2010 Cadillac CTS - Review

By Marty Padgett

Marty Padgett

Editorial Director BIO

Marty Padgett is High Gear Media's Editorial Director, overseeing the words that skim across High Gear Media's portfolio of automotive destinations... More

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2010 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon

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If you were Cadillac, maybe you'd jet off a planeload of journalists to the south of France for the design-y new 2010 CTS Sport Wagon that's up for sale in Europe and the U.S. in the near future. It's sexy, in a most unwagonlike way, after all. The roads would be better--or at least more picturesque--than staying home. The food? Better, for sure.

So let's pretend the picture here is from a spectacular Monegasque afternoon in the Motor Authority road-test diary. In reality, we flew up to GM's proving grounds in Milford, Michigan, to drive the new CTS Sport Wagon as a bookend to and from our first drive of the Cadillac SRX Turbo earlier this month. But we're willing to lay on the other pretend itinerary to point out how not-American the Sport Wagon seems--let's be clear, that's "not-American," not "un-American."Why that? In between commutes in the Sport Wagon, we hammered the SRX crossover ute around Milford in a revealing back-to-back comparison. The two cars might land on top of each other in price and vaguely in shape, but they're dimetrically opposed in their appeal. The 2010 Cadillac SRX is a crossover based on front-drive parts, with optional all-wheel drive and an expanded cargo area, and it's aimed at the crossover crowd also shopping tall, all-weather utes like the Land Rover LR2, BMW X3, Benz GLK, Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60.

In sharp contrast--just look at the D-pillar and low, low roofline, will you?--the CTS Sport Wagon bears the hallmarks of the rear-drive CTS family, which includes the CTS sedan, CTS-V sedan, and next year, the CTS Coupe. It also offers all-wheel drive and an expanded cargo area, but it's taking a direct shot at the BMW 3-Series and Audi A4 Avant wagons that hang on to what remains of that compact class. It's a far smaller niche than true crossovers, and it's not growing--but the CTS Sport Wagon's a necessity as Cadillac tries to push its away into Europe's consciousness.