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2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe vs. 2011 Infiniti G37S Coupe

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe vs. 2011 Infiniti G37S Coupe

Michael Frank

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Michael Frank got his driver's license on the morning of his 16th birthday and a year later, bought his first car, a 1974 Ford Capri with a "sleeper"... More

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2011 Infiniti G37 Coupe

I'm a car nerd. I’ll confess, I love digging through stats for nuggets about performance.

And I lean hard toward thinking a lot can be made of power-to-weight ratios. I’m always in favor of lighter cars, because low weight allows so many other efficiencies: a smaller engine, which leads to yet more weight loss, and then a lighter suspension, because you have less chassis to support, and that, in turn, means lower unsprung weight.... It all trickles toward a car you can dance around turns, rather than shove and cajole through esses.

But here’s the thing: Stats don’t tell the whole story.

You might, for instance, just look at the curb weight differential between the Cadillac CTS Coupe (4,096 pounds) and Infiniti G37S (3,694 pounds) and presume that the $47,035 Infiniti (Journey model, as tested) would outgun the $50,035 Cadillac (Premium Collection model, as tested).

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe

Factor in the Infiniti’s more powerful, 330-horsepower V-6 vs. the Cadillac’s 304-horsepower V-6, and you have yourself a mismatch. And if life were only about numbers then Shakespeare--and sex--would each be as joyful as doing your taxes.

Thank heavens neither is true. With cars, as with any product, “goodness” is at least partially subjective.

Also, average citizens don’t drive their cars at test tracks. (Think of the cost to replace the tires! $1,076 for the Infiniti; $1,268 for the Cadillac.)

We drive them in traffic, in weather, in varying conditions and for varying reasons. What your car might achieve on a skid pad is nifty to know about, but how, exactly, does that help me while I’m stuck in the 6pm crawl home? Daily is far less sexy: trying to fit some awkwardly shaped cargo into the trunk; trying to open the very long doors of a coupe in a crowded grocery-store lot; asking a 15-year-old to struggle into the backseat of a low-ceilinged coupe... Yeah, that’s what this story is about. And some stats, too.