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2021 Cadillac Escalade Super Cruise Review | Road trip royalty

There is no better road trip vehicle on sale today than a Super Cruise–equipped 2021 Cadillac Escalade. So long as you have the money to put fuel in it, the Escalade will reward you with the most relaxing and comfortable experience in the business. ItÂ’s simple, really. Sitting back and not having to even worry about touching the steering wheel or pedals for hundreds of miles at a time does the trick. Every other driving-assistance system out there requires some degree of steering wheel interaction — even TeslaÂ’s Autopilot — but CadillacÂ’s ingenious driver-monitoring system solves the problem. You might be wondering why IÂ’m writing a full review dedicated solely to Super Cruise. To answer your question, itÂ’s because GM just rolled out its biggest update to the system ever. I also was planning to drive from Michigan to Buffalo, N.Y., which would put it through a lengthy highway test over a route that is almost entirely Super Cruise compatible — remember, Super Cruise only works on highways that GM has mapped with LiDAR technology.  Super Cruise launched in the Cadillac CT6, a model that is no longer in the Cadillac lineup. This updated, next-gen Super Cruise is rolling out in multiple new Cadillacs, as well as Chevys and soon GMC products, too. Its first home, though, is in the recently redesigned Cadillac Escalade, a perfect product to showcase the systemÂ’s impressive abilities. So, whatÂ’s new? The big feature update is something called “Lane Change on Demand.” Just tap a turn signal stalk with the system activated, and the Escalade will change lanes all on its own. A little graphic pops up in the instrument cluster that says the car is “looking to make sure itÂ’s safe.” It then begins to move over. Once itÂ’s done, another graphic informs you that the lane change was successfully completed.  Moving over one lane takes about twice as long as a human driver would, but exercising caution with automation seems like a wise move. Changing lanes mid-curve works just fine on gentle turns. The Escalade will attempt to change lanes on tighter-radius curves, but it took more than 10 seconds to complete the change on a couple occasions, which just doesnÂ’t feel safe or inspire confidence. I did encounter one big issue with the auto lane-change system, but it was unrelated to the systemÂ’s performance. A “check right rear turn lamp” warning popped up about 100 miles into the trip.

Cadillac SRX and Saab 9-4X recalled for suspension defect

General Motors has recalled 380,498 vehicles due to rear suspension toe link adjusters that may not have been tightened properly, which could result in a loose toe link. The vehicles affected by the recall are Cadillac SRX crossovers built between 2010 and 2016, and Saab 9-4X crossovers built in 2011 and 2012. A loose toe link could cause instability while driving, especially at highway speeds. This recall follows up an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it received complaints from SRX drivers of uncontrolled swaying while driving. According to the agency, two incidents led to a crash. It's possible that improper procedures for tightening a toe link nut during four-wheel alignments may have resulted in corrosion and thread wear on the adjustable portion of the link. Owners of affected vehicles are advised to park their crossovers if they experience certain Malfunction Indicator Lamp warnings on the dashboard or if they feel unusual steering behavior while driving. According to the official NHTSA recall notice, dealers will replace the adjustable toe link with a non-adjustable one at no charge. Letters are expected to be mailed to owners of affected vehicles on August 9, 2021. Alternatively, owners can call Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006 or Saab customer service at 1-800-955-9007 and reference recall number N212340980. This is the second time many of these vehicles have been recalled for problems with the rear toe links. Back in September of 2014, GM announced that it would recall 290,241 vehicles that included SRX and 9-4X models because a "nut in the rear suspension toe adjuster link may not be torqued to the proper specification." 

GM's Fairfax, Kansas, plant closed through mid-August due to chip shortage

General Motors is further extending downtime at its Fairfax Assembly facility in Kansas City, Kan., due to ongoing microchip supply issues, the company confirmed late Monday. The plant will now remain idled through at least Aug. 16, Automotive News reports. The facility, which produces the Cadillac XT4 and (for now, anyway) the Chevrolet Malibu, was already slated to be on standby until after the upcoming July 4th holiday weekend, but GM was forced to extend the outage again – this time by more than an another month – due to the continued lack of electronic component supply.  While microchip production has begun to catch up to existing production demand, it could take months (perhaps even more than a year) for customers to see relief from the shortage.  Related video:

The future's electric — but the present is peak gasoline. Burn some rubber! Do donuts!

