2007 Cadillac Escalade Ext - 76,200 Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mystery shoppers love Infiniti, hate Tesla

Infiniti, followed by Lexus tied with Mercedes-Benz took the top two spots for best sales experience according to mystery shoppers from the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, while EV manufacturer Tesla recorded the lowest overall score. Not surprisingly, premium brands dominated the top ranks. Including the three already mentioned, luxury brands occupied seven of the top ten spots and included Audi, BMW, Porsche, and the only American brand to crack the upper echelon, Cadillac. Toyota, Volkswagen, and Nissan rounded out the first ten positions. The news for domestic automakers isn't good. Aside from Caddy, the only other star-spangled automaker to score above the industry average is Chrysler. The rest of FCA, most of GM, and all of Ford fell below the line. But Pied Piper's mystery shoppers handed Tesla the biggest walloping – the company is ten full points below the next lowest brand, Volvo, and its score of 86 is 17 below the average of 103. It's baffling, considering the company's touted direct-sales model. "Tesla leaves me scratching my head," Fred O'Hagan, Pied Piper's president and CEO, told Wards Auto. "They own all of their stores, so you would think each one would be doing the same thing. But they're not. Tesla is consistent in its inconsistencies." O'Hagan added that there's a "huge variation" in Tesla's store-to-store effectiveness, and that in some cases, shoppers found showroom workers that acted more like "museum curators," Wards Auto reports. It might be popular to call Tesla the Apple of the car world, but based on Pied Piper's work, the brand has a long way to go to emulate the uniform shopping experience of an Apple Store. The news might be bad for Tesla, but even for the brands that scored below average, there's cause for celebration. Only Tesla and Mini lost points in this year's rankings, and only Mercedes and Lincoln held steady. Every other brand, including Infiniti, which topped the index for the first time, gained at least one point. The biggest improvements belong to Porsche, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi, which all jumped five points. Pied Piper's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index uses mystery shoppers – over 6,100 this year – from across the country to assess dealers and generate rankings from over 50 individual factors. News Source: Pied Piper via WardsAuto Green Audi BMW Cadillac Chrysler Infiniti Lexus Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers study

A pair of different but awesome Hondas star in the latest Forza Horizon 3 car pack

Forza Horizon 3's ever-expanding car list grows again with its latest downloadable car pack. This time it packs a pair of Hondas from opposite ends of history. In fact they use opposite drive wheels, too. The first, representing the modern day and front-wheel drive, is the previous generation, 300-horsepower, 2016 Honda Civic Type R. From the early days of Honda automobiles, and with rear-wheel-drive, is the 1970 Honda S800. It has substantially less than 300 horsepower. The Civic Type R isn't the only hot hatch in the pack either. The Vauxhall Corsa VXR provides a European counterpoint to the Honda, albeit a bit smaller. It features less power – about 200 hp in all – but should be an excellent match to the Fiesta ST. The pack also features a couple of high-dollar, high-horsepower machines in the form of the 2017 Aston Marin DB11 and the 2016 Cadillac ATS-V. Plus, for fans of older cars, there's the rear-engined Renault Alpine GTA Le Mans, and a Holden with a really long name: the 1985 HDT VK Commodore Group A. View 7 Photos As usual, the pack is included with the Forza Horizon 3 Car Pass. Or, if you don't have the pass, the pack can be purchased on its own. Related Video: Image Credit: Turn10 Studios / Playground Games Toys/Games Aston Martin Cadillac Honda Videos aston martin db11 cadillac ats-v forza horizon 3 vauxhall corsa

Future Classics, Acura Integra Type S and Cadillac Escalade-V | Autoblog Podcast #759

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They jump right in with some news that Toyota may revive the Land Cruiser in the U.S., followed by rumors of a Nissan GT-R successor. From there, it's on to official confirmation of the Acura Integra Type S revival, followed by a partial rundown of Hagerty's 2023 Bull Market List. After that, it's time for some road test updates. Greg talks about his time in Autoblog's long-term BMW 330e PHEV and contrasts it with the 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V. Byron has been driving a Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-30 and an Infiniti Q50 — serving as a perfect launch pad for a look back at 2022's best sport sedans. After that, it's a preview of Autoblog's 2022 Holiday Gift Guide.  Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #759 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Return of the Land Cruiser? Nissan's GT-R successor Acura Integra Type S confirmed Hagerty's 2023 Bull Market List What we've been driving 2022 BMW 330e long-term update 2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series 2023 Infiniti Q50 2023 Mazda CX-30 Best sport sedans for 2023 Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related video: Podcasts Acura BMW Cadillac Infiniti Mazda Nissan Toyota Long-Term Garage