I finally decided on the replacement for my last short term affair...a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon. While I enjoyed the ride, it was beginning to wear thin on my aging bum and nerves. Add the fact that I began feeling faintly ridiculous pulling up in a car that women inevitably called "Cute" and I just knew it was time to move on.
I cross-shopped the new Chrysler 300 series, the 2004 Acura 3.2TL, a loaded Mazda6, the new Toyota Solara, The Lincoln LS and the Infiniti G35 sedan. The Caddy was on the list, as well, but initially as an also-ran. This all started when Chrysler provided me with an invitation to their "Premier Night" scheduled for April 22, 2004. I hadn't even thought about Chrysler since 1993, when the Intrepid was pretty new. One look at the new 300C and I knew I was ready to move to a larger, more luxurious car, even if it was a sedan.
Over the course of two weeks, I eliminated the Solara, The Lincoln, the G35, the Mazda6 and ended a brief fling with a red RX8. I was leaning toward the 300 in either Touring or Limited form because of what I perceived as exceptional value for the dollar. I will eventually write a review of that car as well as others. But, after a 30-minute test drive of the CTS, I was practically infatuated with the car. I had thought I'd have a hard time with the Art & Science look, but found my eye was no longer confused with the creases and edges. The more I looked, the more the CTS communicated with my inner being. Time had created a measure of fondness for what was now a somewhat familiar face, or maybe I've become jaded to curves?
Anyway, to make a long story short, I concentrated all my efforts on obtaining a CTS for an amount acceptable to my boss...the wife. I originally specified a base CTS with the 3.6L 5-speed auto and Sport package. However, it turned out to be almost impossible to find that particular package without the 1SB option, which includes a sunroof, power passenger seat, heated seats and a Bose stereo upgrade. I didn't want, or need, any of these additions, so I eventually settled for a base CTS with just the engine and transmission upgrades. I was able to locate one with the new Silver Smoke paint and ebony and gray leather interior.
I could have waited and ordered a car built specifically to my wants, but at this point I was tiring of shopping and dealing with salespeople. Plus, I was somewhat infatuated and anxious to start my new mechanical romance. What follows are my observations after 1500 miles and one month of daily commuting in the CTS.
The body
And what a body it is! Muscular yet refined. Kind of like a dapper gent who works out with weights and runs regularly, yet you just know he comes from good stock and went to business college. I like the somewhat intimidating grin of the sharp edged grill and lowered fascia. I think it says, most profoundly, "Please move over and let me by".
Fit and finish are beyond reproach, although some gaps are a little wider than I'd expect. The hood panel is just slightly lower than the fender panels, but, since it's uniform, I am not sure that isn't intentional. Besides, I only detected this while washing the car by running my hand from the top of the fenders over to the hood panel.
A few things I'm not completely satisfied with are the rear license surround and grill work. The rear bezel that includes the reverse lights, and surrounds the license plate, is a translucent plastic that, fortunately, looks okay on my darker car. On lighter paintjobs it looks a bit odd. The front grill, below the chrome edging, is a dark grey plastic material, which fortuitously closely matches my paint. On some paint schemes it would look better painted the body color instead.
A base CTS comes with fairly wide Goodyear Eagle RS/A all season radials on 16 inch painted aluminum wheels. While not the best-looking wheels, I find them quite acceptable, at least until the Goodyears are worn down a bit. Vented discs adorn the inside of all four wheels.
Surprisingly, the fuel door is not latched or lockable. A nice touch, however, is the rubber extension under the front fascia that will not be ravaged by the high curbs and stop blocks in many parking lots. I imagine this is added to increase, slightly, the front-end aerodynamics and make it look more tailored. Overall, the look is a success for Cadillac, as they've seen a nice up-tick in sales and have extended the styling to the SRX, XLR and, in a softened manner, the new 2005 STS.
The interior
Inside, the A&S look extends to the door panels, the center stack and the dash layout. At first blush the center stack reminds one of a tower style PC. But, taken as a whole, I find the crosshatched texturing on the upper dash, steering wheel centerpiece and door panels to be complimentary and complimented by the center stack design. To my eye, the whole interior makes a statement, not so much about luxury, but about a clean and crisp new design. It is futuristic, but not Star Trek-ish or over the top in any way. I think, unlike some reviewers, that it is a design that seems directly transfered from a blueprint. All the lines and curves are well defined and harmonious. I love the soft texture of the door panels and the dash materials. It sort of reminds me of how my first encounter with a snake was. I expected the snake to be slimy and cold, but instead, it was dry and cool, yet “alive” in a sub-sensual way.
