GM Inside News Forum banner

GMI Drives: 2016 Cadillac CTS Luxury Collection 2.0T AWD

24K views 73 replies 36 participants last post by  Jesda 
#1 ·
Now three years into its third generation, the CTS looks to remain competitive with a new transmission and new features.
www.GMInsideNews.com
January 6, 2016
By: Luke Sorro


When Cadillac unveiled its completely redesigned CTS in 2013 at the New York Auto Show, it was the brand’s best offering yet in the hotly contested mid-size luxury sedan market. The CTS, prior to its third generation, was Cadillac’s entry level sedan, and occupied that spot in the lineup for its entire product life, which spanned two prior generations. With the redesigned CTS, Cadillac aimed right for the throats of the established class stalwarts, the Mercedes-Benz E Class and BMW 5 Series, promising an opulent interior chock full of features to go along with a driving experience Cadillac touted as "world class" thanks to its lowest-in-class curb weight. Now three model years in, does the venerable CTS still have what it takes to compete with the best? I hit the road and put a brand new 2016 CTS Luxury Collection All Wheel Drive equipped with the two liter turbo four cylinder through its paces to find out.


Since standout exterior designs were big selling points for the CTS nameplate in previous models, Cadillac had to not only create an emotional design that would stand out, but also create a car that would please the Chinese market, which traditionally has favored softer, toned down designs over bold, brash, and edgy ones. Well, did they? Styling is purely subjective and opinions will vary, but in my humble opinion, Cadillac hit a home run with the front end, popped up on the sides, and hit a single with the rear. It is certainly fair to say that the CTS is a good looking car, but you would not be making an absurd statement if you said that the CTS was a rather bland car past the front. Still, as mentioned, it is a good looking car, and one that looks better in person than in photographs. On my CTS, done up in Cadillac’s Radiant Silver Metallic, lines are crisp, and the car looks athletic with fantastic proportions, starting with a deliciously long hood, with short overhangs at both the front and rear of the car. The CTS gained Cadillac’s wreath-less Crest logo and a new grille design for 2015, and that carries over for 2016. The only other exterior difference from the 2015 CTS is the rear trim applications, where on the 2016 CTS, the name and engine trim badges are moved up higher on the trunk, versus towards the bottom on the 2015 CTS. Other than that, the 2016 CTS looks identical to the 2015 CTS.



What good is a luxury car if it does not have a properly appointed interior? When the current CTS was unveiled, it raised the bar not only for Cadillac, but for the entire class. The overall design was uniquely Cadillac, material choices were first-rate, and ergonomics were fantastic. However, the interior had its shortcomings; it was not as roomy as its rivals, and the CTS lacked a high end interior option to combat the likes of Mercedes-Benz’s Designo and BMW’s Individual. Three years later, the CTS still has one of the nicest interiors in its class, with many creature comforts and great features. My 2016 tester’s interior color scheme was Jet Black with Jet Black Accents. The 2016 CTS Luxury Collection makes use of wood trim with a matte finish, versus a glossy finish seen on the 2015 version. In my opinion, the matte wood trim used in the 2016 CTS is brilliant. It looks fantastic and feels great to the touch. The black leather used for the supremely comfortable seats looks, feels, and even smells very high quality, and an eight way power adjustment feature with memory settings for the driver made it very easy to find a comfortable position at all times. The steering wheel could also be adjusted via an electronic tilt and telescoping feature, and it also came with a standard heated rim, something I appreciated in the frigid Winter temperatures that were present in the Detroit area when I had the car. The stitched leather dashboard looks and feels great as well, with a generous amount of padding underneath, and soft touch materials all the way down to the generously thick carpeting. Switchgear is well done and appropriately weighted, with certain bits accented nicely by a metallic accent. The UltraView panoramic sunroof, standard on the Luxury Collection trim level, was a nice feature that let just the right amount of natural light in, even with the electrically operated shade closed. Uplevel ambient lighting, also standard on Luxury Collection CTS models, was also a very nice touch, and nicely accented the interior at night. However, the interior is not perfect, and issues revolve around build quality and the revised CUE infotainment system.




