My grandfather drove a Cadillac. I think it was an early 1980's Seville and it was made of steel and leather and the wreath at the front of its stretched-out hood stood for something.
I was a child then, so I wasn't really sure what that something was, but I knew he was proud to drive it and I was proud to ride around in the back seat listening to his Neil Diamond collection.
I wanted to love this new CTS - the fourth of Cadillac's "new" range in SA and launched here in September 2008. I wanted to be proud of General Motors' most luxurious marque. I wanted so badly for it to come in and stick it to the Germans who have reigned superior for so long locally.
I wanted to jump into the driver's seat and shout "Eureka! The Americans have done it! 10 out of 10!"
Hear that? It's the sound of me sighing. It's also the sound of GM's arrow hitting the target so close to the bull's eye.
Take the interior. It's like nothing you've ever seen. Flashes of chrome and wood. Silver accents here, elaborate stitching there. The fascia wraps around to form neat little cocoons for the front occupants and a motorised TV screen slides blingingly in and out of the fascia. But it's like all their design effort tired them out and they started slacking when it came to build quality.
It's just not up to German standards. Or 1980's Seville, for that matter. Flimsy plastic everywhere. It all just comes across cheaply, like GM was cutting costs (funny, that). The ashtray doors open rather like those in a Tata bakkie and although the seats look the part and continue the car's polygonal theme, they aren't easy on the old vertebrae.
After a Johannesburg/Durban trip three mates and I were fed up with Caddy's seat structure.
The CTS's 3.6-litre V6 is a strong point. Nice and torquey, with a unique exhaust note. It has a very smooth valvetrain and it ticks like a Swiss timepiece under hard acceleration. However, for a relatively large engine with serious power claims, the CTS is an under-achiever in performance terms. We logged about nine seconds against the stopwatch to 100km/h; way slower than Cadillac's claimed 6.3.
HIGH-SPEED HUSTLE
It's a pity about the gearbox, too. In true American style, it's a lazy cruiser that'll ignore you when you ask it to get up and actually do something.
Picture this: You're hustling down the N3 at a legal 120km/h at around 3000 revs. You approach the back of a smoking truck and decide to hit the fast lane and overtake.
Just as you ease to the right you notice in your mirror a kidney-shaped grille bearing down at around the speed of light. You prod the accelerator and... nothing. You prod harder. Nothing. You jam it to the floor and then the transmission wakes up and says - "Who? Me?" then kicks down a gear, narrowly avoiding a light-flashing, one finger-salute taste of road rage.
Verdict
A far cry from the Cadillacs of yesteryear. An even farther cry from the German precision available today. The CTS is, however, a neat alternative in a relatively well-priced and incredibly stylish package.
It's full of gadgets such as parking radar and TV but there's no satnav; it's available but GMSA hasn't paid map fees for this country. You can start it by pushing a button on the key fob and it'll record Neil Diamond songs from the radio or iPod to an internal hard drive although I never got that to work properly.
The CTS is a real "look at me" car but neither I nor my granddad would say it's a 10/10. Six-and-a-half maybe.
Test vehicle from: GMSA.
- Star Motoring
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE
Cylinders: V6
Capacity:
3564cc
Fuel system:
Fuel-injection
Power:
229kW at 6400rpm
Torque:
374Nm at 5200rpm
TRANSMISSION
Type:
Six-speed auto, rear-wheel drive.
SUSPENSION
Front:
Independent with aluminium components.
Rear:
Multi-link with fully insulated sub-frame; level control.
STEERING
Type:
Speed sensitive rack and pinion.
Steering column adjustment:
Height and reach.
BRAKES
Front:
Ventilated discs.
Rear:
Ventilated discs.
Driver aids:
ABS.
WHEELS/TYRES
Rims:
18" alloy.
Tyres:
235/50ZR18.
DIMENSIONS/WEIGHT
Length:
4866mm.
Width:
1841mm.
Height:
1841mm.
Mass:
1756kg.
FUEL TANK/CONSUMPTION
68 litres, 9.8 litres/100km.
241km/h (claimed).
ACCELERATION
0-100km/h:
8.9sec.
STANDARD EQUIPMENT
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Dual-zone aircon, power front seats, leather, heatable front seats, multifunction steering-wheel, trip data computer, power mirrors and windows, cruise control, rear parking radar, 10-speaker sound system with CD shuttle, remote-controlled locking.
MANUFACTURER SUPPORT
Three years or 100 000km warranty.
Five years or 100 000km service plan.
SERVICE INTERVALS
20 000km.
PRICE
R339 000.
RIVALS
Audi A6 3.2 (188kW/330Nm) R492 000
BMW 530i (200kW/315Nm) R536 000
Chevrolet Lumina SS (270kW/530Nm) R399 340
Chrysler 300C 3.5 (180kW/340Nm) R369 900
Jaguar XF 3.0 (179kW/300Nm) R543 000
Lexus GS300 (183kW/310Nm) R507 100
Mercedes E350 (200kW/350Nm) R577 000
VW Passat 3.2 4Motion (184kW/320Nm) R393 900
Volvo S80 3.2 (175kW/320Nm) R437 500