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"Cadillac’s latest harebrained scheme" - A Road & Track Editorial

16K views 139 replies 30 participants last post by  Mr.Buttons 
#1 ·
Road & Track magazine
June, 2020

Editorial by Jason Cammisa, Road & Track magazine, June 2020, page 18.


Photo Credit: General Motors Corporation

FORTY YEARS AGO CADILLAC LEARNED THE HARD WAY THAT IT SHOULD NEVER PLACE ITS BADGE ON SOMETHING THAT HADN’T EARNED IT.

Does your garage door have a badge on it? No. Everyone knows it’s a garage door. And nobody cares how wide it is, how quickly it opens, or which kind of helper spring it uses. Yet car companies slap badges all over their products in an attempt to broadcast different facts about them to the public, which probably doesn’t care. Forty years ago Cadillac learned the hard way that it should never place its badge on something that hadn’t earned it. The Cimarron was a rebadged Chevrolet Cavalier, a substandard economy car that now makes regular appearances on listicles of the worst cars of all time. Badge engineering an expensive “luxury” version without any actual engineering—or additional content— was a blatant insult to Cadillac’s own customers, a ploy so disingenuous that it almost killed the whole brand. Luckily, Cadillac hasn’t done anything so egregious since. But it did recently begin applying questionable badges to its otherwise fine products. I recently drove an XT6 with a “400” badge. Upon seeing it, I thought perhaps I’d missed the memo that Cadillac had installed a 400-hp version of the ATS-V’s twin-turbo V-6 in the new SUV. Silly me felt like stupid me when I matted the throttle and pulled out in front of traffic expecting violent rollercoaster fury and received tepid merry-go-round g-forces in response.

I’d forgotten about Cadillac’s latest harebrained scheme to deceive its customers: using a badge that looks like a horsepower rating, but is, in fact, not. The number isn’t pure fiction: it touts the engine’s torque rating, except that it’s expressed in newton meters and rounded (upward) to an even multiple of 50. The XT6’s naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V-6 produces, at its peak, 271 lb-ft of torque. This converts to 373 Nm, which Cadillac then presents as an even 400. Using engine output to differentiate models is actually a great idea. It’s far better than engine displacement, for example. That method worked perfectly well for decades, with the Germans in particular implementing badging schemes that were easy to decode and, for a while there, accurate.

Audi chose eight arbitrary categories from 30 to 70. If you see a “55” badge on the back of one of its vehicles, you’ll need to consult your spreadsheet to discover its total output is between 328 and 368 hp. This is akin to measuring the flour in a cookie recipe using a size 11 sock. Thankfully, Audi of America decided not to apply these extraneous and confusing badges to cars sold here. Too bad Cadillac didn’t make the same decision, because using torque is even worse. Torque is a metric that’s barely understood by most enthusiasts, much less the typical kid-hauler XT6 customer. But browsing through all the output specs for the V-6, you’ll see power ratings of 229 kW or 310 hp and torque output of 271 lb-ft or 373 Nm. Of all four, the metric torque output is the highest number. To a simple-minded marketing person with no understanding of anything, the bigger the number the better—and one suspects that’s why Cadillac chose to use newton meters. It’s the same flawed logic that led Cadillac to offer a high-priced Cavalier. And unfortunately, it’s just as easy to understand how annoyed customers feel when they’ve been deceived by something as simple as a badge. Especially one we didn’t need in the first place.








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#2 ·
it touts the engine’s torque rating, except that it’s expressed in newton meters and rounded (upward) to an even multiple of 50
True, but that "800 T" in the photo above really looks great...even though only about one out of a million people will know what it stands for.

It's just another form of marketing...let's hope it works!









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#5 ·
Please don't let this guy test drive a BMW 330i. He'll think it has 330hp and be disappointed. :):):)
 
#6 ·
Link doesn't work.....

But, not an original thought in what is posted , it is nothing but a rehash of other peoples thoughts. Next he'll regurgitate the "Cadillac trying to be German" gibberish and attack CUE even though it's almost out of production (and even though it works fine)…

I wonder what CUE 2.0 would've been like if Cadillac showed the press how to use CUE and had faster chips. I like the new CT4's interior, but really like the buttonless, haptic feedback on my ATS.
 
#7 ·
I wonder what CUE 2.0 would've been like if Cadillac showed the press how to use CUE and had faster chips.
CUE 2.0 would still be a huge improvement. Even if it did incorporate faster hardware, the first version of CUE was riddled with enough UI and design issues to justify its inclusion on any list of unforgivable automotive sins.

Cadillac actually did show the press - as well as dealerships and consumers - how to use CUE. They even provided a free iPad containing a CUE tutorial to customers during the first year. It managed to demonstrate what an abomination the initial CUE was.

GM certainly learned from that debacle. The current gen Android Automotive based Infotainment 3 system is among the best in the business. And regarding Cadillac specifically, I appreciate the redundant knobs and buttons used for the infotainment system in MY 2019 and 2020 Cadillacs.
 
