A premium vehicle needs to embody its premium positioning completely. If a buyer plunks down top-shelf money, they should get a top-shelf product in every detail, from the way it sounds, to the way it drives, to the way it feels in the cabin. Even seemingly minor things, like the way an engine bay looks, should be properly executed. With that in mind, we’re disappointed by the contemporary Cadillac engine treatments. However, there’s a reason they are so ugly.
Before we get down to explaining the reason, let’s first talk about the problem. Popping the hood on a modern Cadillac model reveals a mess of wires, pipes, plastic, cables, and insulation. The one exception to this is the Cadillac CT6-V and the twin-turbo 4.2L LTA V8, which actually looks quite tasty cradled in the top-performer CT6. By contrast, every other Cadillac engine bay treatment falls short of the LTA’s eye-popping style, and by a considerable margin.
Why can’t every Cadillac engine look as good as the LTA?
As explained in a recent post from our sister publication, Cadillac Society, there’s actually a very simple reason for all this – the Cadillac customer.
Speaking to an unnamed Cadillac insider, Cadillac Society learned that the automaker ignores engine aesthetics because “Cadillac owners don’t open the hoods of their vehicles.” The insider recounted a meeting where the sentiment was communicated by management.
With that in mind, it starts to make sense. Why spend the money to gussy up a Cadillac engine bay when the owners don’t even bother to pop the hood?
Of course, there are plenty of enthusiasts out there that do dive into their Cadillac engine bay on the regular, whether it’s for maintenance, or upgrades, or just to look at their vehicle’s beating heart. But while those kinds of folks are the majority on websites like GM Authority, they are unfortunately very much the minority in the world in general. Most car owners just want to get from A to B with comfort and convenience, and leave all those greasy bits to their mechanic.
That said, Cadillac’s direct rivals do offer much more aesthetically pleasing engine treatments by hiding cables, organizing the various engine components, and applying nice-looking plastic covers. The Mercedes-Benz GLC43 is one good example. And while such treatments do make simple maintenance a bit trickier, it at least makes things prettier under the hood.
The Mercedes-Benz GLC43 engine bay is much nicer to look at than the average Cadillac engine bay.
Do you agree that the Cadillac engine treatments need more attention? Or are you a fan of how contemporary Caddy’s look under the hood? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for ongoing GM news coverage.
This post was created in collaboration with our sister publication, Cadillac Society.
Comments
I have complained about this often. Why put a cheap plastic cover on that looks like the on in a Chevy truck.
Dress up the engine a but so it looks higher quality for the extra money pay.
Case in point the Corvette and Fiero both did much to dress up the V8 and V6 stainless fasteners powder coated valve covers etc.
The black wing even with the wires looked better.
I agree that Cadillac engine bays are pathetic. My XT-5 looks like GM is embarrassed that they have to have an engine bay. I would like to open the hood and see a huge Cadillac emblem on the engine cover with some color. Maybe it’s just me.
The xt5 is an embarrassment.
For me, I hate plastic engine covers. If you don’t want to see the engine then don’t open the hood. Cheap plastic covers block seeing the engineering, block seeing what makes it tick, and adds difficulty to side of the road troubleshooting. It can slow down maintenance for the diy owner.
The real reason…. Another cost cutting move.
Agreed, let’s call a spade a spade..they are CHEAP! We see it with the interior designs and materials, also the powertrain choices so don’t expect the engine bay to look anymore appeasing. Until GM management changes their mindset other than lets stick a battery in it and hope it sells mentality its business as usual. Granted the Escalade shows promise nothing else does……
What do you expect from a GM parts bin vehicle. It could have a Mexican 4 cylinder, a Chinese generic turbo, or whatever saves a few dollars. De Nysschen himself said there was really no difference between Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Lipstick on a pig?
As the owner of three Cadillacs, I agree that the look of the engine compartment has never been a factor in either my purchase or my ownership experience. Please keep putting the money into actual performance and quality over engine bling.