In my particular sample, the ebony and gray seat leather matches perfectly with the same contrasting shades on the door and dash panels exuding a continuity I find very soothing. The last car I owned that had wood of any kind in it, was a 1974 Triumph Spitfire. Since then, I’ve been under whelmed by any wood treatment in a car or truck. Some do it better than others, but generally, I’m of the mind that wood belongs in antique cars, furniture and houses; not modern cars.
The rear seats are mounted slightly higher than the front, lending a less claustrophobic feel to the rear area and the thigh support is a bit better than adequate for me. I rode a short distance in the rear seat with another adult and a petite teenager. I consider the rear seat comfort exceptional, but on a long trip with five people, things would eventually begin to feel a little confined, I think. The rear roofline was closer to the top of my head than I expected, with only an inch or so of clearance. The center area, when not occupied, includes a fold down armrest with two cupholders. Behind that is a panel allowing a pass-through for skis or other long and skinny items.
The trunk is only operated by the trunk release provided on the driver's door or key fob. There is no keyhole. Included, toward the back of the rear seats in the trunk, is a safety release which prevents anyone being trapped inside. The widest opening is barely large enough to allow stowing a golf bag with clubs. I have to angle my bag in order for the club heads to just squeak by. Forget leaving your pull cart attached or putting two bags in there! Otherwise, the trunk area is quite long and accomodates a portable wheelchair easily, as well as being a decent luggage hauler. Buried in the recess below the liner is a compact spare tire and scissor jack. I really think a car in this price range should have a full size spare.
So far, not a single squeak or rattle has emerged to annoy me. The power driver’s seat is very adjustable, making it very easy to find a near perfect driving position. The CTS does not come with a telescoping steering wheel and the tilt function is somewhat limited with predefined detents that won’t suit everyone. I was, however, able to find a position that works just fine for both my wife and I. Since I’m 5' 11 inches and she’s shorter by 8 inches, that’s unexpectedly good news for us.
The seats are exceptionally comfortable without being too soft or giving. I love the seat design that includes the seat belts in the seat surround at shoulder height. I was told these were aircraft style seats, but they don’t resemble any aircraft seats I sat in during my stint on a carrier in the eighties as a technician. While the passenger seat in my car is not powered, this feature is available as a “California package” in, you guessed it, the Governator’s state. Otherwise, it can be found or ordered as an option for just a bit more dough. The manual lateral seat adjustment is easy to operate, even from the driver’s seat, due to the large adjuster handle in front of the seat that extends almost the width of the seat.
Visibility is great, in my opinion, with a few exceptions. I do find the wide "A" pillars and lengthy rear view mirrors do interfere with a direct line of sight when looking to the right and left, toward oncoming traffic or pedestrians. Most new cars have oversized and/or steeply angled pillars these days though, so this is not unusual. Rear visibility, when driving, is good and the rear headrests can be tilted forward so they block less window space. Parallel parking takes a little getting used to as the "C" pillars are also quite wide and the rear corners of the CTS are almost impossible to see. As for the left lane blind spot, I sit back from the steering wheel quite a bit, and I can glance through the front of the rear window and, along with judicious use of the mirrors, can easily determine if someone is beside me in that lane.
The glove box has more storage than it appears to have, but it’s a reach to get to the useable area. The overhang is huge, so it’s difficult for a front passenger to open the glove box and look through it. The center console has an upper and lower storage area, both cushioned to absorb noise from objects you stow there. The console continues toward the dash with two "caddy-cornered" (sorry...couldn't resist:)cup holder spaces and the straightforward gear selector. I’ve never been a fan of the gated style of automatic selectors, so this was a nice touch. Included are two buttons, one for winter driving and another for Sport driving. Located just above the Park position, the winter button puts the transmission into third gear when Drive is selected, to provide better starting traction from a stop in snow or ice. The Sport button increases the amount of time the transmission spends in any gear while accelerating and also enhances automatic downshifting on deceleration. I’ve tried this and find I prefer to use it when carving the curves on back roads. On everyday commutes, however, the Sport function will just cost you more gas unless you’re lucky enough to have a sparsely traveled route where you can stretch the car's legs.
As for the instruments and controls, it took a few days for me to get familiar with the DIC, which allows you to personalize your vehicle to some extent. It also includes the fuel, oil and transmission monitors and well as some audio functions such as your equalizer settings, steering wheel button configurations, and more. I have found the fuel mileage estimates and range estimates to be very close to accurate, so far.
