By the end of the ’90s, Cadillac was in a dire situation. If it kept on its path, there was absolutely no room to grow. The average buyer age in 1998, as reported by Forbes, was 64, and sales were in enough of a low spot that Cadillac was caught faking figures for 1998, with Automotive News reporting that Lincoln had actually taken the domestic luxury brand crown that year. The brand had to change, and while the Escalade was a lifeline, the most obvious path forward was to go where the product was hot by building a proper compact sports sedan good enough to rival the Germans.
Entry level cars had historically been a notorious sore spot for GM’s luxury division. The Cimarron was, by-and-large, a mistake, a hastily reworked economy car aiming far above its league. It became the butt of jokes, and once it went off sale at the end of 1988, it would be another eight years before Cadillac gave the compact executive car thing another shot.
This time, it was with a rear-wheel-drive Opel that drove reasonably well, but a few factors conspired against the Catera. For one, Cadillac was still in its frumpy phase, and the early egg-crate grille clashes with the jellybean silhouette. This was fixed with a facelift, but the bigger issues were competition and marketing. Shortly after the Catera launched, BMW dropped the era-defining E46 3 Series, a car that vacuumed all the air out of the sports sedan room. At the same time, who approved “The Caddy That Zigs” as an ad campaign?
It was time to incinerate the old script, and while the launch of the first Escalade bought Cadillac a lifeline, the real hard work would start with the Catera replacement. Welcome to the Cadillac CTS.
The Big Bet
The plan for the CTS came together astonishingly quickly. As Autoweek reported, the first full-sized sketches of what would be the Catera-replacement were shown to brass in February of 1998. The first full-sized foam model? That was ready by May. Not only was it GM’s first model of the sort with functional lighting, it met what seemed like an impossible deadline.
“When we pulled off the cover, we got a round of applause,” [Chief designer Wayne] Cherry says. With a laugh, he adds, “That may have been for how fast we did it.”
The first full-scale foam model of the CTS showcased an entirely new design language, radically angular and unlike anything Cadillac had produced before. While the rest of the industry was evolving the jellybean language of the ’90s, Cadillac was doing something it called Art & Science. It was a huge risk, one that would need a $4 billion investment in a new rear-wheel-drive architecture, new models, and a new plant, but Cadillac was getting absolutely trampled at the time. It really was a case of evolve or die.
Roughly three years later, the production CTS was ready to be shown to the world, and it was a hard break from tradition. Not only was it the first stick-shift Cadillac since the Cimarron, it had a chassis tuned on the Nürburgring, looked like nothing else on the market, and was enough of a shock to almost instantly fade the Catera out of everyone’s minds. Sure, the interior still had some cheapness to it, and the old-school GM tilt column hampered the driving position somewhat, but when Car And Driver compared it against the rest of the segment, the magazine came away largely impressed.
Make no mistake, this is the best Cadillac ever. Get past the styling that, to some, has been carved from a bar of soap, and underneath lies a first-rate effort to bring Cadillac into the 21st century. The target is BMW. It is still wide of that mark. A bull’s-eye, perhaps, on a 10-year-old 7-series sedan, but not against a current 3- or 5-series from Munich.
But Cadillac is now truly in the hunt, and the CTS is only an opening shot.
This truly was a turning point, the moment Cadillac really stopped looking back and started looking at the future. Less chrome, more dark finishes. Less float, more precision. The brand had a new mission, one of developing world-class sports sedans that, in tandem with the Escalade, would try their hardest to shake off a Boca Raton image. Being featured in “Bad Boys 2” and “The Matrix: Reloaded” certainly didn’t hurt.
Over time, the CTS would see the sort of incremental improvements expected from a product GM tried hard with. A 260-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 appeared on the options sheet for 2004 and supplanted the original 220-horsepower 3.2-liter V6 for 2005, an Aisin six-speed manual replaced the five-speed Getrag for 2005, sales channels spread to Europe and Japan, and touches like more legible gauges and a cleaner steering wheel control layout helped usability. However, arguably the most memorable arc of the original CTS was when Cadillac took an even bigger swing.
The Corporate Hot Rod
If you were going after BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi back in the 2000s, you were going to need something fast. If you listened carefully in finance districts around the world, you’d hear M cars, AMGs, and the like being revved up in underground garages, the left-lane chariots of power brokers with wild streaks and city boys seeking a thrill. Cadillac had never really made a performance car of this sort before, but the CTS was the perfect place to give it a shot. The name of the sub-brand? Cadillac went with a pretty good letter: V.
