A short time ago, somebody backed into my wife's car and put a nice, long scrape into the side.
We got a Cadillac ATS as a rental while my wife's car was at the body shop. It was an auto (of course) with the 2.0 turbo engine.
The car was awful.
It was small inside- my 6 year old had limited leg space if I was driving. I think they gave extra trunk room at the expense of interior room. The pedal layout wasn't that great- the brake pedal sat closer to the driver's seat than the gas. This meant that a deliberate "draw your leg back, lift your foot, now press down" motion was required to apply the brakes. I'm used to just being able to lift my toes and rotate my foot a bit to brake. Not good.
The transmission couldn't decide to upshift or downshift. I'm not sure if it is one of those that "learns" driving habits, but it never once did what I wanted it to do. Early on I tried to give it a bit of gas going into a turn. I wound up with the pedal on the floor, no power going to the engine. We wound up coasting through the turn and then having the engine rev wildly after I had let off the gas WITHOUT having any power go to the wheels. It was the oddest thing I've seen.
The engine might be good, but all I really noticed was how noisy it was at it revved wildly while the transmission was hunting for gears. Once the planets and stars aligned and the transmission found a gear, acceleration was acceptable, but the engine seemed buzzy, and I say that as somebody who has driven rotary powered cars for most of his adult life. Think about that.
Once the engine and transmission figured out what they wanted to do, say, driving at 65 on the highway, the car was quiet. Too quiet. I like a bit of engine and road noise while I drive, so i get some feedback as to what is happening. I would up cracking the windows a bit so that they made a bit of noise. I found that comforting. I could also hear the engine revving wildly as the transmission tried to figure out what it wanted to do with it's life.
The car could handle well for a Caddy, I will give it that much. Granted, the last Caddy I drove was an early 90s model that floated like a butterfly in gale force winds over the road.
This car could have been great. I was hoping for a fast and composed ride that might be a bit exciting in a RWD way if you goosed it a bit in the turns. That wasn't at all what this car was. Maybe with a 6 speed manual it would be a different story, but I can't report on that.
