Video: 2014 Cadillac CTS

Perhaps the best Cadillac to volt General Motors into the 21st century has been the CTS, which grew from a small sports sedan in the early 2000 to a mid-sized luxury car that kinda competed in BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class territory, with the most recent generation. Now we have a completely redesigned, all new CTS that really squarely moves the name plate into those competitive sets, and we're at the 2013 New York International Auto Show to take a closer look. Now, this is probably the most direct interpretation we've seen yet of Cadillac's Ciel concept convertible unveiled back in 2011. You've got LEDs that run all the way down the front corners of the car, they're very aggressive, much like the LEDs on that Ciel. You get around back, and the rear end kinda balloons out, the tail lights sit a little bit below the trunk lid. Looks a little bit like the XTS, maybe not the most compelling angle to view the new CTS sedan. From overall wheelbase, those is up about an inch, and overall length is up about five inches versus the previous sedan. But GM's been on a Jared Fogle diet, which means it's been walking a lot and eating lots of Subway sandwiches. The new CTS, about 7% lighter than the old CTS sedan, despite the exercise. That's thanks to a lot of aluminum things like the doors, the trunk lid, the suspension, components. In fact, GM says that with the CTS' base engine, which is a 272 horsepower two liter turbocharged 4-cylinder, it's actually more than 200 pounds less than the BMW 528 with BMW's turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. You step all the way up to what's called the CTS V-Sport, this is a new trim, not to be confused with the CTS-V, which is a high-performance car, we're still awaiting details on for the redesign, and that car comes with a new twin turbo V6 that's good for 420 horsepower and 430 pounds feet of torque. Cadillac says that car is about 350 pounds lighter than a comparable BMW 550i. Sliding between those two engines is Cadillac's familiar 3.6 liter V6, good for 321 horsepower. Both V6 engines now use a new 8-speed automatic transmission, which should help fuel economy. Now, the last CTS was one of the first Cadillac's to embody the whole cut and sewn dashboard routine, where they'd put stitching along the dashboard. The new CTS takes that to another degree. It's along the dash, it's along the upper doors, it's even along the steering wheel hub, which is a very premium feel you don't usually get until you get up to upper echelon kind of luxury flagship cars. There's even stitching along the cup holder covers here, which if you do this, they actually motor forward and back automatically, 'cause you really needed that. Some drivers may find that there's a lot of space issues here though. There's a very wide center console here, it might encroach a little bit on leg space, but there's definitely more headroom here than in Cadillac's ATS, which is their small sports sedan. Now, one last thing about the interior here, there's a lot of technology going on. Cadillac's CUE touch sensitive center controls here, an entirely simulated instrument panel. Cadillac does say that all the metal, all the carbon fiber, all the wood trim inside the new CTS is real, it's not fake, and dealers can swap in new materials, if you like. In fact, there are up to eight different themes that can go on inside this car. The backseat has more room than in the last CTS, but an interesting seat cushion angle here, kinda elevates your knees a little bit. And headroom, not really great if you sit up. Some amenities here, as you'd expect in kind of a mid-sized luxury car. You get things back here like your own climate zone, there's heated rear seats for the outboard positions, there's side windows sunshades, and a rear sunshade. One kind of nice thing, the CTS does have a folding back seat. Nice, considering that some competitors don't include this provision. There's still no word yet on a redesigned CTS coupe or wagon, but the current generation wagon sells about as well as the Detroit Piston's game, so we wouldn't be surprised if that didn't make it come back. The coupe on the other hand, accounted for about a quarter of all previous generation CTS sales toward the end of its life span, so we wouldn't be surprised if that did make a come back, unless Cadillac wants to move those shoppers over to the gas electric ELR. We'll find out more sometime around or after the CTS sedan's on sale date this fall. (car engine revving)