To create the original CTS-V, Cadillac raided the parts bin where it could, absconding from the warehouses with the 5.7-liter LS6 V8 from the C5 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Tremec’s T-56 six-speed manual transmission under its jumper. We’re talking 400 horsepower and 395 lb.-ft. of torque, 60 more horsepower than an Audi S4 and 38 more than a C 55 AMG. However, Cadillac didn’t stop there. Four-piston Brembo calipers clamping 14-inch discs hauled the CTS-V down from triple-digit speeds, 46 mm monotube dampers joined forces with 27 percent stiffer springs and a larger front anti-roll bar to maintain body control, and square 245-section Goodyears did what they could to manage grip. Cadillac changed so much that even the bolt patterns for the wheels were different, with the CTS-V being one of the few passenger cars to feature six-lug hubs.
The result was a sharp-looking midsize sports sedan that could sprint to 60 MPH in under five seconds, wouldn’t stop pulling until 163 MPH, and was properly capable on a circuit. Launched for the 2004 model year, it meant business, and this executive muscle car with BMW-troubling handling instantly had people raving. As Car And Driver wrote:
Watch out, children, fusty old GM is raising hell. The power is loud, violent, and addictive. The steering is sharp, the suspension is in control, and the brakes are a strain on tendons. You touch bliss in a drift out of an apex, the grille pointing where your right foot aims it. Holy Saint Herman of Alaska—the traction-control-disable button is right there on the steering wheel! You can boot GM’s lawyers out of the car with one thumb flick. No need to, though, since the computer allows lots of sideways horseplay before it intervenes. Straight-line acceleration is crimped by spasmodic axle hop, and the chintzy interior (pre-Lutz) should be shoveled. But GM’s being bad is really quite good.
Now, that’s not to say that everything was perfect with the first-generation CTS-V because there were some teething issues. That early Car And Driver test was hampered by an early oil temperature display software issue, but the biggest issue with the original CTS-V was what happened if you tried to launch it. Dumping the clutch was met with violent, areola-shaking wheel hop, to the point where some owners grew familiar with how much a replacement differential cost. A whole aftermarket sub-sector appeared to mitigate the likelihood of breaking rear end components, but so long as you abstained from hard launches, the CTS-V was a sweet machine.
Plus, it got even better in 2006 with the arrival of the six-liter LS2 V8. Sure, it made the same 400 horsepower and 395 lb.-ft. of torque, but the torque peak arrived 400 RPM sooner for a wider power band. The rear end also gained some much-needed upgrades for hard driving, beefier half-shafts and a stronger differential that was far more difficult to blow up.
The Legacy Of The CTS
It’s easy to forget how groundbreaking the CTS was, but it was the starting point to Cadillac making some truly epic cars. The 556-horsepower supercharged stick-shift second-generation Cadillac CTS-V wagon is one of my favorite cars of all time, the third-generation CTS-V was absolutely ludicrous thanks to the 640-horsepower LT4 engine from the Corvette Z06, and then there are the performance sedans of the moment, the CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing. It’s wild to think that the most coveted new fast four-doors are American, but the Blackwings are that good.
Then there’s the styling. The Art & Science motif has coursed through Cadillac’s veins for nearly a quarter-century, refined into a series of signature vertical and horizontal elements that offer distinction while rarely toeing the line of vulgarity. Guess what? It worked, to an extent. Cadillac’s average buyer age has been slowly trending downward since the early 2000s, with GM Authority reporting an average buyer age of 54 in 2023. Plus, the CTS immediately buoyed sales. Over the Catera’s production run, only 94,801 were sold, with the last units not making it off dealer lots until 2003. In contrast, over the six years the original CTS was in production, Cadillac sold 317,966 entry level sports sedans. Let that sink in.
While Cadillac’s sports sedan reign won’t last forever, given the brand’s intention of an electric future, it helped do what it needed to do. Sure, the Escalade gets all the credit, but it’s worth remembering that the CTS also changed Cadillac in a massive way.
Top graphic image: Cadillac
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Different take: the CTS and its successors were fighting battles in a war that was already over, and by the time they finally started winning with the CT4 and CT5 (both great cars) the German competition had long since moved on and were now crushing Cadillac on the new battlefield of luxury midsize crossovers. Cadillac never fielded a competitive entry in that field at all. The existence of the CT sedans neither helped nor hurt Cadillac from either a product or branding perspective.
The only Cadillac that really truly mattered to the brand’s survival is the Escalade. It is said that success is where preparation meets luck, and the Cadillac was exactly both. They rushed out a badge-engineered Tahoe, which dumb-lucked into being a successful vehicle in no small part because it was built on top of all the hard work GM had done for generations making its full size SUV platform the best.
So Cadillac had to go where the Germans don’t even compete in order to be successful. The only place where Cadillac might ever beat ze Germans head to head is in EVs, where I’d argue GM has done their most impressive work and are actually winning in a new and mutually contested market.