I vividly remember the year 1993 as a teenager looking forward to getting my driver’s license, longingly staring into Pontiac dealerships at every opportunity for a chance to see the brand-new fourth-generation Firebird and Trans Am. Back then, 275 horsepower, courtesy of GMÂ’s LT1 5.7-liter V8 engine, was breathtaking. A few years later, when Ram Air induction systems freed up enough fresh air to boost power over 300 ponies, I figured we were right back where my fatherÂ’s generation left off when the seminal muscle car era ended around the year 1974. It couldn't get any better than that. I was wrong. Horsepower continued climbing, prices remained within reach of the average new-car buyer looking for cheap performance, and a whole new level of muscular magnitude continued widening eyes of automotive enthusiasts all across the United States. It was all ushered in by cheap gasoline prices. And as much as petrolheads bemoan the coming wave of electric vehicles, perhaps instead now would be a good time for critics to sit back and enjoy the current and likely final wave of internal combustion. Today, itÂ’s easier than ever to park an overpowered rear-wheel-drive super coupe or sedan in your driveway. Your nearest Chevy dealership will happily sell you a Camaro with as much as 650 horsepower. Not enough? Take a gander at the Ford showroom and youÂ’ll find a herd of Mustangs up to 760 ponies. Or if nothing but the most powerful will do, waltz on over to the truly combustion-obsessed sales team of a Dodge dealer and relish in the glory of a 797-hp Charger or 807-hp Challenger. Want some more luxury to go with your overgrown stable of horses? Try Cadillac, where you'll find a 668-horsepower CT5-V Blackwing. You could instead choose to wrap that huffin' and chuggin' V8 in an SUV. Or go really off the rails and buy a Ram TRX or Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 and hit the dunes after a quick stop at the drag strip. Go pump some gas. Burn a little rubber. Do donuts! There is nothing but your pocketbook keeping you from buying the V8-powered car of your dreams. Yes, just about every major automaker in the world has halted development of future internal combustion engines in favor of gaining expertise in batteries and electric motors. No, that doesnÂ’t mean that gasoline is going extinct. There are going to be gas stations dotting American cities and highways for the rest of our lifetimes.

Hyundai and GM say they're serious about air taxis

The Hyundai S-A1 electric concept is displayed at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. (Getty Images)   DETROIT — Hyundai and General Motors said on Monday they are pushing ahead with developing "flying cars," with the South Korean company expressing optimism it could have an air-taxi service in operation as soon as 2025. A GM executive said it could take until 2030 for air-taxi services to overcome technical and regulatory hurdles and reach commercialization. Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) zero-emissions aircraft, which take off and land like helicopters and carry passengers and cargo, are being developed by a number of startups as well as aircraft makers and automakers, but they face a long road to profitability. Hyundai is ahead of its previously stated timetable for rolling out air-mobility vehicles, Jose Munoz, the company's global chief operating officer, said in an interview broadcast on Monday at the Reuters Events Car of the Future conference. Munoz, who is also CEO of Hyundai North America, previously said urban air taxis would be in operation at major U.S. airports by 2028 and perhaps earlier. He told Reuters on Monday it could possibly happen before 2025. Cadillac Vertile View 9 Photos "We see this market as a significant growth opportunity," Munoz said, adding he was "very confident" of the technology's development. Hyundai is developing air taxis powered by electric batteries that can transport five to six people from highly congested urban centers to airports. Other automakers developing flying cars either alone or with startups include Toyota, Daimler and China's Geely. "I think that there's a long pathway here," Pamela Fletcher, vice president of GM's Global Innovation team, said at the Reuters event. "2030 is probably a real commercial inflection point." She added: "It's a very nascent space. There's a lot of work to be done on the regulatory side, as well as the actual technology side." In January, GM unveiled a flying Cadillac concept. Morgan Stanley has estimated the total addressable market for urban air mobility could hit $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050. In 2019, Hyundai, which has a dedicated Urban Air Mobility Division led by Jaiwon Shin, a former NASA engineer, pledged to invest about $1.5 billion in urban air mobility by 2025. Munoz said Hyundai sees its flying cars serving not only residential customers but also transporting commercial cargo.

