1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible No Reserve! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM Recalling Another 2.7 Million Vehicles In Five Separate Campaigns

The recalls keep rolling in from General Motors, evidently keen to avoid repeating the mistakes of the ignition-switch debacle and clean house. This time they're all coming at once, with five separate recalls announced together covering approximately 2.7 million vehicles. The largest of the five actions involves over 2.4 million units of the previous-generation Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura in order to fix brake light wiring harness, which have been found to be susceptible to corrosion. The recall is separate from the 56k Aura sedans which GM recently recalled over faulty shift cables, not to mention the previous massive recall of 1.3 million vehicles – some of them the same models – but appears to have resulted from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation that started with the G6 almost a year ago. The second-largest campaign involves the 2014 Chevy Malibu, specifically those fitted with GM's 2.5-liter engine and stop/start system, approximately 140,000 examples of which has been found to have problematic brakes. The issue does not appear to be connected to the recall of 8k Malibu and Buick LaCrosse sedans (also involving brake woes) which we reported upon last week. Four crashes have been reported in such models, but GM admits it's not yet clear if the problem was a contributing factor in the accidents. A further 112k Corvette models from the 2005-2007 model years are being called in for problems with their low-beam headlamps resulting from a flexing relay control circuit wire that's not meant to bend. GM says it is "aware of several hundred complaints" about this issue, but notes that there have been no reports of related accidents. In addition, over 19k examples of Cadillac CTS from the 2013 and 2014 model years are being recalled over windshield wipers that might not work after a jump start. Finally, GM is also bringing in 477 examples of its 2014 Chevy Silverado, Tahoe and GMC Sierra (though not the Yukon) to fix a problem with a tie rod in its steering rack. As ever, all recall repairs will be performed free of charge, and GM is now estimating that recall-related actions this quarter will result in an estimated $200-million charge against its second-quarter earnings. Read the full announcement from GM below for further details.

2016 Cadillac CTS-V prepares to kick ass, take names

Some stories write themselves. This post on the North American International Auto Show debut of the 2016 Cadillac CTS-V is one of them. This 200-mile-per-hour sedan pilfers the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 from the Chevy Corvette Z06, and puts it to the same tire-devastating effect, offering up 640 horsepower and 630 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed automatic – please join us in a moment of silence for the dearly departed manual CTS-V – then dispatches the force-induced thrust to a very large, sticky set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires. To ensure the CTS-V can tear your face off with lateral Gs as well as accelerative Gs, Cadillac stiffened the car's structure by 25 percent, fitted magnetic ride control and fitted the aforementioned tires. Beyond the mechanicals, a substantial rear spoiler, front splitter and diffuser improve grip through aerodynamics. Keeping drivers pinned during all this tire shredding and face tearing is the task of meaty, two-piece Recaro sport seats, which are found in a luxuriously appointed cabin, complete with 4G LTE connectivity, a Bose stereo and Siri Eyes Free. There's even a Performance Data Recorder, which will be on hand to record your miscues if (or perhaps when) the car's extreme abilities outpace your own talents. Take a look at our array of live images from the CTS-V's official debut at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show.

Cadillac ATS was almost front-wheel drive

"We were going to do a front-wheel drive Cadillac compact off of Delta because it was going to be less expensive," Doug Parks, General Motors' vice president of global product programs, told the Automotive News during the Detroit Auto Show in January of this year. That sentence, referring to early ATS discussions more than five years ago - a period when the automaker, and the industry, was struggling - reveals that Cadillac's highly acclaimed rear-wheel drive compact sedan almost never happened.
Parks revealed that that automaker actually built a 2.0-liter test mule, on GM's Delta platform (shared with the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Verano) and tested it in Europe. While the prototype was "pretty darn good," according to Parks, the team realized that in order to compete against Mercedes-Benz and BMW it would have to invest in a new rear-wheel drive platform.
The resulting all-new Alpha platform would eventually underpin the Cadillac ATS, and many would argue that its balanced rear-wheel drive chassis is its single most important attribute. Thankfully, the Alpha's goodness won't stop with the ATS. The upcoming 2014 Cadillac CTS and the future Camaro will also share its architecture, meaning the Cimarron will remain a distant memory.