I have named my car and the car headlines it’s name across the DIC display when I place my key in the ignition. My wife thinks it's dumb, but I think it's cool. When she uses her key, the DIC simply says Hello. Other manual controls for station presets, seek and track functions are very logical and close at hand. I am not an audiophile, but I can carry a tune, and I find the stock stereo to be very nice and as almost good as the Infinity stereo in the Tiburon. Seven speakers are included, with the tweeters being positioned on the bottom inside of the "A" pillars, one speaker loacted forward in each of the four doors, and one large woofer centered on the rear sill. Climate controls are dual zone and are easy to use and work very well. All controls on the dash are well damped and feel very good. The dash instruments are well lighted and easy to read, night or day. I’m glad Cadillac decided to replace the analog clock with a temperature gauge. The backlighting is a subdued off white with blue accents. The indicator needles are powder red and easy to see, while the dash luminance control is oddly placed on the overhead console between the map lights. I have experienced some unexpected glare from the clear instrument panel cover when sunlight comes through the rear windows. Otherwise, the dash creates no reflection issues, but I’d advise against using any polish, like Armor All, on this surface.
Handling
Now, keep in mind that I bought a CTS with the base suspension. Coming from what I considered a sporty car to the CTS raised my expectations of what I wanted in the new car’s handling. I test drove a CTS with the Sport package, but was a little worried about the ride quality. This was partially due to my wife’s expectations of improvement in ride quality with a new car; especially one with a crest and wreath on it. In fact, one of the main points in my negotiations with her, was that I was tiring of the harsh ride in the Tiburon. While I wanted better than typical family sedan handling, I was willing to give up a bit of handling finesse in order to obtain a gentler ride. In this respect, the base CTS surprised me. While not as agile feeling as the Sport package equipped version, the base CTS is still a marvelously sporty car. There is a bit more lateral give in the suspension and the tail jumps out a bit over uneven surfaces on a long sweeper, but, once you get used to the slightly springier feel, the car really does handle quite well. In some respects, it’s better than the Tiburon, primarily because of it’s better weight balance and inherent rear wheel drive characteristics. The Tiburon felt more stable in sharp turns due to it’s flatter stance, since the CTS does have a fair amount of body lean in aggressive cornering, but the CTS acquits itself well once it takes a set. At first, this was a bit disconcerting, but the car communicates it’s limitations very well.
The five-speed automatic is manufactured in France, which I’m none too happy about. But, since it’s a tried and true GM product, used extensively by BMW and other higher end European manufacturers, I figure it should be reasonably bulletproof. It sure does shift smoothly and expertly! On normal acceleration, the shifts come quickly and precisely at 2500-3000 RPM. You reach legal speeds remarkably fast with the new 3.6 liter LY7 engine. I’ve never driven a smoother or quieter V6 in an American made car. This is a state of the art VVT (Variable Valve Timing) engine with many advanced features and it shows. Low-end power is practically instantaneous and pulls strongly all the way to 6000 rpm. I consider it on par with anything Honda or Acura have as far as power goes, although it doesn’t quite sound as nice as the 3.2 TL engine when going full bore. So far, I’ve obtained an average of 22 mpg on my daily commute of 50 miles and I am not exactly the most law abiding driver out there regarding speed.
Braking is very well controlled and confidence inspiring, although the brake modulation isn’t quite as reactive as the Lincoln LS in the sense that it doesn’t seem to boost the stopping power as much in what would be considered panic stops. However, the car stops as quickly as any I've tested among it's competition. I believe that the Sport package brake enhancements would resolve this particular issue.
Conclusion
While the CTS is not perfect, it is certainly the nicest car I’ve ever owned and I have no regrets about buying it. My wife was initially less than impressed by the interior, but has warmed up to it. Even with the wood trim, the car doesn’t announce luxury in the traditional sense. But, that’s just as well since the car is not meant to be traditionally luxurious. It’s radical yet refined and the styling is aging much better than I, or many others, thought it would. I feel like I’ve treated myself very well every time I get in the car, and the complimentary stares and comments from others don’t hurt a bit. Part of my negotiations with my dear wife was agreeing to her condition that I keep this car for four years, this time. I am thinking this won't be a problem for me.
Update April 2005:
I'm now at 21000 miles and 12 months of ownership. Not one single issue has come up unless you count the ECM re-flash that was covered by a recall. No squeaks, rattles or surprises. 22-26 mpg and no oil usage between changes (and only change at 7500 miles or more using Mobil 1). Very happy with this terrific car!!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 28890/35500
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: Base w/ 3.6L engine and 5speed Automatic
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