I remember being quite excited about this car, being a RWD Cadillac with an available stick shift, but then was a little underwhelmed when it actually came out. There was something about the early pics I saw that I didn’t care for, but that went away once I got to see it in person and hear enough Led Zeppelin. The V-series was/is so great. Everyone I told about it had no idea Cadillac was building such a machine. And now I’ve got relatives actively seeking them out.
That influence, traced back to the CTS, is even still here with the newer electric models. My sister’s Vistiq has a V-sport button that lets that vehicle accelerate in a way I never dreamed a big Caddy could. And the Lyriq is getting it’s own V-series. All that combined with the latest crop of Blackwings and the various racing endeavors have definitely proved the big swing was well worth it even if it took awhile to gain traction.
Seeing all the people younger than my middle-aged self at Sebring and Road America wearing “Cadillac Racing” shirts earlier this year just adds to the evidence that they did something right. Even some of my daughter’s teenage friends are excited about the brand and its decision to join F1. One of them is actively looking at used DTS’s for a first car just because Cadillac. I’m not sure it can all be traced back to the CTS and the original V-series, but that does seem to be ground zero for the vast majority of the excellent things they’re doing these days.
Did it? Not really. The goal for GM was to resurrect the Cadillac brand and put it onto competitive parity with the likes of BMW and Mercedes and to get those types of buyers to switch to Cadillac. It never really happened. That’s what happens when you permanently damage a brand so badly that its almost irreversible. The perception of it being a bygone brand is still very much a contributing factor to its less than stellar performance. The brutal reality is that GM should have cut their losses, cut the entire brand name and instead created an entirely new luxury brand similar to what they did with Saturn- which actually worked for awhile in getting some people to buy them over Japanese cars of the time.
I will admit it: if I look at the CTS while shutting down my preconceived notions it makes me feel the same way a Quattroporte IV feels (the wedgy, Gandini design never sold here). It’s a really good looking, taut design.
I had an ’05 Sport/Luxury, used. It was a great car. I outgrew it once my first kid was born and it also got rear ended pretty bad on the highway.
I also had a chance to drive the V Series at Bondurant School of High Performance driving for a three day course. Really opened my eyes to what the cars were capable of, got to do a ride along in a new C6 Vette at the time as well, amazing experience on the track.
The styling was always 50/50 for me. The base versions with smaller wheels always looked bad. Overall, a great first attempt and a big jump for GM at the time, I should know as a kid who grew up in a family that exclusively bought used FWD GM cars throughout the ’90s.
While I like the current CT5 and prior MY CTS, I never liked the original. At all. Sat in one ~2006 and the exterior felt overdone (especially with those oversized headlights) and generic at the same time, and interior was cheap AF. Though I guess it did eventually give birth to something nice – which sadly is on its way out already 🙁
Always liked the CTS with one exception- that center stack on the dash looked so out of place.
At least it was a step forward for Cadillac, in the 60’s and earlier you had it made when you got a Cadillac. By the time the 70’s rolled around they were over glorified versions of the cheaper GM products.
That volume knob on the steering wheel was so satisfying. I really wish more cars had that. My dad had a first gen CTS for a while so I got to drive it a few times. My 04 Saturn Vue had the same parts bin steering wheel, except without the radio controls, which I found to be hilarious.
The first gen CTS was great…until you sat in it. Granted, nothing GM made at the time was good, but the interior on the CTS was bad when new and aged like milk. But the chassis was excellent and I always thought the styling, especially in CTS-V trim, was excellent. Sadly, the electrical/computer stuff has proven unreliable over the years, putting a lot of them in the scrap yards.
I still find it ugly as sin. But yeah, heck of a swing they took and I’m glad they did.
I always figured that they were thinking luxury should be noticed. For that, they succeeded.
I bought a used CTS circa 2010; it was a 2004, with the 3.6 and an automatic. It was owned by an older man who was told he couldn’t drive any more. Low miles, perfect condition, but outfitted like a old guy would do it; whitewalls, pinstriping, one of those huge dark plastic visor attachments, and a knob on the steering wheel.
Once all that was corrected, it was a fantastic car. Fast, comfortable, good looking, handled great.
The only reason I got rid of it was that there was something going on with the computer, and it kept going into limp mode, and no one could figure out how to fix it. But at that time, it was 11 years old. It was a real shame, because it was a really, really good car.
These seemed to disappear from the roads pretty fast, saw one out and about earlier this week and took note of it, because it was the first first gen CTS I had seen in a good while
They’re shockingly thick on the ground up here in Canada. At least in my part of Ontario.
Well, that rules out rust as the killer, I suppose
A lot of them get taken out by ECM/trans related issues on the V6 engines.
I only know this because I’ve researched them since there’s quite a few on marketplace. I like the wagons.