Even though the CTS I tested was brand new with only 19 miles on it when I picked it up, it exhibited issues that should not be present on any new car, let alone in a car of this caliber. The car exhibited no less than three rattles, and all three of them made their presence felt the entire time when driving the car, even on semi-smooth roads. In addition to that, the steering wheel’s stitching was uneven, and had a rather jarring bubble on the left side where your hand would rest while driving. Another quality issue on my tester was a large gap where the left paddle shifter meets the steering wheel, which exposed the electronics inside. Issues like these should not appear in any new car, and are absolutely unacceptable on a mid-size luxury sedan like the CTS. If Cadillac wants to be seen as a serious player selling luxury cars in the global marketplace, quality gaffes like these should not happen, and really make an otherwise very well done, thoroughly engineered interior look, feel, and sound, cheap and downmarket.


Ah, CUE. Cadillac User Experience. It would not be a proper modern Cadillac review if it did not mention CUE. Personally, I was a big fan of CUE, up until I drove this 2016 CTS with the updated version of CUE. For 2016, Cadillac updated CUE, giving it a new interface, ability to use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, along with a newer, more powerful processor. Sadly, the new CUE system was laggy, buggy, and froze on the HVAC display twice, despite me turning off the entire system by holding the power button. The only fix for that bug was to turn the vehicle off, then turn it back on. That said, the overall UI and HMI improvements are pleasant, and I think that they are a nice improvement over the older version of CUE. However, it is all for naught if the system runs as slowly and has as many bugs as the one in the CTS I drove had, CarPlay be damned. Paired with CUE in the Luxury Collection CTS is a 13 speaker Bose Centerpoint sound system, with a 3D navigation system. The sound system was excellent, delivering deep bass, close to zero distortion, and a very clear overall sound throughout all volumes. The navigation system was easy to use and understood voice commands nicely, as did the Bluetooth system in the car, which I seamlessly paired to my iPhone to in mere seconds. Also included in the 2016 CTS is a Powermat wireless charging pad in the center storage compartment, which can be accessed by touching underneath the CUE system. Unfortunately, it was not large enough to accommodate my iPhone 6 Plus. The smaller iPhone 6 fits just fine, however, and the Powermat system charged the smaller iPhone 6 with no problem.



Riding on an extended version of GM's critically acclaimed Alpha platform, the CTS has an excellent foundation on which to build on. Thanks to Alpha, the CTS offers a rock solid chassis coupled with light weight, and that makes for a best-in-class driving experience that rewards the driver with a genuinely fun car to drive. Despite being the lightest car in the mid-size luxury sedan market, the CTS’s chassis is akin to piano wire; tight and solid, with absolutely no twist detectable, even during extreme handling maneuvers. Toss the CTS in a tight hairpin turn, and it feels right at home. Body roll is minimal, and the ride quality is absolutely wonderful, striking a perfect balance with a not-too-hard, not-too-soft ride that’s both luxurious and sporty at the same time. Cadillac really makes the term "luxury sports sedan" come to life with the CTS.

The small diameter steering wheel is grippy, and gives the driver great feedback through its electrically assisted and speed sensitive ZF steering rack. Even in Touring mode, the CTS lets the driver know exactly what the front wheels are doing, and that feedback is noticeably sharpened when the car is placed into Sport mode. Despite being a rather large sedan, the CTS truly drives like a smaller sports car, and in many ways, feels like its smaller brother ATS when driving it aggressively. My particular CTS had General Motors’s ubiquitous two liter turbo four cylinder, packing 268 horsepower peaking at 5,600 RPM, and 295 pound-feet of torque, available from 3,000 to 4,500 RPM. The turbo four is paired to a new-for-2016 eight speed automatic transmission with stop-start technology. The powertrain is smooth, offers great power, and has virtually zero turbo lag. The engine sounds pleasant, does not buzz, and is a smooth operator. Mated to the 2.0T in the 2016 CTS is General Motor's Hydramatic 8 speed transmission, a new addition to the CTS for 2016. Shifts are smooth, quick, and precise, and it puts the engine in a proper spot to deliver power if the situation demands for it to do so. When in Touring mode, the transmission is somewhat eager to upshift in the name of fuel economy, but when in Sport mode, it holds revs for a bit longer, and downshifts with less hesitation than in Touring mode. The 2.0T/A8 powertrain combination rockets the CTS to sixty miles per hour in about six and a half seconds, and does so in a drama-free way. This is the best application of the 2.0T in my opinion, and it really suits the CTS well. The 2.0T/A8 combination with All Wheel Drive is rated by the EPA to deliver 21 miles per gallon in the city, and 29 miles per gallon on the highway. I put 335 mostly-highway miles on the car, and the car used exactly 15 gallons of gasoline to do so. That averages out to 22.3 miles per gallon. Lower than expected, but that could be due to the engine not being fully broken in yet. Standard on every CTS are four piston, fixed caliper Brembo brakes up front with generic brakes out back, which offers superb stopping power with no fade. Brake pedal feel is generally good, but pedal travel is a bit too long for my tastes. My CTS had the 18” wheel package, which gives the car a great stance, and the 15 spoke, painted aluminum wheels look great to boot.

