Hey, pause the radio, would ya?
You might think that Cadillacs and the Catskills wouldn’t be a natural fit. However, when you consider how many bodies have been loaded into the trunks of Coup DeVilles for proper woodsy mob funerals, the downtown Manhattan to upstate New York trip made perfect sense and served as a bang-up test route for the all-new Cadillac CTS. Tested and tuned at Germany’s legendary Nurburgring racetrack (best known as simply “the Ring”), the CTS is a whopper of a sedan with incredible handling that maintains its American values, namely girth, at 3,874 lbs. The CTS hugged the tight curves of the mountain tracks and even maintained stability when we got off on the wrong rocky road. 
While whipping through the evergreens, the steering wheel was light to the touch without losing any precision or balance. And, the CTS can lay claim to a green factor of its own because like with a diesel engine, the gas is injected right into the combustion chamber, reducing hydrocarbon emissions by 25%. At one small burgh’s stoplight, I forgot the CTS was a V6 not a V8 (and also that it has strong tire grip) and got dusted off the line by some townies in a supped-up truck.
The CTS is also a technological marvel with a 40-gig hard drive that can be programmed to do just about anything this side of making a highway espresso. The navigation screen pops-up out of the dashboard like some fancy corporate boardroom digital display and can be integrated so that it gives you a map with the weather at your destination while the real-time XM traffic station lets you know how hairy it will be getting there. (I should’ve looked into that function before setting out on a rainy evening.) The coolest function is its DVR-esque radio recorder device that allows for recording AM/FM/XM in rolling 60-minute stretches, which can be saved for later enjoyment. Having to miss Acts 3-4 of This American Life is a thing of the past. The state of General Motors has been beaten nearly to death, but with cars like the Cadillac CTS, it may not be time to bury the American auto industry just yet.
Sticker Price: $34,545; $44,325 as tested.
Vital Stats: 3.6L 304hp direct injection V6; 18” aluminum wheels, 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, 17/26 mpg
Good stuff: The CTS tucks HV/AC vents into the sides off of the center console, ensuring the driver’s hands will be comfortable, while the reddish sapele wood on the shifter keeps said hands feeling regal and being able to play the iPod through an audio jack or USB port (yes, it’ll charge while it’s playing) and navigate playlists through the steering wheels controls means those hands won’t be in the devil’s workshop while idling.
Drawbacks: The obnoxious wallet-sized key fob kept that getting in my way.
Second Opinion: “If the design of the first-generation CTS was a revolution, the second is a revelation: Cadillac has a bona-fide established style,” says Gary S. Vasilash, editor-in-chief of Automotive Design & Production, “Some people once gave Cadillac a pass on its boring design and equally stultifying mechanicals because it’s an American brand, but the CTS has reestablished its presence in the luxury market without any excuses.”
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