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Test Drive: 2016 Cadillac ATS-V
by Justin Pritchard
Autos.ca
Telling your German car enthusiast pals about the Cadillac ATS-V is just the best thing.
Oh, you German sport sedan fanboys. If you’re one of them, you’ll want to go grab your stress-ball before reading the rest of this. Go on, I’ll give you a moment.
“Oh, the Cadillac. So, how is it?” they grin. All smirking, looking off of their noses, and all convinced that their so-called superior German posh-rockets are all that and a bag of Tostitos.
Fabian, with his M3. Ryan, with his C63. Eric, with his 135i. Mikeal, with his A4. Gino, with his S4, who nearly collapsed into a quivering heap, when I lit up, explaining how joyous a thing the ATS-V is to drive.
I was asked, often and vigorously, by everyone I know with a German sports car, how the ATS-V “is”. Hilariously, explaining that it’s excellent, one of the most thrilling machines in its segment today, and that it feels perfectly calibrated and dialed in, often resulted in wincing, poorly disguised surprise-faces, discomfort, disbelief, and rapid changing of the subject.
Oh, you German sport sedan fanboys. If you’re one of them, you’ll want to go grab your stress-ball before reading the rest of this. Go on, I’ll give you a moment.
Time’s up, and I’ll get to the best part of the ATS-V first: the steering.
Oh my goodness, the steering. It’s perfect. Perfect!
Engage SPORT mode, and the steering does various things that are very good. First, it gets heavy. Not a little heavier, or slightly stiff, but locked-on heavy. Bolted, glued and laser-welded to its on-centre position. Last time I drove something with on-centre feel anywhere near this massive, it was a $175,000 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. So, really heavy.
But also fast, and precise. Not quick. Not sharp. But so precise, within the bounds of its extreme heaviness, that drivers need only tighten the muscles in one side of their palm, or the other, to effect a change in direction. Movements at the wheel that your average sports car doesn’t even register will send the ATS-V darting about. It has the best steering in its segment, and many others too, and it makes numerous competitor steering systems feel like they’re made of lasagna.
Full Story: Test Drive: 2016 Cadillac ATS-V
