2003 Cadilac Escalade Esv Luxury Third Row Seats Black Best Offer Awd 4x4 Rims on 2040-cars

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Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.

2020 Cadillac CT4 spy shots reveal sedan-heavy approach in age of SUVs

You're looking at some pictures of the 2020 Cadillac CT4, which will be smaller than the upcoming CT5. And since they're both smothered in similar-looking camouflage, which is specifically intended to confuse, you might think they look pretty similar. In isolated photos, it's sometimes hard to tell which sedan you're looking at. In fact, when we first saw this car recently, we also thought it was a CT5. Here's how we know they're actually two different cars. Some background: The CT5 is slated to replace the CTS, and to try and find the balance that the old car couldn't achieve in the lineup. Cadillac's former CEO previously stated that this car would also fill in for the ATS, which is on its way out. Whatever it ends up being, it'll have to make a clear case for itself against the CT6 — it can't be too close in size and opulence, or they'll hurt each other in sales. And the CT5 can't be too small, or it will struggle against traditional midsize luxury cars. The CT4 could further complicate matters for the exact same reasons, just in a smaller package. How small can Cadillac make it? It seems poised to replace the wonderful-to-drive ATS, which was as allergic to sales as the XTS. This will give Cadillac a three-sedan lineup: CT4, CT5, and CT6. Let's hope there's enough differentiation between them to prevent consumer confusion and sales cannibalization — and that consumers understand the CT6's promotion via attrition to top dog in the sedan lineup. With all that out of the way, let's look more closely at the CT4 (above left) and CT5 (right). The CT4's greenhouse stops closer to the centerline of the rear wheels than the CT5's. That gives the CT5 a visually longer, leaner look, more of a semi-fastback arrangement. The CT5's rear vanity window should resemble the CT6's, with a glass element behind the door opening. The CT4 will have a more conventional vanity window in the door, like the ATS. Perhaps the quickest "tell" is the size of the side-view mirrors, which are rounder in the CT4 and leaner in the CT5. Out back, the CT4 has a lower cutout for the license plate than the CT5. The exhaust outlets are also different, although that may change for production. Remember, the big full-width rear lights are probably misdirection on the part of the GM camo team. The entire rear decklid of the CT4 has more roundedness to it, while the CT5's extra width gives it more room up top to spread the decklid out a little flatter.

How GM's grueling 24-hour test gets the kinks out of its performance cars

One of the biggest challenges automakers face when designing a high-performance car is making sure that it is both fast and reliable. For General Motors, any car that might be taken to the track by its owner - like the Corvette, Camaro Z/28 (shown above) and the Cadillac CTS-V, for example - undergoes a rigorous and strenuous 24-hour test by engineers at the Milford Proving Grounds, as pointed out by Car and Driver.
We've posted on this topic in the past - on a video showing the Camaro ZL1 being brutalized, for instance - but this article gives a more in-depth look at what actually happens behind the scenes... including what that poor ZL1 went through. Though the test isn't for 24 hours straight, the cars are pushed as hard as possible by some of GM's best drivers with only the brakes and tires replaced frequently.
We don't want to ruin the fun for you, but it is an interesting article that tells just some of what GM does to develop its sports cars. Check out the full article over at Car and Driver for the rest of the story.