General Motors has a traveling auto show (pun intended) that I attended a few weeks ago.
At this show you get to drive the cars. I drove a Cadillac CTS, a Cadillac Escalade, an H2, a six speed Corvette, and a few assorted Saabs. They did have a bunch of Saturns, but I did not have time to take any of them for a spin.
I drove the two Cadillacs since you had to drive a luxury car before they would let you drive the Corvette,and you had to drive a SUV or pickup truck before you could drive the H2. I figured "hey, if I have to drive cars in this class, I might has well drive something interesting".
I never thought I would say this about non Saturn General Motors vehicles, but I was impressed. When I walked in, GM to me was a 1978 Monte Carlo with sagging doors, a cheap plastic wood dash and the knobs falling off.
The first car I drove was the Cadillac CTS. 3 minutes in it and I knew why Cadillac sales are up over 30% in the past few years, and I was driving it. Handling was there, power was there, fit and finish was there. If I actually had some money and was shopping for a car in the $35K range, I would stop at the Cadillac dealer on the way to the BMW or Volvo dealership. But considering that the last few cars I bought were $2000, $1200, and $0.40 (forty cents) I don't think I will see the CTS in my driveway anytime soon.
I won't comment on the Escalade since I have not driven any other SUV's (and probably never will...). The Corvette was what one would expect, fast, luxurious, fun. And I pretty much count the H2 as the most useless vehicle on the face of the planet. I have been to the Jeep equivalent of this show and Jeep does a better job of having a nice test track, hills, water, rocks. (I also own a Jeep Wrangler) The track at this event for the H2 was pretty tame.
There was a Cadillac XRV 2 seat roadster on display. Interesting car. There is no key switch in the car. The key chain fob (with no key) has a RFID chip in it. If the fob is inside the car, pressing a button on the dash starts the car. If the fob is outside the car, pressing the button does not start the car, one gets a message on the dash that 'No fobs are present'. The software engineer in my caused me to ask the marketing person the following:
Husband and wife get in the car. Husband is behind the wheel. He thinks he has his fob, but does not. His wife has her fob in her purse. He presses the button, car starts. He then drops her off at the store. What happens when she gets out? Does the car shut off? Not fun if he is double parked. Does the car allow him to drive to the hardware store, but then he cannot start it after he shuts it off? Again not fun.
The marketing person did not know the answer.
All in all, it was a fun and cheap (no $$) way to spend a Sunday afternoon. (oh yeah, lunch was provided at no charge)
-David