While all the various parts do their job well, it's easy to see that Cadillac hasn't built very many cars optimized for manual transmissions recently. The parking brake is left foot operated, awkward to engage when needing the same foot for the clutch. It causes either the need to turn off the ignition prior to setting it, or sliding the shifter into neutral, pressing the parking brake and then putting it back into gear. While neither is overly difficult, the process is unorthodox and probably wouldn't go over too well in Europe where Cadillac no doubt hopes to see the manual box do well. A simple hand brake would be much more intuitive to operate.
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| The speedometer can be adapted to display either mph or km/h, a nice touch that cleans up the display area. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
On the positive the CTS sports a speedometer that reads up to 260 mph - overconfident? That's what I initially thought until I clicked through the preferences in the trip computer and changed the displays from imperial to metric. The Cadillac designers have done such a good job masking the alternative measurement system that I thought I was driving a U.S. spec car until the light hit the gauge package just right, allowing me to see a faint km/h outline. When switched over the 260 km/h top speed shown on the speedometer now made sense, the speedo needle adapting to the new km/h instead of mph in the process. This is a much better system than the conventional km/h / mph dual dial that is found in the majority of cars, cleaning up the look and reducing complication of the gauge package.
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| With an attractive interior design overall, Cadillac has steered away from the ever popular metal trim. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
Along that theme the interior has a nice design overall. A rubber-like crisscross patterned dark gray plastic covers the majority of surfaces, complimented by light gray plastic and attractive wood accents. Accepting a small gearbox legend cap atop the shifter Cadillac chose not to go the metallic trim route, which as much as I like it has become so popular it's getting redundant.
