Video: 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan Review

That's a tall order, and it's something that Cadillac has been trying to do with the CTS for two generations of the car now. Let's see how Gen 3 does. So it better competes with cars like the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class. The CTS grew significantly, overall length is up about five inches over the prior generation. Now, like before, it continues to stand out. Cadillac says there are 198 LEDs, front and rear, along the car. The front ones cascade kinda down nearly touching the ground. This is probably the most direct interpretation we've seen so far of Cadillac's Ciel concept shown at the auto shows a few years back. Cabin materials are pretty handsome overall with padding where your knees and your elbows fall, consistent materials all the way down to foot level. In our test car, the leather wrapped steering wheel even extend stitching to the center of the steering wheel hub, that's a cue taken from very high-end luxury sedans. Speaking of cue, it's here, Cadillac User Experience, the new multimedia system from Cadillac with capacitive touch buttons here in place of regular controls over things like your climate control, your heated seats. The screen up top here takes a few cues from smartphones, things like swiping to change screens on the menu, on the navigation system, you can zoom in or zoom out by pinching and pulling like you can on maybe your iPad or your iPhone. Still, CUE is a little bit slow to react. Some of the menus take a while to kinda load, and we really don't like these capacitive buttons in terms of how long they take to react. I really wish Cadillac would just cue up regular buttons and knobs over again. Another issue several editors noticed was visibility. Not a ton of it here looking at the side mirrors, which are kinda small, and the rear window, which is kind of small, little bit narrow as well. Headroom, better than in the Cadillac ATS, which is Cadillac's new small sports sedan. Rear room, in the back seat there, a little bit snug, much like the BMW 5 Series, not as spacious as the Mercedes E-Class. The same goes for the trunk situation. E-Class has nearly 16 cubic feet of cargo volume, the CTS has less than 14 cubic feet. An available 3.6 liter V6 makes 321 horsepower. It's a smoother drivetrain with equal parts refinement and punchiness, it teams with an 8-speed automatic transmission, that's more decisive than the 6-speed in the two liter turbo. Finally, a twin turbo V6 makes a stout 420 horsepower in the CTS Vsport. That thing really pushes you back in your seat with the power of a V8, especially, because the new CTS loses a couple hundred pounds, thanks to extensive aluminum construction in place of steel, it's that much lighter than both its predecessor and the competitive set. This car here is a two liter turbo CTS, but we've driven the Vsport around a racetrack, it handles very well, handles a lot like the BMW 5 Series, you can rotate the tail, bring it around with just your right foot. The CTS has three suspension setups, a sports suspension, an adaptive sports suspension, and an adaptive performance suspension on the CTS Vsport. Our test car here has the middle option, makes for a pretty composed ride, the sort of premium underpinnings that you would expect in a mid-sized luxury car. Can the new CTS compete with the Germans? That's a question Cadillac's been asking for two generations of this car now, along with the new smaller ATS sports sedan. Aside from some multimedia and a few visibility issues though, I think that this new CTS, the third generation, is a pretty compelling choice, it should raise Cadillac's profile among all those import shoppers. (car engine revving)