Cadillac CTS (2017). New Arrival. Management Fleet

Not for the first time, we welcome a long term Cadillac CTS to The Management Fleet. With a difference.

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We’re no strangers to life with the Cadillac CTS. In the last four years in fact, we’ve enjoyed long term loans with three of them. The first, a 2010MY version, was looking cosmetically tired, both inside and out, just two years after its launch – the Alcantara and button-heavy cabin didn’t exactly help – and the hard-backed sports seats meanwhile were only slightly more comfortable than falling down a flight of stairs. And yet, across its ten-month tenure (yes, the mad fools at Cadillac Arabia actually gave us a car for that long) the CTS clocked up almost 10,000km across a multitude of terrains. It suffered several punctures and one heavily kerbed alloy courtesy of crankandpiston’s resident oaf – okay, me… – and spent one month with fluctuating oil pressure. And yet still the CTS kept plugging gamely on. It’s true none of the crankandpiston.com team particularly liked the 2010MY CTS when time came to hand back the keyfob, but its time as our in-house pack mule meant the CTS had begrudgingly earned our respect at the very least.

Fast-forward to last year, and Cadillac’s all-new third generation was a revelation. Gone was the ‘could be gritty if you squint’ exterior looks in favour of a more elegant, sleeker fascia both front and rear, complete with rippled bonnet, funky vertical LED headlamps, and a whopping great front grille. Inside, the all-too plastic panelling had been discarded in favour of aluminium detailing, digital instrument clusters, and, the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) haptic infotainment system, which first appeared with the new flagship XTS in 2012. The clean sheet design was a revelation. And, I say, is that two-tone semi-aniline leather upholstery?

As members of the Middle East motoring media though, a group whose blood-thirsty demands know no limit, and it wasn’t long before the drivetrain in our tester came under scrutiny. Don’t get me wrong, the smaller 2-litre turbocharged V6 in our 2016 long termer proved a surprising hit in terms of fuel efficiency, but we still wondered if opting against the oomphier 3.6-litre V6 had been a mistake.

One year later, their eyes rolling oh-so dramatically in their sockets, Cadillac Arabia has once again answered our call, sending CnP-wards a 2017 Cadillac CTS complete with said naturally aspirated six-cylinders that sends 330bhp and 285lb ft of torque to the rear wheels. No lack of grunt methinks, despite the 1704kg kerb weight.

There is more to our latest Fast Fleet alumnus though than speed, speed and ‘gosh, isn’t it fast’. Given that this is a premium product of General Motors means we also have driver assistance systems up the wazzoo. Alongside Lane Keep Assist, Forward Collision and Side Blind Zone Alert among others, our Premium Luxury packaged model also boasts adaptive cruise control and automatic seat-belt tightening (how have we got this far without that?). We’re also curious to see whether the Rear Camera Mirror – which projects an image from the rear bumper-mounted cameras directly onto the mirror – will also assist visibility, and whether its impact on the $57K asking price will be a necessary one.

Bear that figure in-mind when you consider that both the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class – two massive bulls eyes in the premium mid-sized saloon segment – have also received major overhauls recently too, particularly when it comes to driver-assist tech. It may have floated our respective boasts upon its arrival in 2014, but can the Cadillac CTS still hold its own against its German rivals? We’ll find out – possibly with the help of a group test – over the next three months.

• Technical specifications available on page 2

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