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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