Cadillac has come a long, long way from the overstuffed luxury barges of its (sales) heyday. And no current Cadillac illustrates that fact better than the light, lithe ATS coupe. Cadillac offers up its two-door take on the ATS in several different permutations, however, so allow us to help lead you through the morass of choice as we create the anti-DeVille.
MODEL:
Cadillac ATS 2.0 RWD Premium coupe (base price: $48,090)
One of the more awesome things about the ATS, and an indication of how seriously Cadillac is courting enthusiast buyers, is the fact that if offers a manual transmission—not just in the base version but in all four trim levels. We definitely wanted the six-speed stick in our anti-DeVille. That ruled out the optional, 321-hp 3.6-liter V-6, however, and held us to the 2.0-liter turbo four, which makes 272 horsepower. This is not a bad thing, though. “Smart buyers will get the 2.0T,” we said after our initial drive of the ATS coupe. That’s because, with 295 lb-ft of torque (20 more than you get in the V-6), the four-cylinder is an energetic performer that pairs nicely with the manual transmission. Our instrumented test of this powertrain showed it hustling to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds (only 0.3 second behind the V-6). Of course, its fuel economy also trumps the V-6’s (19/30 mpg versus 18/28 mpg)—oh, and it’s some $3000 cheaper.
Besides the turbo four, the manual transmission also relegates us to rear-wheel drive rather than AWD. So budget for winter tires.
The harder part of this build was choosing the trim level, and of the four choices, we were pulled toward the two extremes. The attraction of the standard version, beyond its $38,990 base price, was that it allows one to avoid Cadillac’s frustrating CUE touch-screen infotainment interface. We might have gone that route, if we hadn’t really wanted Magnetic Ride Control, which shows the excellent ATS chassis to its best advantage, taking the edge off the standard suspension setup’s sometimes brittle ride quality while preserving its sharp reflexes. Unfortunately, Cadillac reserves Magnetic Ride for the top-spec Premium only (strangely not even offering it on the penultimate Performance version), and even then only with rear-wheel drive. Thus, we went with the Premium, at a base price of $48,090.
At least that $9100 jump versus the standard car buys lots of other goodies. Among them: a limited-slip differential, navigation, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless device charging, a head-up display (an underrated feature), a 12-speaker Bose audio system, “performance” seats with memory, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, forward-collision warning, and HID headlights with automatic high-beams.
OPTIONS:
Black microfiber suede shift knob ($200)
Black microfiber suede steering wheel ($395)
Morello red and Jet Black semi-aniline leather ($1295)
Our anti-DeVille was flirting with the $50K mark, but we were determined to keep it under that. So we only had room for a couple more additions. A black, sueded microfiber steering wheel ($395) and shift knob ($200)—which must be purchased together—are two relatively inexpensive indulgences that we’ll enjoy every day. Finally, we went with two-tone Morello red and Jet Black semi-aniline leather ($1295), which brightens up the dark interior and pairs nicely with our preferred phantom gray metallic ($0) exterior and standard silver 18-inch wheels ($0).
For $49,780, we’ve created what we believe is a true enthusiast’s ATS. It’s the ultimate anti-DeVille—at least until the ATS-V comes along.
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