Cadillac Strikes Back: Meet The 2008 CTS
01-08-2007, 03:47 AM
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Cadillac Strikes Back: Meet The 2008 CTS http://www.autoblog.com/2007/01/08/d...-cts-revealed/
I'll obviously be pwning 56kers in the coming hours by flooding this topic with additional pictures. Until then you folks will have to just calm yourselves. This thing definitely improves on the 1st gen car's exterior design flaws. The front end is softer than the blocky 1st gen CTS yet it isn't as sterile as Caddy's larger STS (non V base model of course). Power will come strictly from a DOHC 3.6L V6 for now as the 2.8L base motor has been dropped. Instead the 2nd gen's base motor cranks out 258hp in this application mated to either a 6 speed stick or a 6 speed automatic driving the rear wheels. AWD will become an option shortly thereafter. While those power numbers look pretty solid on paper they fall short when you compare them to the competition as BMW has just introduced its awesomely smooth and torquey (a very underrated 300 ft-lbs) 3.0L twin turbo inline 6 in its E90/E92 in the form of the 335i sedan and 335i coupe. Meanwhile Infiniti and Lexus both offer 306hp V6s in their IS and G35 sedans.
WHICH IS WHY the 258hp V6 is the Caddy's BASE motor. That's right, the aforementioned 3.6L sits in the lineup where the old 2.8L sat. Slotting where the current 3.6L now sits will be a direct injection version of the same 3.6L motor that cranks out 300hp and 270 ft-lbs of torque. While this thing is still out torqued by the BMW 3.0L TT mill at least it shows that Cadillac was prepared and is serious to tackle the competition. No "oops we weren't expecting 300hp motors from the competition so we decided not to step up our game." I'm waiting for better pictures to reserve final judgment on the interior, but from the shots provided it's obviously a step up from the original CTS. Two things still irritate me though.
1. For a vehicle in this segment a gauge cluster with a tach and speedometer of equal size emphasize the mission of the car (this isn't a ***** out sports car so I don't expect a centrally mounted tach). A minute detal yes, but a nagging one nonetheless. I'm not a fan of centrally mounted speedometers in sports/sporty cars.
2. The foot e-brake must go.
My CTS-V speculation: The good news for enthusiasts is that the 2nd gen CTS-V will be coming to market after the E90/E92 M3, B7 RS4 and the IS-F which should give Caddy some time to up its game for its next Corvette powered big gun. With AMG probably shoving its whopping 6.3L V8 (albeit slightly detuned) into Merc's upcoming W204 C-Class, I wouldn't put it past GM to give the 2nd gen CTS-V the Z06s 7.0L LS7. When you consider that the RS4, M3 and IS-F all offer or will offer 400+hp V8s, it's clear the Caddy guys have their work cut out for them. Might as well go all out this time around.
More Pics Here: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...topanel..2.*#5
2008 Cadillac CTS
I'll obviously be pwning 56kers in the coming hours by flooding this topic with additional pictures. Until then you folks will have to just calm yourselves. This thing definitely improves on the 1st gen car's exterior design flaws. The front end is softer than the blocky 1st gen CTS yet it isn't as sterile as Caddy's larger STS (non V base model of course). Power will come strictly from a DOHC 3.6L V6 for now as the 2.8L base motor has been dropped. Instead the 2nd gen's base motor cranks out 258hp in this application mated to either a 6 speed stick or a 6 speed automatic driving the rear wheels. AWD will become an option shortly thereafter. While those power numbers look pretty solid on paper they fall short when you compare them to the competition as BMW has just introduced its awesomely smooth and torquey (a very underrated 300 ft-lbs) 3.0L twin turbo inline 6 in its E90/E92 in the form of the 335i sedan and 335i coupe. Meanwhile Infiniti and Lexus both offer 306hp V6s in their IS and G35 sedans.