As stated earlier, stop-start was a new feature added for 2016, and overall execution is flawless, with the motor starting right back up when the driver’s foot lifts off of the brake pedal. The system can be turned off from the center stack by pressing the touch panel under the lane keep system if the stop-start system proves to be bothersome to the driver. The stop-start system in the CTS uses ultracapacitors in addition to the battery, which help power electric accessories and aids the battery in turning the engine back on when needed. This is the first usage of a system like this in a production vehicle according to Cadillac, and if this CTS is something to judge by, Cadillac has a winning stop-start design on its hands.


When driving the CTS, the driver has excellent sight lines thanks to a generous daylight opening, and the car really stands out with Cadillac’s unique LED lighting signature, standard on all CTS models. At night, the CTS Luxury Collection’s standard HID headlights make nighttime driving easy, with a large illumination path that turns when the car turns thanks to its adaptive forward lighting feature. The traditional rearview mirror is aided by a standard backup camera and rear parking assist, which makes backing up easier, but the side view mirrors are painfully small and narrow, and really make lane changes a bit of a challenge, even with standard blind zone assist. Also standard on every CTS is adaptive remote start, a keyless entry system, and push button start system, all of which are nice touches on a luxury car. Standard on the Luxury Collection CTS is a 5.7 inch, full color driver information center under the gauges, which can be fully customized to the driver’s liking. Also new for 2016 is the addition of a boost gauge for turbocharged CTS models, which is a great touch if you want to see what the engine is doing and how much boost it is using, and especially useful if you want to partake in some spirited driving, which is something that the CTS was built for and does very well. The gauges themselves are rather spartan looking, but they are legible and information is laid out in a clear, easily discernible manner. The front seats have enough legroom and headroom for an average sized adult, but compared to other cars in the class, the interior does feel a bit claustrophobic, mostly due to packaging and how narrow the interior feels because of it. Rear headroom is very good even with the UltraView sunroof, while rear legroom is okay at best. Overall, it is still a bit of a tight fit in back compared to other cars in the class.


So, now that it is three model years into its life, is the Cadillac CTS still a legitimate player in the mid-size luxury sedan class? Even though the CTS’s design, both inside and out, is still fresh and can easily compete with the best of the best, the competition is not standing still, and new or refreshed models that the CTS competes with are on the way. While the overall excellence of the engineering that went into the CTS and its world class driving experience cannot be questioned, spotty build quality and a half-baked infotainment system really hurt what is an otherwise fantastic vehicle. Lapses in fit and finish and overall build quality on a luxury sedan costing as much as the CTS does are simply not acceptable, and one would be let down if they spent that much coin on a car that rattled as much as my tester did and had misfitting pieces that exposed interior electronics. Granted, this was the first CTS I’ve driven with these issues; the other four or so that I have spent time with in the past were flawless. And while it was nice that Cadillac took it upon themselves to update CUE, I feel that they actually took a step backwards in usability, and I think that the lag and bugs that exist in it will turn off potential customers. Still though, if you are a person looking for the best driving mid-size luxury sedan with a fantastic interior packing great technology, but are willing to take a chance on quality and are willing to live with CUE, then this is the car for you.


