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2013 Cadillac XTS [w/video]

The Cadillac Of Stopgaps
As confusing as most alphanumeric car names have gotten in recent years, at least one constant has been that the letter "X" is generally indicative of a crossover. Then why did General Motors use this letter on its new 2013 Cadillac XTS luxury sedan? Well, for that, we'll have to look to the world of mathematics where "X" stands for an unknown variable or a placeholder. Now we're talking. The XTS is just an interim product sitting at the top of Cadillac's four-door food chain until the brand gets a true flagship in place. That sounds like a lot of resources to spend on what will likely be a one-and-done model, but the automaker needed to get something - anything - to replace the DTS.
So here you have the 2013 XTS. A big luxury sedan that was created to bridge the gap between Cadillac's recent past and its pending future. Going into our week with this XTS knowing that it was a stopgap measure proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, we know (or hope) that this car will act as a baseline for future high-end Cadillac models, but at the same time, we couldn't help but be mindful of past stopgap models, albeit in more entry-level segments, like the Cimarron and Catera.

2020 Cadillac CT5-V, CT4-V to be revealed next week

Even though the ATS-V and CTS-V are on the way out, the future is looking bright for Cadillac's high-performance sub-brand. Why is that? Well we're going to see not one, but two all-new V models on May 30. The company revealed its plans to show the 2020 Cadillac CT5-V and the CT4-V in an announcement about 15 years of the V brand. Not much is known about either car, but both should be wickedly quick based on their predecessors. We're particularly curious as to what engines will be used. With the CT5-V, a return of a supercharged pushrod V8 seems possible considering the CT5 is based on the Alpha platform that also underpins the Camaro. But Cadillac may want to push its more unique powertrains such as the twin-turbo, double-overhead-cam 4.2-liter V8 in the CT6-V. In the CT6-V, it makes 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. Cadillac's former CEO said that other cars getting the engine will have it 500 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. We think the company could get away with the full power in the CT5-V, though, since each car's mission and character is different. There's also a slim chance we could see a return of the manual transmission for the midsize sports sedan, based on what a Cadillac engineer said. As for the CT4-V, there are more questions, simply because we haven't even seen the regular version yet except in spy shots. Since the CT5 is built off the Alpha platform, it seems reasonable to think the CT4 will do the same, especially since the ATS also used the platform. And to leave space between the CT5-V and itself, using a hot version of the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 seems like the most likely choice. The hot V6 in the ATS-V made 464 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque, so we would expect the same. Hopefully Cadillac will offer a manual with it again. One final note from the Cadillac V announcement also got our attention. It said that these two cars are "just the beginning." That seems a pretty obvious sign there are other V models in the works. Since the CT4 and CT5 will round out the company's car line, the logical next choice would probably be crossovers. It will be interesting to see what an XT4-V or XT5-V will be like, especially since they use front-drive platforms. But in the meantime, we'll look forward to Cadillac's hot sedans.

Junkyard Gem: 1998 Cadillac Catera

Every so often, during the last few decades of the 20th century, the suits running each of the big Detroit automakers would eye their European subsidiaries and decide that some car from the other side of the Atlantic could be making dollars over here in addition to pounds or francs or Deutschmarks over there. Chrysler didn't do so well with Simca 1204s or Plymouth-badged Hillman Avengers in the American marketplace (though the Simca-based Omnirizon did very well). Ford USA moved quite a few Capris and Fiestas during the 1970s, then bombed with the Merkur Scorpio and XR4Ti. General Motors tried, over and over, to get Americans to buy Opels (some sold by Buick dealers, others actually badged as Buicks), and I still see the occasional Kadett, GT, or Manta in junkyards to this day. For the 1997 model year, still stinging from the not-so-great sales of the Turin-Hamtramck-built Cadillac Allante, GM took the Omel Omega B and applied Cadillac badges. The result was the Catera, and I found this silver '98 in a Denver self-service yard recently. The Catera had a lot going for it, with a rear-wheel-drive layout and a modern V6 engine that made more power than the BMW 528i's straight-six that year. It should have been able to compete with European luxury sedans in North America because it was a European luxury sedan. Unfortunately, you couldn't get a manual transmission in the Catera, "traditional" Cadillac shoppers thought the Catera lacked a sufficiently massive presence, and younger Cadillac buyers flocked straight to the Escalade starting in 1999. After 2001, the Catera was no more. I still find Cateras in junkyards, nearly 20 years after the last ones were sold, so they appear to have held together pretty well. This one was in nice shape until the end, with all the original manuals still in the glovebox. Even the Catera ballpoint pen remained with the car for its whole life. As we can see in the owner's manual, Cadillac marketed the Catera as "The Caddy That Zigs." The idea was that younger car shoppers would become as Cadillac-obsessed as their grandparents had been. Inspired by the ducks in the Cadillac logo, the Catera marketing team created Ziggy the Duck to pitch this car. Things didn't go so well. The Catera listed at $29,995 in 1998, about $47,600 in 2020 dollars. That made it an affordable alternative to the BMW 5-Series or Acura 3.2 TL, but total Catera sales came to fewer than 95,000 cars over five model years.