2015 Cadillac CTS 2.0T review notes

CADDY’S CTS WITH THE TURBO FOUR IS A SPIRITED DRIVER

   EDITOR WES RAYNAL: This is my second drive in a turbo four-powered Cadillac CTS. Like the 3.6-liter V6s I’ve driven before, it’s a good-lookin’ thing -- long and low and creased and nicely proportioned. The exterior shape looks just right to me -- no question it’s a Cadillac. That’s a compliment. The front LEDs look cool at night -- they make the car look powerful. I like the interior, too: well built, good materials, and it is quiet in there with very little road noise. I’m even coming to terms with the CUE infotainment system. Getting used to it, I suppose. I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not, but CUE seems better, with improved response of the touch sense controls to change seat heat, fan speed and temp control settings.

   The CTS has been consistently a good driver. This is a sedan with a chassis good enough to take on the Germans. It’s nimble, quick and feels balanced and rock solid. The steering is about perfect and the suspension is firm but compliant. There’s an agility here no other U.S. midsize sedan can match. None I can think of off the top of my head, anyway. The turbo four-cylinder is obviously not as spirited as the V6, but it’s no dog. Sounds like, well, a four. According to the in-dash mpg numbers, I averaged about 23 mpg in a fairly even city/highway mix.

   I’ve said it before: Those who think the default choices in the midsize luxury class are the BMW 5-series, Mercedes-Benz E-class and Audi A6 are doing themselves a disservice and need to take a new CTS for a spin. It drives well enough to compete with those Germans head to head.

   DIGITAL EDITOR ANDREW STOY: The four is where it’s at these days in seemingly everything -- the newest Mercedes-Benz C-class, Volvo V60, Cadillac ATS and now the CTS all drive better than their supposedly higher-zoot six-cylinder brethren (I’m excluding the twin-turbo CTS VSport here). Our CTS 2.0-liter turbo had more than enough power to do everything I asked of it, and felt lighter, more nimble and more playful than the 3.6-liter V6 CTS I drove previously.

   The downside, if there is one, is that the 2.0-liter CTS “sounds like a four-cylinder” as several of my colleagues remarked. That’s true, but after some critical listening over the course of a few days, it became apparent the CTS’ aural flaws are only at startup; the car sounds just like a Chevy Cruze when it’s cranking. Once on the move, and during acceleration/steady state cruising, the CTS has no distinct sonic signature -- it’s fine except when you start it, and even then it’s only a problem if you really wanted the CTS VSport and instead settled for a 2.0-liter.

   Most buyers will neither notice nor care: They’ll choose a four-cylinder CTS because it’s a fine-driving, powerful, fuel-efficient luxury sedan with a gorgeous interior, crisp exterior lines and tons of rear legroom. Our Cadillac tester was also one of the easiest cars to live with I’ve had in a long time -- it’s a difficult-to-define blend of comfort, ease-of-use, size and overall driving performance that makes a particular vehicle feel like an old friend mere minutes after first settling in behind the wheel. Out of 200-odd cars and trucks I drive every year, maybe 10 get it this right; I recall the ATS 2.0T left the same impression, so there’s something about a four-cylinder Cadillac that suits this 40-something car writer just fine.

   Yes, it’s pricey -- mid-$50Ks for a rear-drive I4 sedan is well into comparably equipped Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW 3-series territory, but those cars don’t have the interior room the CTS boasts. Rather, the Audi A6 seems to be the car for which Cadillac was aiming when it engineered the new CTS, especially considering rear seat accommodations and interior elegance. That the CTS is a very worthy competitor speaks volumes to GM’s engineers.

   Unfortunately, our CTS exhibited another trait I associate with German cars: Electrical gremlins. On day three of my stint with the car, I remote-started it; when I got in a few minutes later and pressed the seat-heater button, nothing happened. That’s when I noticed the message on CUE stating, “Communications error with climate control system.” Sure enough, the entire HVAC system, including rear defroster, was disabled. CUE offered some additional, slightly humorous advice: “This problem may fix itself. Restarting the car may also fix the problem.” I waited a moment to be sure the problem wasn’t going to, in fact, fix itself, and then restarted the car to no avail. Eventually I found the cockpit fusebox behind a trim panel and pulled the HVAC system fuses. That did the trick, and the issue didn’t reoccur the rest of the day. Still, with the holidays looming and not wanting to tell to the in-laws to “hang tight while I pull this fuse” on a brand-new $55K luxury car, I swapped the CTS for an Audi A5.

   Too bad, too: The CTS was a much nicer car.