2016 Cadillac CTS Specifications

Assembly SiteLansing - Grand River, MI
Starting Price$54,280 (Luxury Collection 2.0T AWD
Options18” Painted Aluminum Wheels, Front and Real All Weather Floormats (Dealer Installed), Wheel Lock Kit (Dealer Installed)
Price As Tested$55,095
PlatformAlpha
Wheelbase114.60 in / 2,911 mm
Overall Length195.50 in / 4,966 mm
Overall Width72.20 in / 1,834 mm
Overall Height57.20 in / 1,453 mm
Curb Weight3,832 lbs
Headroom40.40 in / 1,026 mm (front)
37.50 in / 953 mm (rear)
Legroom45.70 in / 1,161 mm (front)
35.40 in / 899 mm (rear)
Shoulder Room56.90 in / 1,445 mm (front)
54.80 in / 1,392 mm (rear)
Hip Room53.80 in / 1,367 mm (front)
53.30 in / 1,354 mm (rear)
Engine2.0L Turbocharged Ecotec I-4 (LTG)
268 Horsepower (200 kW) 295 lb-ft Torque (400 Nm)
TransmissionHydramatic 8L45 8-speed automatic
EPA Ratings21 MPG City / 29 MPG Highway
Observed Fuel Economy22.3 MPG


Additional Photography​









 
See less See more
2 16
#6 ·
Hey, I tried... :p:

The car liked the speed so much it called me "M8"! :D

CREAKS AND RATTLES?? In a Cadillac??

I had a 2013 Cruze LS with manual transmission on a 24 month lease. When I returned it with 24,000 miles, there wasn't a single creek/squeak/rattle inside. This is a car that you can buy for about $16,000 after rebates.

So the issue is bad engineering on how the interior components are mounted.

I had two GTOs. On the GTO, the shifter had two sources of buzzing noise. The predominant one that almost all manual GTOs had was due to the shifter rod tapping inside of the shift knob from transmission vibration. The rubber isolation material was of poor quality and extremely thin and quickly broke down. Both my '05 and '06 rattled by the time they had 10,000 miles on them. Good engineering would have dictated a solid connection between the knob and shifter rod, perhaps threaded, or if that did not meet NVH goals, then a solid rubber bushing could have been specified that would have lasted the life of the car. Instead, the rubber was 1-2mm thin and it disintegrated in no time.

That's just one example. Bad engineering/design decisions, not bad assembly.

It leaves me scratching my head that interior designers don't know when and where to use certain materials. In some cases an extra 10 cents of felt is all that's required.

My current daily driver is a 2014 Volt, and the rear seat center console had a metallic rattle. Found the snap-in nuts didn't sit tightly within the floor pan. Popped them out, applied thin self adhesive felt, and popped them back in. Now I only have instrument panel trim that snaps and crackles; a snap sound from the hatch area; and a glove box tick to deal with.

Do interior designers not consider the appropriate use of fasteners, felt, perhaps some silicon in washer or pad form? It's not rocket science - you must either physically tie two surfaces together, tightly, or when that is not possible you must isolate them so that contact does not cause noise.

This is completely unacceptable in ANY GM vehicle at any price point. And I don't see it getting better really. Our 2007 Buick Rendezvous is better than our 2014 Volt.

To me, luxury begins with a sense that everything was created and put together with care. Using high grade materials that are pleasing to the eye but offensive to my ears is not luxury.
And therein lies the issue with the CTS for me as well, at least after driving this specific one. It's really a shame that sloppy workmanship and poor craftsmanship ruins an otherwise sublime interior. It's too bad, really.
 
#5 ·
CREAKS AND RATTLES?? In a Cadillac??

I had a 2013 Cruze LS with manual transmission on a 24 month lease. When I returned it with 24,000 miles, there wasn't a single creek/squeak/rattle inside. This is a car that you can buy for about $16,000 after rebates.

So the issue is bad engineering on how the interior components are mounted.

I had two GTOs. On the GTO, the shifter had two sources of buzzing noise. The predominant one that almost all manual GTOs had was due to the shifter rod tapping inside of the shift knob from transmission vibration. The rubber isolation material was of poor quality and extremely thin and quickly broke down. Both my '05 and '06 rattled by the time they had 10,000 miles on them. Good engineering would have dictated a solid connection between the knob and shifter rod, perhaps threaded, or if that did not meet NVH goals, then a solid rubber bushing could have been specified that would have lasted the life of the car. Instead, the rubber was 1-2mm thin and it disintegrated in no time.

