Nice! it give it a very BOLD look

 

Sweet! The 3.6L, 258 hp engine is the BASE engine for U.S. When I first read that all three engines are available, I was a little unsure. I thought that would mean the 210 hp, 2.8L version was the base, to go against the IS250 and the like. But the IS only has one uplevel six, whereas it sounded like you'd have to option up two levels in the CTS to get to the 300+ hp DI V6.

Further reading showed that the current top six, the non-DI 3.6L, is the base engine for NA. Only exports get the 2.8L. This is awesome. So you get either a 258 hp engine, or a 300 hp engine, with either six speed manual or automatic.

I think about the only hole is that you probably have to get the auto to have AWD. This is also the case on the IS (and currently only with the smaller 2.5L V6). I don't think this is a major issue at all, given the take rate on manuals in general.

I'm a dyed in the wool manual tranny fan (when it comes to cars), but even I'd be tempted by some of these newer six speed autos with paddle shifting and the like. Those cars are SO smooth...

 

Just got back from the press intro (my shots will be up on Autoblog soon), and this car is amazing - I'm blown away. I can't wait to take one for a spin.

 

That's the reaction I was hoping for after sitting in a close-to-production camo'd car a few months ago.

It really is a sharp car.

 

Please tell me your pics are better than tose released.

 

I like it a lot...it's a huge improvement over the current car, which when sitting next to its competitors looks plain cheap.

I don't think I would pick one to park in my garage, but they should sell like crazy. Those near lux sedans are everywhere here - any flavor you can name.

 

I'll issue this promise to those on this forum: if come October 2007, I can lease this CTS, in comparable configuration, to a BMW 335i, for the same or less $$, then I will have a CTS in my driveway. That's even if I don't quite like the way the CTS drives, as much. Now if it's a huge difference then I may pass - but everything I hear from you GM guys is this is the second coming of the GM, here - and if the driving experience and lease price is as impressive as that interior... then I'm sold.

Now I understand the residuals on the BMW are likely higher, but I'm not a charity - but the Caddy will have the advantage of the fact that I have a GM card with ~5 grand saved up on it, so whatever the max allocation is toward the CTS will help toward the down payment on the lease.

Eric, please clarify - are you blown away by its looks or did you actually get a chance to put it through a short series of your engineering 'evaluations' and come away impressed by the results?

 

I can't see the other pics so I'll have to go by the one posted here.

The side view looks very good with a nice muscular stance. I'm not fond of the porthole though.

The front doesn't seems as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it's hard to say with this angle and lighting. The grille is definitely too big, it gives the front end a very heavy, almost droopy, look. The Audi-ness doesn't seem too pronounced here, which is good, but I think it's probably a function of the lighting.

Overall I think that with a smaller/tidier grille this could be a good evolution of the current model.

 

I think these are Eric's pics. If not they still make the car look much nicer than the others.

http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2008-cadillac-cts-1/

 

That is gorgeous!!!

 

Verrryy nice!!! The new dash/center stack looks to be light years ahead of the old one. Personally, I wasn't so sure about the steering wheel at first, but it looks fine after a couple of viewings. The guages are interesting, if wee bit busy. I for one like the fender vents.

The only "bad" comment (if you can call it that) I have is that the grille looks vertically big.

All in all though, it's a very nice evolution of the A&S theme. Without the 2.8 I wonder of the entry level price is escalating or if the "base" 3.6 will be less expensive than a 3.6 CTS is now?

If possible I think I like the new CTS more than the outgoing one - Bravo Cadillac - now bring on the V.

 

That silver car on the turntable is absolutely sexy. Much more flattering than the press release photos of the orange car.

I want to have children with that car.

Nice job on those autoblog pics, Eric (or whoever took those particular shots).



EDIT: I just noticed that the close up of the 9 spoke wheel on the silver car reveals a 255/40ZR19 tire/wheel combo. The press release mentioned 17s as standard with 18s optional. Is this just a dress up for the auto show? I'd think not, since it is supposed to be the production version unveiling. I'd assume there is also a 19" option, but I didn't see it mentioned in the press release. 255 section width is pretty meaty; this is not the V we are talking about...

 

Thanks much for the compliments! It's very difficult to shoot good photos in the auto show environment, so we just do the best we can while fighting it out with hundreds of other photogs. My wife's Christmas present to me - a Nikon D80 - doesn't hurt

Threxx, I base my evalution only on a visual inspection of the cars they had on display. Of course, the real proof-of-the-pudding will be a road test of a production sample, but I never felt that vehicle dynamics were a weak point of the current CTS so I'm not expecting to be disappointed.

 

I can't get that thread to come up. The CTS press release thread must be very popular and overloaded. I can see the press release thread on the new G6 GXP though

 

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=43050

That one should be working. Both site's servers are a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

And if all else fails GM's press releases should work.
http://media.gm.com/us/gm/en/news/ev...ftsmanship.htm
http://media.gm.com/us/gm/en/news/ev..._rev121506.htm
http://media.gm.com/us/gm/en/news/ev...erformance.htm