“Spend money where the customer sees it…not where they don’t.”
Enthusiasts see this kind of stuff and equate “brand value” to it.
A vast majority don’t…and won’t pay for it.
Finding that right balance has been the Vehicle Platform’s challenge for the past 40 years.
When BMW, MB, Audi, agree with GM and save a few bucks ill eat my words.
GM’s engines by far with out a cover look the best, Honda, Ford and others look like a wired nightmare. Most of GM’s engine bays have cables and wires nicely routed. Most covers in bays are for sound and not look. I rather have simple cover that’s easy to remove. Most of these other ones are a mess and a pain in the ass to remove. It also makes it very hard to wash the engine down and see where leaks might be.
“Speaking to an unnamed Cadillac insider, Cadillac Society learned that the automaker ignores engine aesthetics because “Cadillac owners don’t open the hoods of their vehicles.” ”
That’s because Cadillac customers are middle class people that truly do just want to go from Point A to Point B. There was a time when Cadillac attracted the affluent who appreciated fine things. No more.
Cadillac pays lip service to being a product for the dreamers and those who dare. In reality, there is nothing daring about Cadillac nor their customers. They attract aging middle class buyers who still think the name means something. They are folks who, after contemplating a $50,000 Highlander, make the calculation that they could “get a Cadillac!” for the same money.
GM shouldn’t be building Cadillacs on the cheap for the buyers they have now. They should be building fine cars, and the CT6-V Blackwing was an example of that, for the kinds of buyers they claim to want. I think this admission from GM is profoundly telling and sad.
Some years ago, I read the David Kiley book ‘Driven’ which tells the inside story of BMW. I remember a BMW engineer talking about how they obsess over the details and specifically talking about the attention given to the inside of door map pockets and consoles. He said the company lavishes attention there because they never want their customer to touch a cheap surface and feel “snookered” – and that was his exact word, He went on to say that if a customer ever got the impression that BMW had snookered them on the inside surface of the map pocket they would wonder where else the company had cut corners. Compare that to GM who says, in effect, that they know where customers won’t look so they can for sure cheap-out there.
This culture may work and even be necessary at Chevrolet where they are building products for the mass market and price is very important. A $60,000 Malibu, lavishly engineered, works for nobody. I get that. However, as I think Johan de Nysschen tried to get across to the powers-that-be at GM, Cadillac must not be ruled by the same cost-focused thinking. The fact that they so clearly are explains why they are no longer a brand for truly discriminating buyers.
Are we seriously acting like we are shocked by the GM Beancounters? Lol
Having had custom cars with lots of chrome under the hood and on my 2nd caddie….its rather putrid under the hood…looks like my GMC p/u….
Nothing says luxury like doing the minimum.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don’t like any of those plastic engine covers; I prefer to see the ‘mechanicalness’ of an engine compartment. When the LS-series engines first appeared, I thought they were ugly—until I came to realize the engineering reasons for why everything was where it was/as it was.
As far as Cadillacs are concerned, I’d guess that very few owners of that marque ever open their hoods. That’s not an indictment of those owners, just a commentary on the type of people who buy Cadillacs as opposed to, say, the type of people who buy Camaro ZL1s or Shelby Mustangs.
It’s all part of the B minus execution of the modern Cadillac. GM isn’t sweating the details, for sure.
Not only in the engine bay. Take a look at the center mag wells caps. the last year Cadillac had center mag wheels caps logo paint was 2014 on alls caddy. May be it is a cut in the budget. Look all the others companies, Mercedes, BMW, porche, Alfa Romeo, and many others, Chevrolet has the logo center mag wheels. It is not a good way to cut on the prestige of the Cadillac.
On the Mercedes, maybe all that engine covering is one of the reasons they say it costs $500. for the dealership to open the hood.
