Well, maybe. But you are writing as though it is a given that the DTS should not be allowed to decline.
In the big picture, the Cadillac brand has been ascending based on models such as the CTS and Escalade and also due to the V-series. The DTS is there because of "traditional"/"mature" buyers (who by definition are dying). Whereas the DTS was once the "father" of the brand, it is now the black sheep of the brand.
I know people around here like the DTS as is (as do I, otherwise I wouldn't have one), but the days of the current DTS as a plush soft vehicle are numbered. When 2012 comes around, it will be a luxury car in the manner of BMW and Mercedes, just as the CTS and STS are, and will be a true flagship for Cadillac. Ergo, there's not a lot of impetus to improve the current DTS in its final years.
I guess my observations were too negative. Although I am aware of the overall "plan" as you present it, and I have chosen to own a 2003, and now a 2008 CTS, this current DTS still deserves greater improvements until 2012 comes around. This level of product changes seems to be just "prolonging the process" of killing off the DTS. When the new model comes, to replace the STS & DTS, there will be quite a lot of Cadillac's future riding on it! In my opinion, re-inventing the brand as merely an American BMW clone will not work out. There will always have to be one model in their line-up slanted towards discernable Cadillac design cues and features, with an acknowledgement of their heritage. Cadillac also needs to offer competitive (i.e. high caliber) entries in the other model categories, such as the second-generation CTS. Time will tell how consumers accept these replacement models . . .
I don't want a BMW or a Mercedes. If I did ... I would buy one.
I want a CADILLAC that is really a CADILLAC. I will be needing one about the time the new RWD model comes out.
But it looks like what I (and others) want... no longer matters.
They will make what they want to, and we will take it or leave it. I am getting more and more inclined to leave it, unless the new model is once again a REAL CADILLAC.
...In my opinion, re-inventing the brand as merely an American BMW clone will not work out. ...
The new CTS probably speaks most clearly about where the Cadillac brand is going. It's not a BMW clone. But it certainly gives up the soft-comfy feel of yesterday's Cadillac in favor of a sharper-edge (style and driving feel). If you ask me, Cadillac is trying to be a stylish and fashionable sports car, where BMW's have always been very conservative or odd in appearance. The success of the current CTS would seem to indicate that this is working.
The simple fact is that the majority of young buyers (especially the yuppie crowd, a highly coveted segment) are turned off by the soft floaty feel of older Cadillacs and favor this sharper-edge feel that BMW and Mercedes have always had. My guess is that the 2012 DTS will have a "soft-comfy" trim lever to cater to the mature crowd, but the "normal" trim level will have a more BMW feel to cater to a younger demographic.
I was true to cadillac thru 14 cars but have been put off by lower quality and de-featured 06 dts lux lll. will keep the dts to drive as an alternate to the mercedes 500 SL I just purchased, my first non US made car.
sts96
Andy1 here. I have read that 2010 is last FWD DTS with Northstar V8. After that, all Caddies will be V6 power and DTS will be combined with STS in one model, all RWD and V6, no more Northstar V8.
Say it aint so...
For those of you wondering what the new for 2009 Ferritic Nitro-Carburizing (FNC) brake rotors are, here is the official explanation from GM:
"Beginning with the 2009 Cadillac DTS, GM is introducing a new brake rotor technology called Ferritic Nitro-Carburizing (FNC). In this additional step in the manufacturing process, the brake rotor is heat treated to create a hardened outer layer on the surface of the rotor. This layer reduces rotor rusting (corrosion) and allows the rotor to wear slower.
Also, because this new technology protects against excessive rotor corrosion, the rotor not only aesthetically looks better through open-spoke wheels, it helps reduce thickness variation which creates pulsation specifically due to “lot rot” corrosion."
is there going to be any major noticable difference from the outside on the new 09's?
Probably the most noticeable is the larger, curvy, body colored XM/OnStar antenna instead if blocky, black bump and fin. I had an 09 CTS as a loaner a couple weeks ago and one lady said it looks like a dolphin fin.
