Monday 9 January 2012

REVEALED: CADILLAC ATS TO FIGHT GERMANS






Cadillac believes third time’s a charm. How else do you explain the US premium brand’s latest sedan, the ATS? Well its main purpose in life is to topple the A4, 3 Series and C-Class, one by one. Failing which it will just go after the S60 and IS from Volvo and Lexus respectively.


We’ve heard this war cry from Caddy before. Remember the BLS back in 2005? Or the CTS in more recent years? We actually liked the CTS, very much in fact. The only thing was it had a very big and heavy engine which affected its performance. Otherwise as far as handling, features, comfort and the rest, it felt on par with these Germans.

So what do we have here? Well, we have a car that is 4.6 metres long, 1.8m wide, 1.4m high and has a wheelbase of 2.8m. Kerb weight is an impressive 1 542kg, while weight distribution is almost 50:50. That puts it right in the mix with the Teutons, as far as that goes.

In as far as firepower is concerned, there are three engines to choose from. One is a 3.6-litre V6 with 237kW and 362Nm of torque. Cadillac will most likely keep this one exclusively in North America. Then the 2.5-litre with 149kW and 255Nm. Finally, the small 2.0-litre turbo making 201kW and 353Nm of torque. So far there is no diesel mentioned. Drive is through the rear wheels and is actuated by either a 6-speed manual or automatic.

Customers will be able to choose from a list of trims and other interior combinations, including real wood, carbon fibre trim, colour themes and others. Comfort technologies are listed too, such as USD/ aux and SD card slots, Bluetooth connectivity with voice recognition, adaptive cruise control and head-up display.

Unfortunately because Cadillac no longer sells cars in South Africa, we are probably not going to see the ATS here at all.

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