Just to reiterate what others are saying here, and that is most Cadillac customers dont care about engine dressing. Other entry level luxury brands have similar cheap looking engine bays also.
Kind of funny that this story comes out. I recall how nearly everyone would open the hood or ask for the hood to be opened for many years. This was in the mid-west when I started in the business in 1988 at the Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Honda dealer. I just can’t recall customers NOT wanting me to show them under the hood. Or, maybe I just took it upon myself to do so?
Now fast forward to the present. I’ve been at this Mazda/Volvo dealership for 4 years now. Maybe it’s because we are in LA. Maybe it’s just that customers have changed. I don’t know. But I can tell you that I can’t remember a Volvo customer asking me to “pop the hood”. It’s like they just don’t care. Mazda? That’s a different story. Not a lot, but a few open the hood or ask me to do so.
I do feel that my 2018 Encore under-hood looks just fine.
Does anyone know WHO Cadillac’s competition is??? From all information put out by GM/Cadillac, it is clear GM sees Cadillac’s only competitor is COSTS…………………………
I have a 2018 XT5 that I personally maintain. I don’t mind the aesthetics under the hood but the gas and brake pedals are absolutely hideous and you see them every time you enter the car. I bought aftermarket covers off EBAY.
Actually I would say that a majority of people never pop the hood. Unless to add window washer or a light comes on telling them something is low. I guess I am old school as weekly I check my fluids as I have taught my son’s.
Because GM is cheap… they give minimum value to the customer…
This is more of the beauty is only skin deep attitude prevalent at Cadillac these days. I love my CT6 but it pales in comparison with the Lincoln Continental and Mercedes S Class any closer than 20 feet. I’m a GM guy and a Cadillac guy. I’ll buy Cadillac until they switch to electric but if a buyer is comparing vehicles, under the hood or otherwise, I doubt they are going to choose Cadillac.
Cadillac owner don’t look under the hood because there is no reason too. Why open the hood to see you payed more for a Equinox engined Cadillac.
GM is not willing to let Cadillac be the full package.
They think spending less they can make more but if they did the full package they would earn the right to get more money per unit. In this segment you need to give people a reason to spend more.
Being a value leader is not good for a luxury car image.
Here is the Fiero GT engine in stock trim. If Pontiac could do this to a 2.8 then they could do something in a Cadillac.
https://www.wc-autoparts.com/blog/how-to-locate-pontiac-fiero-v6-engine-components/
…and the Fiero got….canned, axed, killed off, C8.R. You know the story better than I but Hulki and his crew tricked the beancounters at GM into building a “commuter” car that really wasn’t. But the accountants got even in the end and the company is still operating the same way today. Johan de Nysschen probably tricked Mary into the Blackwing, which was easily the best-looking Cadillac engine bay since the V-16 days, but he too was axed along with his gorgeous engine.
Actually there a number of issues. GM nit funding the car properly was only part of it.
Pontiac had expected to build a sports car all along but it was the Cirvette people who got it killed. They were conceded about losing sales to a lower priced sports car and pointed out the Fiero plant was under capacity at a real money crunch time.
The plant needed 250k unit and the Fiero settled to just over 30k units where it was expected to be. The problem is Pontiac banked on the GM 80 being built there and it was canceled. It was the FWD Fbody replacement that was going to go against the a Ford FWD Mustang till the Fox body got a reprieve. The car became the Probe.
The 1990 Fiero was pretty much ready and no bean counters with ne DOHC engines and many upgrades. The GT remains in the GM collection.
The Blackwing was not tricked on anyone.
The truth is there are still two sides to GM and both sides fight just as Chevy and Pontiac did.
We have division people who want to do it right and some board members that want to do it just good enough .
I think if you really dug down deep on this Mary and Mark are not the problem. They answer to the board. I know for sure on a Mark as he has been over ruled before. JDN was his guy too.
GM culture has gotten better but it is still divided. Not in as many ways but still divided.
