Driving Impressions

Cadillac went way out of its way in developing the ride and handling characteristics of the CTS. All the way to Germany, in fact, where for several years, prototypes were flogged for weeks at a time on the famous Nurburgring circuit, a 13-mile-long racing circuit with 177 corners and nearly 1000 feet of elevation change. They used it because Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, and Audi use it, too, and they wanted this car to handle as well as any of the European competition. One of the things that came out of the Nurburgring testing was the way the car is built, with an isolated subframe carrying the entire rear axle and suspension, and a solidly mounted subframe in front carrying the engine, front suspension, and steering. This was done for noise and harshness isolation at the rear, and precise steering action and steering feel at the front. In that regard, the CTS may be the best domestic car this side of the Corvette and Viper. The steering accuracy and the feeling of guiding precision machinery really comes through loud and clear, whether you're driving on the standard 16-inch tires or on the 17-inch tires that come with the Luxury Performance package. The suspension underneath this car is without a doubt the best ever on a Cadillac, singularly smooth, responsive, able to soak up the big bumps and the little undulations equally well without a hint of harshness. One the reasons it all works so well is that the body is enormously stiff and strong for its size and weight, allowing each corner of the car to work independently of the other three. The braking system on the CTS, consisting of four large-diameter discs, a power booster, and ABS hardware and software, was also developed on the Nurburgring circuit. The average driver on an average drive will never know it, but the braking system on this car is capable of an incredibly high number of full-force stops just short of ABS activation without any sign of brake fade, no hint of hot, smelly linings, or uneven pulling from side to side. The 3.2-liter V6 engine is an enlarged version of the 3.0-liter V6 that powered the German Opel-based Catera. However, the engine has been fully revised to improve driveability, power and emissions, and is represents a vast improvement. It is the world's only 54-degree V6 engine design (most are either 60 or 90 degrees). The CTS V6 is smooth and quiet, and responsive in traffic. However, with only 220 horsepower on tap, not reachable until 6000 rpm, and 218 foot-pounds of torque available at best, it will not thrill any driver who has had previous experience in a German or Japanese V6 of the same displacement. The CTS is not slow by any means, but neither is it quick. Driving this engine in a manual-transmission model, we found we had to downshift not once but twice to keep the engine in the powerband, and in the automatic, we either kicked the transmission down by hand or foot quite a lot when driving in the mountains of southern California. (The slick new 5L40-E automatic transmission is also used by BMW in the 5 Series and X5 sport utility). Cadillac says more power is a high priority for future models.

Final Word

With a new chassis, a new body, a new engine, two new transmissions, a new factory and a new workforce, there is an awful lot that could go wrong with a car like the CTS in its first year of production. On the other hand, there is a lot that could go right, and that's what we're banking on when we recommend it as a car to be looked at and test driven if you are in the market for a entry luxury sports sedan. The Cadillac CTS drives beautifully, it looks and feels extremely modern from the left front seat, it has all the feature content an American driver is looking for, and it looks different from anything else out there.