Preface
My mom had been driving an Oldsmobile Aurora for several years and had grown to love the power of the 250 HP, Northstar V8. Although anything but a pocket rocket , the car had a very respectable 0 – 60 acceleration time of 8.1 seconds. In this area we have a mix of snow birds (retirees who are in no particular hurry and often aren’t sure of where they’re going), transplants (folks like myself who moved here from other parts of the country who bring the driving habits of their city with them – I’m from Boston so guess what that means), teenagers raised on Grand Theft Auto video games and The Fast and The Furious movie franchise (gee, I wonder if there is any correlation between these entertainment options and the number of kids piling into trees at 100 MPH), and folks like a friend who refers to himself as a ‘proud’ redneck and seems to have little regard for rules of the road. This combination makes one Tampa Bay road, US Hwy 19, one of the most dangerous and accident prone in the country. So, for my mom the Aurora was not just a stylish sedan but also gave her the ability to get out into fast moving traffic quickly and safely.
All good things must come to an end and so too mom’s Aurora met its fate at the hands of a local transmission and engine repair shop. What started as a simple gasket replacement ended up as multiple return trips to get the job done right and in the end whatever they did cause the engine to detonate thus turning a $6K or $7K trade-in into a pile of junk some $2,500 in repair costs later. A bit of advice if you happen to be heading through Holiday, Florida, do yourself a huge favor and do not take your car to Joe’s Automotive.
So now my mom was in need of a replacement and as Oldsmobile had gone the way of the plains buffalo she had to explore other options. In the past she had stuck with Oldsmobile, Lincoln, and Cadillac as she is of the generation born around WWII who can’t quite make the leap to foreign cars. The choice between Lincoln and Cadillac was made easier by the fact that a fantastic dealership, Dimmitt, had taken great care of routine maintenance of her Aurora and they just happened to be a Cadillac dealer. So off to Dimmitt we went in search of a new Caddie.
The models my mom chose to look at were the CTS and the STS. She test drove both and compared the features and price tags for the options she wanted and opted for the CTS. I’ll review the STS separately. My mom chose the CTS with the 255HP V6 and the 5 – speed automatic transmission. The dealer had one in-stock in Diamond White, her color of choice, that was equipped with the luxury package she wanted and also came some extras, sun roof and sports package, that she didn’t care about. The sticker with all of the extras came to just over $40K.
The Car
The 3.6L V6 CTS is a fairly compact mid-sized car with a very angular look that Cadillac adopted several years ago. Although it is not equipped with a Northstar motor as was my mom’s Aurora, it produces 5 more HP and sports a 0 – 60 acceleration time of 7.2 seconds as opposed to the 8.1 for the Aurora. Funnily enough the fuel economy numbers are exactly the same at 19 MPG city and 26 MPG highway. The biggest difference we’ve noticed between the two engines is that the CTS is more raw, with a more pronounced kick in the seat when the accelerator is floored. The Aurora was quieter and much smooth. A big difference in these days of oil company profiteering is that the CTS takes regular gas, not premium as required by the Aurora’s Northstar motor. That makes for a big savings at the pump. The CTS’s 5-speed automatic transmission is also not as smooth as the Aurora's or the STS with shifting on hard acceleration causing a bit of a kick during gear changes. Even though the Aurora ‘s transmission was smoother it was known to be a mechanical trouble spot for the vehicle. A search through long term reviews of previous Cadillac CTS models shows no such history of problems.
The styling of both the interior and exterior seems to have been designed to grab the attention of younger buyers, people who previously may have thought of Cadillac as a retiree’s car. The CTS is very sporty , especially with the ‘sports’ package. It’s a little weird to see my mom zipping down the road with a set of 18” 50 series tires and a rear spoiler shaped to match the angle of the trunk. But it was almost as weird seeing her transition from a blocky Lincoln Towncar to a sporty Aurora years ago, so I should be used to it by now. The exterior dimensions of both the CTS and the STS are much smaller than the Aurora with the Aurora’s overall length at 205.4 inches and the STS at 196.3 inches followed by the CTS at 190.1 inches. The Aurora is also about 2 inches wider than the STS and 4 inches wider than the CTS. The one area both Cadillacs outsize the Aurora is in height by about one inch. The wheelbase for both the Aurora and the CTS are virtually the same at just over 113 inches but the STS beats them both with a wheelbase of over 116 inches. To me a longer wheel base means a more stable ride but a much larger turning radius but in the case of the STS, at 36.9 ft, it isn’t much larger than the CTS’s 35.5 ft. And both cars beat the turning radius of the Aurora, at 40.9 ft, hands down.
