For the better part of a month, and for the purposes of one long-haul shoot or another, our Fast Fleet Cadillac CTS has been closeted with the digital crew. A rare slow day at the crankadpiston oval office though gave me the chance to re-acquaint myself with said American bruiser on the road.
[Not a valid template]“Sure you can grab the Caddy” said digital crew member Moe and current holder of the CTS key, “but be careful, since all our gear is in the back.”
Ah. Being all too well aware what that entailed, and knowing that the guys had just got back from a lengthy shoot the day before (yep, it’s been a busy old month), I was unsurprised to find the boot stuffed with boxes of wires and camera tripods of varying length, and the back seats awash with cameras and lenses of varying expense.
A shame. Thanks to 317bhp being chucked from the 3.6-litre V6, the Caddy has proven surprisingly fun to chuck around, mainly down to the fact that the rear wheels have been eager to join in on most tight turn ins. Hooning the CTS today was only an option if I fancied voiding the warranty on our kit, but it was whilst driving Miss Daisy that my attention turned to some of the Caddy’s hitherto unspecified foibles.
We recently discovered, with cruise control set and the driver’s right leg temporarily leaning on the centre console for support, that the awkwardly placed ventilated seat button can accidentally be turned on. Unless you’re prone to keeping your body temperature on a knife-edge, this is a little impractical. The buttons mounted on the back of the steering wheel in place of a traditional paddle shift system haven’t won me over either, since changing gear with only one fingertip when you’re really on it tends to be more distracting than anything else.
The looks though have certainly bowled me over. The almost brutish glare of the headlights and the stocky grille get a big thumbs up – as does the rather cheeky tail lip rear brake light – since the ‘big bad muscle from Detroit’ look is always guaranteed to crack a smile. And as is being proven quite nicely as I drive, huge waves of equipment and crankandpiston staff are swallowed up whole thanks to copious amounts of space both front and back.
Perhaps the strangest discovery though was that of a small cartoon lion sticker on the inside of one of the centre cupholders. The guilty party has yet to reveal themselves, but none of us have been in any real hurry to remove it either.
And no, we haven’t named him. Though suggestions are welcome.
