Rear-wheel-drive sport luxury cars are my spirit animal. Not that I'm luxury or
sporty or anything resembling compact. If I were as tight and as well handling as
one of these cars, I'd die a happy man. So in 2013, when Cadillac announced that
they were competing with Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and to a lesser extent Lexus in
this category, people laughed - laughed until they drove it. Underneath this car's
angular exterior is the heart of a champion, and it represents one half of
the 2016's improvements over last year. This car has a 333-horsepower V6 that
adds cylinder deactivation to reduce fuel consumption over last year. Mated
to that engine is an 8-speed automatic transmission that in this
model includes paddle shifters that further connects driver to road. All
those parts are bolted to a superb chassis that even Mercedes and BMW
loyalists have to agree is pretty damn good. Let's start with the basics first.
The ATS sedan gets the complement of all of Cadillac's engines available in
this car.
The sedan either gets a 2.5-liter four, 2-liter turbo, or like this,
a 3.6-liter V6. Now like I said before this car manages 333 horsepower and 285
pound-feet of torque,
which is tops among the ATS, short of getting the hyper-performance ATS-V, which
makes unbelievable horsepower. But this is a completely different sedan. What makes the
3-6 so remarkable is the fact that it can shut off two of its cylinders while you're
cruising on the highway to improve fuel economy. EPA estimates aren't out for this
engine, but based on our returns and our driving, we've averaged about 26 miles
per gallon in mixed driving. In a perfect world, all sport compact cars like this
would come with 6-cylinder engines, but we don't live in a perfect world, and in
the real world, the V6 costs $7,000 more than the 2-liter turbo and $9,000
more than the 2.5-liter base four. That may sound like a lot when
you consider that the ATS-V with its mega horsepower costs 17 grand more than
this car, this car becomes the sneaky performance pick, and it's worth it.
So how does it drive? The engine doesn't match the chassis, and that's not a dig
on the engine's performance at all. In reality the 3.6-liter runs up to 60
miles an hour in about 6 seconds, and in rear-wheel-drive form, that can be a
blast. But my goodness does the ATS handle like a champion.
One thing that this car does have is magnetic ride control, which i think is
the cheapest car that GM will sell with that particular suspension setup. It's the
same that they use in the Corvette and the Camaro, and it's the eighth wonder of the world.
It's really awesome. It keeps the car super flat in cornering and makes this car
a blast to drive, which again adds to the fact that this is kinda the sneaky
performance version short of the ATS-V, which is stratospheric in its abilities.
Soft bucket seats keep your rump in place, and the interior's better than it used to
be with the revised CUE system. And the introduction of Apple's CarPlay
represents the other half of the biggest improvements over last year's model. The
interface mimics an iPhone's operating system, and it makes anybody familiar
with smartphones instantly an expert on how to use Cadillac's system. The
downside of having such a user-friendly interface here is the fact that the
steering-wheel controls don't necessarily match what's going on up
here.
The steering-wheel controls can still be a little confusing and hard to manage if
you don't really know what you're doing or for less than tech-savvy people, which is
kind of a minor hit.
The other minor annoyance that I have with this car is the same with a lot of
cars this size. The rear seat isn't exactly spacious for growing boys like
myself. It's really easy to say that the best ATS is the most expensive one, and it's
what I'm going to say here. I know, I know, I know, it's the coward's way out, but it's
absolutely true, and it's also true for the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes C-Class
as well. This actual car is $55,000, and it's fully decked with everything you could
ask for out of this car. The BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes C-Class are the same way - they
get just as expensive, and believe me that car is worth it. It's just as good.
But as the new kid on the block, the Cadillac needs to not only be better - it
needs to be cheaper, and you can spec a car to be less expensive, but is it better?
It's almost there.
Oh, that dude's just picking his nose - I feel like should I probably pick my nose, too.