Gadgetory

here it is the all-new Cadillac ATS the baby Cadillac with a very simple mission get out there and settle the score with the 3-series and the c-class or don't come home let's drive this 2013 ATS all-wheel drive sedan and check the tech an ATS has got pretty similar proportions to the 3 series or a c-class the look is like neither it's got none of that swooping rounded stuff of the three a little bit of a resemblance to a C in the front but there's so much other Cadillac DNA going on and I really like how the shoulders flow down over its hips as you look at it from front cross section to my eye it's the most clean honest and modern Cadillac out there it doesn't have all that baroque excess you still find in the Escalade nor does it have that kind of dully machismo Tommy Bahama look of the CTS and its other siblings it's a clean honest urban looking car now the Cadillac design language is carried over inside the vehicle but not quite to the degree of excess you see in some of their other cars which I kind of like the way it's dialed back a little I don't get quite so many of these sort of trapezoidal shapes the steering wheel is very Cadillac the crest still is going to put some people off as fuddy-duddy the main effect of course is this guy right here see what happened when I did that look pull my hands away and the Cadillac Q user experience goes to a relatively clean screen after a few moments but as I approach the screen other options come up on the top and bottom ribbon that's one of the keys to what they do here proximity sensing to keep things clean when you don't need to have additional details up there navigation is not in every Q head unit just because you have this interface doesn't mean you have nav bear that in mind it's basically an $800 differential to get it on top of Q they rave a lot about how this Navigator faces like a tablet you can pinch and zoom and they wish the response is so much more poor than on even a cheap tablet they shouldn't make that comparison till they've got more horsepower behind it they rave about natural voice command everybody does let's see if they're serious say a command or they help address say the address in California or say the command change state of your ad 1000 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco California 1 0 0 0 then Ness Avenue San Francisco California is that correct damn right it is now let's go to our audio sources that's a key part of this thing notice you've got audio and Pandora both surfaced here I always find that kind of dopey it's like just put all the audio together but a lot of systems do that under media you're going to find your fun stuff you can get your disc which is over here in the glovebox you've got an optical drive there my iPod hooks up through a USB here or through a USB here under this kind of weird little lift up deal I put a blue light on it though so it's easy to find that's nice streaming of course via my smart phone same way I do my calling and do my contacts integration we've got the fancy Bose system in this guy you can Center on driver rear seat Center point which is their DSP setting you've got pretty basic tone controls beyond that notice I can drag these presets up and down if I want to see a bunch of them or just one ribbon at a time or none at all similar flexibility goes for this little display here in the speedometer using this rocker switch on the wheel I can either expand my fuel information there or put different information in that window go to the middle and there I can show my phone settings go after navigation on the left i can show my digital speedo expand that or my odometers as well as fuel range now because we've got the v6 we'll talk about in a minute one choice only on the gearbox automatic transmission right here shiftable gate on the left you probably saw the paddles on the wheel hard to miss them it's a Cadillac they're chrome and they're big and they're on the wheel so they're always in the wrong place when you want them now when and if you get the hood up on this car we had three smart guys work on it for like five minutes then the three of us for ten more there we go well cheap this little sheet metal lever ever note the Cadillac here's the big motor that they sent us 3.6 liter direct injection v6 does some good numbers 321 horse 274 foot-pounds of torque moves this 3,300 pound sedan to 16 about five three five four we have the all-wheel drive here by the way mpg is 20 to 28 I mean not bad all things given but that's where the other two smaller engines intrigue me more there's a two and a half liter for the bore for why bother the middle engines the cool one a 2-liter four with a twin scroll turbo and direct injection gets a just right 272 horse and 260 foot-pounds of torque and delivers a full 30 Highway mpg plus you can get that guy with a six-speed manual like the other little motor you can't in this guy this is a great engine it's a lot of engine a 3.6 v6 in this car is plenty of power and the power comes on just beautifully the problem is the transmission gets in the way remember automatic only on the three six v6 and that's too bad because in any of the automatic modes it's a bore it falls on its face it misses shifts it hunts too high too often and it pisses me off what you can do of course is knocking into manual mode shift it yourself and it basically gets out of the way at that point the shifts are pretty tight when you're doing them great exhaust note and I like the combination in this car of handling and compliance and then a great job dialing in comfortable ride which you've got to have in a Cadillac and good handling without being punishingly harsh that keeps it upright in turns and I can drive this little car all day it doesn't feel as heavy as a CTS I didn't even bother to compare the weights I'm sure there's a couple hundred three hundred pounds difference between them there's a nine inch difference I can tell you that this car is significantly shorter and it feels more sprightly and joyous bottom line the ATS is a success with this engine but you got to get around the gearbox that's why I'm so intrigued by that 2-liter di turbo form and I can't wait to drive one of those to compare this price this ATS I'm talking about the v6 in this particular case 4200 90 is your basic v6 but you got to add about 5500 on top of that to go CNET style that means you get to what they call the premium level that rolls in navigation surround sound and a variety of nice days including magnetic ride control suspension but how's the 80s going to do in general I think we've got a watch here is doesn't have enough to pry people away from outstanding German sedans if you equal someone who's already got a big lead in front you that may not be enough this car has to play on a few coins first of all better value second of all by American third a different look that I finally think Cadillac can say is actually better you