Test drive Cadillac CTS 2002 - 2007 Sedan
Cadillac for the Old World
CTS model taught European norms of behavior
In fact, we planned to take this car for a whole week. Anyway to ride, slowly figure out what is the case in it, to shoot for our television column. However, these Napoleonic plans were prevented by Sir Elton John to Moscow, followed by General Motors CIS officially fixed two brand new Cadillac - our white and black. I had to urgently redraw schedules, and it is not known if we would have time to do everything if we had a different model at our disposal. But CTS, it seemed, decided to help us, implicitly performing tasks one after another, quickly and a argument. As expected, a car that claims to be a leading position in a respectable business class, where until now they ruled the Mercedes E-Class, the five BMW, Audi A6 and others like them. It is seen that the time has come to squeeze and let another worthy member into your elite club. White, almost pink ...
At the end of the test, I placed a photograph of Cadillac CTS on the desktop of my computer - I really sunk this car in my soul. And not only the appearance, but also literally every detail. And also with color. Naturally, for this machine you can order almost any coler, even, probably, pink - once in the states of Cadillac such coloring were bought by those who made the first million dollars. I can imagine if adherents of this tradition were found in Russia. However, they also like to stand out with us, preferring, however, the pink white. Most often, the same Mercedes S-class serves as an image maker, but how many of them are running along the roads? But the white Cadillac is really original, and besides, it sounds good and sounds good. The most remarkable thing is that the white color CTS is not quite ordinary. The special paint of White Diamond with a small pearl effect (this option, by the way, costs 580 dollars) seems to be glowing from the inside and if you look at it from a certain corner, it seems that the car is cut out of the noble ivory, which slightly gives it into a brown tone. In a word, this is very difficult to describe, and, I am afraid, even the best printing in the world will not be able to convey the entire depth of the color.
Serial concept
You have to look at this alive. CTS debut took place in the distant 1999. Then the new Cadillac corporate style was just arising and, against the background of other models of the company, the car looked, let's say, non-trivial. After the conservative respectability of the Seville sedan or the gigantic sizes of Deville, in the salon of which it seems that it was possible to calmly place a medium -sized pool, looking at the compact CTS, and most importantly - to understand the idea embedded in it was quite difficult. Few people believed that this machine would almost unchanged to the conveyor. But so it eventually happened. I know that many Cadillac has not liked the new style of Cadillac. But believe me, a person who, until recently, completely shared this point of view that you need to look at the car alive. If you want, even touch your hands - take your fingers along the numerous faces of its sides, sit down and look closely bizarre front headlights, in which, under a single, a transparent and slightly tinted cap, as if a pair of gun guns and small, but surprisingly bright, are displayed at the fair. Triangles of frontal overall lights. Go through the palm along the strips of the radiator grate, hanging one above the other, like a tile. Go around the car around, evaluate the chopped silhouette, deliberately rude, but therefore even more attractive and attractive. Finally, stop at the back, look at the abundance of transparent plastic lanterns, which left little space for the metal on the trunk lid, and think that in the polygons of the most illogical, at first glance, forms also have its own charm. A picture of an exhibition of a fashionable sculptor, whose works are contrary to generally accepted norms, are drawn in the head, but are so original that it is just right to talk about the birth of a new style.
In general, returning to the beginning of this chapter, few expected such courage from Cadillac. However, the Americans decided, and, it seems, did not lose. Yes, here's another thing. You have no idea how the operator was happy, who shot CTS for the television program. Listen, ”he said,“ for this machine, it is practically important to lighting. In the sun, she plays with paint, which emphasizes all these faces, and in cloudy weather seems to be some kind of alien from the future. Even if it is not visible entirely, something falls on the film, but this has its own charm-a mysterious machine.
A real business class
Honestly, before I sit behind the wheel of CTS and move out, for me the car also remained a mystery. But for some reason I did not want to hurry with her solving. The mood demanded that before the trip I thoroughly study it inside, lay all the hidden places, and, most importantly, sat in the rear chair with a book in my hands for at least half an hour. It seems to me that this is the only way to feel the convenience of the sofa - does the back get tired, whether the legs flow, whether the height of the armrest is ergonomically selected. I know many people who, according to a similar principle, choose homemade upholstered furniture. Indeed, what kind of she from her, if in ten minutes you already want to get up and warm up? And, given the fact that CTS nevertheless refers to the business class and, in theory, from time to time such a car is used with the driver, then my long sedentary test, I think, was not superfluous. Results? Everything, as expected by the laws of the genre. The comfortable rear seat is soft, the armrests are located just at the height at which you want to put your hand. There are enough places below - at least, throwing one leg to the other, I did not hurt the backs of the front chair. Plus, the sofa of the passenger compartment is covered with perforated skin, which knows how to breathe, and, therefore, to remove moisture from under the body and excess heat.
