Quote:
Originally Posted by iwannabimmer
Nice review. Sounds like you had good time in the ATS. But as far as I'm aware, this car doesn't share any parts with the Chevy Cruze or any Buick. You said the steering felt more direct than the F30, how about the handling? Is it better? Ride?
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I will answer the questions first: I didn't really get to test handling per se. Too much traffic and the sales guy came with me and he didn't seem too adventurous. I can tell you that I took an off-ramp at a pretty good speed and felt I could have taken it a lot faster. Also, the seats were very supportive in that instance and the body didn't roll at all. But I didn't get to push it the way I'd have liked. I really did love the steering feel. There is no dead zone around "12 o'clock". If you're at 11:59 or 12:01, you know it, but it's not annoying or jittery.
Ride-wise it absorbs bumps well but not in a floaty taxicab way you might expect from a Caddy. I guess it handled the road conditions in a "BMW-esque" manner. It's quiet unless you're hard on the throttle. The seats are definitely
as good as the 3 series.
On to the design similarities: I will show you what I mean in pictures.
This is the interior of the ATS. Forget the ugly leather and look at the steering wheel, the center stack, and the placement/shape of the air vents beside the center stack:
Now have a look below. This is a 2012 Buick Verano. It is the smallest Buick. The ATS is the smallest Cadillac. They are both very similar in size. Note the shape and accenting of the steering wheel, the placement of the vents and the shape of the stack:
Now I know you might just say it is the design philosophy GM is using and it carries over into different brands. That might be true. But the car I drove is $2700 less than the BMW I want and in a BMW I know there's no car other than a BMW that looks like that. The problem I have always had with Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac and Audi is that if you take the emblems off, it's just a "nicer Toyota/Nissan/VW". For the premium we pay for luxury brands, the level of similarity that allows me to legitimately be able to say that is frustrating.