Just finished reading the August ‘09 Road and Track comparison of a CTS-V vs. Jaguar XFR. Guess what – the Caddy won both in instrumented and subjective testing. Considering that the Jaguar is priced over $20K more than the CTS-V, that is an outstanding accomplishment for GM and team Cadillac. Congratulations.

Unfortunately, all is not perfect – there were quality issues cited in the Cadillac. A $65K+ Cadillac – standard of the world – and there is a cheapness in the interior. Shame on Cadillac for allowing the beancounters – once again – to cheapen the Cadillac brand and put a blemish on the image of this otherwise very fine car. Doesn’t anybody stand up to them? People do notice when corners are cut – and GM can no longer afford to cut corners. You need to rebuild your reputation one car at a time, and the flagship performance leader should be a flagship in all aspects. No Cadillac should ever be cited for having a cheap feeling interior – NEVER EVER. There should never be anything fake or cheap or second best in a Cadillac. In this case, probably $200 for higher quality plastics and trim, better seats and a thicker steering wheel would have made all the difference befitting a $65,000 car. That quality and content should have been there in the first place – it shouldn’t take a journalist to point out these very fixable flaws.

Fritz, you need to take charge and fix this NOW. No Cadillac should be designed, engineered or sourced with anything that is second best, you will only have one chance to change your tarnished reputation. The beancounters must be stopped before they kill the four brands that are left.