A Cadillac Coupe has always brought thoughts of elegance, riches and envy. Think of the Eldorado, any Eldorado! Or any Coupe de Ville. These cars were all about personal luxury transportation. Times have changed and so has Cadillac. What remains intact is Cadillac's desire to provide discerning buyers an attainable 2-door alternative that was dropped from the storied carmaker's line-up some time ago. Do remember that the now-extinct XLR had a base price of over $100,000 in Canada.
Even if Cadillac was there long before, admittedly, the Germans and Japanese have made a serious art form out of luxury coupes. The new CTS coupe has its work cut out for it as it will tango with the likes of the Audi A5, BMW 3-Series coupe, the Infiniti G-Coupe and to a lesser extent, the Mercedes E-Class coupe.
Where "coupés" were few and far between but a few years ago, the trend now dictates that any self-respecting luxury car manufacturer must offer a 2-door. This new fashion statement also requires that a retractable roof be part and parcel for the showroom floor; can a CTS convertible be far behind? The answer to this question was that the CTS Coupe was never designed with a convertible in mind. Read: "It would be too expensive to do so" and "More likely for the next generation".
The looker
Thankfully, the Coupe has great genes as the CTS on which it is based and with which it shares all of its mechanical components, is still quite the looker even three years after its launch in Detroit. Specifically, the coupe shares the wheelbase of the sedan, yet is two inches (5 cm) shorter in height and overall length. In the similarity department, only the instrument panel, console, headlamps, front fenders and grille are shared with the sedan.
Aesthetically, and other than the fact that the coupe has two doors, the car differs from its sedan sibling by its classic hardtop styling that deletes the conventional B-pillar, touch-pad doors handles (much like the Corvette's), a steeper windshield and a long, nearly horizontal backglass and center-mounted tailpipes with twin dihedral-shaped tips.
The mover
At launch time, the CTS Coupe will carry one of GM's best engines from the last decade. The 3.6L DI V6 is quite a workhorse as it finds itself in numerous GM products. In the Caddy, it's in its most potent state, it packs 304 hp. Like its brethren, the Coupe can be had with either a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission. Rear and AWD are offered, the latter necessitating the autobox.
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Even if Cadillac was there long before, admittedly, the Germans and Japanese have made a serious art form out of luxury coupes. The new CTS coupe has its work cut out for it as it will tango with the likes of the Audi A5, BMW 3-Series coupe, the Infiniti G-Coupe and to a lesser extent, the Mercedes E-Class coupe.
Where "coupés" were few and far between but a few years ago, the trend now dictates that any self-respecting luxury car manufacturer must offer a 2-door. This new fashion statement also requires that a retractable roof be part and parcel for the showroom floor; can a CTS convertible be far behind? The answer to this question was that the CTS Coupe was never designed with a convertible in mind. Read: "It would be too expensive to do so" and "More likely for the next generation".
The looker
Thankfully, the Coupe has great genes as the CTS on which it is based and with which it shares all of its mechanical components, is still quite the looker even three years after its launch in Detroit. Specifically, the coupe shares the wheelbase of the sedan, yet is two inches (5 cm) shorter in height and overall length. In the similarity department, only the instrument panel, console, headlamps, front fenders and grille are shared with the sedan.
Aesthetically, and other than the fact that the coupe has two doors, the car differs from its sedan sibling by its classic hardtop styling that deletes the conventional B-pillar, touch-pad doors handles (much like the Corvette's), a steeper windshield and a long, nearly horizontal backglass and center-mounted tailpipes with twin dihedral-shaped tips.
The mover
At launch time, the CTS Coupe will carry one of GM's best engines from the last decade. The 3.6L DI V6 is quite a workhorse as it finds itself in numerous GM products. In the Caddy, it's in its most potent state, it packs 304 hp. Like its brethren, the Coupe can be had with either a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission. Rear and AWD are offered, the latter necessitating the autobox.
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