Yeah, the electrical systems and various computer modules have sidelined quite a few of them. In fact, there’s a dead one in the parking lot at my work (covered in tacky inuendo stickers and sitting on some really ugly Cragar SS wheels with flat tires). It hasn’t moved in so long it is covered in spider webs and the lawn service has trimmed the grass around the front of it, but since it has a valid parking pass no one is willing to tow it.
the ones I see are pretty clapped out and strangely murdered out with Cheap Krylon. I think most end up in the same group that likes G35’s and even similar year 3 series at this point. Kind of too bad, I do now and i have liked both the CTS-V 1st gen as well as the G35 Coupe. But know better than to search one out these days.
I’ve thought a couple times about getting a first generation CTS-V. They drove great, ergonomically they were pretty flawless, they were “right” sized, styling wise they were a great new direction for the brand (even as much as I love Greyhound Seville and the 5th gen derived from it). Dynamically and drivetrain wise Cadillac hit all that stuff out of the park (which makes them screwing around with supercharged Northstars in the XLR-V and STS-V all the sillier).
However, the interiors in them are actively horrendous; like someone at Cadillac resented the concept of the car entirely and went out of their way to stick it to whatever manager told them to work on it. I legitimately cannot fathom them being that bad on accident. The Lincoln LS, that nominally they were a competitor with, and the Catera (that they more or less replaced) were both much nicer inside both in fit, materials and appearance.
I disagree, somewhat. The interiors were NOT “luxury”. They were just OK, compared to say an Accord or a Mazda. If you wanted a hot rod RWD Accord I think this would have been a good option.
A manual Cadillac was so unusual that I think there are still non-car people who would not believe it existed.
I was surprised when I found out, and I’m on these enthusiast sites daily.
Like the C4 Corvette before it – GM pandered to the journalists who they knew would wax glowing reviews due to the performance numbers, sending buyers to their dealers…
…yet the actual product lacked refinement and quality – and in the end, they peeled very few buyers away from their BMWs, Audis and Mercedes.
THIS! Spot on – typical GM effort – pretty decent engineering that hit “the numbers”, but the feel of the thing just wasn’t competitive to the to the Germans. And the whole thing just had a whiff of “cheap” about it. GM always struggles with understanding that you don’t have to be the fastest, or the stickiest, or whatever other metric is important du jour. It’s the overall feel that makes a great car. BMWs were rarely all that fast, and they never had the best lateral acceleration, but few other cars feel as good belting down a back road.
“…the whole thing just had a whiff of “cheap” about it.”
You’re not kidding.
A coworker of mine had one – and I thought he had great taste till I got into his CTS.
The impression was “Ew”
I’d been in Priuses with nicer interior finishes.
“And the whole thing just had a whiff of “cheap” about it.”
Yeah? And?
I don’t know about you, but I prefer my expensive luxury cars to not feel cheap. Kind of defeats the purpose, no?
I would say it’s more accurate to say the CTS changed Cadillac’s philosophy forever.
For good or bad, Lincoln never really tried to do anything similar.
Picturing a Navigator or a RWD Lincoln sedan with the Predator engine hurts the brain, because it’s so unlike Ford’s positioning of the brand. Meanwhile, the overwhelming question with the Escalade V is “why did it take so long?”
The overwhelming question for me with all of the “performance” SUVs, and especially that tank is WHY? Nobody needs a faster school bus.
Nobody needs anything faster or more powerful than a Prius, but we’re all here because we want more.
It’s a little strange to draw the line at a faster Escalade.
I don’t need more. I am stuck with more because cars that otherwise drive properly in the US inevitably have more engine than they need. I need 302hp in my Mercedes wagon like I need a hole in the head, but that was the SMALL engine option here. 175hp in that car would be perfectly fine, especially if you could ditch the useless AWD system to save weight, drag, and complexity too.
I remember seeing the first Audi RS6s (sedans) sold in the US. Early 2000s. All of them were driven by the wives of wealthy men, because when they went to the dealership, they would only get the “best one they had.”
Same thing. I’ve seen Escalade Vs. The person behind the wheel is the same demo — the person (or spouse of) that has to have “the best one.”
Number is bigger is an objective way to differentiate. Do they need more horseponies? No. But it has more, so it is “better.” Ergo, they buy it.
No, but the question remains on why it took so long considering the American desire to continue to make performance pickup trucks but not large SUVs considering the significant overlap potential of prospective buyers to attract them.
At least in theory, performance pickups like the Raptor make some sense as off-road things. A fast SUV the size of a small school bus is just stupid. Other than advertising to the world how big your wallet is, which let’s face it, is the only real reason people buy them. Otherwise, a GMC Yukon Denali is every bit as nice inside for a price difference that will buy you a Miata to go with it for when you are feeling frisky. But nobody notices those.
Lincoln made an honest effort with the LS, which was pretty decent to drive. But, whereas Cadillac stuck with the plan, Lincoln quickly gave up and backtracked with the Zephyr/MKZ