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I experienced quite the variety of cars during the madness that we call SEMA week. I started the week off in a Rolls Royce Phantom, which could quite possibly be the perfect car for a 4-person road trip to Vegas. Never before has 4 hours gone by so quickly. Then, while working for the Top Gear Taxi Service, I spent 8 hours a day driving the 620 horsepower Firebreather Camaro, giving rides to excited Top Gear fans for the entire SEMA week, all the while experiencing massive discomfort from the Camaro’s low roofline, poor seating angle, and heavy clutch in traffic. The day after the show ended, I had to be in Phoenix for another shoot, so I rented the only car available on the lot: a base-level Nissan Versa. While we’ve established the Versa is a very practical car for the money, when you have a bad back, a bad knee, and a bad elbow, this econobox is just about the worst place you’d want to be for a 5 hour drive through the desert. It’s small, wheezy, doesn’t have enough power to make a solid pass on a 2-lane road, and lacks a center arm rest, something I never knew how much I appreciated in other cars. Fortunately, I had an upgrade waiting.

Tom had driven out from LA to meet me in Phoenix in our subject vehicle, the Cadilac CTS Sport Wagon 3.6. Tom’s a pretty hard sell, rarely interested in “everyday” cars, so when he showed up at the hotel in Phoenix, excited about driving the non ‘V’ model ‘Lac, my interest was piqued. Especially since we’d have to spend another full two days in the car, using it as a camera vehicle in Arizona before embarking on a 500 mile road trip home.

I don’t know why American’s haven’t really gotten behind wagons as much as Europeans do. They drive essentially the same as the sedans on which they are based, and haul more stuff. From the driver’s seat, you’d never know the difference, and sometimes, as in the case with Volvo, Audi, and yes, Cadillac, they look better than their D-pillarless counterpart. There is one downside to a wagon though: weight. While we didn’t do any performance testing of our specific model, Car and Driver did test the wagon last year, and found that its added heft hurt acceleration to the tune of a full second to sixty. Now, 7 seconds isn’t exactly sluggish, but 6 seconds feels noticeably quicker. Since the only CTS sedan I’ve ever piloted was a ‘V,’ I expected this car to be slower and didn’t notice the difference of the added weight. Nevertheless, once rolling, the optional 3.6L, 304 hp V6 provides more than enough thrust for all but the most demanding drivers. Its soundtrack isn’t as slick as BMW’s straight-sixes, but overall its quiet and free of vibration. Multi-car passes on remote desert byways were just a left-paddle click away, and sustaining triple digit speeds over long distances remains so smooth, I was able to sleep in the passenger seat while Tom ate up hundreds of miles.

But without the monster LSA engine underhood to wow us, we focused on the interior and ride quality, the two most important factors on a long road trip. Cadillac gets an A++ for the CTS’s seats, the first set I’ve seen from an American car that properly mimics Benz and BMW’s tightly wrapped leather. Most American cars, especially previous generation Cadillacs and all Corvettes, have “baggy” leather, which is comfortable, but gets deformed and wrinkled after just a few thousand miles. The firm, supportive, and comfortable seats in the CTS tell me that GM has been studying Ze Germans, and copying them properly, for once. Both front and rear seat legroom is best in class, and the front passenger seat can be moved so far back that even my long legs won’t be able to reach the end of the footwell. When reclined it’s like flying British Airways, first class. Most importantly, fit and finish are top notch and give up nothing to the Germans. In fact, I know of three people who have traded in their 3-series BMW’s for CTS 3.6’s and never looked back.

Our fully-loaded test vehicle came with every option box ticked, save for the full glass roof, and technology in the CTS is plentiful, without being excessive. The retractable multimedia touch screen is bright and simple to use, though we wish that some basic navigation information were accessible while the screen was lowered. The audio system is intuitive and sounds great even at high volume levels. My personal favorite option box, heated/cooled seats work great for a desert road trip, where the seats tend to get extremely hot while parked in the sun.

There was a time when American car companies tried to offer the same features as the German manufacturers, but at a discounted price. How did they get to that price? By sacrificing fit, finish, and build quality. Think of a decade ago, when the Catera, based on an Opel, was as German as a Cadillac got. Now, the tables have turned. The CTS Sport Wagon is on par, if not better, than the German competition, but the buyer pays for it. Though the Sport Wagon starts at $43,000, our car’s as-tested price topped $52,000, which is actually more than a 3-series or A4 wagon will cost. Will the American public pay more for an American car that is truly built to German standards? Only time and sales figures will tell.

Until then, make my wagon a ‘V.” In Black.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at 11:12 am and is filed under News, Photos, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.