The 2008 Cadillac CTS

What do you think of when someone says, “Elvis”? Okay, besides “overweight rock-and-roll singer found dead on his toilet.” Sheesh, I’m writin’ about cars here, people, not pop icons.

Pink Cadillac is the answer I was looking for. Elvis had one built for his mother in 1955, even though she never drove. For years it was parked in the carport at Graceland, until it was moved into the Elvis Auto Museum. Cadillac was Elvis’ favorite brand of car; he was famous for just giving them away like we’d hand out candy at Halloween. Fittingly, his last ride was in a white Cadillac hearse. But enough of Elvis. He probably wouldn’t care much for the current crop of Cadillac cars anyway (although I can imagine him in a blinged-up Escalade).

Cadillac turned the corner a few years back, trading in its reputation as something an older bank president might drive for something a younger professional might consider to replace his European sports sedan. Hard to imagine a pink 2008 CTS in the carport at Graceland. (Although Cadillac has just come out with a pink Mary Kay Cosmetics version of the XLR two-seat sports car. Yikes!)

In years back, it seemed that size not only mattered, it ruled. From the 1950s through the 1970s, Cadillacs just kept getting bigger and bigger until they outgrew many garages. You’ll still see the odd old one with its hind end sticking unceremoniously out the back of someone’s garage with the garage door pulled down onto the trunk lid. New Cadillacs not only are much smaller than their land-yacht predecessors, they come in a variety of sizes. There’s the aforementioned XLR, built alongside the Chevrolet Corvette in Kentucky; this week’s subject, the CTS, which is the smallest of Cadillac’s sedan models; the STS, which is a bit larger; and the DTS, Cadillac’s full-size sedan, which still has some appeal to the traditional Cadillac driver—George W. Bush himself can be found being driven around in a stretched black DTS limo.

The new CTS is the second generation of the car, which first appeared in 2002. That original design led the way for the rest of the Cadillac line with its prominent V-shaped grille and edgy styling. The 2008 model carries those styling cues a step further with a larger egg-crate design for the grille, and a more raked shape which denotes motion even while parked. While still not a large car, the new CTS has a two-inch wider track, due in part to the availability of all-wheel drive; up until now all CTS models were rear-wheel drive only. While some of you out there might think this is nuts, purists will tell you that rear-wheel-drive is the ultimate performance driving setup—great for drifting into curves and off-the-line acceleration.

A few notable styling cues are the grille (bigger than before, but not offensively so); the way the wheels fill the wheel openings; and one of my favorites, the A-pillar, which doesn’t end at the base of the windshield but continues down a bit into the fender, creating a little notch which has been filled by chromed vents that extract heat from the engine compartment—a nod to the ghost of Cadillacs past.

Inside you’ll find a neat analog clock resting in the center stack, a stylish console which houses either the automatic or the manual transmission shifter (both six-speeds—what would Mama Presley think of that?) and upper instrument and door panel trim which is hand-cut and hand-sewn. French stitching is used throughout, and you’ll find white ambient lighting in the door pulls, foot wells and the recesses between the upper and lower halves of the instrument panel. Just right for helping you tie your blue suede shoes on that nighttime drive to the Heartbreak Hotel.

More info at cadillac.com.