And yet, apparently, the CTS buyer is unlikely to be even happy to transplant in the back seat for a short time, since the car is supplied by the manufacturer as a true Driver's Car, that is, a model for a sophisticated driver. Apparently, partly and because of this, there are not too many additional equipment at the disposal of the rear passengers. More precisely, it is practically none - you can use only cup holders built into the armrest, and ashtray. It is noteworthy that the latter, like a cigarette lighter, in the USA is offered only as an option - suddenly the future owner of the car will decide that they want to introduce him to smoking? So it is not far from the trial. 
All the benefits of civilization are concentrated around the driver. This is, say, a seat with nine servo drives (a rare case, but also the right front seat in which manufacturers usually save is equipped with the same amount of electro -regulations), heating and ventilation, very decent quality of the sound of the Bose radio with a scattering of speakers throughout the cabin, into which At the same time, six CDs and a regular cassette are loaded. The volume of music can be changed directly on the steering wheel without removing the hands from it, which, in principle, is not new, but they are not responsible for this, as it is accepted today, but a rotary regulator, which is much more convenient and faster to use. All settings of the musical installation are displayed on a multifunctional display on the central console, simultaneously serving the on -board computer. It is quite reasonable that for a CTS business class, the Americans preferred a separate climate control system to air conditioner. Plus automatically obscuring the rear -view mirrors, heating the windshield washer nozzles, which is very relevant for our harsh climate, a steering wheel adjustable in height (unfortunately, I have to do it manually - I am in my soul a maximalist and expected from a machine where almost everything was equipped with electric drives and the like, and similar options) and so on. All this is included in the list of standard equipment. As well as the system of personalization of the driver on the remote control of the alarm (also, by the way, standard equipment) and door locks. As soon as the owner or his driver open the car with his key, the seats, radio installations and climate control system automatically are automatically.
As for the specific machine that visited the test, three options were additionally installed on it, all together worth 3570 dollars. This is the paint that I spoke about at the beginning of the material; two -tone leather upholstery of seats; The tree that decorated the steering wheel, the gearbox lever and the internal door handles, and the PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OPTION Sports bag, which includes in addition to the original wheels of polished aluminum and high -speed tires, the front headlight lamps and the Stabilitrak electronic system, the possibilities of which I have already for the moment. I was eager to try.
Urban, sports
Do you know how I deciphered the abbreviation CTS for myself? Separately CT, which is consonant with the English City, that is, the city, and S - Sport. It turned out to be a city carrier carrier. Why city? The fact is that our office is located in the very center of the city with all the ensuing - tubid cars in traffic jams, problems with parking and the like. So, Cadillac CTS, perhaps, is the first American sedan in my memory, on which I practically did not feel difficulties with a sense of dimensions from the first minute of meeting the car. Even in the absence of parking sensors. The edges of the bumpers and the right side are felt to the last millimeter, so that by car it is simply to squeeze into any gap in the parking lot or maneuver in a dense city stream. And differently on CTS, it is impossible to ride. Judge for yourself - under the hood of a 3.2 -liter V6, developing 218 forces (and do not believe sellers who claim that in the arsenal of the engine 236 stallions - the methodology for measuring power in the United States does not take into account the equipment that takes the air conditioner or the steering wheel or the steering wheel); Under the right hand, the convenient lever of the automatic gearbox, which in advance is turned on the sports mode button (there is also a winter one, along the command of which CTS smoothly touches from the third gear), under the left is a very comfortable chubby bagel of unexpectedly modest size for the American model of size. And around - a body, the formidable outlines of which swept off the interfering cars from the strip as easily as the palm drives the annoying mosquito. 
