Mods -- please leave this as a separate thread the next few days. I'm very busy, and will only see questions if they are not buried within the main thread on the 2008 CTS. I wish I had time to go through that thread to look for questions addressed to me, but I don't. Note that my impressions are based on actually sitting in the car a couple of times, not just the photos.
Anyway, I sat in the 2008 CTS for a longer period of time today, and in the driver's seat this time. Impressions:
--as I said earlier, I think the styling is excellent, not boring and full of detail but with none of these details or lines extraneous or forced
--materials look and feel excellent
--seats thinner for space efficiency but very nicely shaped for both comfort and a moderate amount of lateral support, latter about the same as in the base Corvette buckets; a bit less cushy than the current seats
New material:
--stitched material along the tops of the door panels is heavily padded, nice and cushy to the touch. This is in contrast to the STS-V and the revised SRX, where the stitched material is firm to the touch.
--padding on the door-mounted armrests extends a bit of the way up the hand grip, so when you grip this grip your thumb rests on this padding. Again, very nice
--the backside of the grip, though, is hard plastic, and other than the padding the grip is composed of two pieces of this hard plastic. When you squeeze the grip these compress together a bit, so not as solid a feel as I'd like. The same problem exists to a much larger extent in the Saturn Outlook. Visit a Saturn dealer and drip the pull on the door and you'll see what I mean. Cadillac's interior chief was standing just outside the car looking in as I examined the interior. I conveyed this minor issue to him. Also mentioned that the door panels in GM cars often give a bit when used as a brace in hard cornering. Told him that I knew these were really engineering issues not up to them, but something he might want to communicate to them.
--I very much like the beveled metallic trim that flows down the center stack then along the console. In real life in looks smaller than it does in photos, so delicate and jewel-like, very ritzy. The sort of thing I've noticed in some Lexus models, but even better here.
--the various buttons on the center stack have very little travel and generally have a premium feel. No clicking sensation. No breakthrough here, but no problem, either.
--some people here have had a problem with the steering wheel. Sitting behind it I had no serious problems with it. It feels good to the hand, with proper grips. The trim on the spokes moves more than it should when pressed on, but this may be a prototype issue. The hub isn't the most attractive, but again no real problem personally. It's not as prominent as it may appear in photos. You may sit a little higher relative to the steering wheel than in the current CTS, so the hub isn't in your direct field of view. You definitely sit higher than in the STS, in which I feel much more buried in the car than in the new CTS.
--one of the CTS prototypes had a power tilt and telescoping wheel. Can't remember if this was evident in photos.
--someone yesterday asked about room for the right leg. I noticed no problem, but then I rarely if ever notice this problem in cars. My height--5-9--may have something to do with this.
--I told the Cadillac designer that I'd tell everyone here to start saving their pennies, because anyone who likes the current CTS is going to really want this car. He's getting tons of positive feedback, but a bit more doesn't hurt. They deserve it.
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them. If this does get buried, feel free to directly contact me through my site:
http://www.truedelta.com
Contact link at bottom of every page. I told a few GM people that I hope to have initial reliability data on the car around the end of February 2008. This forum has been very helpful, so this should be very feasible.
