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ROAD TEST EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: This is the best paint job I’ve seen on a luxury car in years. It’s called Majestic Plum Metallic and I love every fleck. It looks a little brown in certain light, gray in others and sometimes purple. I don’t know if I’d want it on my Mustang, but for a luxury sedan, definitely.
The ATS coupe looks badass. It’s somehow both sleek and blocky. There was a CTS coupe in the parking lot and boy if it didn’t look dated next to this car. And the CTS is only three years old or so. The lighting package is great too, as is the rim choice with the dark and light pockets.
The ATS has a fantastic shifter feel. The knob is just the right size and the linkage feels solid. I’m not going to say it’s as good as the Mazda MX-5, or Acura/Honda S2000 setup, but it has a short throw and a satisfying thud when it goes into a gear. I’m not a fan of first and reverse being right next to each other -- you might grab reverse on accident if you’re in a hurry. The saving grace is that the ATS beeps loudly when you hit reverse, and turns the rearview camera on, which should tip you off. It might get annoying on a daily basis.
Another little complaint, both armrests are hard. Well, the one on the door is hard, on the right side your elbow falls into the cupholder. The only time you won’t notice is in sixth gear, when your elbow is back far enough to hit the armrest. I tried sliding it forward, no luck.
The three pedals are metal plated and look sort of custom. The gas and brake are setup just right for heel-toe but the clutch pedal is just a little to close to the dead pedal. A few times I hit the dead one with the side of my foot, stopping the clutch from going to the floor. Just something to look out for. The spring back on the clutch pedal is quick, but the effort is too light for me. A light clutch pedal makes me think of a Fit or a Cruze: inexpensive, underpowered stuff.
But, the ATS is neither of those things. Once you’re in gear it’ll pull strong nearly until the rev limiter. I couldn’t really feel any turbo lag, though I’m sure if you short shift, you’ll notice. I was having too good of a time keeping the revs up. The one thing I’m not sold on is the sound. I know it’s a turbo four, so there’s only so much you can do. But I still feel like this is a Cadillac, and it should sound American. Deeper, brawnier. The 3.6-liter V6 sounds better, though not by much.
The ATS isn’t overpowered, by any means. Even with the traction control all the way off, it won’t slide around unless you really goose it. I suppose for normal drivers that’s probably a good thing, just not when you want to smell those Continental tires burning up.
I’m not really sold on this lane-keeping function. It nudges you back to the center if you drift too far, which in theory, is good. But if someone is crowding your lane, and you give them a wide berth, it pushes you back towards center, and back towards the other vehicle. There are also those times when you forget to use the turn signal, and the ATS tries to hold you from switching lanes, it’s a little unnerving at speed.
It has a little more dive and lift on the brakes and gas than I would have guessed. But I suppose this isn’t the V, or even the V-sport, so that makes sense. Still, the basic 3-series BMW is stiffer. The C-class is probably softer. I felt less roll in the corners. Overall I would say the ATS feels light on its feet. More sprightly than the Germans.
I like this better than the four-cylinder 3-series, but Bimmer’s I6 is way better than the Cadillac’s V6. If we’re talking M3, well, I’ll have to drive the ATS-V first. The 2.0L turbo engine is upgraded from the current ATS sport sedan to deliver nearly 14 percent more torque, taking it to 295 lb-ft . Photo by AutoweekEDITOR WES RAYNAL: While I’ve driven many ATSs I believe this is the first manual-equipped one I’ve tried. Like the other ATSs, this one looks quite pretty, feels like the right size, and has proper proportions.
Driving an ATS never disappointments me, or hasn’t yet, at least. The car felt nicely balanced and feels light -- like it’s asking you to push harder. The shifter felt good, precise, and (again, like other ATSs) the ride, while a bit choppy (I blame the runflats), felt controlled with little body roll or pitch. Simply put, this is a fantastic chassis. The turbo four’s power is just fine; it’s a strong lil’ thing and if you aren’t obsessed with hp numbers you’ll be happy with it.A pleasing car to drive overall -- as I’ve said, the ATS remains one of the more dialed-in-feeling cars on the market.The interior is comfortable, and I swear the CUE system is working better these days -- much smoother than it used to.It’s weird to me that while Cadillac’s cars and trucks now compete with the world’s best, its sales don’t necessarily reflect that. I know many BMW/Benz drivers who still would never consider a Cadillac. Decades of mediocre does that to a brand. It’s going to be a long, slow, climb back I predict.
The EPA-estimated fuel economy for the ATS is 21 mpg city/31 mpg highway/25 mpg combined. Photo by Autoweek SENIOR ROAD TEST EDITOR NATALIE NEFF: This is exactly how I’d spec out my ATS, were I in the market for a car that had a quasi rear seat but no earthly way of getting a rear-facing child seat wedged in back there: 2.0-liter turbo, rear-driven, with a stick. And with this paint. Jake is spot-on calling this the best luxury paint job going. I’d go further and say the car isn’t half as pretty in any of the other colors you’ll find in the Cadillac palette. That classic Caddy red? Blech. Looks like an old Honda, and not in a good way. The body lines just get lost. But this deep brownish purple is divine. Majestic, even, as its name insists.
