Aron9000

^I wish Cadillac had made the N* powered cars of the past 15-20 years or so RWD. It would've made them so much easier to work on and so much more fun to drive. Having a 60%+ weight bias on the front axle sucks. It doesn't really matter in your grandpa's Deville which was never designed to corner carve, but on a more sport oriented STS or Eldorado it just kills the driving experience.

Go drive something like a non-sports package 1998 BMW 540i and a new for 1998 Seville STS, the BMW has it all over the Cadillac in terms of handling dynamics and still manages to ride nice. Granted it isn't a sensory deprivation chamber like the Cadillac, but the ride isn't at all stiff or harsh.

Outrage

The STS, SRX, and XLR were all RWD and each was available with the Northstar V8.

mmarshall

The STS was done both ways...........FWD until 2004, and RWD/AWD afterward.

Outrage

So was the SRX.

Aron9000

^ I know they did the RWD thing with the N*, but I'm talking about the 90's models. Its a shame because that 92-96 Seville and the 92-02 Eldorado were just beautiful cars IMO.

Also the STS and XLR would've been a hell of a lot more interesting with an LS1, LS2, LS6, LS3, or LS7 under the hood. The N* isn't bad in the RWD cars(they fixed the head gasket issue in the RWD cars), but the pushrod motors make more power and are a lot more mod friendly. They finally got something right with the STS-V and XLR-V with them being factory supercharged, but by then we had the 505hp, 7 liter LS7 in the Corvette, which was a good 30-40 horse more than even the supercharged N*.

Outrage

GM used the 5.3 liter LS4 in some W-Body (FWD) vehicles. I guess the idea behind using the Northstar in Cadillacs is that it was somehow more "refined" being OHC rather than OHV (pushrod). I suspect this was also to keep the automotive reviewers from complaining, as they always do, that pushrod engines are "old technology" (despite the fact they were invented after the OHC).

mmarshall

The Northstar engines, in general, also produced more BHP per liter than the older Cadillac engines before them. You bring up a good point about pushrod-vs.-OHC in terms of history. People also tend to forget that, while sometimes OHC engines generally produce more higher-RPM HP, push-rod engines generally produce more low-RPM torque...which is what many Americans prefer.

Aron9000

I was talking about the RWD STS and XLR, cars where the LS based motors would've easily fit instead of the inferior N*.

The FWD LS4 cars are giant pieces of crap in terms of reliability/durability(trannys are from v6 cars and don't last, oil consumption issues, lots of problems)


Anyways, gettting back on topic, at $30-35k buyers are going to have the choice of something like a fully loaded V6 Accord, a turobcharged Kia Optima, a turbo Ford Fusion, etc with navigation, bluetooth intergration, heated seats, keyless remote fobs, panoramic sunroofs, 260+hp, intergration with their iphone, apps, 20 airbags, basically every option you can get on a mainstream midsize car.

Or you can have some 4 cylinder FWD BMW that's the size of a Kia Rio, which I doubt will have leather, panoramic sunroof, or all those tech options at that 30-35k price point. You know how the Germans love to lure you in with a low base price, then charge you out the *** for stuff that should've been standard to start with