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Co-worker of mine has a 2013 CTS-V. Cadillac dealer calls him and says they are doing a campaign with Cadillac and giving away cars for a week to drive. After the week is up, you basically give them your impressions and they give you a code to use to buy a Cadillac using the GM Employee discount. ATS-V works out to be about $9,000 off of sticker with that discount. He currently reserved this beautiful ATS-V, full optioned for the week. I plan on doing the same thing to get more seat time, but this is just my first impressions.
I had the car in sport mode, using the paddle shifters. I had it in track mode but the steering gets overly stiff for street driving purposes.
Power: There is a little turbo lag but once it's spools up, it pulls pretty hard. There is definitely not a lack of power in this car and the RPM's shoot up very quickly. The sound of the V6 in the ATS-V does no justice to our V8.
Transmission: This car has the new ZF 8 speed automatic transmission. It was a disappointment for me. It is in no way as responsive as our transmission is. Shifts are not responsive and there is some delay. The gear ratios I think are too short. I'll need to pick up the car for a week myself and really play with it since I only drove it around town for about 30 minutes.
Handling: Handling definitely blows our car out of the water. The car is flat, it turns in quickly and it handles like its on rails. I only had it in Sport mode when I was doing long sweeper turns. I can only imagine what it would be like in track mode at the race track.
Interior: I like the interior overall as it had the Recaro race seats. The instrument cluster... ours looks much cleaner and looks more sophisticated. The instrument cluster in this car was a direct swap from a regular ATS. This one doesn't have the new CTS-V LCD display, which is unfortunate because that would completely make the car. There is plenty of alcantara and carbon fiber.
I'll probably do a follow up review after I get the car for a week.
Nice review. Will look towards your follow up. Does it really handle way better then the 2010 and up Fs?
Thanks! Yes - it has the magnetic ride suspension and a lot beefier tires. I'm sure if we had some Penske coilovers and wider tires in the ISF it probably would handle very similar. The ATS-V just felt more planted and flatter than our cars do. It's hard to describe, but I felt more confident throwing it through the corner.
I wonder if Cadillac is doing this because their sales are slumping and basically letting potential owners rip the cars for one week just to beef up the competition.
Nice review. Will look towards your follow up. Does it really handle way better then the 2010 and up Fs?
Well the 2008-2010 were similar suspension wise with the 2010 having the LSD. 2011+ are the ones with the big handling overhaul but still not as good as the ATS-V. Thing supposed to be amazing in the handling department.
I really dig the ATS-V, looks great in blue. Just wished GM would have stuffed a better looking instrument cluster in there considering it's in your face the whole time you drive. If you just dropped $60k+, last thing you want is a gauge cluster that reminds you of a 90s Malibu.
Well the 2008-2010 were essentially the same handling wise, 2010 just added the LSD. 2011+ are the ones with the big handling overhaul but still won't compare to the ATS-V. Thing supposed to be amazing in the handling department.
I really dig the ATS-V, looks great in blue. Just wished GM would have stuffed a better looking instrument cluster in there considering it's in your face the whole time you drive. If you just dropped $50k+, last thing you want is a gauge cluster that reminds you of a 90s Malibu.
Well the 2008-2010 were essentially the same handling wise, 2010 just added the LSD. 2011+ are the ones with the big handling overhaul but still won't compare to the ATS-V. Thing supposed to be amazing in the handling department.
I really dig the ATS-V, looks great in blue. Just wished GM would have stuffed a better looking instrument cluster in there considering it's in your face the whole time you drive. If you just dropped $50k+, last thing you want is a gauge cluster that reminds you of a 90s Malibu.
Must have had some left over instrument panels from the 1995 bin
Holy Moly!!! You weren't kidding about the gauge cluster! It actually took me back to my 1999 Toyota Corolla. My younger brother drives it still to this day. I drove it for a decade and called it quits but I might be getting it back as my daily...here's the cluster...
04-14-16, 09:58 AM
Drove an ATS-V Today