WHICH IS WHY the 258hp V6 is the Caddy's BASE motor. That's right, the aforementioned 3.6L sits in the lineup where the old 2.8L sat. Slotting where the current 3.6L now sits will be a direct injection version of the same 3.6L motor that cranks out 300hp and 270 ft-lbs of torque. While this thing is still out torqued by the BMW 3.0L TT mill at least it shows that Cadillac was prepared and is serious to tackle the competition. No "oops we weren't expecting 300hp motors from the competition so we decided not to step up our game." I'm waiting for better pictures to reserve final judgment on the interior, but from the shots provided it's obviously a step up from the original CTS. Two things still irritate me though.
1. For a vehicle in this segment a gauge cluster with a tach and speedometer of equal size emphasize the mission of the car (this isn't a ***** out sports car so I don't expect a centrally mounted tach). A minute detal yes, but a nagging one nonetheless. I'm not a fan of centrally mounted speedometers in sports/sporty cars.
2. The foot e-brake must go.
My CTS-V speculation: The good news for enthusiasts is that the 2nd gen CTS-V will be coming to market after the E90/E92 M3, B7 RS4 and the IS-F which should give Caddy some time to up its game for its next Corvette powered big gun. With AMG probably shoving its whopping 6.3L V8 (albeit slightly detuned) into Merc's upcoming W204 C-Class, I wouldn't put it past GM to give the 2nd gen CTS-V the Z06s 7.0L LS7. When you consider that the RS4, M3 and IS-F all offer or will offer 400+hp V8s, it's clear the Caddy guys have their work cut out for them. Might as well go all out this time around.
More Pics Here: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...topanel..2.*#5
2008 Cadillac CTS
Last edited by bruddah_man_matt; 01-08-2007 at 03:56 AM.
01-08-2007, 03:06 PM
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In my last autoweek mag they stated that the upcoming cts-v WILL have a version of the corvettes ss supercharged v8 making 550-600 hp. Caddy is not only taking the competition seriously, they want to dethrone them and stand alone on the top of the mountain. 
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01-08-2007, 07:39 PM
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Gyah, the front end looks completely nose heavy. The car looks almost exactly the same but worse. The rear door window glass looks stunted and out of shape compared to the front door window glass. If you look at one of the side pictures above everything looks proportionally out of shape as well. No dice.
edit: Upon second glance the styling seem 'OK' but still odd -- The interior does deserve maybe a half a kudo from me.
I don't know folks, I'm just not impressed.
edit: Upon second glance the styling seem 'OK' but still odd -- The interior does deserve maybe a half a kudo from me.
I don't know folks, I'm just not impressed.
01-09-2007, 11:37 AM
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I don't think the "grille" is quite big enough...
Damn, what were they thinking? "Yeah Bob, we'll just stuff the Escalade's grille onto the front of this here CTS"
On second thought, I hated the original CTS when it first came out. It was only after the CTS-V came along that I appreciated the design.
Damn, what were they thinking? "Yeah Bob, we'll just stuff the Escalade's grille onto the front of this here CTS"
On second thought, I hated the original CTS when it first came out. It was only after the CTS-V came along that I appreciated the design.
01-09-2007, 05:04 PM
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This new CTS is a big step forward, I love what they did with it!
The look is great, the interior is fantastic, and the quality sets a bar.
And AWD is optional too!
The LS7 won't be in the next CTS-V, you can bank on that.
Methinks something better is in store.
The look is great, the interior is fantastic, and the quality sets a bar.
And AWD is optional too!
The LS7 won't be in the next CTS-V, you can bank on that.
Methinks something better is in store.
01-10-2007, 11:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Wnts2Go10O
"...the v gets 2 more cylinders..." errrr??
v10 cts-v?
v10 cts-v?It's nice to see a V6 from GM making that much power. I really wonder what the V series will have under the hood.
01-10-2007, 07:23 PM
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My father works for GM, he's the service manager for the Southeast region, and he's been telling me for weeks now that the new CTS-V will (not maybe, will) have a LS7. I'm not sure where he's getting it from, because he usually doesn't know these in-development things until they're publicly released (not his job to know 'em) but he seems pretty sure on this one.
01-11-2007, 12:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Wnts2Go10O
"...the v gets 2 more cylinders..." errrr?? v10 cts-v?
v10 cts-v? 
