhere you looked on the road you saw a DeVille. Cadillac's flagship today is the XTS, which already had its name changed to the CT6 due to poor sales.
As far as Lincoln Town Cars; you still see a great deal of those on the road. A lot has to do with their stellar reliability. Many people including myself are holding onto them because they are the last of their kind. I've had my '96 for over 10 years and still have no problem with the handling and road manners, and yes I have driven BMW, Mercedes and Audi, and still prefer the soft American ride any day.
10th Jul 2017, 18:14
That doesn't mean most of us that truly actually owned a brand new late 60s, early 80s full size Cadillac or Lincoln like what we are stuck with today. You can't beat the wheelbase, ride and comfort of old. I would pay for the older big cars from Lincoln Cadillac if a 2017 version was out. 50s and up to mid 60s Lincolns and Cadillacs are simply out of this equation. Sure my family can dial in the ride and handling on a new Audi or even a MB if we chose the latter today. Or you could buy a supercharged 638 HP downsized manual trans Cadillac. But this discussion is superior ride, not pinpoint precision steering and close to 200 mph. It's ride. Somehow the primitive 50s era keeps popping up. If enough of us speak up, maybe we can get manufacturers to listen. We will be first in line. And no one says we can't also keep European counterparts to go with it.