The only serious flaw in the system is the lack of Bluetooth to connect a cell phone for hands-free operation. California goes hands-free (by law) on July 1st. GM’s proprietary OnStar communications, safety and concierge service is standard on most GM products, including the CTS. I don’t know anyone who wants to pay for a separate OnStar calling plan for their car when they already pay too much for regular cell service. Plus, you want all your contacts from your mobile phone to be at your finger tips (or voice command) - and you don’t want to duplicate your contact list in OnStar. Ford’s new Sync™ infotainment system includes Bluetooth and voice command for telecommunications. Come on, GM, get with the times.
At night, the interior light show is really spectacular. There is a flashy arc of white-blue LEDs that outlines the dashboard and then flows onto the door panels to illuminate the door handles. The dash gages are beautiful and crystal clear. The dual climate controls (including heated and cooled seat buttons) are a bit too low for my eyes, but this is something that you can easily adjust to. The ergonomic engineers did a great job of providing steering wheel and seat adjustments to fit almost any driver. Their one failure was the poor placement of the cheap window switchgear. The switches should be one tier up on the driver’s door armrest, not below it on a speaker housing. I guess they figured you wouldn’t be opening windows very often as the excellent digital automatic climate control works best with the windows up.
I loved the “Ultra-View” double sunroof. Cadillac claims that it’s the largest glass roof available in a sedan of this size. A slick power rolling sunshade opens and closes at the touch of a button and since it’s opaque, even under full sun you don’t get a burn but you get the advantage of a light and airy cabin. Two thumbs up here.
Rear and side visibility sucked and rear seat headroom isn’t very generous. It was a good thing the car had backup sensors. But why, with all the technology packed in this car, wasn’t there a backup camera or visual sensors displayed on the navigation screen rather than the odd blinking lights on the upper center of the interior rear roofline? If the Buick Enclave has a backup cam why isn’t it on the Cadillac?
The keyless access system took a bit of programming to get it to remotely start the engine and automatically lock when you walk away. The system is different from the other keyless systems I’ve used as there are no touch pads or controls on the outside of the car to lock or unlock the doors. The proximity sensors automatically lock the car a couple seconds after you walk away. I found a programming function to flash the lights just to confirm the car locked itself. When you walk up, the car silently unlocks the driver’s door. It’s a bit eerie but you get used to it. I also wish the key fob was a bit slimmer - like the one GM uses for the Corvette and Cadillac XLR.
The CTS has my two “mandatory options” - automatic headlights and rain sensing automatic windshield wipers. I won’t buy a car that doesn’t have both these features. BMW considers these inexpensive sensors to be standard safety items on all its US vehicles.
Cadillac gives you the automatic headlights standard; but the rain sensors come as part of the $8,165 Premium Luxury Collection option package. (The “Collection” incorporates the CTS Seating Package, Luxury Level I and Luxury Level II packages.) It sounds expensive, but you get the fantastic digital infotainment system (including navigation and a 40-gig hard drive), the Ultra View sunroof, real wood trim (not the cheap plastic stuff), heated and cooled seats, power tilt/telescope steering wheel, universal home remote, keyless access, upgraded leather and memory power seats, LED accent lighting, parking assist, heated windshield washer fluid, etc. Don’t buy (or lease) the CTS without this all-in-one option package.
And don’t bother with the “standard” engine and manual transmission. Just pop for the direct-inject engine, six-speed automatic with the Premium Luxury package and the Sports Performance package (see above). The CTS is available with a slick Borg Warner all-wheel drive system - nice if you live in Minnesota but a waste of money and an unnecessary weight penalty in LA. The total price for our test car was $46,440. That’s not cheap, but it’s a lot of car for the money and these days, even while the CTS is “hot” on the market, GM is offering some pretty attractive lease deals.
My rule is to never lease a car for longer than its full manufacturer warranty - 4 years, 50,000 miles. If you choose to buy the car and plan on keeping it longer than the manufacturer warranty, I’d investigate and invest in an extended service contract to cover the reasonable time you plan on keeping the car. Repairs to these sophisticate machines can be very expensive and making payments on a car that is in the shop for a non-warranty repair really sucks.
Is the 2008 Cadillac CTS better than a BMW 335i or 535i? No. In my opinion, BMW’s are the most seriously-engineered and well-built vehicles on the market today. BMW is, by far, the choice for enthusiasts. And watch for a slew of new products from Audi that up the ante in the luxury performance market. But I’d pick the CTS any day over a boring refrigerator from Lexus and I think it’s more stylish than the overly-conservative Infiniti G35. This is the first Cadillac in 30 years that is good enough to be considered with the lofty foreign rear-drive competitors. And in LA, it will certainly set you apart from the standard issue BMW, Mercedes or Audi.
The CTS is new, so it’s hard to predict long-term reliability. And future residuals are probably going to be lower than the established German and Japanese competitors. However, if you’re just going to lease it for 2 or 3 years, and you like the idea of driving a real American rear-drive luxury sports sedan (with a slick coupe variant coming soon), the Cadillac is your only - and a very good - choice.
