mmarshall

The Jeep Compass, IMO, is a piece of junk. it is just a slot-grilled cousin of the equally junky Dodge Caliber.

I do agree with you, however, that there are some domestic-nameplete vehicles worth considering....mostly from Ford. I myself have a high opinion of the Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego (now Taurus/Sable), especially the AWD versions, Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner, and the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr(MKZ) triplets.

mmarshall

You are not the only person.....or CL member.......to show some interest in this car. Wait a few more days and, by requests, I've got a formal CTS review planned for early or the middle of next week...it is the next vehicle on my review list.

And, yes, just from the pictures alone, the interior DOES look nice. But, like with every vehicle I look at, I'm going to examine the interior and its materials carefully.....too many GM products recently, in an effort to take the quick and easy way out of doing better interiors, have used surface flashy or rich-looking layers on top of cheap dime-store plastic. The best example is probably the Buick Enclave. The best example over at Chrysler, of course, is the 300C.

RON430

You know I can totally understand your opinion and I probably agree. I had a chance to drive a new CTS today and what I might disagree with you with is that they don't have a car that is better than the competition. Of course you will need to wait and see how reliable the thing is to really tell but the one I drove was a pretty nice piece and as I recall, the sticker was under 40K. I would have to get a lot more serious shopping at that price point but from a quick look, I think it is more than competitive and maybe even the top of the heap in some areas, like price. We are coming up on auto show season out here in the bay area and it will be nice to look at these in close proximity. Competition is good, we all win.

TRDFantasy

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion . The new CTS is definitely a competitive car, but IMHO it's not class leading.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

What is, in your opinion? And how to define 'class-leading'? By sales? By reviews? Just by opinion?

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

class leading, to me, means a car in its section (sports car, mid-size, etc) that blends style with performance and an aggressive look, utilizing the latest technologies, and of course having the basics down - crash worthiness, and such...

pagemaster

I dunno. Everytime a STS passes me it catches my eye. Last night I was in Nigara and a Ferrari pulled into the Hilton. I also instantly noticed a Cadillac convertble (XLR) roadster parked there as well. I must say the Caddy looked very good compared the Ferrari and others in the lot.

IMO, Infiniti now deserves title of boring styling. Especially the G series.

From the pic the CTS looks great.

TRDFantasy

What I mean by class-leading, I mean "overall". That includes: quality, reliability, performance, luxury, options, comfort, interior, ergonomics and the list goes on and on.

What I consider as "class leading" obviously is my opinion and nothing more. At this point in time, there is NO car in the entry-luxury segment that is class-leading in absolutely every way, which would make for an easy choice. Different cars in this segment have different strengths and different weaknesses.

In my opinion, the CTS styling is quite bland and ugly. I also think that the car is too heavy and that even the 3.6L DI V6 does not provide enough performance vs. the competition. In other words, to me the CTS (and to the automotive press) does not excel or lead the class in any significant areas.

The 335i, G35, or IS350 can all be considered class-leading depending on your opinion and what you view as being important in a car. I personally find the IS350 to be class-leading, but other people might not. A big flaw of the IS350 is that it's down on interior room compared to the competition.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I agree, plus it's not even easy to define the players due to many variations in size, drivetrains, and options.

I believe the CTS is as large or larger than the *GS*350, so I can't see many people cross shopping the IS and CTS!

The CTS probably competes more with the 530i, the G35, the GS350, and the A6 to name a few.

Maybe the ES350 could be considered in there, but not in my opinion because it's too bland and FWD.

RON430

I think I get your point and I have to agree. Opposed to what other people are defining, I think you let the market define class leading by looking at the sales numbers and the new CTS has to prove itself. As bit mentioned, the CTS is more GS size (actually larger than the GS inside) than IS size but if we are honest with ourselves and look at the classes that either of those cars are in, there is a huge amount of competition. It won't be easy but at least the General has gotten out of the starting gate. They have had too many models for too many years that were DOA IMO so we will see if they can actually go out and compete. I wonder if they will be able to really compete without a V8 in something other than -V spec?

MrG4Life

iTrader: (14)

Man, I'm not even gonna get on you for that comment because obviously u see my point and have nothing to say except criticize me for me for how I write. You probably work for Chrysler or GM

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Can't wait for the new CTS-V. BMW M5, Benz E63, watch out! Just take a look at the new powertrain and drivtrain in action... Just think of this vehicle with 4 doors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o9to...e=user&search=

Threxx

Has the LS7 been confirmed for the CTS-V? I've also heard the LS9 is a possibility. Of course that just means we'll be looking at 500hp at a minimum, as much as 650 for the CTS-V.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

i built a similarly loaded CTS with the 304 hp 3.6L V6, it came out similar priced. Charging 3300 for paint and leather however is pretty lame. But the vehicle is still a great step up

rosskoss

Yeah, but the CTS has features like a leather covered dash (something no other car in it's class has). And the leather is superb stuff.