You know how much I like podcasts? I got the new Nano just for TTAC (but now use it for other great podcasts too).

And for the record: I’m a 27 yr old guy and b/c of the arrival of the new CTS, I finally stepped inside a Cadillac dealership a few weeks ago, so they (GM) must be doing something right. A back to back test drive of the Bu, Accord and 6 is next to see how they all compare.

Those who think Cadillac should occupy their current spot aren’t remembering the glory days of GM. More importantly, the unassailable days of pure profit.

Brand degradation didn’t start with the CTS, nor the Cimarron–it was probably the entry level Calais models of the late 1960s–but Cadillac is holding itself back with the CTS.

Until Cadillac moves up, Buick and Pontiac are doomed to even more overlapping products and poor performance. At some point the downward spiral will hit rock bottom for those two brands.

Dinu: So you are one of the 3-4 listeners of the podcast. I’m one. That means we are perhaps the majority of the listening audience. I second your question regarding why the podcasts are not placed in the “Podcast” section of the website. The majority has spoken.

I hear ya.

Thanks to our boffins, the podcasts now appear as both news blog items AND podcasts. How great is that?

As for this whole Cadillac controversy, where I am down South, Cadillac is basically a car for old folks that want to splurge, as opposed to just getting a Buick or Crown Vic. If you aren’t drawing Social Security, I am not sure they’d even sell you one.

Now if the reviewer is saying the Cadillac is not a “real” Cadillac because this cohort isn’t gonna buy one, he may have a point. But then I’d say “Good riddance” to that so-called “real” Cadillac, and welcome to the new “pseudo” Cadillac. Cadillac finally makes a turn in the dirction of making a car someone under 65 would want to drive…and they get flack from a reviewer at TTAC because of it. Are you kidding me?!

If that is destroying the brand, then this is a brand that needed to reinvent itself.

Well, I’m neither American nor “truly rich”. But we do have a six-figure household income and I can’t afford a CTS because of little trivialities like mortgage payments, student loans, and saving for a putative retirement.

In that sense it is “aspirational” in that I’d love to be able to afford one, even though I’d likely spend my money on something else.

Good points. I agree that Cadillac needs to ditch the bad parts of its image (i.e. FWD barges for old people). BUT, the part they need to keep is “the finest automobiles in the world” and “aspirational”.

When the CTS is a “mere” great car, and a 30 something yuppie can afford it, it is neither THE benchmark car for the world nor something that only the truly rich in America own.

That is my biggest objection to it.

Wouldn’t they be better off making something to compete with their rivals’ flagship models before working their way down the pricing food chain instead of the other way around?

Would it be possible to post all podcasts in the podcast section (http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/category/podcasts/) AND also have it uploaded to iTunes? Just an idea/suggestion/request :)

Thanks!

Personally, I think the best Cadillac is a Chrysler 300C that has the CTS’s interior.