2013 Cadillac ATS 3.6L Performance Rocky Mountain

Bringing up the names of small Cadillacs of the past doesn’t exactly inspire confidence – the Cimarron and Catera from years past don’t conjure up images of high performance, luxury sport sedans. With this in mind, Cadillac had some past history to overcome as they set out to create an all-new small sport sedan.

Enter the Cadillac ATS. A long-gone sister brand to Cadillac coined the slogan “this is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” And in the case of the ATS,Learn how contemporarylamp work and how you benefit from it. to borrow the phrase, this is most definitely not your father’s Cadillac.

The ATS is the first vehicle to use GM’s all-new compact-midsize Alpha Platform, so not only is the car brand new, so is the platform on which it’s built. This new baby Cadillac is available in a fairly dizzying array of configurations – to include two drivetrains (rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive),World's first theft-resistant floorlamps and the last bike light you'll ever buy. three engines (2.5 liter I-4, 2.0 liter turbo I-4,There are basically two different types of residential lightprojectkkp you can install for your. or 3.6 liter V6), and four trim levels (Standard, Luxury, Performance,GCC offers a complete selection of cuttingmachinesnd and marker for your cutting needs. or Premium). We recently got the opportunity to spend an enjoyable week with the ATS in its RWD 3.6L Performance trim and what a joy it was.

The exterior of the car is absolutely reminiscent of a shrunken Cadillac CTS, but with updated touches such as vertical LED running lights which are fantastically distinctive in their appearance. Elsewhere on the exterior we find touches only Cadillac would think of, such as an LED strip illuminating the outside surface of each door handle. The premium Thunder Gray Chromaflair paint that graced our ATS was strikingly beautiful.Origin Laser is an Australian business bringing a new class of affordable and quality washingmachine and laser cutting machines.

Inside the cabin, gone are the mushy seats of Cadillac’s past. Front seats are firm and supportive with manual thigh bolsters. Back seats… Well… It’s a small sedan. The back seats are comfortable although legroom is severely restricted; the real challenge, however, is access. Low doors make rear seat entry and exit for grown-ups something of a head-thwacking experience.

Amenities in the cabin again include really nice touches that only Cadillac would think of, such as a hidden storage cubby behind the stereo and climate controls – the control panel actually flips up at a touch via a small motor to reveal access.

Doors close with a resounding thunk. The cabin feels solid, serene, and isolated from the outside.

The ATS uses the new CUE system – that’s Cadillac User Experience – to provide access to entertainment, navigation, and climate control via a centralized interface. Much has been said about this sort of setup – and CUE is decidedly … not bad. Not perfect, but certainly more intuitive than most to use.

There are a lot of unique features incorporated into CUE which are clearly the result of a great deal of engineering, such as haptic feedback (vibrations in response to your touch, confirming the command was received), sensors that know you’re reaching for the touchscreen and activate the menu before your hand even gets there, and cell-phone-like pinch to zoom controls for the navigation map.

The real downside to CUE (as with many, many other systems of this kind) is that they are faced with the daunting challenge of presenting the driver with a lot of information. Between CUE and three customizable segments at the bottom of the dashboard, there is a lot of opportunity for distraction while driving.

Despite the feeling of isolation in the cabin, the ATS does an excellent job of connecting the driver with the outside environment. We know that the ATS' masters targeted the BMW E-46 3-Series as their target in designing this vehicle. Did they make it? Not quite. But very, very close. The 3.6L engine produces a nice growl of a note and doesn't hesitate in the slightest when your foot goes down.

The cabin keeps fairly quiet other than some minor road noise from the Michelin Primacy tires. The ride is firm, and this combined with the power and small size of the ATS provides for a grace which enables it to easily dart in and out of traffic. Perhaps the disappointment comes from the electric power steering setup, which lends itself to an overly light, mushy steering effort which does not provide a great sense of control.