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And
what about Cadillac? Yeah, the brand that in generations long past had been regarded
as "the Standard of the World?" Well,
even though Cadillac has been synonymous with luxury for longer than most of us
have been alive, it has been all but a no-show to the near-luxury game. Sure,
it has sold a handful of Cateras in recent years, but that car registered nary
a blip on the radar screen in the growing entry luxury market. This year, however,
Cadillac has leaped up to the plate with its bold, new CTS, thus giving GM's "Wreath
and Crest" division some viable competition to stalwarts like the BMW
3-Series and the Lexus IS300. Now
if you're a fan of luscious curves or traditional proportions, just save yourself
the time of reading this and jump over to the Jaguar
X-Type or the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
If you're more the cutting edge type, however, the hyper-geometric CTS may be
just your thing. With more bevels than a mirrored hallway in a Las Vegas casino,
the CTS' design is intriguing in way that the lame-duck Catera never was; eye-catching,
innovative and unignorable. The CTS also signals the return of Cadillac's once-trademark
stacked headlights, with its "camera lens" units imparting a distinctly
modern and deliberate character to this performance sedan. And
if you think the CTS looks like no other Cadillac before it, just wait 'til you
drive it. The zesty
Caddy has a firmer ride and more responsive handling than most of the cars on
this page, and far better road manners than anything else in Cadillac's stable.
Acceleration is brisk, if not blistering, from the 220-horsepower V-6 driving
the rear wheels. But in true sports sedan, the CTS is offered with a 5-speed manual
transmission in addition to the de rigueur 5-speed automatic. With all that wrapped
in a sheetmetal that looks like no other, this long-awaited Cadillac turns heads
as well as it turns corners. You
know what they say: arrive late, dress well.
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