That's just one example. Bad engineering/design decisions, not bad assembly.

It leaves me scratching my head that interior designers don't know when and where to use certain materials. In some cases an extra 10 cents of felt is all that's required.

My current daily driver is a 2014 Volt, and the rear seat center console had a metallic rattle. Found the snap-in nuts didn't sit tightly within the floor pan. Popped them out, applied thin self adhesive felt, and popped them back in. Now I only have instrument panel trim that snaps and crackles; a snap sound from the hatch area; and a glove box tick to deal with.

Do interior designers not consider the appropriate use of fasteners, felt, perhaps some silicon in washer or pad form? It's not rocket science - you must either physically tie two surfaces together, tightly, or when that is not possible you must isolate them so that contact does not cause noise.

This is completely unacceptable in ANY GM vehicle at any price point. And I don't see it getting better really. Our 2007 Buick Rendezvous is better than our 2014 Volt.

To me, luxury begins with a sense that everything was created and put together with care. Using high grade materials that are pleasing to the eye but offensive to my ears is not luxury.
 
#9 ·
What is with the odd wedge shaped wood looking insert on the right side of the dash , above the glove box ?? It got me thinking about just how any designer could make this insert any less attractive and refined , but for the life of me , I can't think of a one !!
 
#14 ·
I mean, it's a piece of trim. Imagine how bad it would look if it were just an acre of leather with nothing to break it up.

I especially like it when you look at a ats or Cts and the stitching doesn't follow the curve of the seat. If they are going to do exposed stitching do it with care. It's endemic to GM and their suppliers.
Funny you mention this. One CTS I had last year had a horrible case of this:



And I actually took a picture from the exact same area on this CTS to compare the two, but forgot all about it.

Here's the stitching on the driver's seat on the CTS from this review:



Is 3823 lbs correct? I thought the 2L T was lighter than that?
Pulled directly from Cadillac's website:

http://www.cadillac.com/sedans/cts-sedan/dimensions.html
 
#10 ·
I have a 15 ATS4 Performance Collection with the 2.0T (Black Raven/Morello Red Interior) and the interior is superbly built. None of the build quality issues of this CTS are present. Current odo is sitting at just over 13K kilometers and the car is tight and rattle free. In fact the ATS has been completely trouble free since taking it off the lot last March having returned to the dealer just once for an Oil Change since that date and the rear defogger recall. Previously had an 08 CTS with the Direct injection 3.6V6 (RWD) and FE2 suspension. Loved that car but this ATS is leaps and bounds better to drive and the chassis and overall ride quality is just fantastic. This summer took four people on a road trip and comments from the rear seat riders were that the car feels like it is riding on air, literally glides down the road. The backseat is tight but surprisingly comfortable once seated and as long as the front passengers aren't greedy with leg room it is fine for the occasional use that most cars will see. Overall very happy with my ATS!
 
#16 ·
Sounds like pretty much the same issues as before with a few updates. Buggy CUE, less than expected mileage from the underachieving 4 cylinder turbos, the usual indifferent GM interior quality control, small back seat and knee space and too high of a price for what you get tied to a great chassis, decent performance, a great new transmission and a reasonable amount of features.

In all fairness I have been in other luxury makes and have witnessed squeaks and rattles so this isn't tied to just GM by any means.
 
#18 ·
I agree that it's not just a GM problem. But I am a GM fan and want them to do better. This isn't nuclear science, there's no technical hurdle causing 2016 model year cars to have interior fit and finish problems. It's just sloppy.
 
#17 ·
I have had 9 new GM cars since 2000 and none of them had a squeak of any kind....and rattles/squeaks drive me nuts. This is totally unacceptable even in a Spark and it is more than disappointing on a Cadillac. My 2016 Terrain is absolutely tight and have not had to take it back to the dealer for anything. Paint, gaps, trim...all perfect.
 
#28 ·
Dequindre was doing a ridealong, holding the camera. :yup: Phone. Whatever.

