Review: Cadillac CTS sport wagon is just so darn likable

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By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

DETROIT — Henry Ford II is quoted on why he fired Ford Motor President Lee Iacocca in 1978 as: "Sometimes you just don't like somebody."
Well, it works the other way, too, and not just on people. Sometimes you just like a car.

PHOTOS/AUDIO: Cadillac CTS sport wagon with Healey's comments
CHAT TRANSCRIPT: James R. Healey answers your questions

In that case, its limitations — all cars have them — fade because the car looks good, feels right, goes with élan. So it is with the Cadillac CTS sport wagon. It's new to the CTS line for 2010. It is nearly identical to the CTS sedan mechanically. The body panels from the rear door forward are the same. The big visual difference is the sport wagon's raised roof and its rear end.
Short take: It sliced through 520 stormy highway miles from here to Virginia after the auto show without discomfort, hassle or even the driver's normal geez-aren't-we-there-yet squirming.

Once home, it made every suburban, cold-weather, short-hop, kid-schlepping, job-going task seem like a special occasion.

Among the goodies:
•Drivetrain. The 3.6-liter V-6 used in a number of General Motors vehicles was a lusty runner, and sounded throaty and primal when spurred. The six-speed automatic transmission shifted correctly, save for a skosh too much delay on hard-throttle downshifts. GM six-speed automatics in other vehicles tested lately have ranged from mediocre to disastrous. GM changed shift programming to get a much better feel, says Tom Stephens, the automaker's vice chairman in charge of products worldwide. The previous tuning resisted downshifts to save a bit of fuel but caused the discerning driver anguish.

•Styling. Fat rear roof pillars. Low, unbroken roofline. Tall taillights that emulate tailfins of yore. Crisp fender, hood creases. Sport wagon makes the CTS sedan seem a bit dowdy.

•Distinctiveness. Caddy's selling just a few hundred sport wagons a month. You won't see yourself coming and going.

•Interior. Clever cargo area allows multiple configurations and hold-down points. Elegant dashboard and associated trim. Intuitive switches and knobs. The middle rear safety belt's mounted to the seat, not hung from the ceiling where it can make folding the back seat awkward.
Unfortunately, Caddy continues GM's omission of a safety head restraint for the middle rear rider. Instruments are excellent — real analog gauges. In addition to the big speedometer and tachometer, you get a trio of useful gauges that show Cadillac still thinks you care: oil pressure, coolant temperature and, of course, fuel level. What's more, you can dig into the digital info readout to get actual pressure in each tire, not a generic "something might be amiss somewhere" tire warning light. Heck, you'd almost think Caddy people like cars and their drivers.

•Comfort. Before we get gushy, these caveats: It's small, despite its visual heft. Narrow inside. If you like to cruise splay-legged, you'll abrade your outboard leg on the door handle and accidentally activate optional seat-temperature controls with your inboard knee. The back seat will suffice, mostly, but won't have riders raving about the room. But front seats had an almost magical quality. Lumpy and hard (not merely firm) at first. But 520 miles and nine almost-uninterrupted hours later, the rump and back, legs and neck felt just fine. In daily dash-about duty, the seats continued to feel wrong for a minute, right for hours.

•Feel. The unusually sweet blend of power, stopping, steering and cornering (though with a bit more body lean than expected) was a delight. Those aforementioned limitations?

•Marginal ground clearance. Even if you choose the all-wheel drive (AWD) option, you'll still worry that the low-slung wagon (5.9 inches of ground clearance, vs. about 8 inches in a crossover SUV) could get stuck by becoming high-centered on built-up snow or in deeper-than-expected mud. Caddy says it's not supposed to be an SUV substitute and has the same clearance as a CTS sedan.

2010 CADILLAC CTS SPORTWAGON
•What? New station wagon version of the CTS sedan; compact, four-door, five-passenger wagon available with rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD).

•When? On sale since October in the U.S., this quarter in Europe.

•Where? Made at Lansing, Mich., with U.S.-built engine, French-made transmission.

•Why? Little additional cost because it's 85% common with CTS sedan. Can be sold in U.S. and with few changes, in wagon-loving Europe.

•How much? RWD base model starts at $39,150 including $825 shipping after recent price cut.
Loaded AWD "Premium Collection" test wagon was originally $54,445, but a $3,055 price cut early this month dropped that to $51,390.

•How many? Maybe 500 a month in the U.S., Caddy says — a tiny number overall, but strong for small luxo-wagons, such as the BMW 5 Series and Audi A4 and A6 wagons that Cadillac considers main rivals.

•How powerful? 3-liter V-6 rated 270 horsepower at 7,000 rpm, 223 pounds-feet of torque at 5,700 rpm. 3.6-liter V-6 rated 304 hp at 6,400, 273 lbs.-ft. at 5,200. Only transmission is six-speed automatic with manual-shift mode. AWD normally operates as RWD, can send up to 100% of power to the front wheels when rears slip or stability control requires.

•How big? Within a few tenths of an inch of a BMW 5 Series wagon. CTS sport wagon is 191.3 inches long, 72.6 in. wide, 59.1 in. tall on a 113.4-in. wheelbase.
Weight, 4,212 lbs. Passenger space, 98 cubic feet. Cargo space, 25 cu. ft. behind rear seat, 53.4 cu. ft. when rear seat's folded. Tows 1,000 lbs. Turning circle diameter, 36 ft.

•How thirsty? 3-liter, RWD rated 18 miles per gallon in town, 27 mpg on the highway, 22 in combined driving. All others: 18/26/21. Trip computer in 3.6 AWD tester registered 23.2 mpg (4.31 gallons per 100 miles) in highway driving, 13.8 mpg (7.25 gal./100 mi.) in suburban driving consisting mainly of short trips in cold weather, with a little keep-warm idling. Burns regular, holds 18 gallons.

•Overall: Unusually appealing.

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