History of the Cadillac CTS |
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| Topics: Cadillac CTS
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John Stone
February 17, 2014
The Cadillac CTS is a model that was introduced by Cadillac in 2002, and has been very popular ever since. The Cadillac CTS is a midsize luxury sedan, which is manufactured by General Motors. The Cadillac CTS has been a huge success of Cadillac, and is helping out the slumping General Motors brand. The Cadillac CTS has been named part of Car and Driver's Ten Best List from 2007-2010. The car was created to replace the unpopular Catera, and this car is far from that. Although both cars were aimed at the younger generations of people, this car is much bigger, more luxurious, and sportier than the Catera, and is considered one of the best American cars ever made.
The car was released in 2002, as the 2003 Cadillac CTS. The CTS was one of the first Cadillac's to have manual transmission, since the 1988 Cadillac Cimarron, which was meant to be a smaller Cadillac as well. The Cadillac CTS was also one of the first Cadillac's to have rear wheel drive in a long time. The sale for the 2003 Cadillac CTS were far beyond expected, and was named the North American Car of the Year Award in 2002. The CTS in the model name stands for C-Series Touring Sedan, which Cadillac thought would be a good name for the car. The 2003-2007 first generation of the car offered a 2.8 liter V6 engine, and started off with a 5 speed manual or 5 speed automatic transmission, was later switched to a 6 speed manual, or automatic.
The second generations of Cadillac CTS' are from the 2008 model year, to present. This model has been redesigned slightly, but overall still has a pretty similar appearance. Various upgrades have been made though, with the engine being upgraded to a 3.6 liter V6 engine which offers 258 horsepower, as well as a slightly different engine, which is the same size but direct injection, which offers 304 horsepower. The second generation of the car was slightly larger than the previous generation, growing slightly in both width and length. The second generation had slimmer headlights and taillights, a larger grill, 18" wheels, and more. Available options on the vehicle included a Bose 5.1 surround sound system, a tire pressure monitoring system, GM's Stabilitrak ESC System, a navigation system with real time traffic and weather data, and a 40 GB built in hard drive for music storage, as well as a swiveling headlights, and remote starter.
The Cadillac CTS also exists in a coupe form, as well as a Sport Wagon. The coupe will be in production for the 2010 and 2011 models. The Sport Wagon was made available in late 2009.
So far the Cadillac CTS has won many awards, including ones mentioned earlier such as the 2002 North American Car of the Year Award, 2008 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award, and the Car and Driver's Best 10 List three consecutive years. Overall, the Cadillac CTS is a great looking car, and actually has pretty good reliability ratings, which usually isn't the case for Cadillac. However, I know that I'll be test driving and considering a Cadillac CTS when I go to shop for a new car.