Thanks for the shout out!
Yes, that's YOU! :drive:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Envoy4Life
#32 ·
Trust me -- it's not just loaners that rattle like a nut in a tin can. My CTS also has 3 rattles, but I've only conclusively isolated one of them. It's on the driver side seat belt adjuster. Two other people I've let drive the car quickly noticed it as well. The other two rattles are on the passenger side and are more intermittent. One of them might be the other seat belt adjuster, but I need to sit there and let someone else drive, so I can track down the source. The rattles are embarrassing and make the car sound cheap. I'm just afraid that if I don't track them down myself, the dealer will never fix them.

As for the complaint about the outside mirrors, I disagree. I think they work fine and look nice. The size doesn't bother me at all.

Question -- anyone know what fuse to pull to deactivate the electrochromic mirror? I hate that thing! In every other car I've had with a self-dimming mirror, it could be turned off.
 
#33 ·
Trust me -- it's not just loaners that rattle like a nut in a tin can. My CTS also has 3 rattles, but I've only conclusively isolated one of them. It's on the driver side seat belt adjuster. Two other people I've let drive the car quickly noticed it as well. The other two rattles are on the passenger side and are more intermittent. One of them might be the other seat belt adjuster, but I need to sit there and let someone else drive, so I can track down the source. The rattles are embarrassing and make the car sound cheap. I'm just afraid that if I don't track them down myself, the dealer will never fix them.
That's disappointing.

Question -- anyone know what fuse to pull to deactivate the electrochromic mirror? I hate that thing! In every other car I've had with a self-dimming mirror, it could be turned off.
Isn't the mirror glass itself what makes it dim? It uses electrochromic glass, so isn't that the property of the glass itself and not something you can deactivate?
 
#44 · (Edited)
This is definitely an area where if GM put a little more effort and scrutiny on Q.C. at Lansing it would go a long way for Cadillac.
Same with issue's like some of these that should have been dealt with during or after the PDI at the dealer.
Which is sad because I think the product is great but I do not want a repeat experience like I have had with my ATS.
 
#45 ·
GM and Cadillac don't know how many sales they lose due to sloppy assemble and poor quality control If people look at or do a test drive and don't buy, you never know why. My son-in-law recently bought a new SUV. Due to past experience, he wouldn't consider any product from GM. He got his choices down to a new Ford Explorer Limited or a Toyota Highlander Limited with the Ford a couple of thousand cheaper. However, when he drove the Explorer, a piece of interior trim came loose on a rear window. That one piece of loose trim resulted in the purchase of the Highlander. He said if they allowed the car to be delivered with the loose trim, what else did they not do properly?
 
#46 ·
The rattling is disappointing. My 2001 STS is 15 years old and has no rattles. None. The body structure is nowhere near as tight as todays cars so you can hear some rumbling and movement when you hit bumps but nothing rattles in the interior. They need to tighten that aspect up in the new cars. Although we have had two new SRX's, an ATS, and a CTS in my immediate family and I don't recall hearing much rattling in any of those either.
 
#49 ·
I had a real hard time hearing the rattle but that road blows and 60 MPH on it? That's unreal. Not saying you are going to fast on it at all but that's the limit on that road? Crazy. lol

The suspension is set up pretty stiff in the Alpha cars so they can make some type of noise. It's the downfall of it. My car has some crazy rattles but Im on coilovers and lowered so I knew I would be introducing some noise to the cabin.
 
#50 ·
yall are forgetting that Gm used to ship cars out that didn't even have the timing set properly and would barely run. PDI was a major thing. We looked at a 1980 Malibu that hadn't been PDI'd yet and they couldn't keep it idling for us to test drive it. My parents said no way. There went my dreams of 305 powered F41 suspended Malibu. But when you are 17 dreams die hard more often.
 
#55 ·
Yep, Gen 3 CTS is absolute garbage because this loaner has a couple of rattles and some crooked stitching. I thought I loved mine until I read this review, now I realize it's a total piece of crap. Thanks all for the enlightenment!
This was a brand new vehicle with 19 miles on it, that stickered for north of $55,000. I was literally the first non-dealer person to drive this car. It couldn't have been any fresher.

