1993 Cadillac Allante Base Convertible 2-door 4.6l on 2040-cars

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Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Cadillac Cimarron

Ah, the Cadillac Cimarron. Conceived during a time when oil prices were zooming upward and smallish luxury imports such as the Datsun 810 and BMW 320i were stealing Detroit's customers, the idea of a fuel-efficient compact Cadillac made sense. Unfortunately for GM, the Cimarron was an image-tarnishing disaster. Here's a fairly well-preserved '83 that I spotted in a Phoenix self-service wrecking yard. In the words of Pulitzer-winning Dan Neil in his 50 Worst Cars of All Time: "Everything that was wrong, venal, lazy and mendacious about GM in the 1980s was crystallized in this flagrant insult to the good name and fine customers of Cadillac." The Cimarron was a Chevrolet Cavalier with a bit of added bling and a fatter price tag. The Chevrolet Nova-based Cadillac Seville had sold pretty well during the late 1970s, so there was precedent for a small, Chevy-based Cadillac. The hood latch mechanism was broken (of course), so I couldn't shoot any photos of this car's 2.0-liter pushrod four-cylinder engine, rated at 86 horsepower. Here's a GM-produced documentary touting the futuristic design of the '83 Cimarron. The Cimarron Dream. Featured Gallery Junked 1983 Cadillac Cimarron View 12 Photos Auto News Cadillac Economy Cars Classics Sedan

President Trump's new limo spotted testing at high speed

What you're looking at is no ordinary limo. Look past the swirly camouflage and you'll see what appears to be a Cadillac, but don't let those looks fool you. This is the new Beast, otherwise known as Cadillac One, and codenamed by the Secret Service as Stagecoach. This is the car that will shuttle President Trump to and fro. It's hard to get a sense of scale from these images, but this car is huge. It's very likely built atop a heavy-duty truck platform, which is necessary due to the thick armor-like bodywork that's hermetically sealed to keep POTUS safe and sound. It's hard to tell for certain, but it appears this Beastie is riding on Goodyear Regional RHS II tires, which would otherwise be used on trucks and buses. Translation: this thing is heavy. The Beast is ostensibly badged as a Cadillac, and it wears the latest version of Caddy's corporate grille, badge, and upright headlamps at the front. From the rear, there's a hint of Rolls-Royce Phantom, with rear glass that tapers elegantly into the deck lid. In between is a massive slab-sided passenger compartment that's rumored to seat as many as seven passengers. These shots were snapped at GM's Milford Proving Grounds. It seems The Beast is undergoing some high-speed tests, though high-speed here is relative. Those Goodyears are only rated for 70 miles per hour or so, and we doubt the big 8.1-liter gasoline-fueled V8 engine is geared to push the President much faster than that, anyway. Related Video: