See Tee Ess Four

[Sixty8panther]

We got one this AM. It's a white diamond CTS4 with AWD.

LOW-DEAD! Just under $49K.

And guess who was the first salesman to test drive it?

Too bad my customer did not like the $718 lease payment.

Looks like he'll be driving his 2004 Audi A4 for a while longer.

[Intrepidation]

Can you get me a test drive?

[ClassyEldo]

The car looks gorgeous! What color is the interior? It is the exact model/equipment I plan to order, if it has the Cashmere/Cocoa Accents Interior. Any chance of you posting a few more pictures? The White Diamond is still my favorite color!

[Northstar]

$718 lease payment!?!

Looks gorgeous, but I would never pay $718/month for it.

[Sixty8panther]

Ebony interior.

$718 lease payment!?!

Looks gorgeous, but I would never pay $718/month for it.

Good news.

You can buy it for about $1K a month with $0 if your credit is awsome.

It's the FIRST one we got in, the car does not even officially debut for

another six weeks, so yeah we didn't quite "sharpen our pencil".

[bowtie_dude]

$718 lease payment!?!

Looks gorgeous, but I would never pay $718/month for it.

That is high for a lease. Financing I could see, but lease should be under $700.

[K.C.]

Beautiful car! Can we get a driving impression report from you Sixty8?

[zabolots]

Damn, the new CTS is awesome but too expensive for me

[Sixty8panther]

Beautiful car! Can we get a driving impression report from you Sixty8?

Tight as a Corvette but still gives a Cadillac ride.

I love the out-going CTS but this car makes the

old model seem like a Catera by comparison.

The steering (thank god) does not have the dis-

connected feel of so many new cars, EPSILONS

esp. and the AWD w/ DI models scoot as well if

not better than a STS northstar.

The interior is a bit Star Wars Episode I. By that

I mean it's almost art deco, very well made,

gorgeous and well laid out.

I'm not one to be thrilled with a new car but this

is one product that gets an A+.

BTW: $48,3XX was the MSRP and I have to tell

it is VERY competetive for that money.

[!!!TED!!!]

Coolness!

Was waiting for a first drive account from you!

[ToniCipriani]

Take more pics and do a review in C&G Drives... would make a great article for the section.

[autoeng]

I picked mine up yesterday. Absolutely love it. Wife thinks it's the best looking sedan she's ever seen, inside and out. We ordered it without ever seeing one in person. Crystal Red should be called Crystal Red Metallic. Looks bright, candy apple red in sunlight, but looks deep red/maroon in the shade (just like my wife's Magnetic Red Metallic C6). Actually, the color is very close to mag red. Lots of cool stuff on it. Cooled seat work so good I had to shut them off once I was cooled down (was 98 degrees out yesterday). The neatest thing is if you leave the nav screen up when you shut the car down, it automatically retracts, then extends again when you start the car back up. Brakes feel better than any other car I've ever driven, and I've had a couple Porsches and a 3-series BMW. Very progressive, easy to modulate. Quietest car I've ever ridden in. Listening to a CD, I tried toggling back and forth between normal and surround sound settings. Both my wife and I can really hear the difference. Both sound great, just surround sound sounds better. Wish I didn't have to work so I could keep playing with everything. Woke up this morning at 4 AM thinking about all the things I wanted to try out in it.

[ZL-1]

the AWD w/ DI models scoot as well if not better than a STS northstar.

I believe it was at 'the other GM enthusiast website' that I read the DI V6 was seriously underrated by GM. Might be just one of those internet rumours though...

[K.C.]

Thanks for the drive report Sixty8, good job man.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Tight as a Corvette but still gives a Cadillac ride.

I love the out-going CTS but this car makes the

old model seem like a Catera by comparison.

The steering (thank god) does not have the dis-

connected feel of so many new cars, EPSILONS

esp. and the AWD w/ DI models scoot as well if

not better than a STS northstar.

The interior is a bit Star Wars Episode I. By that

I mean it's almost art deco, very well made,

gorgeous and well laid out.

I'm not one to be thrilled with a new car but this

is one product that gets an A+.

BTW: $48,3XX was the MSRP and I have to tell

it is VERY competetive for that money.

So how many will you be buying for yourself?

[Sixty8panther]

I'm on more of a 5.3 liter Camaro hardtop budget.

[K.C.]

We can dream though, right Sixty8?

[The O.C.]

That is high for a lease. Financing I could see, but lease should be under $700.

I agree....and almost $49K is WAY too much for this car. Overpriced I'm afraid.......

My '07 loaded Sport ($42K) payment is $643/month....with no money out-of-pocket.....and IMPORTANTLY I've got 20,000 miles per year on my lease which hikes the payment quite a bit (I drive the car for work and put lots of miles on it.)

[toesuf94]

That is high for a lease. Financing I could see, but lease should be under $700.

Yeah, but Audi's usually are not all that well known for thier wonderful blue book at trade it time - nor the negative equity the guy may have had...but that is a high lease deal.

[Satty]

My dealership got a black '08 in. I stopped to take a few pics tonight, they didn't turn out great, black car+late night=not the best pics. The ones I took with my headlights on the car for light were worse. I'll try run back tomorrow to get some during the day.

[Oracle of Delphi]

The car looks sexy Satty. Nice pics!

[ocnblu]

I was in Annapolis, MD yesterday, and decided to check out the local VW/Cadillac dealership (I bought 3 of my VWs there). They had an all-black CTS4. This car is amazingly beautiful, athletic, elegant... simply a homerun design effort by GM. I absolutely love this car.

[K.C.]

Great pics Satty, even in the dark. You can see the light hit the angles and it makes for some interesting visuals.

[Satty]

I went back and took more pics, but they're blurry because I forgot to adjust my antiquated camera for the sunlight. Thats not the important part, the important part is that I arrived at the dealership right behind a Jaguar XJS, the gentleman driving the Jag got out and took pics of the CTS and gushed over it. A couple of minutes later a couple in a new RL drove up to look at the CTS and they ended up talking with the Jaguar guy for a good fifteen minutes. All three of them were extremely impressed by it, the Jaguar guy implied he would be back when the dealership was open to test driev and possibly buy it. The RL couple was just as enthusiactic. A younger couple in a Grand Cherokee and a guy in a first-gen Tundra both drove by and checked the car out, but apparently didn't want to join the party.

[Snate]

I've seen 2 of these on the street already...I wasn't aware they were on sale yet!

[pow]

The local Penske Cadillac still doesn't have it yet..

[The O.C.]

The local Penske Cadillac still doesn't have it yet..

Tustin Cadillac in Tustin/O.C. had two....I didn't see the second one.....but the one I did see was a black-on-black 3.6L D.I. performance model........

[Sixty8panther]

We can dream though, right Sixty8?

Agreed. Although the ultimate Cadillac of MY dreams has

TEN more cylinders than the 3.6DI, EIGHT more valves &

twice the distributors.

[Lamar]

Saw one tonight at Frankel in Owings Mills, MD. It was right next to a base CTS. The 4 was white diamond/camel, while the base was black/black. I thought it was a nice contrast.

Also on the lot was a brand new STS V8 already sold. Since the CTS won't ever have a V8 paired with an automatic, I guess that's the only reason one would get the STS now, as the CTS is far superior.

But yeah, this car definitely goes up against the 5-Series and E-Class now.

[jay]

I saw one (08 CTS) on the highway 1-75 outside of Detroit. It was fully loaded. It is an extremely sexy vehicle. My mom was shocked cause she is still pissed about and hates the Catera. She loved the new CTS though it was in Silver with a black interior

[makfu]

Ebony interior.

Good news.

You can buy it for about $1K a month with $0 if your credit is awsome.

It's the FIRST one we got in, the car does not even officially debut for

another six weeks, so yeah we didn't quite "sharpen our pencil".

I don’t know what planet your finance people are living on, but having financed 60k+ vehicles before at over 2%, there is no way it should be 1 grand a month to finance 49k+tax at 0% APR unless it’s 48 months or less. And that lease deal is ridiculous (is GMAC’s estimated residual that crap?).

My estimate, including 8% sales tax, puts the finance cost at $890 a month for 60 months at 0% (and rarely do 0% deals go for anything less than 60 month terms) and 0 down. Even a 4% APR at 60 months, you should still come out under 1 grand a month.

If my dealer had put numbers like those in front of me, I'd have walked the hell out too.

-Mak

08 CTS FE3 3.6 DI with 6 on the floor (on order)

[jwaters943]

Let me preface this by saying I love the new CTS. I think it's a homerun for GM/Cadillac, but since I lease my vehicles, I may not end up w/ one in my driveway as I had hoped. I'm sorry, but $700/month is just too much for this car. At that payment point there are just so many other good options. For instance, you can lease a new Infiniti M35 for $439/month (39 months, 12k miles per year w/ approx. $5k total due at signing) or an M45 for $499/month (same term).

Let's hope that Cadillac offers more competitive lease deals in the coming months. Call me cheap, but I can't see myself paying more than $550/month for a loaded CTS, no matter how much I love it.

On a somewhat related note, I recently test drove a base engine CTS4. For those interested, here is a thread I started on the CTS on another message board, which includes my test drive impressions:

http://forums.motivemag.com/zerothread?id=3431817

Edited September 9, 2007 by jwaters943

[mrmonte]

I got up close to my first one today at our local Caddy Dealer. What a sweet car. The interior is really nice and the style is great it even has sort of a fastback rear window which I really like. It had AWD and stickered about 42,000 quite a lot of dough but look at what your getting.

This could really unsurp the 300C as our next car. None of the pictures I saw before seeing it in person did it justice, not one. You would need your head examined to buy a Jag/Lexus/small infiniti over this car.

[Sixty8panther]

The car is a great value... $700 might be high but it's not out of step with

any other new exciting model when it hits the showroom and demand is

high while MSPR is $48+