When people refer to the best of something, they sometimes use the saying “the Cadillac of”. Such as “the Cadillac of strollers”, or “the Cadillac of minivans”. And regardless of whether or not the minivan in question is a General Motors product, the parent company of the Cadillac brand, people are referring to the fact that the minivan is THE best minivan around. The Cadillac brand is an iconic one, and has been a part of automobile history since 1943, and I remember even when I was a kid; a Cadillac was a car that fancy people drove. It represented prestige.
I had a chance to drive a new Cadillac ATS for a few days and to be completely honest, I wasn’t really expecting to be so enamoured of it. Oddly enough, the day it was delivered, I found out that it was named the North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show, an honour that carries a lot of clout in the car world. The ATS was also just named Car of the Year by Motoring Magazine, and will likely collect the same accolades when it hits the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto that runs from February 15th to the 24th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The latest car models are loaded with technology, and the ATS features all the bells and whistles that one would expect from a luxury brand. The revolutionary Cadillac User Experience, or CUE for short, integrates up to ten Bluetooth® smartphones or other devices with the vehicle. You can access your contacts and audio files as well as listen to your text messages and respond to them hands-free while driving. CUE also features voice activation, a 3D GPS Navigation and an icon-driven touch screen.
The safety features of the ATS are unparalleled. With Forward Collision Alert, Side Blind Zone Alert and a Front and Rear Automatic Braking system that can actually apply the brakes without driver intervention to help prevent low-speed crashes. One of the most innovative warning systems that I discovered on the ATS was the Safety Seat Alert, which gives a gentle pulse warning on the side of the seat to indicate the possibility of potential hazard or slight drifting out of your lane.
The ATS is available with a 272 horsepower, 2.0L Turbo engine that can be paired with the new ATS-specific high-performance Tremec® six-speed transmission, as well as a 3.6L V6 with 321 horsepower or a 2.5L direct injection four cylinder engine with 202 horsepower, all with excellent fuel efficiency. The Cadillac ATS starts at $35,195 for an extremely well-appointed 2.5L base model and tops out at $60,650 for the fully loaded premium 3.6L one. But be warned, once you take the ATS out for a test drive, you may, like me, not want to give it back.
For more details on the Cadillac ATS, as well as a complete list of local dealerships, please visit www.cadillac.ca. For ticket information for the Canadian International Auto Show, visit www.autoshow.ca.
Tags: Cadillac, Cadillac ATS
About the author: Robin Edwards
Robin is a long time Oakville resident with over 20 years of retail and marketing industry experience. She loves to share her shopping expertise and inside information on where and how to get the most for your money and time.
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