Re: IML: Is it a Old Man's car or Prestiage driving?

["Frank Cannavale, III" <fc3subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lack of performance, mostly handling. Plus a healthy helping of euro- 
snobbery. It's also a lot of marketing. Mom, Dad, Grandparents, etc  
drove Lincolns, Cadillacs, and Imperials. Those who came of age in  
the 60s, once they were able to afford a luxury car, could not go the  
same way as their parents did, They never outgrew their childishness  
about avoiding anything of their parent's generation. They were  
perpetual 2-year-olds.

I was greatly surprised when I drive a friends 1990 BMW 735. That  
thing was a DOG that couldn't get out of it's own way. It was so  
underpowered that it turned over 3,000 RPM on the highways at 80, and  
you heard the engine working that hard. My 1990 Town Car, on the  
other hand, out accelerated and was whisper quiet at 80. The 5.0 V8  
was just ticking over at 2,200 RPM at 80 MPH.

I bought my first non-US car last year, A new Jaguar Vanden Plas. The  
Town Car is still an 80's/90s vehicle. The ride is still quietness is  
still good, but the suspension doesn't ride as well as the Jag with  
it's 21st century engineering. I won't touch a FWD caddy. The STS is  
nice, but in order to get the good stuff, you have to order a lot of  
crap, so the car ends up costing as much as the Jag. With the Jag I  
got a decent audio system (Alpine instead of crummy bose) Sirius,  
instead of XM, I prefer the Sirius programming. And there's no  
Imperial anymore. The 300 isn't a luxury car.

Best regards,
Frank


On Nov 15, 2007, at 6:59 AM, <mamrom@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> My Question: When, exactly, did Cadillacs, Lincolns and our beloved  
> IMPERIALS go from being a prestige car to an "old people" car, at  
> least in the eyes of reviewers. Surely the prestigious people that  
> bought them as late as 1974 could not all have reached old age by  
> 1987!?! I cannot believe fuel economy is the cause either, after  
> all the 1980s Broughams can get 20 mpg on the highway, not too  
> shabby for the 1980s! When did successful people switch from  
> Cadillacs to BMWs and Lexuses, and what was it that did it? Because  
> surely a successful 40 year old in 1975 would buy a CaddyImperial  
> or Lincoln , not a BMW. What made him decide that by age 50 Caddies/ 
> Imperials were too "old man?"
>
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