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Price : £27,000 – £56,500

About Cadillac

Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. Cadillac has engineered an historic renaissance led by artful engineering and global expansion. Cadillac introduced the CTS to the world in 2003, and since then the standard sedan and its V variant have been completely reworked, while the Art and Science design language have carried over to a pair new body styles: the CTS Coupe and CTS Sport Wagon. While the wagon adds an excellent dose of utility, the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe represents the purest expression of Art and Science to date.

Cadillac has unveiled the 2011 CTS Coupe, the latest and most dramatic of the brand’s series of new designs to reach production. Arriving in Cadillac showrooms in August 2010, the CTS Coupe is a new luxury sports coupe designed to become the centerpiece of the brand’s revised lineup.

Driving experience

The CTS Coupe extends Cadillac’s emerging performance credentials, with its standard direct injected 3.6L V-6 and a six-speed manual, featuring a revised clutch and dual-mass flywheel that offers better clutch pedal feel and improved engine isolation. A six-speed automatic transmission with Driver Shift Control (and available steering wheel mounted shift buttons) is optional. The Coupe’s final drive ratio is 3.73:1, up from the 3.42:1 ratio of other CTS body styles, providing more responsive acceleration.

The 3.6L DI engine is rated at 304 horsepower (227 kW) and offers EPA-estimated fuel economy of 27 mpg on the highway. It also runs on less expensive regular unleaded gasoline. Direct injection technology delivers fuel more precisely to increase the efficiency of combustion, enabling more power while maintaining fuel economy and lowering emissions – including a 25-percent drop in cold-start hydrocarbon emissions.

The powertrain’s performance is channeled through a chassis that delivers sports car performance without punishment. The hardware includes an independent short/long arm (SLA) front suspension system, with hydraulic control arm front bushings; and a multi-link rear suspension mounted on a fully isolated subframe. Also included are four-wheel disc performance brakes, premium steering and limited-slip differential.

Befitting its luxury sports coupe status, the Coupe has a number of adjustments in the chassis enabling crisper driving performance. The car’s wider track gives it a more planted feel and slightly better cornering. The Coupe has a smaller 29mm front stabilizer bar (2 mm less than the Sedan,) while the rear bar is increased from 20mm to 24.5mm. Damping force is firmer at all four corners, helping the Coupe reach 0.88g peak lateral acceleration in standard form, and more than 0.90 for the V-Series edition.

Two suspension-tuning levels are available: a Performance Package with 18-inch wheels and all-season tires (available in both RWD and AWD,) and the Summer Tire Performance Package, with 19-inch tires and wheels and a higher level of road holding capability. StabiliTrak, the advanced electronic chassis control system, is standard.

Comfort and technology

The CTS Coupe’s interior emphasizes technical precision with elegant, hand-crafted details. A shockingly artful exterior matched with a comfortable interior and an engaging driving experience equals a compelling case for the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe. Graded on a curve, it’s a luxury sports coupe that gets the sporty right but falls short on the lux. Despite this, Cadillac has earned a Masters degree in both Art and Science with this latest application of the CTS equation, but now it’s time to go back and take a few interior design classes.

The Coupe also offers a host of customer driven technologies, including:

Integrated iPod/MP3 capability
40-gig hard drive, including the ability to store music and pause-and-replay live radio
Pop-up navigation system
Adaptive forward lighting system
Bluetooth connectivity
Standard Keyless Access and Smart Remote Start
Rear vision camera system
Bose 5.1 Cabin Surround™ audio system.

Safety features

Safety kit is competitive, with all models getting twin front, side and curtain airbags, electronic brakeforce distribution and stability control. On the security front, the doors automatically lock once you’re inside and an alarm and immobiliser are standard.

Interior amenities

Recaro performance driving seats are optional in the CTS-V Coupe and provide excellent support for spirited driving. These 14-way adjustable performance seats include pneumatic bolster controls in the seat cushions and backrests.

The CTS-V Coupe also includes an exclusive new Saffron color option for the interior, providing a contrasting color accent carried on the seat inserts, as well as the stitching, which highlights the craftsmanship of the instrument panel, center console, door trim and seats.

The steering wheel, seat inserts and shifter are covered in microfiber, providing the luxurious character of suede without suede’s inherent drawbacks of difficult care and moisture sensitivity. These accents are standard, elegant to the touch and help support high-performance driving.

Space & Practicality

There’s plenty of space upfront but, given that the CTS is longer than a BMW 5 Series, rear space is disappointing. There’s reasonable legroom, but headroom is tight, a bulky transmission tunnel makes life uncomfortable for a central passenger and the door aperture is an awkward shape. The 373-litre boot is only fractionally bigger than that in a Ford Focus, too.

Braking and tire systems

CTS-V includes sophisticated braking and tire systems, in partnership with two companies renowned for high-performance technology: Brembo and Michelin. Brembo brakes are at all four corners and include powerful, six-piston calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in the rear.

Two-way steering wheel adjustment and electric seats make it easy to get comfortable. However, the centre console is plastered with buttons, so it can be difficult to find the one you want at a glance. However, the standard satellite-navigation has a touch-screen setup to stop the problem getting any worse.

Equipment

There’s just one trim, but the good news is that it comes stacked with luxury toys. Electric leather seats, climate and cruise controls, parking sensors, automatic wipers and a banging surround-sound stereo with 40gb hard drive, MP3 input and sat-nav, all come as standard.