Detroit Free Press: Cadillac ATS Car of the Year

[ne_one]

Cadillac ATS, Ram 1500 are Detroit Free Press Car and Truck of the Year 2013
Detroit Free Press
December 27, 2012
by Mark Phelan

The ATS sport sedan is a watershed vehicle for Cadillac and a breakthrough that will change the way General Motors develops all its upcoming vehicles.

The engineers who developed the ATS at GM's Warren Tech Center were focused like a laser on the BMW 3-series, the compact that's widely considered the world's best sport sedan.

It was the first time GM had the confidence to tackle the 3-series head on. The CTS that re-established Cadillac as a competitor for the likes of Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz tried to outflank the 3-series: it was nearly the size of the larger 5-series, but priced like the compact 3-series.

Job 1 was making the car light. Controlling weight is the greatest test of an automaker's discipline, focus and engineering expertise. Nearly all GM's recent vehicles have been heavier than their competition. That put GM at a serious disadvantage for fuel economy, handling and performance.

The ATS shocked the auto industry when it weighed in about 200 pounds lighter than a 3-series. The ATS's fuel economy and performance also compare well to leading established sport sedans.

Full article at link.

[BlackGTP]

Excellent - this is what GM can do if it wants to. They need to apply what they learned about setting a target and winning like they did with the 3 Series. They need to take the same development team and say "this is the Honda Accord - do this but only better" - better styling, lighter, quieter, more fun. Benchmark and exceed! They need to do this in all segments!

[1.21 giggawatts]

love it!

[Nordoff]

THINGS I WAN.....DEMAND TO SEE!

1) Significant upgrades and changes for the better no more then three years from now. (if this is to expensive then drop another Caddy model (SRX) and use that development money to help out.

2) Newer and better gearbox. To many complaints about this one. Hell, if nessary buy them from whoever yer selling that transmittion plant to in France.

3) slightly better interior thought put guys.... Please.

4) Either greatly improve or kill CUE.

5) Don't rest on your laurels........GM, you don't have any.

[AdmiralViscen]

Dropping the SRX is not going to give Cadillac more money, lol

[megeebee]

THINGS I WANT.....DEMAND TO SEE! (<<< fixed it)

That's tellin' 'em.

1) Significant upgrades and changes for the better no more then three years from now. (if this is to expensive then drop another Caddy model (SRX) and use that development money to help out.

Seriously? Why would killing one of their most popular and profitable models help anything?

2) Newer and better gearbox. To many complaints about this one. Hell, if nessary buy them from whoever yer selling that transmittion plant to in France.

Are you talking about the manual? Because I thought the problems had been resolved with it. I haven't read any complaints about the automatic.

3) slightly better interior thought put guys.... Please.

What's "thought put"?

4) Either greatly improve or kill CUE.

It's not all that bad, is it?

[sfbreh]

4) Either greatly improve or kill CUE.

5) Don't rest on your laurels........GM, you don't have any.

Yes, CUE does need to be improved. The centerstack would be better if they used those PREEEETTY little brushed metal accents as buttons for volume, temperature, etc. Also speed it up and make it quicker to respond to multi-touch... while adding more gestures. Custom gestures?

And don't rest on your laurels, GM.

Dropping the SRX is not going to give Cadillac more money, lol

I think he's saying to drop the SRX and use the money previously allocated to it to fund other things... which is a retarded idea at best.

[sfbreh]

It's not all that bad, is it?

It's bad enough.

[jzchev28]

I'd loveeeeeee to own the turbo with a manual trans, I drool over that car! Good job Caddy keep it up!

[jzchev28]

THINGS I WAN.....DEMAND TO SEE!

1) Significant upgrades and changes for the better no more then three years from now. (if this is to expensive then drop another Caddy model (SRX) and use that development money to help out.

2) Newer and better gearbox. To many complaints about this one. Hell, if nessary buy them from whoever yer selling that transmittion plant to in France.

3) slightly better interior thought put guys.... Please.

4) Either greatly improve or kill CUE.

5) Don't rest on your laurels........GM, you don't have any.

To quote the movie Tommy Boy... "Did you used to live under power lines?"

[richmond2000]

I hope the engineers "A" look at the next GM projects with the same "LASER" commitment bit I believe GM should NOT "copy" cars like they did with this one as the 3 is a ONE trick pony and so is the ATS but most cars / SUVS have to fill MANY jobs and compete against loots of competitors even not directly in class IE Malibu has to compete against the RAV 4 and the Ford FOCUS

[jadis]

It's all so sad that CUE is horrific enough to prevent buyers from choosing this over a 3 series. All they really had to do was carry over the CTS center stack and this car would be the car, at least for me. The fact that you can't get a stick with AWD is enough to push me into a 335xi but CUE seals it. No way this car will be in my driveway, unfortunately. Someone at GM needs to be fired for CUE.

[Bad Driver]

Caddy needs to utilize the excellent Alpha platform. They should introduce CUV, convertible, coupe, and wagon (I for one would buy ATS wagon with 2.0T engine) as soon as possible.

[vrocks]

I want to say something about cue and all of the negative press around it - even comments from people who've probably never used it. I wasn't a fan of it until I used it for an hour or two, and now I think its a big improvement over the previous gen electronics package in Cadillacs.

The voice recognition is very good when it comes to entering directions and tuning the radio and ipod. I think my past experiences with voice recognition software in the automotive world is what made me so apprehensive to give it a chance. While there's room for improvement with how responsive the system is (haptic feedback and to voice input to change a radio station), it's reached a point where it is more than good enough to use. The only time I've really had to touch the screen was when I was setting my vehicle preferences.

As for the build quality and how the center stack looks and feels... It's extremely solid (nothing moves or squeaks no matter how hard I push on it, and looks great so long as you keep it clean.

[mchicha]

[B][SIZE=4] Nearly all GM's recent vehicles have been heavier than their competition. That put GM at a serious disadvantage for fuel economy, handling and performance.

Really, The Camaro ZL1 just ran VIR faster than a porsche 911 S