It seems that you can slowly start forgetting that the sure sign of an American car is a soft, dissolved chassis. At least Cadillac has already got rid of this drawback. On the road, the rear -wheel drive CTS is perceived by a quite European car with rather accurate feedback on the steering wheel, stiff suspension, minimal rolls in corners. No wonder, at the stage of machine development, the Americans cut circles for several months through the northern ring of Nurburgring, which is considered one of the most complex racing tracks in the world, and in fact is the quintessence of the road conditions of the Old World. 177 turns, significant height changes, high -speed segments - and all this for some 20 kilometers! No wonder this route is called green hell. As Ken Morris, the leading engineer of Cadillac, put it: when we saw what requirements for Nyurgurging is on the car, we immediately decided for ourselves - CTS should prove the right to exist here. In total, during preliminary tests, prototypes rolled more than one and a half kilometers, during which changes were constantly made to the design of the engine and suspension. Moreover, not only by the forces of Americans, but also the specialists of the TWR and Sachs companies in Europe. The result was not long in coming. The ergonomics of the driver’s place was clearly worked out, that is, the position of the steering wheel, pedals, and the gearbox lever. Having tried more than 40 options for shock absorbers, the designers settled on those that provide accurate obedience to the car of the driver, but at the same time retain the proper level of comfort. Moreover, the NIVOMAT system is installed on the rear axle, which automatically supports constant road clearance, regardless of the number of people or the weight of the cargo that you are transporting. Also, a contrasting system was included in the standard equipment, which, when ordering a sports package (as in a test car), is supplemented by the intellectual charm of Stabilitrak, which constantly controls the trajectory of the machine movement.
Now closer to the practical side. There is one place in the suburbs, which it is just right to call a paradise for sophisticated drivers. The segment of a narrow forest road covered with decent asphalt is replete with turns, there is almost no oncoming transport. And in one of the turns I overestimated the possibilities of rubber, and even right in the middle of the road, the soil sagged a little. Imagine, a rather large sedan flies into a turn, falls into a freshly formed wave, flies out of it - the suspension is unloaded, and according to all the laws of physics, it begins to shift to the side of the road. Such moments, as a rule, are remembered as if in slow shooting. The first thought flashed through - the car on the rear drive, so do not touch the gas pedal, the second is good that there are no oncoming ones, the third - if I turned off Stabilitrak with a button hidden in the glove compartment, the last one, at least, will protect the front and side airbags of safety . As you know, these thoughts flashed through the head in an instant, which was just enough electronics to recognize the dangerous situation, slow down the necessary wheels, simultaneously switch the machine to the step lower and return me control over the machine. It remains incomprehensible only why the gearbox changed the range and in general why this happened. I had to climb into the instructions from which everything became clear.
It turns out in each of the four brake discs is installed according to the temperature sensor, which, if a certain indicator exceeds the command, give the command computer that the brakes have lost part of their effectiveness and they need help. Considering that the incident happened on the third attempt to beat my own record on this road, that is, I did not go slowly and slowed down sharply, the electronics felt overheating of the brakes and helped the machine with the engine.
Perhaps the only thing I have not talked about is about other engines. For CTS, two V -shaped sixes of 2.6 and 3.2 liters are offered (181 and 218 forces, respectively). Moreover, motors can be equipped with an automatic transmission, as it was on a test car, and for the first time after a twenty -year break in the history of Cadillac - a manual gearbox, which gives the car even better dynamics. The gearboxes of the checkpoint were selected taking into account the addictions of European drivers, that is, they are somewhat close and provide more intense acceleration with minimal losses during switching. But back to the motors. Both of them are very comfortable and traction, thanks to modern supports, they practically do not convey vibrations to the body and amazingly quiet at low and medium speeds. When the V6 is twisted into a ringing in sports mode, the interior is filled with a pleasant roar, not at all interfering with the driver, but at the same time helping him to feel more fully, in this case - by ear. Well, as for the specific figures for the acceleration and torque, you can see them in the table. I can only say that according to both acceleration and movement at high speed, they do not cause special adrenaline tides.
That's right, because this is a respectable business class sedan, and not a charged hatchback. Although ... More recently, the production of a 350-horsepower CTS V-Series with a 5.7-liter V8 under the hood and other chassis settings began. It is a pity that the supply of this catapult to our market is not yet planned.
The same cars that come to Russia cost from $ 41495 for a version with a manual gearbox and a 2.6-liter engine. The minimum price of a car with a more powerful 3.2 -liter V6 - 49900 dollars. Warranty - three years without mileage.
Sergey Ilyinsky
Brief technical characteristics of Cadillac CTS
Engine volume, cubic meter. See: 2597 /3175
Power, l. With. at about./min. : 181/6000: 218/6000
Max. Torque, Nm/at about. min.: 232/3400: 300/3400
Acceleration to 100 km/ h, p.: 9.3 (9.7)/ 7.4 (7.7)
Maximum speed, km/ h: 223 (206)/ 238 (230)
Average fuel consumption l./ 100 km.: 10.2/ 11.0
The volume of the fuel tank, l.: 68,1
Dimensions, mm.: 4828x1795x1441
In brackets - data for modification with automatic transmission
Source: "Automobile Izvestia"