GM removes start/stop from full-size trucks and SUVs with V8 engines

GM is removing start/stop technology from a number of its popular full-size SUVs due to the ongoing chip shortage. This follows the removal of cylinder deactivation technology from some of its trucks, which was also due to the chip shortage. GM Authority first reported the news, but we’ve just confirmed everything with a GM spokesperson.  The following 2021 model year vehicles will be affected: Chevy Tahoe, Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500. Only versions of those vehicles built with the 5.3-liter V8 or 6.2-liter V8 and mated to the 10-speed automatic will have the tech removed from them. Only vehicles manufactured on or after June 7 will be affected. “By taking this measure, it will enable us to continue production of our high-demand full-size SUV and pickups as the industry continues to rebound and strengthen,” GM said in a statement. Those who ultimately buy one of these vehicles without start/stop technology will receive a $50 discount off MSRP for their troubles. Losing this fuel-saving tech could be a big negative for some, but we know many folks turn it off anyway. Not having to press the button to deactivate start/stop every time could actually be a positive if youÂ’re part of the camp who does that already. 2021 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum View 27 Photos On the downside, GM says “most of the affected vehicles will experience a minor reduction in fuel economy.” We donÂ’t have revised window stickers in hand to know how each model will be affected, but any 1 mpg reduction will be rather impactful for vehicles rated as low as these trucks already are. Any reduction will be seen in the city mpg rating, so take the kind of driving youÂ’re going to be doing into account before purchasing. When it comes to greenhouse gas compliance rules, GM says it doesnÂ’t foresee this impacting the companyÂ’s average fleet score. It also intends to begin adding start/stop back to these models as soon as possible, but there will be no retrofit effort made to fit the tech to vehicles already built without it. “Our supply chain organization continues to make strides working with our supply base to mitigate the near-term impacts of the semiconductor situation,” GMÂ’s statement reads. “GM continues to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including our highly profitable full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers.

2021 Cadillac CT4-V Road Test Review | V is for Deja Vu

We now know that the 2021 Cadillac CT4-V is not the performance pinnacle of the line – that would be the 472-horsepower Blackwing. As it is, all the outrage spewed in the direction of Cadillac when it announced the once-great CT4-V was being downgraded to more pedestrian levels was ultimately much ado about nothing. Still, there's a kernel of truth to the notion that the new CT4-V (or CT4 V-Series as it's also known) just doesn't go far enough – or more accurately, the gap between it and the supposedly lesser CT4 Premium Luxury trim is surprisingly small. After driving the CT4 Premium Luxury with the optional 2.7-liter "450T" engine, I wrote here on Autoblog, "It's legitimately fun. You can feel the immense strength of the chassis, as well as the impeccable suspension tuning when hustling the car along. You also just feel things. There seems to be less cushion and fewer 1's and 0's between you and the car compared to other sport sedans like the BMW 3 Series and new Acura TLX. The steering has a lot to do with it: consistently weighted, regardless of drive mode, without too much speed-based adjustment, and genuine feedback filtered through the steering wheel. At the same time, the CT4 seems far more grown up and sophisticated in its engineering than the various front-drivers it competes with on price." After driving the CT4-V five months later, I wrote some notes on my computer. I later discovered they were virtually identical in overall impression to what is pasted above. It was like I had driven the same car twice. The resulting conclusion: I'd really need to exuberantly drive them back to back to notice a difference, especially as both cars had all-wheel drive. Even then, maybe not. It's perfectly plausible that many won't even notice a difference at all.  The all-wheel-drive point is key, however, because it means this CT4-V did not have the rear-drive version's Magnetic Ride Control 4.0 that always does wonders for a car's ride and handling. Maybe it would do so again here, but it's not like the CT4's ride or handling, regardless of flavor, needs much help. Much like the Premium Luxury 450T, the AWD CT4-V's fixed "performance" suspension provides a terrific balance of achieving a fast-attack pace in the mountains while not beating you up everywhere else. It absorbs bumps well and is neither crashy nor harsh. In other words, I didn't miss Magnetic Ride Control.

GM Design shows what could have been and what might be

We periodically like to check in with GM Design's Instagram account to see what they're cooking up. Even better is when we catch a glimpse of an alternate history of what legendary designers from The General's past were thinking, though those ideas may not have made it into production. This week, for example, the account posted some illustrations from George Camp, whose career at GM spanned nearly four decades, from 1963 to 2001. One of the renderings is of what appears to be a 1971-72 Pontiac GTO Judge, but with two headlights instead of the production unit's quad beams. The rear departs from the canonical version most dramatically, with a massive integrated wing. Other bits that didn't make the production cut include large side vents, a gill-like side marker and rectangular intakes below the headlights that wouldn't be out of place on a modern design today. Amazingly, from what we can make out of the date, it appears that the drawing was done sometime in 1965, which makes it quite prescient.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by GM Design (@generalmotorsdesign) There's also a very aerodynamic interpretation of a Corvette ZR-1. To our eyes it splits the difference between the 1986 Corvette Indy concept and a fourth-generation F-body Pontiac Firebird, so perhaps parts of Camp's work on this sketch did make it into physical form. There's also a radical sports car concept from May 1970 that resembles the Mazda RX-500 concept from the same year, a Syd Mead-looking Cadillac coupe, and an Oldsmobile with a cool take on the company's trademark waterfall grille and elements of the Colonnade Cutlass at the rear. Other recent posts include a FJ Cruiser-like off-road EV, a sleek coupe with the Chevy corporate grille, and a rendering of a Silverado-esque pickup that looks far better than the current production version.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by GM Design (@generalmotorsdesign) It's pretty easy to lose hours in the account, but it's always fascinating to see GM's visions of what could have been and what might be. Related Video:

Cadillac updated the Escalade for 2021, and you can win one here

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes. See official rules on Omaze. Touchscreens in cars are getting bigger and bigger, and the Cadillac Escalade is the prime example. With a 38-inch display up front and a 36-speaker surround sound system, all this Cadillac is missing is a place to keep your snacks. Oh wait, they thought of that too, with a fridge up front. All of this is great, but the best thing about the Cadillac Escalade is that Omaze is giving it away. Win a 2021 Cadillac Escalade and $20,000 - Enter at Omaze But the fun doesn’t end in the front seat. In the second row there are large screens as well, so you can binge watch your favorite TV show on your next road trip, assuming youÂ’re not driving. To top it off, if youÂ’re stuck way in the back, thereÂ’s Conversation Enhancement, so you wonÂ’t have to yell in order for the driver to hear what youÂ’re saying.  With all of this technology, itÂ’s easy to forget the original purpose of the Escalade, to get you from one place to another, in style, which it does incredibly well thanks to a 420 horsepower, 6.2L V8. Plus, this Escalade comes with something the others donÂ’t: $20,000 in cash. Here's what we said about the 2021 Escalade in our First Drive review: "The 6.2-liter V8 remains a gem of an engine. ItÂ’s powerful and flexible, and the 10-speed makes great use of its strengths. It's hardly fuel efficient, though. Over the course of our 58-mile test loop, we averaged just under 16 mpg, which pretty much confirms the EPA's ratings of 14 mpg in the city, 19 mpg on the highway and 16 combined. The latter is 2 mpg worse than the more powerful Navigator, a number that amounts to many hundreds of dollars in annual fuel costs. We would have liked to spend some time with the new diesel engine for comparison, but both it and the Super Cruise option are coming later this year, so that will have to wait, but based on the EPA figures for GMÂ’s full-size pickups with the same engine, weÂ’d expect somewhere in the neighborhood of low 20s combined from the oil-burner. "As delightful as the EscaladeÂ’s powertrain is, thatÂ’s not its standout feature; that honor goes to the suspension. All but the base model Escalade can be equipped with CadillacÂ’s fourth-generation Magnetic Ride Control.

How Indy 500's JR Hildebrand made an emergency pitstop in Goodland, Kansas

INDIANAPOLIS, In. – Race driver JR Hildebrand is an Indianapolis 500 celebrity, but last week on his way to Indy he was just another repair job at AlexÂ’s Radiator and Auto Repair in Goodland, Kansas. Well, not just any repair job. Hildebrand, a true car guy whoÂ’s just as comfortable driving his bagged 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville as he is a 230-mile-per-hour Dallara IndyCar, decided to pull the grand old ride out of storage in Boulder, Colorado, and cruise 1,100 miles to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At 33, Hildebrand loves the classics, especially cruising in a ride nearly twice his age. It helps him separate from the pull of Twitter, Instagram and text messages before two weeks of foot-to-the-floor stress. Interstate 70 would be his perfect world. Except Â…           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by JR Hildebrand (@jrhildebrand) “It was highly eventful for the first 300 miles,” said Hildebrand, who is practicing this week for his 11th start in the 500 on May 30.  The Caddy, a 390-powered pink beauty he calls Rosie, “had been sitting for a year, but it fired right up” and cruised just fine early in the trip. But as it approached the Colorado-Kansas state line, the suspension's airbag controller started flickering, the windows were slow to roll up, the gas gauge didnÂ’t work and the engine started to stumble. “IÂ’m thinking maybe IÂ’m only getting seven miles per gallon and IÂ’m out of gas,” Hildebrand said. “So I peeled off, ran a light and got to a gas station. It only took 12 1/2 gallons and was dead. ItÂ’s pretty unlikely that the collector in the fuel tank was leaving six gallons in this thing. I took a jump, and once I got it fired up, I got it back on the road and it ran fine for another 40 or 50 miles, and then the same thing started to happen. I pulled in and got another jump." (His wife Kristin was following behind in their Subaru, along with their dog). He stopped in Goodland and bought a new battery, “figuring the battery was toast at that point, whether that was the problem or not,” he said. “They did their diagnostics thing at the parts store, and it wasnÂ’t totally clear what was wrong.” Assuming the problem was somewhere in the charging system, he headed toward a nearby NAPA only to find it was closed. Along the way, though, he noticed AlexÂ’s Radiator and Auto Repair.