Love the powertrain combo, too. Power delivery is fat and linear, even if it starts to run out of breath at the top end. Throttle response is quick, and the flexibility offered by the stick to put the engine wherever you want it on the tach is so fun. Body motions are nicely controlled, and the overall feeling during spirited driving is one of lightness. The car feels light, lithe and spritely -- hardly characteristics with which I’d traditionally ascribe Cadillacs.The coupe shape is lovely, and on the ATS’ more compact scale, the proportions just feel right. And inside, I’d pit the ATS against anything short of the Mercedes-Benz C-class (that car, with its S-class mini-me interior, is in its own class). But please, Cadillac, get rid of the blasted touch-based switchgear. It’s just no fun trying to navigate around an iPad when you’re trying to keep eyes on the road.
Inside the coupe, handcrafted cut-and-sewn upholstered interior combinations and decorative stitching and authentic materials, including leather, aluminum, carbon fiber and wood are featured. Photo by Autoweek DIGITAL EDITOR ANDREW STOY: Cadillac builds a world-class luxury car -- several of them, in fact, and it can go toe-to-toe with anything the Germans throw out there. This ATS is a perfect example: The engine is better than BMW's turbo four, smoother and more satisfying across the rev range, and the ATS chassis is just so damn playful it encourages you to fling it around. Our rear-wheel-drive coupe came nicely loaded with heated everything and the CUE infotainment system (which I have no problem operating despite lacking a computer science degree) -- it's a comfortable cockpit designed for the art of driving, and my kids fit relatively well in back (they're in boosters, which helps) after contorting themselves around the front seats and seatbelt anchorages.
I spent some time looking -- just walking around and observing the ATS from various angles, and I finally hit upon what bugs me about every Cadillac on the market today: That cursive Cadillac script. It's the same font I remember from my friend's beater '75 Eldorado, and every time I see it I instantly think of that 500-cubic inch, 190-hp wallowing pig of a car. Here you have an extraordinarily good, modern American luxury sports coupe, but it has what looks like my great-grandmother's signature on the back.I love that Cadillac offers a stick shift on this car, and it's a nice-enough ’box (I'll argue with my colleagues who praise the shifter -- it lacks smoothness and feels almost front-wheel drive in its rubberyness, not at all like the sublime gear change on an Audi S5, for example). You'd have to be nuts -- or at least leasing -- to choose a manual transmission, though. There's no financial incentive for a stick -- it's a zero-cost option -- and it's going to crush trade-in/resale value. But if you can ignore good sense and instead opt for a good time, this little ATS might make you into a Cadillac believer.
Our ATS came in a stunning Majestic Plum Metallic color. Photo by Autoweek Options: Cadillac user experience and navigation including 8-inch full color touch display and AM/FM stereo ($1,030); power outlet, 110 volt wheels, 18-inch bright machine-finish aluminum ($850); majestic plum metallic ($495)
It's difficult to say whether now is the absolute best time to buy a 2015 Cadillac ELR. At some dealerships pricing, is starting resemble a Dutch auction, with some dealers reportedly offering the ELR for just under $50,000, Bloomberg reports.
That's a serious discount off the official $75,995 MSRP for the 2015 model year, and in that regard holding out a little bit longer if you have your heart set on one and don't want to pay that much more than for a Chevrolet Volt may make sense. Cadillac has managed to sell just 1,835 examples of the Chevrolet Volt-based luxury coupe since it went on sale some 18 months ago. Our leading mathematicians tell us that that works out to just a little over a hundred cars per month, on average. As of May 2014, dealers had a two-year supply of the ELR on their lots, and the cars have only been piling up since.
Cadillac has been mum on the issue of sales, or lack thereof, until relatively recently, though it hasn't been lost on many buyers that the Volt offered an extra two doors and much of the same technology as the ELR for approximately half the price. So what went wrong?
Car News Cadillac knocks $10,000 off 2016 ELRThe slow-selling but good-looking Cadillac ELR is back for the 2016 model year with a bunch of upgrades and a lower price. Sales in 2014 totaled just 1,310 cars; we’d guess the company is trying ...
"The MSRP was, indeed, a mouthful," Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus told Bloomberg. "We overestimated that customers would realize our competitors were naked at that price."
Cadillac pricing strategy with the ELR had been to feature as many luxury items as standard, an approach that inevitable led to an out-the-door price in the low $80,000 range before the application of state and federal tax credits, with the latter topping out at $7,500. While Tesla Model S buyers have been readily able to absorb the high price that comes with a luxury electric or PHEV vehicle, it appears that Cadillac buyers did not feel like they were getting the Cadillac performance along with Cadillac luxury. As a result, the "base" ELR was already fully loaded, with a starting price to match.
For the 2016 model year, Cadillac will slash $10,000 off the starting price, with the 2016 ELR starting at $65,995 before the application of state and federal tax rebates, though better deals may still be able to be found for leftover 2015 model year cars.
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Chris BruceAt least one Cadillac exec has finally started to come to terms with something we knew all along: the initial $75,000 price for the ELR plug-in hybrid was way too high. The bad decision in part led to the model selling just over 1,000 units last year. Company marketing boss Uwe Ellinghaus recently gave an interview to Bloomberg where he discussed what went wrong.
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