Cadillac Cars & Parts
	• Cadillac DTS Luxury Sedan • 2007 Cadillac Escalade • Cadillac CTS/CTS-V

The Cadillac CTS, when it was introduced a couple years ago, was touted as the American BMW. That’s what GM said ­– literally – and the effort they put forth was laudable. For the first time in decades, a competitive, brand new rear-drive platform would bring European finesse to U.S. showrooms.

 

But they took this soufflé out of the oven before it was fully baked.

 

The chassis and suspension tuning of the CTS is about as good as you should expect from this class of car – one where luxury and sport are meant to blend in equal measure. The car has a nice sense of solidity, and tracks well through back road ribbons. It’s a good foundation for what should be a great car. But GM doesn’t seem to know whether the CTS is a luxury sedan or a performance sedan – because in practice, it’s neither.

There’s certainly not enough luxury, inside or out. The exterior design, a half-hearted take on Cadillac’s “Art & Science” design mandate, results in a clunky, box-butt sedan that sits too high on its suspenders. A critical measure in classic automotive design is the amount of bodywork between the top of the front wheel well and the top of the front quarter. On the CTS, this looks like about a foot, and comes to a hard edge that emphasizes that mass. CTS designers have taken the theme introduced by Cadillac’s drop-dead-stunning Evoq showcar, and slathered sharp edges all over the CTS without much thought to their overall integration. The car deserves better than this.

 

Inside, your greeted by a center console that looks like an ATM super-glued to the dash   face. Throughout, the General’s typical hard plastics, oily-feeling control surfaces and absurd fake wood make you feel like you got fifty cents-worth of vehicle, for every dollar you paid. The seats are very nicely turned out, and there are plenty of actual luxury amenities. But they neither look nor feel luxurious. So what’s the point?

 

…the CTS acquits itself well enough, with nicely weighted steering and a tight yet compliant suspension. This is where all that foundation work on the chassis pays off, and the car feels quite composed underway. In its V6 configurations – a 2.8 liter with 210-bhp or the far more enjoyable 3.6 with 255 – the car moves out with decent levels of refinement and response. Both of these are aluminum, twin-cam designs with four valves loading and unloading each cylinder. Yet there’s a layer of mechanical sludge between your right foot and the engine’s output that you won’t find in any of the CTS’s direct competitors. It may be in the same game as BMW, but this Cadillac isn’t getting a lot of time on the field.

 

Which brings us to the hot rod Caddy, the CTS-V. If the standard CTS is meant to compete with BMW and Mercedes regular-production cars, the Cadillac V cars are aimed at those German manufacturers’ performance editions: the M and AMG cars, respectively. And with a honking 6.0 liter, 400-bhp pushrod V8 cribbed from the Corvette’s engine bay, the CTS-V is a hoot to drive when you put your boot in its ass. All kinds of tire smoke and loud noises, until the high-performance V-spec rubber hooks up and launches you like a shot from a rail gun. At speed, all this muscle is nicely put to work by the sophisticated suspension, and the CTS-V will run with its European counterparts up to about 8/10ths of the limit. Then, the polish and breeding that’s part of German engineering DNA proves too much for the brutish American, and it loses points in ultimate control and handling finesse. Most of the folks who buy the CTS-V will never approach those limits. They’ll be content to launch their Caddy from a stoplight and blow most everyone they meet into the tall grass.

 

This is all goofy good fun, but to compete on the same level as the best from Germany, Cadillac needs to take the CTS back for some finishing classes. Most of the work is cosmetic. But that is, after all, a big measure of how and why we enjoy cars. GM has everything it needs to make this car a truly world-class, no-compromises luxury sport sedan. The 2008 edition is said to be addressing some of the gripes, with a new interior and a smoother, better-integrated body. Here’s hoping they do the thing right. The CTS is a good car. Once it’s all growed-up, it deserves to be a great car.

 

…if your bumper sticker reads: REAL AMERICANS BUY AMERICAN!

 

…if your bumper sticker reads: REAL AMERICANS BUY WHATEVER THEY WANT.