The Cadillac of Cadillacs
Cadillac is back in the top rank of carmakers.
Photos: courtesy of Cadillac
I do love a car that offers an alternative. There are plenty of mock-Mercedeses and wanna-BMWs out there, but the new-for-2008 Cadillac CTS is absolutely and distinctly one of a kind. You may prefer the austerity and somber good taste of German interiors, the cool techno-challenge of Japanese cars or the anonymity of luxury sedans in general, but the CTS comes down the road braying "outa my way" and looking all-American. You'd swear "It's a Grand Old Flag" was somehow playing in the background.
The CTS's interior is unashamedly American, with touches of chrome, swoopy design, and a bejeweled brashness that you'll never mistake for minimalism. (I lent our nice new Volvo to a Cadillac-driving friend, who later said, "It's a very nice car, but it's so plain.") Best of all, the quality of the cabin materials and what carmakers call fit-and-finish is superb.
There are better midsize luxury cars than the CTS, but they're way more expensive, and the CTS is better than any of the direct competition in terms of quality plus value. Having just put 800 miles on a top-of-the-line CTS, I found that there's a lot to like, and a few things not to, about the best four-door sedan General Motors has ever made.
All-American in this case doesn't mean a thirsty, muleish machine with an oversize V8 engine. The CTS has a very sophisticated V6 of "only" 3.6 liters, which Europeans would consider large, that nonetheless produces 304 hp in the optional direct-fuel-injection version (258 hp base).
Read on if you care what direct injection does for you, plus a tip on how I used the Web's best car-analyzing site to confirm the CTS's value.
Direct injection sprays gasoline straight into each cylinder's combustion chamber (where the power-producing explosion takes place) under tons of pressure, which atomizes it into vapor, not just a spritz. Each injector -- the fuel-sprayer -- is controlled by its own microchip, which can in nanoseconds vary the tiny amount of fuel being sprayed and the timing of the burst. This means more efficient, economical and emissions-cleaner fuel use.
TrueDelta is one of the most valuable car-buying tools on the Web, and it showed me that the top-of-the-line CTS was from $5,000 to $9,000 ahead of its major competitors from Japan and Germany.
Michael Karesh, the human bean behind TrueDelta, has amassed an enormous amount of data both through his own untiring efforts and the contributions of a cadre of nearly 16,000 car buyer/owner "members." Among a wide variety of other informational functions including reliability data, his website allows buyers to compare models absolutely directly, on an "as-equipped" basis.
This is important, because today cars are optioned with packages, not just I-want-this/that checklists. If you want the nav system, that may on one car be part of the crash-avoidance package and on another part of the upgraded-audio deal. TrueDelta computerizes the comparison. Feed in the data on the prices and options that your potential purchase offers, and then check the same items off on the competition you're considering. TrueDelta spits out the bottom lines, and it also provides a "value" number, which is its own assessment of the worth of what you're getting in the options packages of car A versus cars B, C and D.
What TrueDelta does is so complex, I'm glad I only buy a car once every 10 years. Makes my head hurt, but I guess some people enjoy it.
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