Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
You're talking as if Cadillac put the whole thing together & decided that the only other car that should be present is the 3 series. Motor Trend did the comparo and wanted to see how the new ATS stacked up against the car that they felt was the best in segment (according to a recent multi-car comparison test they conducted before they had access to the ATS). If you've got a problem with the 3 series being protrayed in the video as the car to beat, your beef is with Motor Trend -not Cadillac.
GM did not focus solely on the 3 series when they did their benchmarking for the ATS. They bought 2 of every competitor & used those cars to determine where to set their targets for each aspect of the car (ride, handling, body stiffness, erogonomics, seating comfort, materials, fit and finish, etc). This is a standard practice at any major company, not unique to the ATS, GM, or even the auto industry. But the point is, GM brass didn't just grab a previous generation 3 series and say 'build us a better one of those'.
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No, I'm acting as if the extra (not exclusive) focus on the 3 series is the only portion of the ATS coverage I don't like. I also never implied that GM said to Cadillac "just build us a better one of those". I did say I was concerned that is the message being sent, and it isn't just Motortrend either, Motortrend is only the article that started this thread.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/dr...3-cadillac-ats
http://jalopnik.com/5928279/cadillac...alopnik-review
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...838944226.html
http://motorspacenw.com/member/bloge...0&u=144&page=0
http://www.insideline.com/cadillac/a...full-test.html
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews...s/viewall.html
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...t-drive-review
In each of those articles the 3-series is practically the first thing mentioned, though the Automobile magazine article did give fairly solid mention to other cars and so did Car and Driver.
Whether this approach is advocated or desired by Cadillac or GM, I can't say. What I can say is that I personally don't like the focus. Perhaps it will be the deciding factor for a large portion of future ATS buyers perhaps not, but it won't be the deciding factor for me.
If I buy an ATS (which I may when I return to the US in a couple years) its performance relative to a 3-series will not be a major consideration. I already know Cadillac makes cars that perform well, and have been doing so. It will likely be the result of a cost-benefit analysis between the CTS and ATS honestly. So all things considered I'm probably irrelevant to Cadillac, because I will probably be buying from them regardless.
Finally, it isn't widely reported that Cadillac bought two of each of the competition as you pointed out, and that is precisely the kinds of info I want to hear and see printed more often. Unfortunately, what usually is reported is that Cadillac bench-marked the E46 3-series, that is what gets the attention and that is what I'm not a fan of.
And to shamelessly quote myself from my original post (bolded portion for effect
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock36
In fact, I actually think there is a lot to the ATS that makes it stand on its own, and I would rather read about all that instead of hearing about how Cadillac built a 3 series fighter.
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