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A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Cadillac ATS failing to command BMW 3 Series-like pricing as hoped

The BMW 3 Series has long been the benchmark for small and sporty luxury vehicles, but the Cadillac ATS has come on strong in its short time on the market as a true rival in this segment. As impressive as Cadillac's new compact sedan is, however, Automotive News is reporting that the car is still lagging behind the 3 Series when it comes to actual transaction pricing.
According to the article, the average transaction price for the ATS is $39,459 while the 3 Series is at a much larger $44,764, but, just as importantly, Cadillac has about $500 more in incentives on the ATS compared to BMW. Transaction prices are much closer to cars like the Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4. Of course, this is all with the ATS trying to take on its small,sport sedan rivals with a single bodystyle and limited powertrain options compared to the numerous options available from the German automakers in this class.
This uneven battle won't last long, though, as recent spy shots have revealed that Cadillac is hard at work on a high-performance ATS-V and an ATS Coupe. No official word as to when either of these models will be unveiled, but with auto show season set to kick off, we're expecting sooner rather than later. The best news for the ATS is that the Automotive News says sales of the ATS are on target and that 74 percent of ATS buyers are new to Cadillac - two important factors for the brand as it tries to break into this tough segment.

Cadillac issues stop sale on ATS to recall 82k units

Cadillac is issuing a recall on 82,620 examples of the 2013-2016 ATS worldwide to fix a compliance issue with the sunroof controls. Until a service bulletin goes out to take care of things, there's also a stop sale on the luxury compact in the United States, The Detroit News reports. Of the affected models, 63,665 are in the US, according to a statement sent to Autoblog, and 7,922 of them are in Canada. The problem is actually the same issue as a recall on nearly 59,000 examples of the 2013-2015 ATS in the US in February. In them, the controls for the tilt and slide of the roof aren't recessed enough to meet government standards for the force necessary to operate the buttons. The Feds believe that someone could accidentally activate the auto-close and potentially be at risk. At the time, Cadillac dealers installed a new trim plate to add the needed clearance. In the latest update, the company is adding the 2016 model year, and according to The Detroit News, 70 percent of the cars from the original campaign also need another new trim plate. Unsurprisingly for such a minor defect, there are no known crashes, injuries, fatalities, or customer complaints related to this issue, according to the announcement by General Motors. Cadillac ATS Statement: General Motors is recalling 63,665 Cadillac ATS sedans in the United States from the 2013-2016 model years because the power-operated roof panel systems on these vehicles will auto-close when the non-recessed portion of the "Slide" or "Tilt" switches are pressed and the roof panel is open. Because these switches are not fully recessed, they can be actuated with less force than required to comply with applicable federal standards. GM knows of no crashes, injuries or fatalities related to this issue and has received no customer complaints. The total population of the recall including Canada, Mexico and exports is 82,620. Transport Canada Recall # 2015322 Recall Date 2015/07/21 Notification Type Compliance Mfr System Electrical Manufacturer Recall Number 15568 Units Affected The number of vehicles or components affected by the recall. 7,922 Category Car Recall Details Certain vehicles equipped with power-operated sunroof system may fail to conform to Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) 118 - Power-Operated Window, Partition and Roof Panel Systems.