GM’s luxury division has sailed through the past few years with an unusual strategy for the entry levels. The intention was to fight both small and medium Audi, BMW and Mercedes with the second-phase CTS’ family, but the actual result was A6, 5-Series and E-Class’ customers unsatisfied with its sophistication level while the budget it demanded was bigger than A4, 3-Series and C-Class’s. After creating ATS to take care of the smaller ones, now it’s time for CTS to specialize at the next step… and make the best of it.
Since the older car was already big, the third generation focused on having everything else suit better all this size. The wheelbase, for instance, grew 1.2 inch despite of the car becoming 4.2 inches longer. These changes, however, come from a larger version of the entirely new Alpha platform, debuted with ATS. Such evolution resulted on a much bigger use of aluminum parts to reduce weight, steel components to improve its distribution (which Cadillac claims it’s close to 50/50) and structural adhesives, to achieve bigger stiffness. What’s also interesting to observe is that CTS’ work-out seems to have been symbolized at the design. The overall styling looks like a more mature version of this brand’s design language. The new car has a sleeker interpretation of the typical North-American sedans, reworking all those square creases and lines in a way that makes it look shorter and more dynamic, therefore much more elegant than the previous CTS. Besides, if ATS has to look nimble and XTS needs to defend the flagship cars’ classicism, the mid-size brother was freed to look sporty. Whether due to conceptual decisions, such as cab-rearward design and its gorgeous long hood, or to details such as a large front grille, not so many chrome details and the very cool LED lights starting at the headlights and ending beside the lower grilles. It certainly has much bigger impact than the previous generation.
Having a very modern platform has granted a lot of benefits for this car. The cabin presents big inspiration taken from CTS’ siblings when it comes to design, whose eight “environment” options can use aluminum, carbon fiber or wooden details to be combined with leather or semi-aniline leather coating and compose whichever sensation preferred by the client. But even the most classic of these shares the constant of cutting-edge technology: besides the already typical center-console touchscreen there’s another one as a 12.3-inches dashboard for some trim levels. The 14-way and 16-way driver’s seats can also be replaced by a 20-way chair, and there’s Cadillac’s first self-parking system. Actually, having CTS as a true mid-level luxury sedan enabled it to step up from the standard safety package and include many other help systems: the car can brake itself if detects an obstacle at low speeds, alerts for a lane change initiated while there’s something at a blind spot and much more. Opening the hood can reveal the carried-over V6 3.6L of 321 hp or the turbocharged options: the entry-level 2.0L with 272 hp or the brand new version of the mentioned V6, reaching 420 hp with the forced induction. This one is expected to equip CTS’ future Vsport siblings and to take the car from 0 to 60 mph in 4s6 and to a 170-mph top speed. They all share a very modern eight-speed automatic transmission and the rear-wheel-drive, while the two smaller ones can also bring AWD.