Tell me, would you be happy if you were driving that car instead of the flawless one you have and love now? Going down the road sounding like you have a tin can filled with marbles sitting beside you? That's unacceptable for a luxury vehicle, and buyers deserve better than that.

Is it just me being to picky/demanding, or...?

Definitely turned out better than I was expecting. Curious as to whether a customer would put their head, let alone a cell phone behind the steering wheel like that to see a gap between a bezel and the paddle. I am intrigued enough to go look at one; see for myself. As for the interior bits, including the leather wrapped wheel, many of those parts come pre-assembled as modules. The assembly line workers would love to get that work back someday, considering they usually get blamed for many of these issue in car reviews/mags. I often wonder where the breakdown is, if it even exists, since we share many of our suppliers with the likes of Mercedes, etc.
I try to be as open-minded when writing car reviews as possible. I've only done a couple, but I try to focus on the positive to drown out the constant negativity I feel when driving the car. But with this car, I was so let down because I've had so many good experiences with the CTS, I wasn't sure how the piece would come off. I'm glad it wasn't overboard or anything. I'll be the first to tell you, I was let down with this car, and I'm of course still let down with my first ATS which is long gone. Let down with LGR in general, if you will.

I have no clue how employees, specifically quality control, interact at LGR, but I just wish that people over there showed a bit more pride in their work than what they show now. It would go a long way towards building a better product, keeping the customer happy, and keeping the company happy. Misfitting bits that expose interior electronics that you could see right when you open the door? That's just a no-no, especially in a vehicle costing this much, and especially from a brand like Cadillac who wants to make a comeback and win over BMercAudi buyers. Putting out, and I'm being very kind here, "vehicles" like this and my first ATS is just hurting the brand and damaging it even further than where it is now.

I just wish that they took an extra second or two assembling these things, and would check if everything fits nice and tightly. Isn't there some sort of quality check or quality ride done on new cars when they're assembled? How my Malibu, first ATS, and this CTS left the line with some severe issues that those various cars had is kinda troubling IMHO.
 
#54 ·
Definitely turned out better than I was expecting. Curious as to whether a customer would put their head, let alone a cell phone behind the steering wheel like that to see a gap between a bezel and the paddle. I am intrigued enough to go look at one; see for myself. As for the interior bits, including the leather wrapped wheel, many of those parts come pre-assembled as modules. The assembly line workers would love to get that work back someday, considering they usually get blamed for many of these issue in car reviews/mags. I often wonder where the breakdown is, if it even exists, since we share many of our suppliers with the likes of Mercedes, etc.
 
#60 ·
It's not okay for a Mercedes-Benz to rattle. At all.

But the issue is, Cadillac has to be as good, preferably even better than its established rivals because it wants to be seen as equal. Putting out products with shoddy quality is a big no-no if you're Cadillac. Mercedes-Benz cars are very well built, and Mercedes-Benz is arguably the king of luxury. Cadillac is currently an aspiring brand that's trying to be seen as a contender to the established marquees. Why would a buyer purchase a Cadillac car that lacks the cachet and prestige of established marquees and take poor quality with it?

That's the problem with issues like this. It CAN NOT happen on a modern Cadillac.
 
#64 ·
Bingo.
At 19 miles, both the Cadillac and Mercedes should not have a squeak or rattle. Period. End of discussion.
These days, even at 50,000 you shouldn't head a rattle or squeak from with car.
At 100,000 (5 years), you still won't hear it from a Mercedes, but the chances of hearing grows. Can you say the same for a Cadillac?
This is where Reputation starts kicking in. You'll start to heart the squeaks and rattles in BMW's around this time. Not so much with Mercedes. My 1995 C-Class started squeaking at the 18 year mark with a loose plastic part on the gate shifter, which was easily repositioned back. I can still go over a speed bump with the sunroof open, and not hear a squeak from the over all body. That to me is impressive, especially as sunroofs are notoriously squeaky and flex a bit in most cars.
 
#61 ·
Well I can say is, I love my CTS 2012 Coupe. It has 40,000 miles and no rattles or anything wrong with this car. Fit and finish are great. People still stop and look at it when walking by. The only thing I don't like is the front hood molding, it is too cheaply made of chrome plastic. It always gets chipped, that the only thing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top