Test Drive: 2003 Cadillac CTS

The new CTS is one of the most eagerly awaited automobiles by a US manufacturer in recent history. Many automotive industry writers were salivating about this 3.2L , 220hp V6. So I just had to see what all the hubub was about.

The CTS is a strikingly designed car. Whomever was responsible at GM for green-lighting this design deserves a bonus. It looks great. The interior is nicely appointed, but does come across feeling a little bit like too much plastic was used. In defense of this layout, I must say that the new Nissan Fairlady as well as a recently shown concept BMW have almost identical door panel designs. So maybe this is just a general trend by some designers? At the same time I wish they might have stopped at the door panels, but alas the console got the plastic treatment as well.  On a positive note the CTS is has more room and feels more spacious than many of its competitors.

I drove both the manual and automatic transmission equipped models and found the manual to provide a superior driving experience between the two. Please keep in mind that depending on what you are looking for in a vehicle you may personally like the automatic better. It is very smooth indeed.

The CTS is advertised as a luxurious sports-sedan. Unfortunately in it's present configuration it meets that goal only partially on both the luxury as well as sport scale. The plastic looking dash really takes away from the otherwise very nicely appointed interior. As far as sporty ..... well perhaps with a few more horses under the hood. I'm told there will be a bigger engine available in a subsequent model year. And with such an engine on hand, I can't imagine many cars that could beat the CTS.

You know it's actually a little frustrating to have the folks at GM come so very close to an absolutely marvelous vehicle but not quite make it. Especially when driving the manual version you could really get an incling of what potential this car has. The exterior design absolutely rocks, the seats, trunk and several other facets of the interior are perfect. It has a nice stereo. And very importantly, the car has a wonderful feeling of smooth style in the way it drives, BUT it lacks the pep and responsiveness of other vehicles in this price range. Ohh to come so close! There are probably many features that I've overlooked in my 15 minutes with these vehicles. Small things that make a big difference - like a drivers seat that moves back as you open the door to allow you more leg room when exiting the vehicle. As its stands, those thoughtful little features that often make the difference when all other aspects are in place were overshadowed by the lack of pep.

Because of the tremendous upfront costs, cars tend to have quite a long production run. A manufacturer will often release lower powered models during the intial debut, which allows room for growth in the performance area during subsequent years. Volkswagen, for example, did not release the Beetle on the market as a 180hp turbo. Far from it. With that in mind, I'm sure that whenever GM releases the more powerful engine for the CTS this car will be a BMW killer. Right now it simply outperforms several Germans in terms of luxury and smooth driveability. It pretty much runs circles around the C240 and lower end BMW 3 series. With a more powerful engine I could see the CTS giving the upper range of $40,000+ teutonic steel a run for their money, all the while costing on average $5-10,000 less than the European equivalent. Not bad GM, not bad at all.

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