[LymanSS]

I just read in automotive news that GM recently discussed the idea of bringing the DTS back to rear drive. At NADA show (which was a week or two ago) they told dealers that they may revert to rear drive in 2007. Prior to this announcement they had been saying that they wanted to keep the Deville front drive, while the rest of the line goes to rear drive. The logic behind this was that the Deville constitutes the majority of Cadillac's present sales. Keeping the Deville front drive would help prevent alienation of their older customer base, which has grown accustomed to front drive. The Seville, CTS, and SRX would be responsible for building the "New" cadillac image, and competing with cars from BMW, Lexus, and Audi. For some reason their minds may have changed. Perhaps it was the lack of a suitable front drive chassis? I don't know if there would be anything for the Deville to share a platform with. There's no more aurora or riviera. Maybe the Park avenue, and maybe the bonneville. The STS will be on the Sigma platform, which is rear drive. In any case, the high luxury market presently demands V8 engines, and rear wheel drive. I think pandering to their geriatric audience would be a bad move. Most forward thinking customers right now are willing to make the shift from front to rear drive, in exchange for the handling and performance benefits. Beyond that, they really can't put more than 300 hp to the road with a front drive setup, and in order to remain competetive, the Deville will need more power in the next decade.

Scott

 

[LymanSS]

Well there was the mosler twin star. It had a second northstar in the back, powering the rear wheels. That's 600 hp, all wheel drive. Although it was a bit heavy. I believe a fully dressed northstar is close to 500 lbs. Anyway, 0-60 was supposed to be about four seconds with 1/4 mile in the 12's. No trunk of course, but whatever I don't know if they make those anymore though. I think Mosler is mostly focused on the MT900 now.

Scott

 

[LymanSS]

No, no no....the answer my friends is AWD As the SRX demonstrates, the sigma platform is capable of being AWD. This means that the upcomming STS could in fact be awd capable. That should more than satisfy the northerners If they make the Deville on that platform (which they discussed for a while) then it could be available with AWD too. Audi is exclusively awd, mercedes is starting to offer it on everything, and BMW has it on the three series, and maybe more cars in the future. I see it's popularity growning in the future, and I think Cadillac should start offering all wheel drive options on their sedans. Doesn't it make sense?

Scott

 

[LymanSS]

The Audis used to have the option of engaging or disengagine the all wheel drive. That was back in the eighties. Now most of them (TT excluded) use a torsen differential in the center, and electronically controlled lockers in the front and rear. The system is engaged all the time, and is virtually un-detectable. The Torsen automatically shunts power to the front or rear (whichever can make most use of it) and the lockers lock if one wheel starts slipping. I was slightly off when I said it was on all their cars. It's an option on the TT. And the A4 can be had without it as well. But I think the A6 and A8 always have it. As for cadillacs being too big for awd (who mentioned that?) the A8L is a big car. It's got all wheel drive, and it's a serious advantage in the snow, and during spirited driving. There's a myth that only little econoboxes (like the WRX) deserve AWD. But big cars like cadillacs need it even more, because we need to put a lot of power to the ground in order to get these cars moving. I would love to see a system like Audi's quattro available on Cadillacs.

Scott

 

[LymanSS]

It's not really that complicated. Just three differentials and some electronics. Or throw in a torsen and lose half the electronics. There are a lot of options, and it's really not that complex. But beside that point, let me remind you of the upcomming SRX. It's based on the sigma platform, and it's all wheel drive. That's the same platform as the CTS, the nexts STS, and it's been proposed for the next deville. Which means they actually do have an all wheel drive system that could be applicable to cadillac. Isn't life good?


Scott