#11 ·
I'm sure the badging is numerical gibberish to suggest a hierarchy, similar to the European automakers. They probably only have a passing interest in people understanding what it means. All they want is for people to see 800>>>>400. More importantly, it means Caddy wants you thinking more about performance.
 
#16 ·
Right?

The pushback against the newton meter rating of the engine has gotten silly. It’s not a “math problem.” It’s not a trick. Cadillac is very upfront about the badge and what it means.

If any other car company, particularly a german one, did the same thing, it would have been praised for its forthrightness.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Does this Road and Track writer do like the most basic research about the products he is discussing like reading Cadillacs own press releases? Because it’s not an attempt to make you think the XT6 has 400 horsepower. It’s factual representation of the torque the vehicle has in newton meters.

Does he think the Mercedes E 350 has 350 horsepower?
 
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#19 ·
The problem w/ the Newton thing is that it will look ridiculous once the high TQ EV powertrains make it out. That being said don't be surprised to see a Celestiq 15,000e if it uses the 11k ft/lb setup from the electric Hummer.
 
#21 ·
I wanted to know if I am just unqiuely capable of understanding this badging or are all the complaints just more anti-Cadillac rubbish in this site and the auto press, generally.

So, I showed my non-car-guy husband the badging. I explained the meaning the badge to him in 10 seconds, and every badge I showed him on Cadillac’s vehicles he understood just fine.

“What would this 550T mean?” I asked him.

“It produces about 550 newton meters of torque and it is a turbo engine.”

“What about this badge that simply says 400?”

“It produces 400 newton meters, but it doesn’t have a turbo.”

Why did my non-car-guy husband figure this out in ten seconds and you car geniuses are still perplexed by it?
 
#22 · (Edited)
Why did my non-car-guy husband figure this out in ten seconds and you car geniuses are still perplexed by it?
Easy, you just mistake ridicule for confusion.

Also, did he understand why it's not actual numbers produced, and why Figgies instead of Twisties, and does he understand the 2, and both questions, and if so, how long did it take?

If not, why not?

And for how long is the retention rate of all of the discussed, previously and currently?
 
#40 ·
Can't Cadillac take the calories in one fig newton and convert them into an energy number which approximates a unit of power or torque? That would make more sense to me, especially if rounded up by 50.

"Hey man, how many fig newtons does that sucker have under the hood?"


That, or we could use commonly accepted measures like displacement.
 
#41 ·
Can't Cadillac take the calories in one fig newton and convert them into an energy number which approximates a unit of power or torque? That would make more sense to me, especially if rounded up by 50.
The energy content of one Nabisco fig newton (14.5 g) when metabolized is 50 kcal. That equals 209,200 Joules, or 209,200 newton meters.

Add another 50 newton meters and the number comes to 209,250. :D
 
#45 ·
IMHO everything today has numbers to "class" it
the processor in my Computer is a 7500K - making it 1/2 up the stack when it came out
my Oscilloscope is a 1052A making it the CHEAP one compared to a "good" 3 OR 4K series one
my tele is also ranked the same way as most other stuff

IMHO even if "fig" Newtons and torques OR even the basics of engines / cars is lost most people "get" a NUMBER is always better bigger it is and 400 is LESS BIG then 800
 
#50 · (Edited)
Just marketing. In 82 the Cavalier intro had GM corporate types using terms like "Mass Efficiency" and "Mean efficiency curves" [Decline & Fall Of The American Auto Industry] when talking about the performance of the initial 1.8 wheezer. "More Horsepower Per Liter Than Some V8s" claimed the ads.

More corporate BS trying to put lipstick on a design miscalculation {too much weight not enough power or... too many overbuilt corporate bin parts that added weight to the power provided} .

The only real connection to the Cimarron: corporate BS from 40 years ago..... if one looks hard enough. Quite a stretch.

What next references to the Catera 3.0 ?

Another way to extract mileage out of alpha numeric badging. That's been Cadillac's naming scheme for nearly 20 years now. Names aren't coming back. Period.

No harm no foul. Just performance art. Let it go. Just let it go.

And yes FFS it's been nearly 40 years.
 
#64 · (Edited)
Road & Track magazine
June, 2020

Editorial by Jason Cammisa, Road & Track magazine, June 2020, page 18.


Photo Credit: General Motors Corporation











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Yup, my Caddy has a 400! Just like The Good Ole Days! Yes we can! :drive:

Meanwhile I'm looking for a "200" tag for the back end of my Soul. 160 nm + 40 "roundup bonus points" looks like maybe it's got 200 HP. Cool!:cool::drive:
 
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#65 ·
Brands have been slapping pointless numbers on the outside of a car for long times. The Japanese loved to slap huge "Turbo" or "OHC" or "DOHC" stickers on their cars so that we could all know what the owner was driving. We've had V8 labels. Mercedes and BMW "names" used to mean something, such as the 330i (3 Series 3.0 liter inline 6), this is just another manifestation of that, what other way can they rate batteries for marketing? The weight of the batteries? My batteries weigh 1,000 lbs, slap that on the trunk lid... I'm fine with the fig newtons, just another way to say "mine is better than yours", just like "turbo", S63, 5.0 Mustang...
 
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