Cadillac ATS. Steep depreciation makes these attractive.

A friend drove a turbo and a 2.5 today (no Awd wanted). Said the turbo was very impressive and the na model was no slouch either.

Is there consensus on these as daily drivers?

I've been eyeing these for a while. I like them. My boss actually has a AWD 2.0T Performance, shich is a flappy paddle automatic (no MT AWD cars). he likes his, but does complain about the CUE system from time to time.

The Performance ones are nice. Better seats, suspension, and some even have heads-up displays.

If you can find a 3.6 V6 M/T Performance car, that gets you some crazy extra secret performance package with a different rear diff, Magne-Ride suspension, staggered wheels, and more. They are very rare. RPO is FE3, I believe.

You can't get the 3.6 with a manual, shame. I drove a 2.0 manual but wasn't impressed, center stack was a nightmare too.

I drove the 2.0T with a squishy transmission at an autocross and was seriously impressed.

Driven tons of them in 2.5L, 2.0L and 3.6L trim and have never gotten what the hype is about. They don't seem particularly fun to drive, the CUE system is a total mess and the styling is kinda wonky (There's too much body over the rear wheels, which makes the rear wheel/tires look smaller than the front) Also, as a GM tech, I can tell you that they have tons of electronic issues (Once had one kill a gauge cluster, attempted to program a new one and it junked that one, contacted GM and they walked me through installation and it killed that cluster too. Finally, they had me leave out a segment of programming and it worked, but GM has no clue why) and they were heavily recalled. At one point there was something like 19 campaigns and recalls that had to be performed before we could sell them.

They look and feel awesome. I've heard (here if memory serves) that the long term prognosis for reliability isn't good. The last one i really got into was a pretty production press car and it was awesome. Had me at light up door handles.

In reply to mndsm:

Mechanically, as far as the engine and transmission, they seem pretty solid. The front suspension has a ton of ball joints in it that like to wear out and require replacing the entire corresponding link/arm/rod/whatever. Electronically, they have a lot of issues, a lot of them related to the awful center stack.

I forgot about the center stack. Is that the stupid touch one that doesn't have buttons? God I hate that so much.

Now that I think of it, my boss's car was actually deemed a lemon by the previous owner and was fully repaired before he bought it. I bet it was electrical gremlins. Pretty sure he got his car CPO with an extended warranty.

Only issue he's had with it so far in a year of ownership is that the stitching on one of the headrests came apart. Cadillac revised the design, and replaced all of the headrests free of charge.

Do they make any DIY interfaces to service the CUE system or reflash the car yet? I like the technology that's in the car, but I'm skeptical of that "GM Quality".

My brother owned a 2.0T/six speed for a while. Very comfy, pretty fast, seemed to handle well for a sedan.

But yeah, the cabin interface was wonky and he had a few electric gremlins.

If I was looking for something in that realm, i'd probably search for a later Saab with low miles instead.

Also, I thought I read somewhere that you could get the 3.6 with a manual, but I'm apparently wrong. It's the RWD 2.0T with a manual that gets the super secret FE3 suspension package.

If you guys a looking for steep depreciation check out the Focus ST. Great car, horrible resale value.

Harvey wrote: If you guys a looking for steep depreciation check out the Focus ST. Great car, horrible resale value.

I thougjt they were doing pretty well on thr used market. I could get into a tangerine whatever one tho...that car was a lot of fun.

In reply to mndsm:

people are likely unloading them for RS's

SilverFleet wrote: Do they make any DIY interfaces to service the CUE system or reflash the car yet? I like the technology that's in the car, but I'm skeptical of that "GM Quality".

My understanding is yes, and the system is Linux based.

I owned a '14 2.0T AWD (bought new as a left-over in early 2015) for a little over a year, and traded it in after that. Depreciation is sharp, they're a great cruiser and handle well. The drivetrain is competent, but I never felt that it was sporty. It delivers solid acceleration numbers, but feels underwhelming. Both the chassis and brakes are fantastic.

I had the non-CUE model, and hated the touch controls for the center stack (HVAC, radio, etc.). The heat and blower settings would randomly change, then I realized my radar detector cord was hitting the touch controls. One thing that annoyed me was that it didn't have streaming Bluetooth in the non-CUE version. For a $40k sticker in 2014, it should have streaming Bluetooth.

Trade-in was based on a few factors:

• I never really connected with it, I think partially because the drivetrain felt disconnected. It was competent and reasonably quick, but never engaging. I would have taken the drivetrain of my old E36 328is, V6 RAV4, or my '01 Mustang GT in a heartbeat over the 2.0T/Auto combo.
• Long-term reliability was a question mark. I was on the Facebook group for ATS owners, and the thought of living with it out of warranty scared me. Engine failures were somewhat common, even without mods. Supposedly they fixed the issues, but I wasn't convinced.
• I'm not good at owning new cars, as I want to keep them perfect (not the car's fault). I was paranoid about it getting dinged, etc. and never really enjoyed it. I do much better with cars that come with some bumps and bruises.

Haven't seen one done yet... But someone has probably already swapped in an LSx. Sounds like a fun idea, guessing they are still a bit too expensive.

Cadillac with electrical gremlins? You don't say. My last week ever as a GM tech I had a new at the time 2011 CTS that drove me nuts. Unlock the car windows would go half way down. Start the car they go all the way up and you can't get them to go down. Turning the radio volume up would also set the hazard lights. I'm glad I left that car for someone else to suffer over.

I like how the ATS looks, it's essentially a Cruze right? That's what the turn off to me was. $40k for a gussied up Cobalt. GM depreciation is great for buying second hand though. I like the idea of the new ATS-V as well but fear it will suffer similar fate as it's base model brother.

Not on the same platform as the Cruze. Same platform as the latest Camaro (rwd)