Truth is Mark and Mary May be the two keeping Cadillac alive. Many would like it shut down and only deal with Chevy.
Ford has the same fight over Lincoln. Some wanted dead but it got a reprieve. It still has a very u certain future with Ford stock still struggling. They could be gone in ten years.
C8.R,
Thanks for your thoughts. If I’m being honest, I’d have to confess to being a little melodramatic about the Blackwing. What happened makes absolutely no sense to me – why spend all the time and money developing an engine only to have it be nearly stillborn. I’m guessing final Blackwing production is going to number in the hundreds. It’s all too easy to loft accusations of sinister actions by some dark forces in accounting and claim it came to life through some trickery. It’s just that with Fiero I always heard there was an element of, shall we say, misleading the Board. The story goes that in order to gain approval to build a mid-engined sports car, Pontiac had to lie about their true plan. It’s easy for my imagination to conceive that anything good only comes out of GM through a similar clandestine operation.
I truly wish someone from GM would explain why Cadillac needed that engine (an exclusive DOHC multi-vale V-8) for so very long, finally got it, and then immediately saw it snatched away. I find it hard to believe GM Powetrain designed an engine for just one product and it became useless upon the CT6’s termination.
Anyway, thanks for the comment. Thanks for keeping me from going too far into the realm of conspiracy theories.
Pontiac fooled the board to get approval after several cancellations. The even hid the program at Entech for a while to keep it out of site.
In the End it was the Corvette people and Chevy that finished it odd. No drama just what happed according to those who were there.
Things like the Blackwing is not something you easily hide or imagine lying to production.
Lutzs clearly outlined the GM culture in his book and how he started the change but how it still was not complete.
This same Culture stopped Mark Ruess on the CT6 in doing what he wanted. There was documented stories of Mark pushing for more expensive door handles and being told no. Not long after Mark oversaw JDN coming and moved Cadillac to NYC.
Then JDN and his plans were gone. The new Cadillac leader appears to be clueless. His interview at Daytona was embarrassing as he really had no clue about the race. On the other hand Mark was fully engaged as he always is at the race.
Ark has a history of trying to do things and being over rules. The Holden Sedans were his and then killed. He tried to save Holden now it is dead. He has several other projects that got shut down. He and the. Lard have been at odds for a while.
No melodrama just a leader who is trying to run a car company product line and a group of people just trying to run a company and both have different visions.
This is why Cadillac has had a carousel of puppet leaders and no true leader of the division. They are just managers not real product guys.
The Bwing was a Reuss and JDN program and they lost. What make me wonder what else we lost as that engine had plans and they never were realized in the product it was planned for. Just what else that had not been seen was canceled?
It’s only a matter of time before the Blackwing will power the Corvette in at least one iteration. It’s a natural to replace or augment the big, bulky LS. Why would GM not use a fully developed high horsepower OHC in it’s sole remaining halo car? IMHO.
I WISH IT LOOKED BETTER UNDER THE HOOD. I ADD MY OWN EMBLEMS AND KEEP THE TWO I ALWAYS HAVE DUST FREE. YEARS AGO, WHEN YOU COULD, I HAD THEM ALL CHROMED. THINK OF THE CUSTOM CAR BUILDERS, THEY CALL UNDER THE HOOD THE JEWEL BOX.
I USED TO WORK AT GM AND I WOULD POINT OUT THINGS, THAT I THOUGHT SHOULD BE CHANGED AND I WAS ALWAYS TOLD THAT THOSE WERE PUBLICLY ACCEPTED MANUFACTURING METHODS.
Please somebody tell me: Why is there a stupid plastic cover on top of the engine? We didn’t need one in the old days. Who stands around looking at the engine. This is the business end of the machine. It looks good without a cover to those who love machinery.
My 20 xt5 with the turbo 4 engine has the
cadillac emblem in color on the engine cover & I have no complaints .Believe it looks quite nice.