LHD Cadillac CTS-V - They missed a trick there then?

[P_G]

Having seen the vids of this thing going round the Nurnburgring and on TG recently, my ears pricked up at the prospect of the CTS-V and was going to go and arrange a test drive.

Then I found out tonight that when released next month in LHD only. Why?

Such a shame, same with the Vette ZR1. A car I would have genuinely considered even though it supposedly has 'cheap' plastics

[P_G]

Looks like I'm in the minority then!

[NGS521]

Arriving anywhere in a Cadillac in Britain is as crass as visiting the Queen with nothing but a pair of roller blades on.

[NeilMc]

I work for a Cadillac dealership (then again, I also was a rollerblader for over 10 years!). The CTS-V is only being made as a left hand drive because of the small numbers it will sell over here in comparison to the regular CTS. It costs GM a fortune to make all the parts necessary to make a right hand drive vehicle, and they would have to sell thousands of units to get those costs back. They have done it on a number of occasions (98-2000 Blazer, 98-2001 STS, 2005-2006 CTS, current CTS, HUMMER H3), but it needs to be done on a car that appeals to a wider market than the CTS-V would have done.
The information that it was going to be left hand drive only was released over a year ago. I'm surprised top gear didn't mention it.

Having said all that, and maybe it's just because I have been driving left and right hand drive cars since I passed my test, it seems absurd to me to not buy a car because the steering wheel is on the other side. If I could afford one, I'd be on the waiting list for a CTS-V right now. It's one of the very few cars I would trade mine in for.

[NeilMc]

Arriving anywhere in a Cadillac in Britain is as crass as visiting the Queen with nothing but a pair of roller blades on.

We did see 2 cadillacs at work (1 STS, 1 CTS) with Buckingham Palace on the log book. I'm not sure if it was the driver or passengers who wore rollerblades.

[NGS521]

American cars, style wise, date about as well as milk.

[NeilMc]

American cars, style wise, date about as well as milk.

Using that theory, there must be a handful of great 1959 cartons of milk out there.

I agree that between 1971 and 1997, there really weren't many American cars that dated well. Before that I believe some of the best looking cars that have ever been created were American, and there a few current models that might just last quite well. The new CTS and Corvette Z06 spring to mind.

[NGS521]

The two only good looking cars ever to come out of america are the Corvette and the Mustang, two over 100 years! And all they've done now is trace over the origional outline using a crayon and put them back into prooduction. I'm pretty sure the new mustang still sits on the origional running gear. Even Rover managed to make a car that looked lilke a Ferrari.

But they do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so each to his own. If we all liked the same thing the world would be a dull dull place.