1990 Cadillac Brougham Sedan 4-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.

It wouldn't be a European auto show if we weren't teased with at least one mainstream vehicle we can't have here. At the Geneva Motor Show last week, the small but vocal contingent of shooting-brake buffs lamented that the Mazda6 wagon won't be coming to our shores, although they can take comfort in the fact that the vehicle won't get the torquey 250-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine we'll get here. Mercedes-Benz also announced a new headlight technology in Geneva that likely won't be available here anytime soon. It's just the latest in a long line of innovative and potentially lifesaving front-lighting solutions that the federal government doesn't allow in this country due to outdated standards — and a current lack of leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Mercedes-Benz's new Digital Light system that debuted in Geneva uses a computer chip to activate more than a million micro-reflectors to better illuminate the road ahead. The Digital Light headlamps works with the vehicle's cameras, sensors and navigation mapping to adjust lighting for the given location and situation and to detect other road users. The Digital Light technology also serves as an extended head-up display of sorts by projecting symbols on the pavement ahead to alert drivers to, say, slippery conditions or pedestrians in the road. And it can even project lines on the road in a construction zone or through tight curves to show the driver the correct path. Digital Light will be available on Mercedes-Maybach vehicles later this year, although like any technology it's bound to trickle down to less expensive vehicles. That is, if we ever get it here in the U.S. Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads. And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either.

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.

Texas sues GM, saying it tricked customers into sharing driving data sold to insurers

Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday against GM over years of alleged abuse of customers' data and trust. New car owners were presented with a "confusing and highly misleading" process that was implied to be for their safety, but "was no more than a deceptively designed sales flow" that surrendered their data for GM to sell. The suit contends that at no point was selling driving data ever even suggested as a possibility, putting GM in violation of the state's consumer protection laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking a jury trial and at least $10,000 per offense (every GM car sold in the state since 2015) and a hefty add-on of $250,000 in cases where the victim was over 65. Texas seems to be flying high after a recent $1.4 billion settlement from Meta over other privacy concerns. This may well be a way to solve any pending budgetary issues in the Lone Star State.