The interior to me feels a little cramped. Whereas the contoured interior of the Aurora had a cockpit like feel that many described as similar to a fighter jet it was still roomy. The CTS has a feel not dissimilar to a sports car where you feel like you are dropping down into a molded seat. Entry and exiting of the driver’s seat is somewhat awkward particularly if you are either very tall or larger framed. Once seated it is very comfortable and the design of the seats seem like they would be comfortable on long trips. The interior dimensions of the three cars are surprisingly similar with all three offering over 38 inches of front head room (the CTS coming in first at 38.9). Front leg room is very similar among the three with both the Aurora and the STS coming in at 42.6 and the CTS at 42.4. Front shoulder room goes to the STS which beat both with a generous 58.6 inches. Two inches wider than the CTS and just under an inch wider than the Aurora. Where the Aurora is more roomy is in terms of front hip room being half an inch wider than the STS and almost 2 inches wider than the CTS. Those few inches of narrowness in the CTS combined with the seat design do make it feel less like a luxury sedan and more like a sports car. The rear seat dimensions for the CTS are also smaller than both the STS and Aurora coming in at almost 2 inches smaller in all dimensions. Even though Cadillac bills the car as a 5 passenger vehicle I think based on the rear seat dimensions it should really be considered a 4 passenger.
The interior trim is a mixture of sport and luxury with leather seats and faux wood trim combined with a textured dash and a sport-like instrument cluster. The combination makes it feel less luxurious than previous models and somewhat plastic. The ten way adjustable front seats are comfortable even though slightly cramped. I do like the center console with its removable rubber drink holder insert making cleaning a breeze. Anther feature that I like is that the console has two compartments, a deeper one on the bottom and a shallow one on top allowing storage of CDs in the lower compartment and sunglasses or other smaller items to be stored easily at hand but separately.
The packages my mom chose offer some nice features including a 3 – channel programmable universal transmitter which can be used as a garage door opener to eliminate a separate opener from being clipped to a visor. Although my mom’s Aurora had programmable seats that could be set for two different drivers the CTS takes this to the next level by allowing not only the setting for the seats to be remembered but also stereo/radio station presets, mirror adjustments, and climate control settings for two drivers. A very cool feature if the car is shared by two family members. In our case I drive my mom so infrequently that I haven't bothered to set the second driver settings. My mom’s CTS also includes Cadillac’s PASS-Key III immobilizer with audible content theft-deterrent system adding a little peace of mind. The sun roof included with this car’s packages is a nice improvement over the Aurora’s sunroof that constantly over corrected between sunroof and vent modes. With the CTS it is all automated so that opening either function is a simple twist of a dial rather than having to time when to release a button. This model also includes XM satellite and Onstar, both of which my mom has since fallen in love. Of course the CTS includes all of the normal features one would expect of this kind of car, power windows, power trunk release, keyless remote, cruise control, Driver information and vehicle status readout, etc. One difference I like is that instead of the now standard express-down for the driver’s window, the CTS has it for all the windows and the driver’s window also has an express-up. Very handy. For safety the CTS includes Frontal and side-impact airbags and Head curtain side airbags. An interesting feature with the airbags is a passenger sensor that does not activate the passenger side airbags unless an adult is seated in the passenger seat. Pretty cool.
Driving Experience
Having had a chance to drive the CTS several times since my mom purchased it, I would say I’m impressed by the performance and the way the car handles but less impressed with the ride. Compared to either the STS or the Aurora the CTS has a much rougher ride not dissimilar to a sports car. You tend to feel the road much more and the noise level is nowhere near that of the other two cars. I’m also not crazy about the entry and exiting of the passenger seat. Having said that the car is loaded with features and very customizable and is probably a very good choice for someone looking for a combination of sportiness and base luxury.
