June 1, 2023
#466
Gentle reader,
Way back in 2014, after a prolonged search and test driving many different types of cars, I finally found THE ONE! I wrote about it here:
The Robb Collections: Bought the ultimate SLEEPER car: Volvo V50 T5. Yes, a station wagon! Don't be fooled by the red Dodge wagon in the picture.
That car, a 2005 Volvo V50 T5 / M66 is fairly rare, especially with a manual transmission. Nine years later, I am still in love with it! In the various Volvo forums on Facebook to which I belong, new owners of Volvos, regardless of how old or new their car is, invariably, the owner states that they are "In love with this car!"
I have been a car guy all my life, I turn 67 this year. Mom, still alive and well at 90, tells me that I "could name any car I saw, year, make and model, by age three." Methinks she exaggerates. But, I did know from an early age what I wanted to do when I grew up: be a Car Mechanic. And I did, for nine years, starting at 16. A recession came along in 1981 and people were not bringing their cars in to the dealership to get them worked on. We had a kid and I was the sole breadwinner. We could not live off of Minimum Wage. So, I took a job working on Washington, D.C.'s Subway cars, for 35 years. I retired at age 60. My love of cars has never ceased. That first wife is gone, thank goodness! The kids are all in their 30's and 40's now and I have a much better wife and life now. Going on 28 years of bliss. She too is a car lover.
Since I had subscribed to a bunch of car magazines before the Internet was a thing, and after it became readily available. I still get digital Road & Track and Autoweek. I prefer REAL, physical, books and magazines. Thus, I was well aware of Cadillac wanting to change their image with the introduction of the original CTS and of the later production of the V performance models. I have lusted after the CTS-V Wagon with a manual transmission ever since! And here is one I found in the wild:
Cadillac is not a company to rest on it's laurels. At least, not anymore. They saw how well the automotive press and anxious buyers loved the CTS V series of cars. They REALLY wanted to build a car which could honestly compete with the BMW 3 Series. So, they turned the engineers loose and they created the Alpha Platform.
These are official Cadillac images. And those engineers did succeed in their quest! The 2013 Cadillac ATS won Motorweek's "Best Driver's Choice" award, AND Car of The Year from the Automotive Press as well!
Enough background, already. So, we were looking at small-to-midsize sedans that are reliable and preferably Japanese. We found a pretty red Mazda Mazda6, yes, that's it's name, which has a 6-speed manual transmission. Just over 100,000 miles. But, the hole-in-the-wall dealership bothered us for some reason. So, we looked further.
We put $4,000 down on it and promised to buy it, IF they replaced the CUE assembly. Which they did! At NO cost to us. It still didn't work! Oh, the icons were there, but no amount of pressing, tapping or moving of fingers did anything. But that was OK, because by then, I had learned a LOT about those screens. Plus, Nancy had fallen hard for this car. BTW, that photo above is also an official Cadillac photograph.
These photos do not really show that the ATS, truly, is a compact car. The Mazda6 is actually classed as a mid-size car, as are the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Which means all of them are larger than this car.
Do you ever wonder why they are called Spoilers? First, have you ever noticed that EVERY Crossover is shaped the exactly the same, no matter maker or the price? The very same reason that car makers use spoilers: Aerodynamics. The larger hole a vehicle has to punch through in the air, the more DRAG the air is going to put on the vehicle's body. If a vehicle has a low Coefficient of Drag, it will get better fuel mileage.
Now, let's talk about the color of this car. Looks grey, right? It's official name is "THUNDER GREY CHROMAFLAIR". First introduced as an extra-cost option on the CTS a few years earlier, it is the FIRST factory use of what is now called "chameleon paint" in the car manufacturing world. In some light, it looks blue, others grey or green. Pretty cool.
I chose these wheels specifically because they resemble the optional "Staggered" 18 wheels which our car came with. 18 by 8 inches on the front, 18 by 9 inches on the rear.
This is an actual 18" wheel. As I said, they "resemble" these. We could have gone for staggered 18" wheels/tires, but the sidewalls of these 17" tires are low enough already. Plus, the cost of larger wheels tires and not being able to rotate them ruled 18s out.
See that brake caliper? Made by BREMBO for Cadillac. Four-piston "fixed" calipers which provide much more clamping force than the standard brakes. They are part of the Performance Package. As are GM's Magnetorheological damper struts and shock absorbers, which were once ONLY available on the most advanced Corvettes. It also has the limited-slip rear differential and independent rear suspension. Several more things make up the performance package. Just about every option one could want to create the ultimate ATS was ordered for this car in 2013.
This, obviously, is not an image of our grey ATS, it is the best example of one I could find online to show the layout. But, it is a super-clean engine bay with the "front-mid-engine" 2.0 liter turbocharged four cylinder engine. Yes, the entire engine is behind the front "axle". They achieved the often aimed for, but rarely reached, 50/50 front to rear weight balance. All in the name of beating BMW at it's own game. Engine output is 272 Horsepower at 5,500 RPM and 260 pound-feet of torque from 1,700 to 5,500 RPM. A long, flat torque curve. Just what one wants for quick acceleration. But, let's face it, it's not making any more power above 5,500 RPM. Something contemporary reviewers were quick to point out. Which is why it tops out at only 149 MPH.
Catch Can Install, 2.0T | Cadillac Owners Forum
8 Common Cadillac ATS Problems - The Driver Adviser
2013 Cadillac ATS Full-Line First Drive
Dissected: 2013 Cadillac ATS - Feature - Car and Driver
2013 Cadillac ATS 2.0 Turbo - Driving Report, Car Review
2013 Cadillac ATS 2.0L Turbo review notes
2013 Cadillac ATS Prices, Reviews, and Photos - MotorTrend
2013 – 2017 Cadillac CUE Touch Screen Repair Service – ISS Automotive Solutions
Cadillac Cue Upgraded Screen Replacement | Cuescreens | United States
GM 2.0 Liter Turbo I4 LTG Engine Info, Power, Specs, Wiki | GM Authority
2013 Cadillac ATS Info, Pictures, Power, Specs, Wiki | GM Authority
Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. I have been writing and photographing for it for many years. I have several readers who have reached out to me and we are now at least Facebook friends, and in some cases, real friends. I do this for fun and entertainment for you. So, again, thank you.
Feel free to leave a comment below, or via Facebook.
Scott Robb
June 1, 2023
#466
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